Has anyone travelled by plane with an infant? Especially on a 20-22 hour flight? Any advice. We are planning to visit Paki around Sept or Oct, and baby will be about 9 months by then. How was the travel, suggestions to ease the craziness with a baby? Help!
Re: Travel with Baby
Ask your travel agent to arrange you a bassinet seat, beleive me it will make your travel very relaxing.
Hopefully your flight would be OK but once you are in Pakistan just don’t use tap water.
Read this for more info.
Re: Travel with Baby
Has anyone travelled by plane with an infant? Especially on a 20-22 hour flight? Any advice. We are planning to visit Paki around Sept or Oct, and baby will be about 9 months by then. How was the travel, suggestions to ease the craziness with a baby? Help!
get a bassinet as suggested by wuseguy, book ahead, ask ahead they only have some available. try to get a flight that is usually not full, e.g. on a weekday versus a weekend etc, some extra seating is a blessing.
take everything you think you will need.
def have the kid be drinking something at takeoff, from what I know it helps with the whole ear pressure thing..
get to the airport early, and do not be shy by not boarding early, when they say family with small kids ...go and get on the plane and get situated.
do take some disposable changing pads, the ones in the planes especially in a 22 hr flight are not kept very clean.
I dont know if you have seen the bottles with the disposable liners, take those. I forget who makes them..
have not done a 22 hr flight but did 9 hr flight. this is based on the experiences there.
Re: Travel with Baby
Re: Travel with Baby
sorry yaar, I am a very bad typist. u is right next to i
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Its OK mai konsa such much thudda maar raha tha. :)
Re: Travel with Baby
ghaibana thudda dil ko chot pohnchata hai :(
Re: Travel with Baby
Ab aap ko asli thudda marnay aapkay Khayali jazeeray tu aanay say raha, isi ko ghaneemat jaaneay aur isi per iktefa keejeay. Ooops... I mean sorry jee jo aap kay jazbaat ko thais pohnchi.
Re: Travel with Baby
definitely ask your infant’s pediatrician for specific advice for your infant.
my cousin traveled with her baby and she took things like pedialyte, formula milk, easy light cotton clothes, and baby ear muffs, so that s/he does not feel as much discomforting noise and experience the ear popping during landing and take off.
if someone is going with you, carrying the baby by hands can be shared. a few toys that the baby has gotten used to will distract her/him from becoming tired or bored.
what works is that if the baby needs diaper change, you do so immediately, because due to carrying the baby can feel even more uncomfortable in a diaper that should be replaced.
if the baby cries, a little honey tube is good for an infant.
hope this helps.
Dushwari
Re: Travel with Baby
Really make sure that you manage to get some extra space otherwise the trip would be a real pain for you and the kid.
Our son was 6 months old, when we flew from Austria to Pakistan with him for the first time (6 hours from Vienna to Dubai, stopover in Dubai and then another 3 hours from Dubai to Lahore) and Alhamdulillah everything went fine on the outbound as well as the inbound flight. My personal feeling is, that it was made easy by the fact that he had been travelling with us on short flights before, ie to Germany when he was 4 months old and to Switzerland at 5 months.
Btw: Try to schedule the feeding time, so that the baby is having milk during the landing. That helps him/her against paining ears.
Re: Travel with Baby
Thank you all for advice. Does anyone know if the nestle Water bottles available there are decent enough for use for the baby? Are they really pure?
I planning on taking powdered infant formula for use while there, and pre-made milk bottles for the plane just to make it a little easier.
Has anyone used a car seat on the plane? I dunno if you are able to even attach car seat to PIA flight.
Wise Guy - What is the bassinett seat? Rather where, and is it a portable bassinett that the airline provides you with?
Re: Travel with Baby
Nestle bottles are available in Pakistan, but don't take any risk boil bottled water too before using it.
Airline will provide you that seat, but make sure you call them and reserve one for your kid, coz normally they have only two or three seats.
Re: Travel with Baby
I have travelled 13 flights in 12 months with my daughter from 1.5 hours to 18 hours of travel ..mashallah she's done really well.
I found my daughter outgrew the bassinet by 6 months (both height and weight) so do keep that in mind...not sure if your 9 month old will fit.
The bulk head area is good still for kids...if they are older/crawling/moving/standing it gives them more play area than other seats. I did see a mom who got this very cool floor travel bassinet/changing pad with sides up...it came in handy to have the baby sit on the floor to give you a rest..and the bulk head of course has more foot space which helps. HOWEVER almost all flight attendants would not let me allow the baby to sleep on the floor/ there was a concern for turbulence and the baby would get hurt..so playing was fine..sleeping had to be on our lap.
Most kids are self entertained by whatever is going on/new environment/people..however i did take some books (She loves looking at them) when i had to keep her down in my lap (take off/landing) so i could keep her distracted. Also with such a long flight take advantage of the lulls/slow times on the plane to take your child for a walk/move around shift...that way your child is tired or ok with sitting when you really can't move around (i.e. when they are getting food out)
I rec. that you fill each and every bottle you'll need with water before you get on the flight...then just add the formula as you need. It'll be clean and less hassle. Also keep a bottle/sippy cup of water ready...and other snacks if you baby is eating. at 9 months i took the food with me to feed her.. Also ziplock each set of spoons/forks/bib you'll need. Take extra wipes and extra changes of clothes for you and the baby. Also a couple extra blankets light ones for playing on the floor or cushioning. Grab some extra pillows so db can lay their head on it and your arms are free while they are sleeping (otherwise their head goes on the hard side arm...or on your arms which get super tired)
are you flying alone?
Re: Travel with Baby
Also i have heard Nestle was fine and we had no trouble on my 2 visits to Pakistan.
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I had the horrible time in plane with my 6 month old,i was alone without my hubby.
Make sure to keep some of his/her favourite toys,milk bottles,diapers ,towels ,medicinesetc handy.
My pediatrician asked me to give him some light sleeping baby syrup,i gave him,but of no use.
I suggest u to not rely on bottled water,instead give your baby Boiled (cold )water.i purchased some flasks there and i used to boil water and stored in them.
Take all important medicines with you from your current country like for----loose motion,fever,pain etc etc
Re: Travel with Baby
Well I will be travelling with hubby, but i might come back with baby before him by myself with the baby. I am afraid of him throwing a fit with all the noise and people on the plane. Amelie thanks for advice. I was thinking that to avoid formula mixing hassle, maybe just take the ready made formula bottles.
I think my next visit to his pediatrician I will discuss what medicines I should take with me. Yeah you are probably right about him being too big for bassinett as he will be 9 months then. Since your baby had outgrown the bassinett, what did you do? Had you purchased an extra seat for baby, did you use car seat. I was thinking of taking car seat on plane, just not sure cuz it is heavy when your carrying baby and diaper bag as well. Oh boy.
Re: Travel with Baby
I have lucked out...whenver i've travelled alone i've always gotten an empty seat next to me for my daughter...also most of the time when my husband was along too. Otherwise she has also just slept in our lap...pillows and blankets ( i mentioned grabbing a few extra when you get on the plane) help either way though b/c there's always something she can jab her head on while sleeping.
IF You are alone you really need a seat free next to you. not sure how busy your flights will be and how likly that will be...Usually, when you check in with a baby they will really work hard to give you some extra seating especially if you are alone..HOWEVER during peak times especially from Pakistan..when there are no seats there are none to give. I've also done business class emirates alone..and to be honest 2 seats economy in bulk head is much better. Anyhow you can't eat if you have a baby on your lap..and you can't get a drink either..so you are really stuck if alone without a seat for your baby.
As for car seat or not- Are you still in the reclining car seat (Graco snug ride type?) or in the regular sitting up one? if it is the latter...i don't think it's that comfortable for my daughter to sleep in for long hours...she can lay sideways to sleep and hten sit and play at other times..move around.
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dear sis Afro Sheen,
you gain the experience, then when i will be a parent, i will ask you :)
cheers!
Re: Travel with Baby
I traveled with my 21 months old this spring. Being under two, he didn't get a seat but I had to have him in my lap the whole time. It was very difficult to have him in my lap and eat at the same time because the space wasn't enough. I don't why they don't consider this for people with children under two. I mean how the hell do they think you can have your tray open in front of you, have an infant in lap and still be able to eat without knocking your food down.
Re: Travel with Baby
I traveled with my 21 months old this spring. Being under two, he didn't get a seat but I had to have him in my lap the whole time.
To avoid that, you could have gotten him a child ticket instead of an infant ticket. The airlines wouldn't say no, even if the kid is below 2. But that would have been more expensive of course.