Flying next week long haul with 5 month old

peterc2609

I have just booked a hol in Cuba, leaving next Friday.

We have a 5 month old and have a few questions...

1. Can we book a bassinet / sky cot with Thomas Cook?
2. Or can we take car seat on?
3. How do people go about taking bottles on? Do we need to take powder and then make it onboard?
4. Does the baby get a baggage allowance? As 15kg x 2 doesn't seem much.
5. Is it a risk taking a Quinny Buzz pram (i.e. £400 worth) if it needs to go in the hold?
6. Vaccinations for Cuba...? Do we need any?

Anything else we need to consider?

jollyme

wow you're brave! I would speak to Thomas Cook about your baby related questions. So far as vaccinations look at http://www.fitfortravel.scot.nhs.uk/home.aspx

r.mac_2

Hello - I'm just back from a holiday with a 7 month old.

Milk feeds - For the flight there and back we took ready made cartons of milk and pre-steralised 'normal' bottles. You can buy disposable bottles, but we decided not to bother. Security were very helpful and allowed our milk cartons and baby food through without issue. We also took lots of snacks to try and keep her occupied on the flight - rice cakes are light to carry and not to messy!

steralising - we took steralising tablets and a tupperware container in our luggage (stuffed clothes etc inside and so it didn't take up much room). On the one occasion I needed to steralise/clean a bottle when out and about a restaurant very kindly cleaned out the bottle with boiling water for us - I felt that was as good as we could do in the situation and the little one was fine.

buggy - we used a mcLaren volo buggy instead of taking our bugaboo. We were able to take it to the plane steps and get it back at the bottom of the steps when we landed. We just asked a check in if we could take it to the gate with us and they couldn't have been more helpful. They do get a bit bashed around - how attached to the quinny are you? Our one big bugbear though was that our umbrella buggy was not able to recline - this is a must now we have experiences a holiday without the facility!!!!

car seat - We weren't able to take the carseat on board, it had to go in the hold so we rented one via the car company. It's a catch 22 - a friend had her car seat damaged last month and the one we rented wasn't the easiest to operate and cost to rent. Check with your flight carrier.

baggage allowance - again check with the airline. We didn't get an allowance which meant I had to pack carefully. It actually meant that I didn't end up carrying lots of useless unused extras that I would normally! check what you can buy there. will you have access to laundry facilities?

toys - we took some toys for the flight - a couple of books and a soft toy and a rattle (a sure fire favourite). However, a trip up and down the plane takes ages as people stop and chat and it's a good way to keep the little ones happy and entertained. I also took a blanket with us which was great for on the plane and in the airport.

I hope this helps - have a wonderful holiday.

r.mac_2

forgot to add - we took a travel tub with three lots of powder in it in case of an emergency on the flight i.e. security took away our cartons on milk or we got delayed or the burst or another unforeseen emergency.

see here - http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/kids-equipment/avent-milk-powder-storage-container/ this is the kind of thing

peterc2609

He has special milk which you can only get in powder format, so hopefully we'll be ok with that and get the stewards on the plane to boil some water.

Sterilising ... did you just put the bottles in the tupperware box with cold water and the tablet?

Thinking of buying a Quinny Zapp, as we'll need a buggy soon enough anyway and they are only just over £100.

peterc2609

r.mac wrote: »

forgot to add - we took a travel tub with three lots of powder in it in case of an emergency on the flight i.e. security took away our cartons on milk or we got delayed or the burst or another unforeseen emergency.

see here - http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/kids-equipment/avent-milk-powder-storage-container/ this is the kind of thing

We have one of them... were they ok with you taking white powder through!?!? ha ha

Bob_the_Saver

"Flying next week long haul with 5 month old!"

That's my flights re-arranged until the week after then!

In_debt_5

You will only be able to use a car seat on the plane if you have booked a seat otherwise you will need to hold your LO. We travelled with our daughter at 6 months old to Mexico. She slept most of the way, easy to look after on the plane. We managed to do the 3 of us in 2 x 20kg suitcases and our hand luggage but we had room to spare, We carried the powdered milk in one hand luggage and made bottles up on the plane. We also declared the milk on our customs form as I didnt know whether they would be funny with taking food and drink into the country.

I wouldnt spend a lot of money on a new buggy as baggage handlers arent the most gentle!

Boots insect repellent for Children is really good, it is a roll on and suiable from 6 months onwards I think so if it was me I would use it at 5 months. I must have got bitten about 50 times by mozzies but my daughter didnt get one bite.

Buy a long arms and legs all in one for the swimming pool and a hat like these
both from Boots

peterc2609

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

"Flying next week long haul with 5 month old!"

That's my flights re-arranged until the week after then!

Boooo, Grumpy Old Bob.

If anyone can help Bob out... he's looking for some discount codes for 'Help the Aged' flights!

You were a child once Bob ha ha

r.mac_2

peterc2609 wrote: »

He has special milk which you can only get in powder format, so hopefully we'll be ok with that and get the stewards on the plane to boil some water.

My Helath visitor also told me that You can give babies mineral water so long as it has less than 200mg of sodium/salt in it. We used that when we had no other access to water. The stewards on the plane were very helpful with hot water too.

re: powder - only liquids are restricted. I didn't have to taste anything we took through, but oyu may be asked to so be prepared to take a sip of any made up milk, or water.

Sterilising ... did you just put the bottles in the tupperware box with cold water and the tablet?

the pack of 64 tablets was from boots and you use one tablet per 4 litres of cold water - it disolves very very quickly and the solution stays sterile for 24 hours. We used tap water as we had a clean, quality drinking water to hand - you could use bottled water (see above) otherwise or cooled boiled water from a kettle. It was easy.

Thinking of buying a Quinny Zapp, as we'll need a buggy soon enough anyway and they are only just over £100.

We looked at this buggy too although discounted it as it doesn't recline - we didn't buy our macLaren (we were very lucky), otherwise we would have bought one that reclines - I can't stress how much we missed this feature while we were away as our Little one found she couldn't nap in the buggy as it was too upright for her.

Finally - calpol travel sachets are very useful for having in your hand luggage.

peterc2609

Any recommendations on a reclining buggy?