Travelling to NZ with a 4 month old?

Hester

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crazyscientist

36 hour flights are HELL for adults without a baby to deal with. Its not fair on the kid either, he/she won't understand whats going on - their ears are very sensitive to the changing pressure at that age too which may well give a lot of genuine pain aswell as the usual discomfort on a flight and change of routine.

Also, i know this sounds harsh but its not just your journey - think about the other hundred people on the plane who may well have 36 hours listening to your crying baby.

Counting_Pennies_2

I can't see your original question as it has been edited out, but I would completely go against what the previous poster has put.

I travelled to Australia, via Hong Kong with my 6 month old, and it was perfect, in fact I thought at the time it would have been even easier if my son was 4 months old as he wouldn't have been weaned.

The flight was no problem, of course it was stressful for myself as I wanted to keep disruption to a minimum for all concerned. I booked the sky cot, made sure he drank a bottle on either take off or landing. The key is just to take the essentials on board. Also I was half breastfeeding at the time, but he was poorly on the trip and gave up, so I didn't have enough bottles, fortunately they sold the same Avent bottles in chemists and I bought 9 so I had enough to cope with the long flight home, although I did take some cold water steriliser tablets and a bowl on board, and chose to pass the time while son was asleep by going into the air hostesses compartment and sterilised the bottles for the following day so I had one less thing to do.

It really is no problem flying with such a young one, don't be put off, for us it was the best time we could have gone. they are so portable at that age, get them to toddlerhood and you have no chance!!!

gingercordial

crazyscientist wrote:

Also, i know this sounds harsh but its not just your journey - think about the other hundred people on the plane who may well have 36 hours listening to your crying baby.

Oh my god, I so agree with you. I'm sure all MSE babies are lovely and beautifully behaved , but I've been on some very long flights surrounded by those that are not...

Scarlett1

I would rather hear a baby cry on a flight than adults constantly complaining that the plane temperature isnt right, there is a que to the toilet, they are hungry/thirsty, there isnt enough leg room etc etc

Spendless

gingercordial wrote:

Oh my god, I so agree with you. I'm sure all MSE babies are lovely and beautifully behaved , but I've been on some very long flights surrounded by those that are not...

Please tell me how you get a beautifully behaved baby .
op- I did see your original message, I didn't reply as I have never flown that far. I went to Canada (8 hour flight) when eldest was 3 months old. It was fine, he slept most of time unlike an older toddler/child who wants entertaining. We did the trip again when he was 15 months, which was harder, and America last year with my youngest then aged 5 and 2. We are going back to canada this year when they will be 3 and 6. The only reason I wouldn't go on the NZ trip is I couldn't leave one of mine at home with relatives and take the other, but different people different views. Don't let people put you off posting;)

gingercordial

Sorry, I didn't mean to come across as harsh, so apologies if I did. I didn't see the OP by the way, it had already been removed, so I was presumptiously assuming what it said from the two replies before me.

I was just rather glad for my noise-reduction headphones last time I went travelling... And even then 12 hours near a crying baby was almost more than I could bear. It is a sound that we are designed to respond to!

And I'm not that tolerant of the whinging adults either scarlett1!

pink_phantom

At least a 4 months they can't walk or climb and they do sleep alot, which is a blessing. I would personally favour taking a small baby as oppose a toddler or young child.

tiger

travelling to USA with 4 month old?
please tell me what am i ganna do, how did u booked the sky cot? do i need a carsett?

Spendless

We visited relatives, so they got us a lot of stuff we needed including a car seat so we didn't need to take one (they picked us up and drove us back to airport). You could also look at how much they are to hire from your car hire firm, if not you'd need to take one.
Contact your airline about sky cots, ours didn't do them, and 3 month old slept on the 2 pull down trays:D
Take change(s) of clothing for baby if sick and you if he's sick down you:rolleyes: . Mine was. Dummy if they suck them, calpol sachets in case of pain and each time you hear an older child say "are we there yet" be greatful yours doesn't yet talk;)

SammyD_2

I cannot see what you originally posted, but I have travelled to NZ with a five month old (and yes, he did cry - babies do you know!).

If you have a choice of airline, go with an Asian airline, rather than Qantas, Air New Zealand or BA - the service with small children is incomparable. Try to get a night flight - Singapore Air has three flights a day, and the 6.30pm one suited us best as it meant our son was ready to sleep once we were on the plane.


A skycot is not necessarily a good thing - contact the airline in advance and check in early if you want one. But they are a mixed blessing. On air new zealand, the cots are right by the movie screen - my son could not sleep because it was so flickery. I also found it really hard to breastfeed as the rows with the sky cots do not have lift up arms between the seats. This also means that if your little one cannot be stretched out on the seat. Personally, I would avoid a sky cot seat next time round.

Take extra water for your baby to drink (even if it is breastfed) as it is really really dehydrating. Also take some body lotion for your baby to try to counteract the cabin dryness. And as spendless says, changes of clothes.

I also think a stop over makes life a lot easier - I have done trips with babies both with and without a stop over.

Finally, if all else fails, the trip is only one day of your life - you can put up with almost anything for a day.

Oh and gingercordial, the difference between a crying baby and a whinging adult I would have thought was obvious.