travelling with baby

tiamai_d

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a skycot. Its just a plastic cot that can be safely belted onto a seat, and gives baby somewhere to lie down if they won't sleep on you.

Book the flight with an airline who do them well in advance or they will give the bulkhead seats away! they can only be fitted to bulkhead seats.

Get a cheap lightweight buggy that folds down easy (and lies flat) for taking with you to save you time and some airlines include the buggies in baggage allowance, some do not.

Check if you can take a car seat with you or not, again, some airlines will let you others wont, and some countries have different law to ours regarding car seats. If you are hiring a car arrange to hire a car seat too.

And of course Plan your baby bag carefully around the regulations at air ports right now.

kay41_2

If you're still breastfeeding - easy. Otherwise take those little sachets of baby milk to make up. You could take cold water sterilising tablets and a tupperware container to sterilise. I went to US with my little one when she was 10 months, I was still feeding her myself and giving her one bottle a day, so it was easy, I didn't bother to sterilise the bottles by then.

A travel cot is quite good as it is then a familiar place for them to sleep every night.

Basically your baby will be fine as long as they are with you! I've never used a sky cot, but lots of people do.

If they are still in the baby carry seat, take that as you may be lucky and find the flight is not full and then you can request a seat even if you haven't paid for one. Then strap the seat in as you would in a car. I took my daughter's big car seat abroad and did just that, then if you hire a car, just pop it in. I'ts a bit of a pain to carry, but worth it's weight in gold on a long flight.

The other thing I found useful going in flights was a baby backpack so that you can carry them on the place in that, leaving your hands free to carry all the other kit you need for the flight. Remember, don't just pack spare clothes for them, at least a spare top for you too! I've seen many a mother with a baby in clean clothes and the mother covered in food or puke or both!

A really cheap folding umbrella buggy is great too, as you can take that right to the plane and it will be unloaded first for you. Parents are often able to board a flight first to get themselves sorted. I have always found flight wteards to be brilliant for heating milk etc. If your baby eats out of jars, try and get them used to eating the food cold - it's a lot easier, same with milk, do it gradually before you go. By 10 months my little ones food and bottles were't heated.

When you check in (you can even check in online now with many airlines) see if you can get a bulkhead seat, or a seat in a row of 3 rather than 5, or an aisle seat. Ring the airline the day before to find out the loading and see if you can book your seat next to an empty one as mentioned above. I've flown to the US twice with my little one sitting in a seat we hadn't paid for!

Good luck, and it's actually easier than you think