Travelling to London - HELP!

[Jamily]

Hi everyone,

DD is 16 weeks and in 4 weeks we are off to London for a 3 week hols. Before she was born and I booked it, it seemed like a good idea - now :eek:

Has anyone done this trip with a bub the same age or thereabouts and if so, what advice can you let me have on how to survive the time difference!?? I am very nervous about how to establish night from day. At the mo we have her in a bedtime routine so I am hoping that introducing this at the relevant time in the UK might encourage her to swap to the UK time.....but....

HELP!

Thanks in advance x

[MonMic]

2 years ago when our DD was 10 weeks old we went to the south of england for 4 weeks to visit my SIL.

It was actually quite good to travel with such a small bub as she slept alot of the way and was easy to take care of compared to when we travelled once she was walking.

See if you can get the bassinet in the plane as then you have somewhere to put bubs other than on your lap, although you have to have them in a seat belt on your lap for take off/landing and any turbulence.

We took about 1 suitcase too much of stuff as we took absolutely everything! As we were in a house we could do washing and therefore didn't need alot of the clothes we had taken.

All places are centrally heated so you won't need heavy winter jarmies, take clothes you can put on in layers so that you can remove them easily as you will need them outside but not inside, Jacket with zip up fronts are easiest.

Nappies are quite cheap so don't bother taking too many, go to Safeway they often have specials on Huggies. Tesco's is the cheapest supermarket then Safeway then there is about 3 or 4 more.

You are allowed a carry on bag for the baby, with food and nappies and a pram to check in but no luggage. (it has to go in your bags).

See if you can borrow a car seat from someone, as the car hire people were going to charge us 5 pounds ( $12) a day to hire one.

Thats all I can think of at the moment I will post again if I remember any more.

Hope its a good trip.
Monica

[MonMic]

I found our DD actually coped better with the jet lag than we did! She seemed to aclimtise in a couple of days.

I had an Australian Bush Flower Essence (avaliable at health food stores and some chemists) called Travel Essence which I found really helped. You have it every hour on the plane whilst you are awake and twice a day once you get there for a couple of days, and being a flower essence you can give it to bubs.

Yes once you are there just continue the routine at night i.e. dinner, bath, book, bed or whatever and they will take the cues from that.

Remember to have fun!
Monica

[tickle]

Hi!

How exciting for you! You will have a great time. I travelled with my ds when he was nine months, so at 16 weeks it will be a breeze. By the time we travelled my little man always wanted to get out and crawl, so with a little one you should be ok.
We did a lot of travelling while we were there, to a lot of different countries and I must admit, I was extremely nervous to the contstant change of environment but he was great. I don't know about the UK but in Germany and all the other parts of Europe we went to they have those roller shutters which can really help when their time is mixed up. You can make it night whenever you want (when we were there sunset at 10:30pm and sunrise at 4:30am).
Depending on your airline you can take some luggage. We got 10kg for my ds (royal brunei). We were also able to take on a really small cheap stroller. This was excellent as we had 2 stop overs and if my son didn't want to sleep on the plane, he was always out like a light in that stoller when we got off. Breastfeeding was also great for getting him to sleep. The bassinet seats are great, heaps of leg room. On our 20hour total journey my son slept for about 7 hours.
I made sure I took his favourite blanket and pillow. Some favourite toys and some brand new ones to keep his interest. My other big tip is take a lot of your babies needs on the plane with you, even in your carry on luggage. You never know what might happen in the 24hours to get over there and you want to have lots of clothes and nappies etc. Oh and also a couple of shirts for you, for those unexpected spews.
It probably feels like a momentous feat takling what to take etc, but it will be so worth it and you will have some great momories of it as a family! :)

[tickle]

PS. Sorry for blabbing, but I also did the night time routine thing and it worked a treat!

[aardvark]

A friend went to England with a 6 week old baby.

His advice was that anybody contemplating it should take as many disposable nappies as they think they will need for the whole trip with them.

He said in the time they were away, they spent approx $500 AU on disposables, on account of the exchange rate, and the disposables being in pound Sterling roughly the same as the $ value here - ie you pay $30 here for them, then they will be about 30 pound over there.

[Manxie]

HI Clairet

Cant wait to hear how you get on with your trip to the UK.

I am currently in the planning stages of a trip home in March/April next year when DD will be about 8 months, so I want to pick your brain! Which airline have you booked with? Are you having any stopovers?

I've got family and luckily my sister has two boys so I am getting her to lend me cot/carseat etc.

Not sure about the nappy thing-just had a thought though if they are so much cheaper here with the exchange rate how about mailing some surface mail to be there for when you arrive?

Have fun - I'm jealous - have a marks and sparks prawn mayo sarnie for me (my craving when I was pregnant which I still havent been able to satisfy!)

[carls]

Pick up some adorable outfits for bub from Next, and maybe a Baby Dior bottle from Harrods! :)

[ThomasMum]

Howdy Clairet,

Not much help here.

But try to introduce the new zone (its such huge difference to begin with 10:18 Mon UK, 19:18pm Aus time now) by shifting your baby's schedule might help. Always keep your baby's sleep schedule in mind, very important! If you can, select flight that arrives in the afro. Where are you travelling from? Here in Sydney our flights to London ussualy around after 9pm with QA or BA. If you are Qantas Member, try to check in early, and hang out at the Lounge as long as possible because thats what we always do, even for us adult!

We are going to London to visit my family this Xmas part of our yearly Xmas tradition, it will be interesting because this time Thomas will be with us! :rolleyes:
So I guess, do let us know how you go! He he

I have to say its going to be a long flight for lil one, so be prepared. But hey million babies have done them before even long time ago, I'm sure your bub will have no trouble at all. Try not to stress out too much, I think its very important, you know bub can pick up "the vibe" so easily!

I know that it takes about three days for adults to adapt completely to a new time zone (we flew to UK on regular basis 2x per year, except last year we flew once because aroudn Xmas I was way too pregnant to fly). But if you help your bub to adjust, also depending on how regular your baby's normal schedule is, your bub may take more or less time than that to adjust. Yes bub's waaaaay quicker and smarter than us for sure! :D

Enjoy your trip!

Thomas'sMum