flying home

[mythreelittlemonkeys]

Just seen a thread somewhere else about flying with pram...and we are going home at Xmas (yeh!!!! ) for a few weeks... any of you more experienced mummies got any tips as to what we can and cant take, should and shouldnt take...I know you can hire things and my mum been saying she can borrow stuff but I would love to take a few of our things too...is it worth it...do the airlines sting you? We are flying Qantas...I wanted to go singapore cos someone told me they count everything baby as 5kg but hubby wanted to get more frequent flyer points! ANy advice in general about flying with a 6month old would be really appreciated...if she as noisy as she is now...we gonna have a really interesting flight...

[Manxie]

hi

I went back to the UK earlier this year when DD was 8 months old. We didnt bother taking anything other than our stroller. My sister organised a cot and a car seat.

Not sure what you were thinking of taking but if you mum can organise things I would take her up on the offer. To make it more like home you can take little things like favourite teddy and I even took the mobile that hung over DD's cot.

One idea that I love is to get online and order things you will need for the first few days from Tesco's direct or another local supermarket ie nappies/wipes/food etc. This saves family the stress of buying the "right thing" and you can get them to deliver it a few days before you are due to arrive.

Dont worry too much about the flight I'm sure you will be fine. DD slept a lot of the way and we didnt have any major dramas.

Please feel free to pm if you want any more specifics.

[mythreelittlemonkeys]

thanx Manxie - gr8 idea about the tesco direct thing!! I will do that!! and yeh sounds good to take few things familiar...I will let mum know we only going to bring stroller then

[mamachops]

I'm posting from the UK. We flew over 1 week ago, and my DD is 6 months last week.

We flew with Cathay, who seem adequate. We pre-requested a bassinette, which was superb, but since DD is long, she was VERY snug in it!. It is well worth it. Even if they can't sleep in it, it is useful to sit them up in to free your hands!

They were happy to warm bottles. I normally BF, but with the occasional bottle for good measure.

We took a stroller with us, but my Mum still had a car seat from my sister (which I might add does not look any way near as safe as the Aussie ones).

The flight was fairly painless all in all.

I can tell you more if you want, feel free to PM me!

[Manxie]

Yeah I loved the online shopping idea too will definately do that next time as my mum spent weeks trying to find the non allergenic wipes for me

Got a few moments spare so just thought I'd add:-

You probably already know this but for takeoff and landing its good to get bubs to suck whether its a dummy, boob or bottle. If Breastfeeding dont put them on too early, or else they may be all done before you've even gone anywhere! I got DH to let me know when the hostesses strapped themselves in and then started.

Also not sure how big your DD is but at 8months mine was still light enough for the babybjorn sling. This was a godsend at the airports, we had to check in our stroller (think this varies from state to state). There was a loan one but bubs hated it. I think she felt much safer in the sling, up high and close to us. It was also handy to put her in it for getting onto the plane.

Thats all for now!!