Travelling O/S with bub- tips and reassurance needed!

[E&bump]

Hey Ladies,

Just after some tips on travelling with baby, and re-adjusting to routines when you get home.

We are off to Ireland in 3 weeks time, our little girl will be 11 weeks when we leave. We are flying to Sydney, staying overnight, then flying to Singapore the next morning. We have about 8 hours in Singapore airport, then fly to London, change planes and fly to Cork. On the way back we are staying in London for 4 nights, then flying to Singapore, then on to Sydney, and back home. So alot of flying for a small bub!

I have been told to feed on takeoff/landing to help her ears. I'm breastfeeding so if she gets too worked up on the flights boob usually settles her pretty well. We're flying Singapore Airlines, then Air Lingus for connecting flights. I've heard good things about Singapore airlines for travelling with a baby.

I'm more worried about the travel and time changes messing up her routine. At the moment she sleeps 8-10pm until 6ish, then back to sleep until around 9am. She doesn't really do day naps, more powernaps but the night sleeps make up for it! Has anyone taken bub overseas at that age and did it mess up their days/nights and sleeping patterns?

I'm really concerned about it, so much that it is making me more anxious than exciting about the trip.

[BabushkaMumma]

I just took my DD at 21 months on my own overseas for 3 weeks. I know there's a huge age gap between but boy I wished I had an 11 week old!

Toddlers are more set in their routines so we were a bit out of sorts for a while and we traveled a lot once we got into the country so it was never settled.

There's a few things I'd recommend for sure though:
- invest in a good baby carrier - having your hands free is so helpful especially when transiting. I use an ergo and could put my toddler on the back which if you plan on doing some more travel is lifesaving in an airport.
It can also act as a sleep inducer and can save a cranky baby from an over busy routine as you can on and do things and they can still sleep.
That is by far my number one tip.
- always pack extra clothes for bub in the carry on, nappies and panadol etc.
- oh and use the free infant items for check in well. I bought a box of huggies, put them inside my carseat then put plastic bag over it from the check in counter. On the way home and overbaggaged, I filled up an empty disposable nappy bag with clothes, stuck it in the car seat and got it plastic wrapped and they don't look inside. Perfect as I was exactly right!
- there's something called ear planes for babies / kids. Put it on before decent an it can help to alleviate the pain of blocked ears. Can be bought at chemist. Buy a few as it lasts 2 flights.
Also check out www.travelwithtots.com.au they have some hints etc.
Hope it goes well. Oh another thing. Take it as it comes with sleep. If she sleeps, she does. Just go with the flow as best you can as you don't want to stress.

[quitecontrary]

We have travelled OS with our children from 5 months and onwards - and we're just about to head off for our 4th trip OS with the two of them (dd 7th eek). When it was just dd and she was under a year it was easier. Though go with the flow, jet lag can hit a baby/child hard, we found that when dd was nearly 3 and ds was about 9months old.
I think the easiest thing is to try and go with the flow, your dd will get back into her routine. Though we found that we didn't stick to a routine at all with either of our bubs when away - we take a pram when we go out for the evening so we can try to get them to sleep in it. People wanted us to come to them for dinner etc!
You will be fine!
We did fly with Singapore when dd was tiny. Just don't expect anything from cabin crew, whichever airline you're flying, when you do get extra attention count your blessings! It really comes down to the personality of the stewards looking after you. But the ratio of crew to passengers is generally pretty low.
Having said that, we enjoy taking our little ones away with us, and it means that they get to see dh's family!