Advice needed on traveling with a baby

missis aggie

Hi,
I'm looking for a bit of advice. I'm set to fly in a month with my then almost 6 month old baby. What can I expect and how to prepare myself so its less stressful for us We fly with Ryanair to Poland ( 2.5 hrs )

Thank you in advance.

Hobbitfeet

If your breastfeeding you could feed through the flight for comfort

missis aggie

This is another question:) I don't breastfeed due to various issues but I feed her with expressed breast milk. Will I be allowed through security with stash of breast milk? I read on the airport website you can take baby formula but I'm not sure about breast milk ...

Hobbitfeet

Have no idea god thats a tricky one I would ring the airport and try and find out. If you allowed formula you should be allowed bm.

Victor

missis aggie wrote: »

I read on the airport website you can take baby formula but I'm not sure about breast milk ...

It shouldn't be a problem. Just declare when you get to security that you "have milk for the baby".

Little My

Breast milk will be fine but security might ask you to taste it.

Bring your pram to the steps of the plane. Be prepared that the whole thing has to be scanned so be prepared to take baby out and fold it up so it fits through. Ditto for carseats (they found it really hard to get ours to fit - took ages)

Think about bringing a binliner to put the carseat or pram in. We didn't and had to leave carseat at the bottom of the steps to the plane where it got pretty pretty wet. Luckily not to bad and was able to use it on the other side. But if it had of been raining heavily it would have got soaked and I have no idea what we would have done then.

If you use a sling or a carrier bring that too. Very handy to pop baby into it so you have your hands free when going up the steps and finding a seat and all that.

A blanket or something for the baby as the plane can get chilly.

Any nappy creams need to be in one of the little plastic bags. We forgot and they were almost going to confiscate it but security made me rub some on my hand instead and let me through. I wouldn't count on this working again.

One or two toys that clip on to something so you don't spend ages trying to find dropped toys under the seat in front of you.

You might be able to tell I wasn't very prepared!

Give yourself plenty of time to get through security and to the gate. Don't take baby out of the pram until you have got to the gate. Again, this is the mistake I made. I changed him and thought I'd pop him in the sling then and carry him to the gate. Then discovered it was *really* far away.

milkandsugar

Hi I am just back from traveling with my 2 girls and i had no bother bringing through bottles filled with cows milk. my baby is breastfed but my older lady still takes a bottle. It wasn't questioned or anything thank God. If you have a sling bring it with you. makes life so much easier. and have a few sandwich bags with you aswell. I always forget to put something in and to have them spare has saved me a few times. If you can bring toys that don't make all that much noise i brought a mini radio the first time and was asked by another very rude passenger to turn it off. Oh and try to book priority boarding so that you will all get to sit together and you can have your changing bag overhead you. We didn't do this the first time and the overhead bins were full so our bag had to go down with the rest of the baggage. and we had to carry the few bits we took out in our hands. not good

Pugins

Remember airplane toilets are tiny so you won't be able to bring in a big changing bag. Good idea to put a couple of nappies, wipes etc in a small bag like a toiletries bag that you can grab when/if nappy change is needed.

r3nu4l

I like the advice from little My

We travelled with our daughter when she was 6 weeks old and since then we've been flying with her pretty much every 4-6 months or on occasion, once a month.

Buy a cheap 'umbrella' buggy that folds easily. Ours is from O'Baby and can lie flat too. If you are bringing a car seat then definitely bring something to cover it.

You will be asked to taste breast milk.
Even if you buy cartons of formula you will be made to open those and taste it.
Be aware that some airlines will make you tag your buggy at the 'baggage drop off' point, others ask you to just bring the buggy to the steps of the plane and it gets tagged there. I'm pretty sure that I've had BOTH of these things happen with Ryanair!

If you use a soother/dummy/dodi with your baby then bring a spare one in case it gets dropped and lost. Better still buy a chain that clips onto the soother at one end and clasps onto the baby's clothes at the other.

Bring a few toys too and to avoid problems with ear canal pressure and 'popping' of ears either breast feed during the ascent and hope that your baby is asleep for the descent or just use a soother.

Other than that, don't be worried about the baby crying. Some people may get annoyed but f**k them. Our daughter is normally great but she's had a few moments when she's been really tired where she just went crazy What I've learned from that is that sometimes, no matter what you do, they need to cry it out.

missis aggie

Hi, thank you all for a great advice, very helpful. I will be prepared and less stressed

Mrs Fox

Agree with all the advice given.

And please do not hesitate to ask for assistance from the flight attendants -- they are always very helpful.