Flying home with a young baby

Shy Ted

Has anyone made the trip home from Australia with a very young baby? My brother's wedding is this year, but I'll have a two month old when we have to travel. I personally think that its too early for a baby to make such a flight. I know the airlines will be fine with it though.

Chocolate fiend

My guy was 6 months and it was fine, the younger the better really because they do vey little rather than eat and sleep at that age. Just make sure you get onto organising the passport as soon as the baby is born because that can take a while. It will be fine.

Shy Ted

Thanks Chocolate fiend. From what I've read online, people tend to agree with your statement. We'll ask our doctor for advice on it anyway just to be safe. Passport will definitely be a massive priority. Thanks again.

Peregrinus

Believe me, long-haul flying with a 2-month-old is a doddle compared to flying with a 2-year-old. I've done both.

You don't have to buy a seat for a 2-month old but, if you can afford it, do. Even if there's two of you, not having to hold the child in your lap the whole way makes a big difference. Yes, there are seats with bassinets but (a) you can't be sure you'll get one, and (b) no sooner have you got the child settled than they make you take it out because of turbulence, or meals service, or landing, or something. Buying the child his or her own seat doesn't cost that much; it's the difference between the 20% of the adult fare you'd have to pay to carry the child on your lap, and the 60% of the adult fare that you pay for a child seat.

Bring the child's car-carrier - the rear-facing type - and strap it into the seat you have bought for the child. Bring used linen, blanket, etc with a comfortingly familiar smell. All this will help the child to settle and sleep, which hopefully he'll do a lot of. Fly with an airline with good cabin service; in my experience (which is a few years old, now, so ask around for more recent experience) Singapore are pretty good at supporting parents with infants.

woolymammoth

@Shy Ted - I don't have kids myself (yet!). However, i did just fly to/from Ireland, and i would have to agree with the others here.

On the way over, i overheard the staff say there was 22 babies on board, so it's fairly common. On one flight, i was behind a woman with a very young (couple months?) baby. The child mostly slept. On another flight, there was a man with his two young children, maybe 1 & 2 yr old. They were an absolute nightmare, running around the plane, smashing toys, getting high on sugar from the old lady in front of them, and ****ting their pants. The dad did very little to discipline them, but the guy was a wreck from trying to manage them, i actually felt bad for him, looked like he hadn't slept in days. On another flight, we sat beside a couple with a very young one - she was happy as ****, and mostly slept. I saw staff were very helpful with warming bottles and that. I personally would dred bring a kid on an airplane, but if you have to do it, i think you'd be alright!

My only tip, would be plan for the worst with your carry on luggage. Worst case = a delayed flights that you get caught in your stop over for a day. No big deal. Best to have just enough of what you need for 12/24 hrs in carry on. Also, if you do not still have an Irish bank account or debit cards, go with citi bank in australia. I used it everywhere while back in Ireland, was great. No transferring money or dicking about. You get pretty much the current exchange rates, and no transaction fees. Bugged me no end how little paywave is used back home though..

Morshlac

from our (sometimes painful experiance) of flying long haul with young kids ->

0-3 months           : Personally we'd avoid taking a baby that young but we cautious should be ok
3 months-1 year   : Can be actually an ok time to take them, You should get the front seat with bassinet (actually depends on weight if can use it so up to 1 year approx) attached to wall that they can sleep in. plus they don't need to move around much
1 year-2 year       : Probably the worst time as you don't buy a seat for them they have no bassinet , and they getting mobile and want to run amok in the plane. After me having an air rage inicident with some wa*ker who didn't like kid in front of him and a very bad experiance...we decided never flying long haul again with a kid between these ages : )
2 years +              : They have they're own seat hurrah (well except you've to pay for it) but as they go above this age more likely to sit watching TV for periods so easier to occupy..

in general bring as many toys, knick-nacks...crayons even tissues etc to occupy them also as can cram into carryon...

pilly

The younger the better when travelling with a baby I think. Only thing I'd worry about would be their ears. Do they feel the same popping and pain as we do? That could be a problem. I once sat beside an elderly couple and their grandchild who was about 3 I'd say and the rigmarole to get the child to sit easy for take off and landing was madness. In saying that they were far too soft. I'd be more inclined to plonk the child in the seat and let them cry. I actually said to them at one stage "don't worry if she screams, doesn't bother me, she'll soon stop". Would rather that than take off be delayed.

Shy Ted

Thanks for all the feedback guys. It's good to hear different opinions. I spoke with my doctor and he said it'd be fine. He suggested feeding the baby during take off and landing as that'll distract them and also help with the pressure equalisation.

Statesbound

Hi, I agree with all these statements. I flew from brisbane to dublin when my girl was 10 weeks old as my father in law was V ill. I was adamant I wanted her vaccinated before I left. I breastfed and was prepared to feed on take off and landing but with the vibrations of the plane during the taxi to the run way, she fell asleep and couldn't be woke! Thought she would wake up in pain with her ears but all was good. This happened on all legs. I just brought nappies and about 10 baby gros in her bag and went through all of them plus 3 outfits for myself and hubby! Can't advise you on Irish passports as we got an Australian passport for her within 10 days of submission.

pclancy

Have done NZ-Ireland with a 6 month old, was on Qantas, Emirates, Cathay Pacific and BA as we also did a business trip on the way back via Asia. Almost always as soon as the engines were started she went to sleep so it wasnt actually too bad at all. We got great service and were always first to board. One FA took her for a long walk around the cabin while we had a quick break which was lovely. Very rare they would offer to do this though. All the staff except emirates were lovely at all times, super helpfull and empathetic. Emirates crew IMO are cold as ice.

Qantas were the only airline that had a mesh type device over the bassinet. This meant that even when the seatbelt sign came on she could stay in the bassinet. Godsend! All the other flights we had to keep lifting her out when there was turbulance, even very light turbulance, which meant she often woke up. They also moved people away from us so we had the entire front row to ourselves to lie down on.

I would highly recommend Qantas with a baby, I was also able to phone and reserve a bassinet so it was confirmed before depature. There were other babies on the flights but we always got the bassinet. My Gold frequent flyer status may have influenced this, not too sure.

Her jetlag when we got to Ireland was shocking. She was awake all night and crabby during the day, her sleep cycle obviously compleltly bolloxed for at least a week. This caused a lot of friction with our family so in hindsight we should have stayed elsewhere and not at home.

Obviously bring your own food and toys etc, but all the airlines gave us a goody bag of toys and snacks, some even had nappies and milk on board but dont count on it.

Be prepared to empty out your bag at security and possibly have the baby food and milk sampled.

If you're stopping over enroute big airports like Dubai have buggies you can borrow, otherwise make sure to only check your buggy as far as your stopover.

If you're in a long queue for security or immigration and feeling yucky, ask the staff for help, usually with a baby you'll get whisked through to the end.

pclancy

Shy Ted wrote: »

He suggested feeding the baby during take off and landing as that'll distract them and also help with the pressure equalisation.

Yes this also worked very well for us!