Flying with a 7 month old

Been there and done it several times, and alone aswell. Biggest piece of advice is just ask for help left right and centre. I am usually too proud to ask but I made myself ask and the crew were great.

Have you got a sling/baby carrier? This was essential for doing things in the airport and for helping the baby to sleep either in the airport or on board (which I had to do at times). He hopefully will fit in the bassinet. I did it at 3 months, 10 months and 18 months. 10 months and my DS1 was too big for the bassinet. Travelling with an 18 month old long haul is horrendous!! So you are going at a good time!

Make sure you order a baby meal and might be wise to call ahead and check that it has been ordered (our toddler meal was forgotten about on some of the legs). Might be worth having a few jars/pouches with you anyway and they shouldn't be a problem with the liquid restrictions (though security might have increased again after recent events). It is great you are breastfeeding still. I was formula feeding during my second visit and that was a bit of a hassle with bottles and heating milk etc.

Bring his favourite toys and if he sleeps in a sleepsack make sure and bring it on board.

Re. jet lag - he should be ok as babies cope better than we do. We had 3 nights of early waking and then back to normal sleeping through.

It is tough going on your own but it will be worth it all in the end (especially if you are going to see family!!)


Feel free to ask anymore questions....

You can order a post weaning meal - it is basically some Watties jars. I also asked for a banana and mashed it up as my DS1 loved it. But def good to have some things that you know your wee one likes. At least at 7 months he isn't relying on solids and you can offer him more breastmilk if he is hungry/unsettled.

Perhaps you could use your front pack a few times this week to see if he is happy to be in it again. I have only ever really used mine for travel.

Re. the pushchair. Yep, you can keep it until you board (though they may ask you to go the gate a little earlier so they can put it on) BUT - if you are only stopping over for a few hours in S'pore then you may not be able to get it off to use. If you have a small umbrella stroller then they may allow that on board. During my last trip we were able to take ours on board but other times we weren't. Think it all depends on the day and how busy the flight is. Sorry, that isn't much help!

I am very excited for you going to see family. We won't be going back for a while. The thought of going with two children is enough to put me off for a while!

And all the fun you will have shopping for baby clothes in Next/M&S/Mothercare!! Jealous!!

I did the AKL-Frankfurt trip on my owm with my 6 month old 2 weeks ago. It was much better than expected.
I had a sling and also a little umbrella stroller with me as I didn't want to carry her for 3 hours at our stop over and she normally doesn't sleep that well on me. My stroller fitted in the overhead storage so I had it with me right until boarding.
I didn't take jars as I found them too heavy but loved the pouches. I BF most of the time but took 3 pouches of formula just in case and used 2 of them. My second leg of the trip was with Lufthansa and they insited on having her in a lap belt during take off and landing and she needed to face forward so I could not BF so offered the formula instead and it worked well!
The bassinets worked really well for us too, but a family next to me had a 7 1/2 months old and Thai Airline would not let him use the bassinet due to his age! Their cut off is 6 months but I saw a label on the actual bassinet that said the kg limit is 10 so not sure now.

PM me if you have any more quesions, happy to help! we are flying back in 2 weeks.

I would think you can get the stewards to provide you with water ok or you can buy ready made liquid formula which I used. I laugh when I think about it now - I bought so many cartons of ready made milk - I am sure I had enough to feed every baby on board there and back!! I just didn't want to be caught short!

Great about the pushchair too. What Sem said about the lap belt is true with most airlines (except one we flew with domestically in the USA). The baby has to sit with it's back against your tummy - and not for nice reasons - to do with if there is a crash ...will spare you the details but a steward told me that on one of the flights as I wanted to keep my DS in the front pack facing me as he was sound asleep before we took off.

Hope the bassinet works out - It may be more to do with his length rather than weight but until you get there then you won't know - and if you can't sleep him in it I found it great for extra storage of things I needed off and on for my DS.

My DH is heading to the UK soon so I am putting in some requests for clothes etc!

Have a great time away and remember that even if it gets stressful at times, it won't last forever and eventually the plane WILL land and your family can take over.

Let us know how you get on!

Hiya!
Our travel pages have a few trips and tips that you might find useful?
http://www.ohbaby.co.nz/lifestyle/travel