Flying with baby questions

[hammie59]

What brand of formula are you using? Similac makes PLASTIC bottles that are 8oz and you can just screw on a nipple.

Enfamil. So far my only premade choices are cans or glass bottles.

 

[Mom2JPL]

Just a thought, but when we took our 12 month old this past Oct, I had her off of the formula right before the trip. She turned 1 on the 2nd, and we left on the 3rd. We had her off of the formula the week before we left. It made travelling sooo much easier (had her off the bottle completely)! You may want to think about it, just in case. Plus, she was also off of baby food, which also makes it easier not worrying about carrying all of that stuff. We did bring a sippy cup for her with juice in it so that when the flight took off it she was drinking it to help with the pressure in her ears.

On another note, we travelled with our eldest daughter when she was 12 months old from China to PA (can you say LONG flight?) and as I can recall (seems so long ago now, she's 4) I packed the formula in our carryon (powder) along with a few bottled waters and of course a few bottles. They did supply us with water on the flight too. It really wasn't bad. She slept in our arms for a lot of the flight (flight was FULL, so we couldn't get her a seat).

Have a great time on your trip!

 

[NotUrsula]

They did supply us with water on the flight too.

Aircraft do carry potable water, just not very much of it. Under normal circumstances this is usually not a problem, but if you get a landing delay it can become a problem very quickly. Most planes carry only enough bottled/canned water as they estimate they will need for the flight's duration; the rest of what is on board is in the holding tanks, and that is water that I would not drink myself unless there was absolutely no alternative. I would not voluntarily give it to a baby.

If you get stuck either circling your destination for a while, or forced to sit on the runway after landing, expect that the potable water will probably run out once you get one hour past the scheduled duration of your flight.

I've personally been in situations where we circled for 2.5 hours before being cleared to land, and then sat on the runway for another four hours waiting for an open gate. This is the reason that I suggested bringing your own emergency water supply on board.

 

[cruise cruise cruise]

As far as packing liquids in your checked bags, yes it is risky, it could break. However, with that said what I do is put my liquids in a zip lock bag and then that inside another. I have yet had anything break open.

I agree that you should plan for 24 hrs worth of "stuff" for your child.

Another option, with your worry of not getting your bags in a "timely manner", would be to retrieve your bags (or at least the one that has the formula and baby stuff in it) and take it with you to the bus. The driving will put the bag underneath for you (please tip accordingly). You will then have your bag with you upon arrival at your resort.

 

[James Goddard]

I'd like to second the comment about pressure and ears. When our daughter was an infant we made sure she was swallowing on both ascent and descent.

Generally ascent is not as much of an issue as descent because the ears will clear themselves but it can still cause some discomfort. Descent is very important, it can be quite painful for your child if the ears are not cleared on descent.

The best advice I can give is to make sure your baby is hungry towards the end of the flight. On a short flight this might mean forgoing a bottle on takeoff in favor of something else, such as a pacifier. On longer flights you might be able to go with a bottle for both takeoff and landing. You can force a bottle into a babies mouth but you can't make him/her suck. If they are not interested in eating on decent you may be getting your vacation off to a very unfortunate start!

Once our daughter got out of the infant stage we also found safety pops to be an excellent choice as a small child will rarely turn down a sugar filled treat unless they generally get too much of that kind of thing .

This year our daughter is 3 and a half for our May trip, I'm thinking of switching to gum.

 

[bookmama]

this is what we did last June, we had the powered formula already in the bottles and then asked for water from the flight attendant. they are so not going to let you take anything above 3 ounces past the checkpoint.

 

[tjmw2727]

this is what we did last June, we had the powered formula already in the bottles and then asked for water from the flight attendant. they are so not going to let you take anything above 3 ounces past the checkpoint.

Just to clarify - you absoultely can take breastmilk and or formula over 3 oz past the security checkpoint.

Here is the link to the TSA info ~http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/children/formula.shtm

Also I would repeat the suggestions of PP's and recommend bringing your own bottled water onboard (purchased after security) to assure you have enough if your uisng powdered formula. In the event of a delay the FA's may not have enough water onboard after serving drinks 1 or sometimes 2 times through the cabin.

TJ

 

[hammie59]

Thanks again for the replys. All have been very informative and helpful.