Flying to NZ with a baby

[niwi]

Hi,

I am about to fly to NZ with what will be my 5 month old baby. My partner can't come with us so I'll be doing it alone and am feeling slightly nervous about the flight etc.

Does anyone have any tips for making a long haul flight with a baby slightly easier? ...and then there is the question about baby jetlag!

Cheers

[bluesuperted]

There are lots of threads on this, I'd search EDF stalwart 'Pickle' and 'flights' and lots of her advice should come up ... Good luck!

[Pickle]

Ha ha, stalwart! :-)

Yes, I've done it many times, these days with three children, so count yourself lucky that you've just got one to look after! Five months should be pretty straightforward, especially if not on solids yet (although even if food is involved it's still fine). Try to get a bassinet seat, take a few little toys (although 5 months won't require much entertaining).

Jet lag - my kids have all been in routines, so I just switch to NZ time as soon as we land and do all nap times etc. at the right times. At that age it should just take a few days to adjust.

Good luck!

[TJ]

look at the air new zealand air beds - it is 3 economy seats, you pay for 2.5, but it has more leg room and a flip up part creating a decent bed. Costs less than a 5th of a first class bed.

[Chillaxed]

Yep, and if you get a sky couch (air bed) you can take your car seat on the plane. Useful for take-offs, landings and hypnotising with the in-flight entertainment.

Agree with Pickle re. jet lag ? switch to NZ times asap, even if you have a stopover.

Speaking of stopovers, we took one on the way there and were glad we did. The thought of getting back on the plane at LA after the first leg?

And remember, you'll have loads of family to babysit when you get there!

[Pickle]

We always fly Singapore Airlines, must try the airbeds sometime!

We tend to go straight there (with about a 5 hour stop in Singapore where we give the older kids chocolate and encourage them to run round like loonies), on the basis that we can hand the kids to grandparents when we arrive. On the way back to London we book ourselves into the transit hotel in Singapore airport and stay overnight which works well, and makes the arrival in damp dreary London a bit more bearable as we've had at least a little bit of sleep.

I find that from about 7/8 months till 2 is a tricky time for the long haul flights, but once they get bigger it's a doddle. On our last trip at Xmas my 6 and nearly 5 year olds were in Cartoon Network heaven being allowed to watch TV for hours on end.

[Goonerjules]

Hi there - I just got back from Oz - my daughter was 5 mths when we went. I didn't go on my own but my advice if you haven't booked flights yet is to try and get night flights, Out of all the flights we got, my daughter slept much better when the cabin was dimmed/dark and it meant we could get a bit of sleep too. When it was bright she didn't want to sleep. Also get a bassinet - you have to take the baby out when the fasten seatbelt comes on which is a pain but it really helps having one! My daughter is a good sleeper and jetlag wasn't too bad - it took two or three nights to adjust going there and the same coming back. As everyone else suggests, try to get her on local time ASAP. We took a lightweight maclaren buggy and had a 5 hr stopover in Singapore - we could keep the buggy during transit which again was really useful. A word of warning if you aren't exclusively breastfeeding - we took cartons of formula and the jobsworth at heathrow made us open half (Singapore and Oz didn't bat an eyelid at baby milk) so make ure you buy it air side from boots or you'll end up throwing it away! I've only done the one trip so am no expert and I was dreading it even though i was going with my husband but it really was fine.

[melbourne groover]

Take your buggy sheepskin put of the buggy when you actually go on the plane (if you have one, but as you're a kiwi I am presuming...;-))on as the sky cots can be hard bottomed.

Definately take a sling with you as this gives hands free potential!

5 months is a great time to go!

[Pickle]

Good tip re: the sheepskin - we did that. Every kiwi baby has one don't they?

[niwi]

Thanks heaps for all the tips! Feeling more confident about flying solo already. Baby Niwi is EBF and on a pretty solid routine so was a bit concerned about mucking it all up but hey these babies are pretty resiliant to it all eh!

I've already booked fights with Singapore (shortest possible transit times won me over - I just want to get there!!) but Air NZ sounds good for future flights.

Cheers