onlysuites

Is it safe my for my two month toddler to fly a Long Haul flight of 9hrs + 2hrs transit + 1hr? This would be a return flight where we would fly back the same route after a month.

He is ok and not a very cranky child so the long flight will not bother me but I was wondering if it would be safe for him to fly two long hauls in under a month.

Also he would be going to a relatively cool country from a 40c country. Will such a drastic change is temperature have any effect on him. Anyway he is in a a/c room through out the day. But still I know that it takes me a few days to get used to the difference is temperature.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Finite Elephant

I took my son on a transpac at 5 months with only minor problems. The big things are: making sure you have enough baby supplies on board (formula if not nursing, clothes, diapers, wipes, ziplock bags for dirty items, etc.), making sure you have a comfortable place for baby to sleep (at that age I would endorse getting baby its own seat and bringing an FAA approved infant carrier on board).

For the supplies, it's less a matter of trying to predict what you'll need so much as maximizing what you can possibly carry on. But figure one diaper change for every hour of flying time and several outfit changes.

I would suggest talking to your pediatrician about possibly giving your kid a decongestant before takeoff and landing to help equalize ear pressure (definitely feed the kid during ascent and descent to keep 'em swallowing).

Eclipsepearl

As a Flight Attendant, I had many, many 8 week olds on my flights. It seemed to be the typical age to make the first "pleasure" trip. I also had younger but they were usually travelling for more pressing reasons (move, adoption, etc.)

Talk to the doctor but unless there is a specific health concern, your baby should be fine to fly. I also had babies in "delicate" health on flights and they too, were fine. You need to do your "well baby" visits so just have his ears checked at the one before you fly.

The air on airplanes is a bit thinner than on the ground. The cabin is pressurized to 10,000ft. which is a high mountain. Having the baby in his own car seat is the only safe way to fly (lap babies' parents are simply betting on the fact nothing will go wrong!) You want to be sure of the angle of the rear-facing car seat to be sure your baby is comfortable and easily breathing when asleep. Some seats have an indicator. Check your manual. Just as a tip, most infant seats are installed in aircraft without the base.

There is no reason to feed your baby on take-off and landing. This is a common myth. Keep your baby safe in the car seat and just feed when he's hungry. The AAP recommends that the baby simply be awake at the TOP of descent to help his ears adjust (this is usually 40 minutes to an hour before landing). At that tender age, they feed so often that you're probably covered. For take-off, don't remove him from his car seat (if he's crying for a feed) until you're well up in the air.

But do have enough supplies! Simply calculate how many diapers, wipes, formula, etc. he uses in that time frame and add 1/3. He'll go through more diapers than usual. Basically, you'll be changing him when you have the opportunity. You may want to think of this before boarding (forgot once-oops!) and as they are getting the cabin ready for landing.

Make sure you have a good baby carrier. If you're alone, you need your hands free. Skip the fiddly front packs like Bjrons and get something comfortable and useful. Good carriers should go to age 2. They're great for calming babies in flight and useful for keeping strangers hands away. To get near your baby, they have to get near you, so they think twice...

Also, use a backpack style diaper bag (or just a backpack if you are breastfeeding and don't need any bottle holders on it). Hands-free is key. For the car seat, you can take the stroller that it attaches to or get a "stroller frame" to snap it into. Either can be gate-checked. For a convertible seat (if you're using one right away), you can stap it to a metal luggage cart with an extra bungee cord. Throw the diaper bag in the car seat, put the baby in the carrier and you're ready to hit the airport!

Have a good flight!

onlysuites

Thank you for such a detailed reply Eclipsepearl & Finite Elephant. ^^

Just a few questions.

I am still a little cautious about using a car seat as he hates sitting in it. He gets very cranky and prefers to sit on a lap or lye on a bed. I would prefer to put him in a bassinet as it being a night time flight I think he will sleep through most of it. What are the disadvantages of a bassinet as in compared to a car seat?

Also if I go for a car seat then won't I need to pay a for a full ticket? Or is it still 10% even if you use a seat?

Also what type of baby carrier do you mean?

onlysuites

Do you recommend any special precautions now days for infants due to Swine flu?

Eclipsepearl

There are two big disadvantages to using a bassinet.

1. Availability. Not all airlines have them, and when they do, not all airplanes do. Then you have to usually be sitting in a bulkhead seat.

2. Safety. There is no comparison. Some airlines require you to remove your baby from the bassinet in turbulence. You don't have to do that with a car seat. You know this will happen the moment your little one finally gets to sleep.

3. Having your car seat when you arrive. If you have a seat for your baby, you will be able to bring it on board, no question. If you don't, you'll have to gate-check it. Better than having it checked as luggage though...

My babies hated their car seats with a passion. Since you only really need it for take-off and landing, and when he's asleep, that's very little of a long haul flight. When he's awake, he can be in your arms. Actually, it's not good for babies to be in car seats too much. Take-off and landing are shorter usually than most of your car rides. If he's unhappy, too bad but you can remove him once you're well up in the air.

Make sure your car seat will be accepted by the airline you're flying. If you have a U.S. car seat and are flying a U.S. company, it's probably FAA approved. Check too as some nationalities don't allow car seats for babies under 6 months and/or ban rear facing car seats. There is no safety-logic to these restrictions and I'm not sure why babies on British companies aren't allowed to be safe but that's another whole topic...

The point is to check before you shell out and buy a place for your baby. There are companies I simply don't book because of this issue. On long haul, I usually do get a children's discount, albeit it's just a sliver off of the adult fare.

Lately, the taxes have gone up so drastically on international flights that the 10% for babies, plus the taxes, ends up being only slightly less than a child's ticket. Also, if you're moving or otherwise have a lot of bags, if you buy a seat, your baby gets the full allowance for checked bags. This alone is the reason many parents buy a ticket for their baby.

For baby carrier information, I'll give you a couple of sites to browse. I like them because they have multiple products. Check out what you have in your area. Many good carriers and deals can be found from moms making these from home. The advantage is that they can help you get the hang of it.

The better baby carriers often do have a learning curve. It's worth to take a bit of time with it. Hours of comfort and convenience are worth the effort. I have three closely spaced children and having my sling and wrap were sanity-savers. Other designs might be more suitable for you.

http://peppermint.com
http://kangarookorner.com
http://wearsthebaby.com

Funny you asked about swine flu. We're leaving soon for California and we were at the ped's today. I asked him what he thought and like most of the medical community, he says that this flu in its present form is not very virulent. The yearly flu, for which I always vaccinate myself and my children, is more deadly. A vaccine is on its way but for the mean time, he doesn't see any reason for alarm or worry.

Newborns are technically safer travelling than bigger babies and toddlers. The tiny ones aren't crawling everywhere, coming up to strangers and putting everything in their mouths. They look so small and fragile but they're actually quite tough little things. Our instinct is to protect them from everything and anything but nature has equiped them quite well.

It's a big temperature change but the only issue is having clothes that fit him in the cooler climate. That's a big of a pain because he's at the age where he'll outgrow things quickly and now you have to buy two sets for him!

Having a carrier will also keep him warmer than putting him in a stroller outside.

I remember one time I visited friends in England while living in Hong Kong. It was May and I absolutely froze, even though I had lived there 6 years just previously. I was just not used to even cool weather anymore. My issue was that my friends kept their home very cool. That was the worst. I can deal with the cold outside but I would come in and continue to freeze and that wasn't fun. You may even want to bring a thermomitor to regulate where the baby sleeps.

Good luck!

GrnMtnMan

Breast feeding....there's a growing body of evidence that shows that breast milk transfers many antibodies from a mother to an infant that the infant would not otherwise have to fight off sicknesses. My 3 month old daughter was perfectly healthy on a 10 day trip to Europe with my wife breast feeding her.

codex57

Formula manufacturers also freely admit their product isn't as good as breast milk. They've been unable to crack the "code" to replicate breast milk. What they have will satisfy the nutritional needs, but not as well as breast milk. Plus, breast milk is free self replenishing. Prolly the biggest advantage of breast milk on a long haul flight. Having enough supplies is really the toughest part.

As for the car seat, at least when you're on the ground, it may be they're just not used to it. Or, try adjusting the angle within what's allowed by the manufacturer. Worst case is to try another seat. Some kinds just don't like certain seats but are ok with others.

Eclipsepearl

This is true but no guarantee that your baby wont get sick. When I returned to work, I had to use two different day cares because of my weird Flight Attendant schedule. My son was 7 1/2 months old and was breastfed for a year. He was sick all the time. He was simply exposed to a lot of different kids and caught everything doing the rounds. I will admit that he was never really, really ever sick. I had friends who didn't work, didn't put their child in any sort of day care and formula fed and their children never got sick.

Before a baby really moves, they aren't crawling around and playing with other children yet. It's easier to keep them away from germs.

onlysuites

Wow! Thanks everyone & a special thanks to Eclipsepearl ^^ for her detailed replies.

I think you have taken away all my doubts. Will be travelling shortly. Will update as to how it went.

Gaucho100K

Get the first time pax a ff account...

onlysuites

I am on that! He will be a elite soon

daveh03

Hi,

Generally, I think you'll be fine, health-wise at 2 months. Go for it.

One easy one: If you are breast-feeding, make sure you drink plenty (water!). Planes are very dehydrating environments.

Eclipsepearl has made many excellent comments, and as a flight attendant (not sure which carrier?), has for sure seen more infants on flights than I have.

I would check however with whichever airline you're planning to fly (both the long-haul and the connecting flight) about the options for car seat, bassinet, etc. (and ask on the appropriate board here as well).

There are different rules and procedures.

e.g. North American carriers generally require bassinet babies to be removed from the bassinet on turbulence and held, with no additional restraint (this seems a bit wierd, to me...but never mind). Some carriers (e.g. NZ) allow babies to be kept in the bassinet during turbulence (the cover of the bassinet is quite robustly connected to the bassinet). European carriers provide lap-belt extensions which you connect to your belt and then clip round baby (they don't extend your belt, but they create another -adjustable- loop, which is anchored to your belt).

Where permitted, car seats have to be approved for use on an airline, and this comes down to different regulatory bodies. A carseat which is approved by the FAA for use in North America may not be approved for use on a UK/European carrier (note that it is most likely that a model is not approved because it is not up to the required standard, it just means that the particular model hasn't been through the relevant approvals process). This may be a headache if there are different rules for the long-haul flight and the short flight.

Note that for example, BA can provide a car seat for you:

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/child/public/en_gb
(click on the Infant seats and carrycots section)

Note that BA state that car seats must be designed to be anchored by a single lap belt, which I suspect rules out most carseats, which are designed to be anchored by 3-point shoulder+lap seatbelts.

Regarding the safety of different options, I think it is important to recognize that airlines will adopt only rules and policies that have been considered "safe" by their respective regulatory bodies (FAA in USA, CAA in UK, etc.). Now, we can play monday-morning QB on here and try and trade-off one approach against another, but at the end of the day a) we are not experts in this field, and b) there simply isn't enough data to say with any statistical significance that one approach is safer than another. And, let's not lose sight of the fact that this is itself is a GOOD THING, because it means there have been so few instances where the method of restraint of an infant has been significant in their survival.

So:
Most of us are making that bet everytime we get on a plane!! What Eclipsepearl means I think is that lap babies' parents are betting on the fact that nothing will go wrong in a manner which means that some other means of restraint would have significantly improved the survivability/outcome for their child. Personally, it is a no-brainer for me that the odds of that happening are so remote as to be negligible and therefore not a consideration over, for example, convenience, cost, etc. But it's your call, and you have the right to make it.

As well as the safety aspect, you may also wish to consider cost and convenience. Cost: lap-child costs 10% (pays some but not all taxes); child in their own seat on an international flight might pay 70% of adult fare. Convenience: a 2-month old will probably sleep better horizontally than in a carseat. If you're travelling on your own, it is a hassle to have to hold your child if that is the only way they will sleep. Also, don't forget that the carseat will be an extension of your hand luggage, and therefore will need to be hauled around the airport with you. Even if you need a car seat at your destination, it might be easier/cheaper to rent/borrow one (or even check it in as part of your checked luggage).

Okay, that's my 2p-worth attempt at a balanced view of the whole topic! (If the CAA says that babies on British-operated airlines are safe, that's good enough for me )

Dave

onlysuites

Flight was a breeze. Thanks to everyone for their help ^