We have many infant trips under our belt and I am split 50/50 on connecting. At the age you are considering, our son slept thru everything so it didn't matter to him what was happening. I was in the connection camp, my husband would say he preferred direct. (so I am really of no help, sorry)
Originally Posted by
roknroll
Try to pick a connecting city that splits up the flights into two somewhat similar chunks... not something like a 2 hour flight followed by an 8 hour flight. And give yourself 2-3 hours to connect so you can stretch legs, re organize your supplies, get some food, and have plenty of padding in case of delays.
Yes I'd also recommend secondary trip insurance, and it's not all that expensive. I really like the site
www.insuremytrip.com for comparison shopping. I've never had to use it, but always get it when traveling with our young children on long trips. It's got high value medical coverage (including medical evacuation), but also can help out in case of major delays, cancellations, or lost luggage. If you get stuck somewhere overnight, you'll want a decent hotel room to set up in. Or possibly use the money to cover rebooking yourself on an alternate flight.
For a long flight like that, pack plenty of changes of clothes (for baby AND you), diapers, wipes, etc. I usually pack double what I think I would need. Bring a bunch of gallon sized zip loc bags as well, in case you need to contain dirty/soiled clothes.
At that age, being held on the plane isn't going to be an issue for the baby. Just take off and landing with the ears, but you can nurse the baby or give a bottle during those times. The connection is more of an issue for parents. With an extra set of hands, connecting and saving money is probably best.
I 100% agree with all these points.
We NEVER considered travel insurance until our son was born and now find it to be worth the cost. It has paid for its self several times over on three occasions (two medical, one delay). When something does go wrong with a baby that age, it goes wrong in a big way and the coverage is valuable.
Ziplocs! Absolutely. Not only are they good for dirty storage, I would prepare "packs" ahead of time with a disposable changing pad, diaper and a wad of wipes. That way, when our son needed to be changed, I grabbed one small packet, not a loose diaper AND the big package of wipes AND something to lay him on. It just made it so much easier to tuck one thing under my arm. If I was changing him in an area without a trash can, the Ziploc was the temporary trash bag.