Long time lurker here with a question. My wife is an Aussie and we're about to have our first baby (two months from now). Once baby user is born we want to take her (already know its going to be a girl) across the pond to visit the family down under. With baby on the way, our leisure travel has been cut way back, and as a result of that combined with my business travel this year I've got tons of miles to burn. Usually when we go to Australia we upgrade to business, but with the rugrat in tow, we've decided we want to fly 1st, to have the extra room to deal with the kid and her accompanying gear.

So here's my question. I'm going to book this flight entirely with miles. I know generally babies of this age don't need a seat, but since I'm using miles to book a first class ticket, rather then paying for it, does that rule still apply? I figured it did, but thought I'd ask anyway. Also, having never booked an international first class trip with miles before (well other then to Mexico) how far out to I need to start booking seats?

Thanks in advance for all your help!!