I am back. This time with a different approach to Mes Voyages - Voyages with babies! Yes a whole new adventure! And I promise its just as enjoyable! Our child is currently 16 months old and we have traveled with him since he was 3.5 months old.
Places visited so far: Houston, Goa & Jaipur. (Soon to come Europe - I know!!! Am just as curious about this destination).
Hold on though, let's first tackle the biggest anxiety of vacationing with babies, the very dreaded plane travel!
Plane travel:
Pick plane times that come closest to your baby's sleep routine (especially on long haul flights! The best piece of travel advice my MIL gave me). Don't worry if this increases your travel time by a couple of hours. A couple of additional hours of a sleeping baby in the plane is any day better than a few less hours but an awake cranky baby
Lap child? If your child can crawl then negative. It is absolutely worth getting a paid seat for your child. An unhappy child, fed up, frustrated, cranky and on your LAP! No thanks! Our baby did great. He slept for 11 out of 16. Ate, pooped and took another nap. All this he did on his seat (keeping us free to watch movies ;))
I also carried his car seat with me into the plane on 1 of the segments. At this point, its all about comfort. If your child is used to spending a long time in his/her car seat and taking naps in it then take it along. Otherwise, just spread a blanket on the seat, put his seat belt on and let him nap.
If you are going to use a bassinet, Lufthansa has the widest and most comfortable bassinets. Could easily accommodate a 8 month old baby.
Plane restrooms - Not the most child friendly place. However, there is always at least 1 restroom in the plane with a changing station. I changed pee pee diapers in his seat and poo poo in the restroom. You can make a little diaper changing kit so you don't have to lug your entire diaper bag into the tiny restroom. If your child goes through 6 diapers a day, carry 12 for your flight. If he goes through 2 change of clothes in a day carry 4. Which brings us to the next question -- what and how much should I carry with me?
Carry on bag - Keep 1 set of everything you need in your diaper bag and the spares in your cabin bag. I kept 4 diapers, a change of clothes(all sleep suits - easiest to travel in), 2 meals, 3 formula servings, 3 teets and 3 disposable water refills for the bottle, pacifier, sterilizing wipes, 1 blanket, 2 favorite toys, 2 important medicines in the diaper bag.
In the carry on bag, keep little pouches/packets of food, clothes, diaper stuff, toys, medicine. So you don't have to drag the entire bag down and hunt through everything but can just grab what you need.
We traveled with our travel system and checked in our sling!
Tip - Ear numbing drops! Just put a few drops 10 minutes before take off and landing. They numb the ears for about 30 minutes. Work like a charm. They are prescription medicine.
Happy flying with les enfants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
