From a recent Lounge thread (info about basinettes, seating, etc) :
I've been gone a while since DS has been cruising along without too many issues besides the odd scratchy teething day (and now he's crawling everywhere there's no peace! ). But now I'm getting rather anxious because on thursday he and I (he's 10months) fly to the UK for 3 weeks to see my mum and family. It's a 36hr journey all up and although I'm never phased by longhaul flights, I'm dreading how I'm going to cope with a baby on my knee (who doesn't like to sit still) in a very confined seat for hours at a time. I'm hoping like mad that we'll get a basinet on each flight but it's not guaranteed. I asked the doctor for some sedative so I can get DS to do one long 'nighttime' stretch of sleep at some stage during the flight, and perhaps the first night in england to help reset his clock, but doc said there wasn't anything on the market safe for an under 2yrold so I came away emptyhanded. Looks like I'll just have to hope the lavender oil on his bedding helps...
Am in dire need of some reassurance that we'll get through it without driving ourselves and our poor neighbouring passengers mad!
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First of all, you will survive!
Second, have you called the airlines you're flying with and asking them specifically for a bassinet seat?? That might work. If that isn't an option, maybe if they can seat you beside and empty seat could also work. When we have that, we usually bring the car seat with us, set it beside us after landing and seat DS there for a few hours!
Third, if he's crawling, you can let him crawl around as long as the flight attendants arent' serving food!
fourth, forget about your fellow passengers! If they don't like sitting beside a baby, tough on them! Seriously, don't worry too much about them. If they have a problem with your baby, let them have the problem and don't make it yours. If they want to change seats, well then, that's going to be their problem as well! (That's my attitude anyway)
HTH!!!!
Jimena, mom to Paul 24/11/05
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I have flown longhaul with DS on a lot of occasions and everytime we have had a skycot. Just ring the airline, or your travel agent and make sure that it is on your booking/reservation. They would be mad not to give you one as it makes life more comfortable for your LO AND the other passengers. If you get on and find that they haven't given you one, just ask the flight attendant and usually they will get someone to swap with you so you have access to the skycot.
On our flight back from Sydney, I asked if the flight was full and if it would possible to have a spare seat between me and DH - which they gave us! It was great as DS is an independent little thing and we could give him his toys and interact with him without having him on our lap.
Regarding sleep - what time of day will you get on the plane bound for the UK? You should be able to get some sleep out if him, whether it be night time or a nap. My LO sleeps beautifully on the plane (even when he was a terrible sleeper), as do most babies - something to do with the 'white noise.'
I gave my LO medised but I think that is just a UK medication. Any baby based medicine with anti-histamine in it will produce a drowsy effect. Do you have tylenol in the USA? Dozol is another one that we just had prescribed by the DR as DS has a respiratory infection - do you have that? It is specifically for bubs.
You will be surprised just how helpful people are (other passengers usually) when you travel with a LO, and I had no problem allowing my DS up and down the corridor of the plane. I also took him for walks holding him, and into the toilet to look into the mirror - anything to entertain him!
Make sure you take a change of clothes for him - my LO never wees when I change his nappy but he decided to when we were on the plane and the only change of clothes was with my DH - I ended up walking (running) down the plane with a naked baby!!!
Also, make sure you check your pram/buggy in and leave it at the gate - just ask when you check in, it makes life alot easier when you don't have to carry him around.
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Good suggestions so far...just wanted to add that we flew California to Belgium to visit my family when ds was 10 months old and he was a crawling machine...from what I found, everyone was quite understanding and my little guy was able to crawl around quite frequently...there were tons of other parents travelling and we all kind of met up in certain parts of the planes so the little ones could expend some of their energy. I also used benedryl for ensure one good long nap and then bedtime....
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We won't know if we have a bassinet until we check in even though we've requested one - they only have a certain number of them on the plane and if there are lots of babies the youngest ones get priority - at 10months DS would probably be pretty far down the list. But anyway, as it's looming closer (day after tomorrow!) I'm feeling more organised and ready for it and I just want to get on with it - the anticipation of it is (hopefully) worse than the reality.
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Theo and Harvey both did very well and we just got back to the UK from the US. There were 3 flights each way and the longest was 9 hrs and they really shocked us with how well they behaved.
The only hard thing was being able to eat your food. But i had G with me and was able to pas Theo to him when he had finished so i could eat mine. But there was a lovely couple when we flew over to the US (they were from america) who offered to have Theo so i could eat and would always bring us drinks back if they went to get some. bless him, it was a man really as his wife was on the inside.
We did have rather good seats on the way over so asked for a seat behind the galley so you have that little extra leg room because H & T was able to just walk in front of us, so if you have nice neighbours then maybe they will let him just move around them.
Try and make friends with your neighbours as i am sure they will help out, you will be surprised at how many ppl will play with your child.
Oh and Theo, slept quite a lot on the way over which was quite nice too. He fell asleep just before each take off and was only awake for one landing. We did let him do his own thing as far as naps were concerned because we were up at 1am and our first flight wasn't until 6am, so he had ots of sleep to catch up on and you will be pleased to know that both boys just fell into the time zone which was 7 hrs behind ours.
Rhian
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You might want to check if your lo fits in the bassinets still. Not to worry you but our DD was pretty tall and didn't fit on some airlines at 11 months. I know BA has a proper toddler seat but Quantas didn't. Don't want to alarm you but better to check now than when you arrive at airport.
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We flew back with Austrian Airlines and at 75cms Charlie 'just' fit - his head and feet were hitting the ends, and this was alot longer than the one we got on Malaysian. Altho Charlie is tall for his age ....
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They do tend to put you behind the galley anyways (apparently) when you have a bassinet. Here's a link to the planes seating arrangements.
http://www.seatguru.com/One of the planes we were on was the A330 and that caries like 500 passengers, there were many of us with babies and young children on that flight and i really didn't here any complaints from passengers nor did i hear baby cries.
Infact, ppl were telling us on a few of the flights that our boys had did very well and that they must be very frequent flyer's...when infact, this was both their first time.
Also, when you are on board your first flight you may want o ask a steward if they do the "first flight wings". Harvey and Theo got a badge (wings) and a certificate.
Rhian