Travelling with a 15 month baby.

Sunandha,

here are my two cents on this.

yes, Travelling alone with the Baby is difficult but NOT Impossible. With a 15 month old baby you would be having a Tough time, but you can make i easy if you can plan well.

a. is it possible to reduce the Luggage count. Atleast the Hand Luggage??Diaper bag is unavoidable.
b. Take 2-3 new Toys for your son. A new Toy always amazes a Kid atleast for few Hours. You can also take few Board books to keep him occupied.
c. Not sure abt the car seat part, but you can take a seat with a bassinet so that your son can sleep comfortably. You can ask for one when you make your Flight Booking.
d. Formula, cerelac , gerber should be fine. You can take Idly/ Rice which can help you for the first six hours of flight. Once done with this home food you can use the packed formula/Cerelac.
e. Carry a Flask of hot/Warm water. few Airlines do not allow them but few of them are kind enough to allow them
f. I had a very Bad experience when i travelled with my 9 month Baby(Alone) in Lufthansa. The Air Hostess were busy attending the Elite(read business Class and other European passengers) and cared a damn for the Indian passengers. They dint give me warm water even after making repeated requests to them (I had to mix the Formula in the cold water i had ). Dont panic . I am sharing this incident just to make sure you are prepared for the worst too. I had travelled by Cathay pacific and they made my Travel easy.

g. Can you get few Dollars (About 20-30) handy??You can try in some Forex Units. Its better you carry them.

hope this info helps!!!!

 

---- AND here I was writing a big post --- May be helpful for someone else ----

We travelled recently with our one year old to India. I tell you it was quite a task. LOL, being her first flight travel. But when we returned, I guess it was much better. So prepare for the worst is my first and foremost advice.

Why so many luggage? You can have only 2 if you want to survive the trip with your son and be sane all through the time. A Diaper bag and a hand luggage that you can stuff whatever that is necessary, like your laptop, jewels etc.

Since you are traveling alone, don't be shy anywhere to ask for help to move your luggage etc.

(1) Be sure to get the bulkhead seats. They are the first seats with good leg space. That way you can put your legs in one side and a bag in the other and let you kid sit and play in front of you. This is a very important step in your trip ;-)

(2) Do you still feed him? He has milk/formula from bottle? If so, make sure you feed him while the flight is taking off or landing. They tend to get ear pain and the only way is to cry their hearts out to let you know. Fortunately my daughter did not cry, but the other babies cried their heart out and it was sad as mommies and annoying for all those stupid passengers who never been with kids. Coming to that, there will be some idiotic passengers showing faces and talking nonsense. Don't give a damn. If they are so irritated they should got themselves a private jet.. LOL. Ignore those people. During boarding, look for good people, mostly mommies/parents so they can help you out and also be supportive when need be.

(3) Wear a comfortable dress and also wear the same for ur son. I saw a mother wearing jeans and coat for her son and he was so uncomfortable in them. Dress him in layers, so when u want you can remove one and have him play around.

(4) Passport pouch, Keep both of ur passports and tickets that you might need to show in some places and its quite hard to search in ur handbag each time. That way while walking u can carry ur pouch by hanging it around ur neck and stuff ur handbag in ur hand luggage.

(5) Food - Keep gerber foods. travel formula packs. This is what I did. When its her time to sleep, I gave her formula/BM. We travelled in Jet. So in the short leg - NJ to Belgium, I fed her in the airport and when we boarded, within 10 mins, gave her formula. It was evening and she slept the entire time till belgium. There once we reached the next gate. After changing diapers, letting her run around for a while, fed her gerber. This was the long leg - I guess 13 hours or so, I don't remember. So when we boarded it was morning, so she was awake for few hours and then formula/BM. She slept for 3-4 hours. Then followed by gerber, formula/Bm and we landed The idea was to alternative solid and milk. And in between entertained her with her favorite snacks - Cheerios, Gerber munckins etc. Load such fav snacks of ur son in the diaper bag, so when he is cranky u can give him these. I also had packed homemade food in the sealed hot containers - Pasta and Idly. Though she didnt complete it, it was nice to have it.

(6) Finally, the most important thing is diaper change. It was a struggle. The place is so cramped. Above the bowel seat, u have a small diaper place. And it was very hard to keep her in one place to change the diapers. She did poopy once and that's when I took her there. For every other change (I change diapers every 3 hours, a cleanfreak mom LOL) I just had her lay down in the front (See that's why u need bulkhead seats) and had my husband cover and I changed it there, it was much easier. Change diapers just before u board, that helps.

(7) I wouldn't carry a carseat. One, it has to be FAA approved. Second, since it a new environment it is highly doubtful if ur son will sleep there. Third, U need to buy another seat to keep your carseat. Thats very expensive if you ask me. I held her in my arms and she sat in my lap all through the travel. Yes, My back and butt was aching at times, but I guess she felt secure and was happy and thats important. Your son will be 15 months old and I don;t think he will fit in a sling and also sit in it without squirming out. I had a baby carrier. It was very helpful. She was looking out and having fun and I had my 2 hands free !!

Convert some rupees and have some dollars when u go to the airport. Having minimal amount of cash for emergencies is always a good idea.

Feb will be a cold weather here, depending upon where you come to. North east or west coast? But if you can, u can bundle him up good and anyways you are going to be home and not roaming around yeah. So thats a thought to think about too.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions and welcome to US.

Ungalai anbudan states varaverrkirathu

 

So you came in Feb itself.. Good !!!

 

Hi Sunandha
Will you please share what all you carried and was it worth it... So that the information will be of help to others who may in future be in your circumstances...

Thank You