Travelling to India with a baby / toddler (17 month old)

Re: dress for my kid

thanku lalithasai and blondie for ur reply. i'm sure going 2 find my dream dress that is unique for my daughter and let u know this weekend.
Priya

 

Re: Checklist For Moms With Babies,toddlers During International Travel

Hello Ladies,

On the travelling note, I have travelled with my older one twice. A few things I thought you all might find useful

Please pack a couple of extra t-shirts for yourself. Incase baby/child spits up or throws up on you.
Check to see if you can get disposable bibs.

For stay in India.

I stayed at chennai. Lots of stores in t-nagar, pondybazar carry imported diapers that are good. 'Dial a Diaper' also deliver it at home.

As for cereal, it is fine for older kids, but with babies... don't try anythiing new that is bought from store there.

For other foods, home food is recommended. Wash hands and cook your own baby food, than trying what you get there. Sometimes, just the change in place, weather and other stuff can wreak havoc on babies system, not to mention new foods.
Remember, Urdu, Arabic, German whatever..... coke in every country has different taste and ingredients. Some ingredients that are banned in certain countries where as permitted in others.

A tub for a baby, in the flight...... there is huggies wash cloth, that just lathers up and can be rinsed off. Cetaphil cleanser does not need water at all.
I am sure we can get all plastic bowl and basins in different sizes for babies there.

Last but not least, very diplomatically, separate all babies and kids spoons, plates, and cups and everything they use from the others in the family, including yours.

I bought three table spoons, 3 tea spoons, two bowls, two tumblers (cups) and 2 plates labelled them at the shop itself with my child's initials.

The reason being, in case if one member falls ill, they do not transfer the germs. Even if the child has cousins in the house, your child might not be immune to the virus. This has to be done very carefully and diplomatically
inorder not to hurt others feelings and sentiments.

this way you can avoid 97%. The rest.... in God's hands.

If I have offended anyone, please excuse me. I shared what I did and what I thought others might find useful. If you don't like it, just ignore it.

Thank you and happy travelling.

 

Re: Checklist For Moms With Babies,toddlers During International Travel

hi vaishnavi,

thanx a lot... very nice tips. thanx for sharing with us.

 

Re: Checklist For Moms With Babies,toddlers During International Travel

Hi Ladies,
This is a very good checklist. I am going to India with my son for his 1st bday in December and already I am tense. He has very bad eczema and his allergies flare up at the slightest change in weather.
I have decided to pack a lot of baby jar food and cereal and go light on the diapers/wipe. As we find good diapers in India.

Thanks Sagcan for the tips on food prep at home and handling the baby utensils. I will keep that in mind. My son is allergic to cow's milk and peanuts.


Regards
Gayathri

 

Re: Checklist For Moms With Babies,toddlers During International Travel

Ladies out here, thanks much for sharing this very useful information on travelling with toddlers. I have twins and will be travelling with my family in another 2 mo.s when the twins will be 18 mol.s old. I have been checking on tickets to chennai and heard Qatar has started to fly recently to Chennai from US. The have very good prices and heard the service is good and you have good chances of getting a bassinet and so on, but here are my concerns or questions, please suggest:

1. The flight from US to Doha is 12 hours while going and 15 hours on the return. The flight from Doha to Chennai is only 4 plus hours. Our biggest concern is that its hard to keep toddlers travelling non stop for this long. What is your suggestion?

2. Has anyone here tried Qatar, please provide your opinion.

3. My next choice if not this will be British Airways as Lufthansa is very expensive and I have travelled with them in the past and did not have a godd experience, it is a lot of crowd there too. Please offer any suggestions on BA. Not sure about bassinet here as they say like infants less than 6 mo.s will get the preference. We will go to the airport early to request also but not sure.

4. Is bassines or bulk head seating required if travelling with toddlers? If they don't get any seat, how do we carry them all the way thru? Looks like we both will be busy carrying the kids, do they allow to have the umbrella stroller even for a little while bcos it is twins?

Thanks for your time.

 

Re: Checklist For Moms With Babies,toddlers During International Travel

Hi Sujana,

I have travelled to India with my kids couple of years back when they were toddlers, however, I know lot of friends you travelled/travelling recently. I think I have the following suggestions for you.

I also heared that Quatar airlines is cheap but yet to find out their service

You can get bassinet for kids less than 6 months. They have both age and weight restriction. So the only option left out for you is to have your kids as 'lapchild'.

When I flew I use to look for some emptly seats on board and if I'm lucky enought to find any I use to occupy them so that the kids can lie down to sleep. ( I remember once we had children me and my husband were never seated to gether as we always had handful). You may find one but there is no guarantee. That's why I always prefer to fly on Tue or Wed as the chances of having empty seats are high.

You can carry stroller preferrably umbrella stroller and do a courtesy check in at the gate. All airlines, US airways, American, British and Luftansa allow this.

Most important, I gave benadryl (after consulting with Ped) to my children and they were sedated and slept well on board. Good for us and co-passangers.

And make sure that your kids sip on something from a sipper/bottle during take off/landing. This will open the pressure lock in their ears.

You can request the airport staff and board earlier than others as you have children on hand.

Minimize you hand luggage as much as possible since you need to carry the kid(s) stuff.

Hope this info. is useful to you.

IM

 

Hi Ladies,

I will be traveling to India with a 17 month old in March and I'm getting really tensed up and worried thinking about the long flights. :shaking:Specially about her sleeping in the flight, her food, milk etc.

For parents who have traveled on long flights with toddlers, how did you cope with all this? I'm traveling by KLM and they don't have bassinets for >20 lbs. How did you get bulk head seats (if you did)? How did the baby sleep? In your lap/arms? How did you manage?

Are you allowed to carry milk for the baby? How did you manage all that aspect?

Please give your suggestions/tips...I really need all of them! Right now I feel like :spin

Thanks in advance!!

love,
Aarushi

 

Re: Travelling to India with a 17 month old

Hi arushi,
i travelled with my baby to india when he was around 8 months old.i know its extremely difficult when they become a toddler coz then they will want to run around!!!i guess,we will have to keep few of their fav toys/books to keep them occupied ,even if its for a while.....about the bassinet,i did get one when i was travelling,but the min i put him in the bassinet he would wake up&cry!!!so he ended up sleeping on mine&my hubbys arms.....moreover when ever the seat belt sign was on,we were asked to hold the baby&not put him in the bassinet!!which was majority of the flight time!!!about food,you could carry a few bananas for emergency,otherwise,i guess you could just give him whatever food he gets on board...does your child have a seat?if yes,then he will be provided seperate meal.you could call your airline&find out if they provide kids meal.....recently,when we travelled to hawaii with my son,he is 14 months now,he lapped up the pasta that they gave in the flight.he was infant in arms,so didnt get a seperate meal so my myself&my hubby shared our meal with him!!!about the milk.....your can carry some milk powder in a clear ziplock bag&warm water will be available on board,so you wont have a prob with that...dont worry,i think kids adjust better than us adults!!have a great trip!!!
vidhya.

 

Re: Travelling to India with a 17 month old

Thanks Vidhya for all your tips!!

 

Re: Travelling to India with a 17 month old

Aarushi - its been a long time since I travelled with an infant - what I was going to suggest was to check with the airline regarding taking baby food - Vidhya has given some very good ideas. I am not sure if the airlines have relaxed some of the rules now. Enjoy your trip!!