Taking baby milk formula to Australia

Dear all,


We'll be traveling to Australia with our 9 month old baby for the first time, and the milk formula we use is not available in Australia.


We have noticed that Australia has strict import restrictions on all dairy products, baby milk formula included.


I see our options as either changing our daughters milk formula before we go to one that's available in Australia, or sending some prior to our arrival and going through their quarantine tests..


Any helpful advice or suggestions would be much appreciated.


Thanks!

How long are you going for? And what brand of formula do you currently use?

Powdered baby formula commercially packaged in its tin or packaged baby foods commercially packaged in sealed sachets/jars will get through Australian customs just fine, and as long as the quantity is reasonable for the amount of time you're staying for that should be fine too (i.e. you're obviously not taking in commercial quantities to onsell). My advice would be to take in all current brand baby fomula you need plus any special packaged food items that your baby likes (including baby food, formula etc) in a separate bag, as Australian Customs is strict and you'll need to declare it, and when you need to open the bag for customs to inspect hopefully they'll only ask you to open that one bag with all the food items in it, as opposed to ALL your bags if you were to spread the food across all your bags. Although baby formula and food is easy to come by and of good quality in Australia it's nice to have baby's favourites with you when you arrive so you don't need to rush out to the shops to buy it when you arrive. Hope this helps and good luck with your travel!

Thanks chinck,


You're absolutely right. We decided to post some milk formula (Friso) and some rice cereal products, labelled clearly as "dairy food and other baby food products" and it past quarantine without a problem and in quick time. Not sure if Friso being made in Holland helped (since Austrlalia allows dairy products from Holland).. but in any case we're glad it's already there and waiting for us. We might take some milk powder with us as well, just to see for next time.


BTW, The amount was small.. Two tins of milk formula and two packets of cereal.


Many thanks for your reply and your advice, I'm guessing you've done it a fair few times already?!