Posted by
Ona
18 yrs ago
Hi everybody!
I am sure this thread has been posted before, but just asking for some help. Flying to UK this summer with my 3 months old for the 1st. time and no hubby ;-( So, I was wondering if somebody can share some tips. Also, I bottle feed but not sure how to manage, do I need to bring the boiled water prepared? or the flight attendants can do it for you? (as I think I cannot bring water to the plane) can I bring the powder, right? how many bottles? can i clean them there? but i cannot sterilize them right??? i will appreciate any help, thanks so so much!!!! i am a bit nervous!!!!
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Flight attendants are happy to provide boiling water or to heat a bottle for you. Just make sure you avoid meal times when they are very busy. We have always found F/As to be very helpful. Needless to say, ask nicely. ;)
You may bring liquid foods and powdered stuff for babies. This is an exception to the liquids rule. Make sure you tell the security staff BEFORE you run the bag through the x-ray that you have baby food with you. They will ask to see it. There is no set rule for the amount but of course it should be within reason.
We never sterilized our bottles so we didn't miss it. Bring a ziploc bag or the like with a bit of dishwashing detergent + a brush and you can was the bottles in the lav. You can always ask the F/As to rinse with boiling water.
Good luck.
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smsm
18 yrs ago
Hi Ona,
have travelled quiet a lot with my little one and this is what i do..
sterilise the bottles before leaving the house, u might want to take 5 6 empty sterilised bottles with you since its a long flight.
I carry the boiled water in a thermo flask ( cooled to the temp which baby drinks)...as long as u tell them its for the baby they dont have a problem. Once the water is over just ask the flight attendants to fill up for u..this way u dont have to ask for it each time the feed needs to be prepared
You can take the small formula tin with u..this way u will have enough powder with u in case of any spilling accidents ..
Do reserve the bassinet seat so that baby can be put there once asleep or even other wise..they dont want to be held on all the time..
And lastly dont worry..travelling with a 3 month old is easier then it may seem...u will do just fine..
Good luck
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"And lastly dont worry..travelling with a 3 month old is easier then it may seem...u will do just fine.."
I second that. Traveling when baby is over a year is MUCH harder. All that energy in an enclosed space, argh...
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well i am a newbie to the formula feeding thing, but i find those little containers where you can measure out 3 /4 or 5 scoops ahead so you just empty contents intobottle with the required amount of water really useful. ofcoures also carry a small tin of the formula ur using in handbaggage.
do make sure your baby doesnt have a problem with a stuffy nose. That might lead to pressure on hte ears and pain during take off and landing. timely nasal drops and a pacifier or a bottle during these times help a lot.... babies must be sucking on something during this time as it helps with the pressure change.
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Robyn
18 yrs ago
First of all my 9 month old and i have just done our 36th flight in the past 9 months together. This is what I do.
I use the fomula stacker. 2x lots of 3. (just in case)
Pre fill 3 - 4 bottles to 220mls (you can keep the baby hydrated this way as she or he will become quite dehydrated, i am presumming its a night flight and in this time 4 bottles are more than plenty. Place them into your nappy bag or a bottle bag. (ensure sercurty do not put the bag on its back so as to keep the bottles upright. If your nappy bag is big take the bottles out at security and put them into there plastic containers that they provide.
Tip for after the flight Prune juice (about 2 teaspoons for that age) into your formulaed baby botte once a day for 2 to 3 days babies can sometimes get very constipated after a flight and this can happen even up to a week after a flight..
Tip for durring the flight try not to use the boilded water they have on board as before it comes to you the water is not very clear and they wait until the water has settled before bringing it to you. (I am an ex flight attendant)
Tip for just afted the PA the captain makes as he is about to desend. Use a dummy or a bottle so that they can suck to clear the ears.
Take your stroller to the plane and pick it up from the plane as you leave. May take a while for the ground staff to return to the plane as they have to get it from the hold so no rush.
Get the bassinett seat (if its CX to LHR) ask for the middle row bassinett seats as the arm on your chair comes up. If the seat is empty next to you at least you will have more room and able to rest your head. The window bassinett seat the arm in the middle of the seats are fixed.
Lastly..... 3 mths is a great time to travel. Mine now is much harder to travel with these days.
Enjoy
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"The window bassinett seat the arm in the middle of the seats are fixed."
This depends on the airline and the aircraft. Some airliners have moving armrests in these seats and some don't. You can find seat information of this kind on Seatguru.com.
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Ona - in regards to water - I would not ask the attendands to boil it, you never know whether they really do it properly - I always just had a bottle of Evian or something similar with me - not sure if you give your milk warm or room temp. We did room temp so just had the formula in that special blue container thingy, a big bottle of Evian and some bottles that we sterilised at home prior to travel. Yes, I agree with others - travel at 3 months is as easy as it gets for the next 3.5 yrs!!
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"I would not ask the attendands to boil it, you never know whether they really do it properly "
Flight attendants don't "boil water". They get boiling water out of a tap. There are no hot plates or such on aircraft (except in some rare cases in first class galleys). Boiling water in a pot would be far too dangerous.
So I think it is quite safe to ask for boiling water. If in doubt, go to the galley and ask. You'll see the F/A pouring it out of a tap just before she warns you that it's really hot.
Of course you can use your own water and ask for some hot water to heat it in. Just know that if there is sudden turbulence you'll have hot water flying all over the place, possibly including your child.
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yup i just used the boiled water from the plane but i always wondered whether it was truly boiled and yes the water was always cloudy when it was first poured but i turned a blind eye! why is it cloudy anyway? are there particles in there??
i used milton sterilising tablets in a ziplock bag to sterilise my bottles - did the job but messy as hell. also brought a small bottle of detergent and bottle brush to wash bottles in the loo. nasty.
for the next baby i will not bother sterilising (on a plane) and just use unboiled evian water. if baby likes water warm i'll probably just use a mix of evian and "boiled" water.
second baby always gets the raw deal!!! ha ha.
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It is best to check with the airline you are using to find out what service they provide for formula fed infants. You may want to pre-measure some powder into clean containers. Most airlines do carry bottled distilled water which can be used to make up formula feeds in flight. Get your baby used to accepting a room temperature bottle before leaving. There is no medical reason to warm them. Just skip it and use room temperature water.
Matilda International Hospital
Well Baby Clinic 2849 1500
Hong Kong
http://wwww.matilda.org
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i took my daughter flying for the first time when she was 11 months. And i took sterislied bottles onto othe plane (as well as some powder and boiled water in a thermos for emergency), but i mainly fed her ready made formula which i just poured in to the bottle and fed her. i didnt wash the bottles in the plane loo as its just too small and messy. i just made sure i had enough bottles for the flight.
my daughter is now 20.5 months and will be fliying in july. I will take a few bottles and powder (i wont take ready made formaul this trip). but i'm just wondering whether i need to take a thermos of water. i read on some replies above that some parents make up the formula with Evian water. I never thot of using bottled water to make formula milk. But is it OK and for what age can we use it?
I dont like using distilled water for making up the formula, not only all the minerals removed but i think of how it used to be used for filling water tanks in cars! I dont drinnk distilled water unless mineral water is not available.
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"why is it cloudy anyway? are there particles in there??"
Probably a bit. No tap is 100% clean. You may have noticed at home that hot water can be a bit cloudy. Particles from the inside of water tanks can come loose. It's nothing dangerous and since it's on a plane it's only for occasional consumption. The water is sterile since it has been boiling. Harmful particles dissolved in water, such as lead, typically only start becoming dangerous with repeated long term use. A few times on the plane (and I highly doubt there is lead or such in the water tanks) is not a problem.
"i didnt wash the bottles in the plane loo as its just too small and messy."
This can work, but on a 19 hour flight with a toddler and a baby it just wasn't an option. ;) We found that washing the bottles worked fine. Fold the changing table down and use it as a work bench.
"I never thot of using bottled water to make formula milk. But is it OK and for what age can we use it?"
From birth. There is even a "special" bottled water for infant formula if you really want to spend money: "Wildalp". The important thing is that the water should not have sodium dissolved in it as many spring waters do. Evian or Volvic are just fine.
"second baby always gets the raw deal!!! ha ha."
Indeed. And is somehow much more tolerant. ;)
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Ona
18 yrs ago
Hi all, thanks so much for all your answers! sorry for my ignorance, but I do use mineral water for my baby but I still boil it first and then leave it in a bottle and use it for the next 2 or 3 feedings (my baby is use to room temp. water so, no problem) i guess my question is, even if I bring evian water on the plane, shouldn't i boil it first?? that is what i have been doing so far.....Also, I think I will need to clean my bottles due to that I stop over in London but then I take another flight to my home country, so it becomes a very long flight over all. And two more questions: where can i buy these containers where i can pour the exact powder? (I was thinking just bring the small size pot but maybe it will get messy to prepare it on the plane...not sure) and also, are you guys sure I can bring my own water to the plane for the baby? I mean, can I bring either a big evian bottle or my 6 or 8 bottles with the required water? Just want to make sure.....THANKS!!!!
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you can get the formula container from any baby store - bumps to babes, eugene club, mothercare. maybe even mannings might have them? as for bringing the water on the plane, in my experience, bringing my sterilised bottles with boiled water in them has been no problem at all. not sure about bringing the big bottle of evian through though. however, if i were carrying a bottle of evian for baby water and they confiscated it... i would definitely make a big fuss!!! but that's just me! (btw you can also buy bottled water once you pass customs but i'm not sure you can buy evian or volvic).
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"i guess my question is, even if I bring evian water on the plane, shouldn't i boil it first?"
There is absolutely no need to boil bottled water. The water is sterile in the sealed bottle. If it weren't sterile, it wouldn't keep for months and months. You'd get algae growths and all sorts of fun stuff. The water is in fact cleaner in the sealed bottle than it is after you boiled it and poured it back in a container.
Sterilization of baby bottles is not necessary at home or anywhere else. Babies will not get sick if the bottle and the water are not sterile. They simply are not that fragile. Just make sure you wash bottles with care like you would a drinking glass, rinsing any detergent out thoroughly. Sterilization recommendations were written for an earlier age (and for less developed countries), when things weren't so clean and babies did indeed get sick from dirty bottles that had perhaps just been rinsed out. The current culture of washing dishes properly makes sterilization redundant. Also think about the fact that babies lick the floor, their teddy bears, their sheets and pretty much any other object that comes close to their mouth. None of those are sterilized. We just ensure they are reasonably clean and that's enough.
"if i were carrying a bottle of evian for baby water and they confiscated it... i would definitely make a big fuss!!"
They would be within their rights to confiscate it. It's water. You can buy it after security or get it from taps on the plane.
"And two more questions: where can i buy these containers where i can pour the exact powder?"
If the length of the flight doesn't require you to re-use bottles, you can measure the powder into the bottles and add water before serving.
"(btw you can also buy bottled water once you pass customs but i'm not sure you can buy evian or volvic)."
In most airports you can buy some sort of bottled water. Volvic and Evian are very common.
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Ona - as apxtguy said - you dont need to boil bottled water - and we buy it normaly past the security - Watsons is fine. As for the containers - I find them very useful - they are Avent brand - blue and they have 3 sections - so enought for 3 bottles - buy a couple - no mess with measuring on the plane etc...
As for sterilising - see if you can find disposable bottles, i think they might have them in B2B - and just throw them away. Otherwise you can always use Milton tablets
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Kim11
18 yrs ago
Wow, Lots of opinions here. But yes definately use the containers. I always take two full of formula then a bag of formula with the scoop. I end up taking way more than I will need which was really good when I left one container full of formula behind. Also my baby never seemed to take a full bottle but seemed to snack the whole, long flight so more is necessary. Also for this reason I think both kids got constipated a bit so the prune juice idea is a good one and keep it up after you get to your destination. I usually had four bottles that I rinsed with the boiled water from the plane. I am sure there were a few germs involved but after doing this with two kids niether seems greatly affected. Relax, you will be fine and in the end you will be with family and will forget the flight by the next day anyway.
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"I usually had four bottles that I rinsed with the boiled water from the plane. I am sure there were a few germs involved but after doing this with two kids niether seems greatly affected."
Boiled water will kill any germs. But of course after rinsing there are other germs. As you it will will be all right. That's why we all have immune systems.
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Z
18 yrs ago
Just FYI -- leaving from Beijing T3 no liquids at all -- not even baby formula. Airline is supposed to provide, but you are supposed to reserve in advance. Just went through on my own, and they take your liquids as you are boarding the plane, not before you go through security. Seems like the kind of rule that won't last long -- but I'd triple-quadruple check if I were flying with a formula-dependent baby.
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Gotta love it Z. I know this sort of comment is not very helpful but I really fail to understand how this kind of rule makes flying safer?.
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