I flew from London to Boston when my son was 3 months old and learned a LOT from the experience. We are 1 week away from flying from London to Chicago - and while things may be slightly different since he will be almost 7 months old for this flight, I'm hoping to learn from past mistakes to make it an easier flight.
Everyone within 10 feet of me and my screaming baby was in danger of losing their lives the flights were so bad!
Things that went wrong and ways they might have been avoided:1. I flew alone. This was unavoidable. My husband couldn't come with me ecause his visa was being processed. But in hindsight I wish we had spent the money (even though we didn't have it!) to fly his mom over with me for an extra set of hands. It was *so* nightmarish that I'd have happily had debt just to get an extra set of hands with me.
2. Flying times. We left London around noon, which meant that towards the end of the flight he was in "early evening" mode - which meant all holy h£ll broke loose because he wasn't in a calm enough environment to be soothed and relaxed. He had colic and we should have avoided flying during those early evening hours. We'd have been ebtter served leaving London on the earliest flight possible that way if he only took cat naps on the flight it would be ok since it would be his "daytime".
3. The pushchair. I was promised over and over again that the second I got off the plane I'd have Philip's pushchair available for me. They let me take it all the way up to the gate, and they load the pushchairs up last so they can get to them easily. Yeah well, but they don't tell you is that those "rules" fly out the window if the flight is at its full baby capacity. Too many people = No Pushchair. So I had to pick it up with my luggage. Which meant I had to carry my son in my arms through Immigration and Luggage Pickup. On the way back home I fixed the problem by using a Baby Bjorn carrier, which meant he was strapped to my chest and I had my hands free. We can't do this next week because he's too ginormous, but having the extra person to hold the bags while the other holds the baby should be enough.
4. The carryon. I brought two. One for me, one for Philip. Wrong answer!!! I should have only packed for him and not bothered bringing anything for myself other than a new top to change into should I be barfed on. 2 bags was too much to hold, especially considering that I had to hold my son as well.
5. The help. I expected some. The only people who helped me were other mothers who had clearly been in my position before (crying myself with a crying baby and no one to assist me), and would hold Philip for 4 seconds while I made his bottle, or hold my bag for 7 seconds while I fished the hair out of my son's mouth. I should have gone into the experience thinking it was going to be hard, rather thank thinking "oh, people will help". Don't count on it. They were slightly nicer on the way back to England, but still not very helpful. Mostly just trying to avoid the crying baby. The worst thing was the woman on beside me on the flight. I didn't have an aisle seat because I was using the plane's bassinette seat (which are really annoying by the way because if the seat is being used, the TVs can't be used, nor can you eat!). The woman to my left, who had the aisle seat, NEVER ONCE stood up to let me get out. She made me crawl over her -
with a baby in my arms - every time I needed to use the restroom, change his nappy, whatever. She wasn't my favorite person in the world. Not so much.
6. The bottles. I used Steri-Bottles, that kind you buy in packs (I got them at Tesco) that are pre-sterilized ready-to-use bottles in individual little pouches. They were a great idea - but a nightmare. The lids were really hard to get on, and they leakes! Oh my God did they leak. I should have used one of those Avent bottles with the disposable plastic liners. Bringing little ready-made boxes of formula was wonderful. but get used to opening them with your fingers before you fly - you can't find a pair of scissors to save your life.
Things I'm going to do this time to try and make it smoother sailing:1. Bottles. We'll be bringing pre-made little boxes of formula just like we did last time, but this time we're bringing real bottle and not those horrible Steri-bottle disposable things. I'm bringing a small little squeeze tube (the kind you buy at Boots for shampoo) and putting dish liquid in it, and I'm bringing my gloves and a bottle brush. We're staying overnight at a hotel the night before we fly and I'll wash all the bottles right before we leave for the airport so they are all clean. He won't go through all 6 that I'm bringing on the plane, so I'll have fresh ones to last all day (probably more). Then I can wash them up again at the hotel we're staying in the night we land. I'm doing this isntead of using the disposable liners because I'll need his real bottles while we're there anyway. We're doing this isntead of using the liners because I can't find the right kind of teat (6 month plus) for the Avent disposable system. I know they make them but I can't find them, and well, I like his real bottles anyway and we'll be using them the 2 weeks we're there. 6 bottles don't take up enough space to turn me off the idea, though I'd never do it this way with a newborn since they eat way more often.
2. Bringing help. It is amazing the difference 2 more hands can make. Worth a million pounds. Which is way more than a million dollars.
3. Changing flight times. We are flying out of London as early in the morning as possible. We are staying overnight the night before in a Heathrow hotel so that the morning of the flight isn't taken up with a humongous drive into London, making our morning a lot easier. We will land in Chicago right before he starts wanting to go to bed properly (we hope he can catnap on the plane, but that will be difficult as he only sleeps on his belly). On the way back to England we didn't have a choice of flights, and it's going to be hard. *cry* Our flight leaves at 8pm, which is 2 hours past the time Philip normally goes to bed, and several hours past the time he'll be going to bed in the States. So we'll be in the airport, boarding, fussing, etc all while he should be sleeping. Sadly there was no way to avoid this because of our schedules. BLAH.
4. Expect it to be hard. Our body clocks can handle the change, all they need is a bit of coffee. But our son won't know his butt from his elbows for the first 4 to 5 days we are there. We will be waking up at 2am with him reay to start the day. It is going to happen, so we're better off just expecting it beforehand, and not getting angry about it when it happens! We've decided to take turns as far as "who has to wake up at the crack of dawn with the boy" duty, that way on alternate days we can sleep a bit.
5. Spending extra money. We bought Philip his own seat for both flights. It was expensive, but it might save our marriage and our lives. He can sit on his own in it, it gives us more room to fenagle and sort and breathe and move, and I'm sure will be worth every penny.
I hope that some people will contribute to this and add their own tips! I'll let you know how it goes when we arrive back home in England, we'll be in the US for 2 weeks.
Dunkin Donuts here I come!
