Car seat needed?

Ok, maybe I am just being thick, but do you need your car seat when traveling by train, bus and/or taxi? Just wondering how to get baby around London as we were hoping to just use a carrier and leave our bulky travel system at home.

Also, what about a plane? I assume I would just be holding DD and wrapping the belt around us both? She will be 4 months old. We were hoping to use a carrier to get around the airports and just borrow a car seat and stroller to use in the US from friends.

You do NOT need a carseat on London buses, trains or black taxis.  I don't think you need one in a mini cab by law, but we always ended up using one.  Black cabs, I just sat DD on my lab or left her in the stroller and wheeled her in the back.  Buses and Trains - either left her in the stroller or if it was crowded, folded stroller up and sat her on lap.  A baby carrier will be even easier!

No carseat required on the plane either.  They have special seat belt extenders that they give to lap babies for take-off, landing and turbulence.  Otherwise you can keep her in the baby carrier or if you get a bulkhead seat, their are normally cots to put them in.  They will not let her stay in the carrier for take off or landing, which sucks if she is asleep, so once you get settled in your seat, I would take her out of the carrier and get ready to put the belt on. 

 

The last poster gave good info, so I won't add much other than to say a couple things--just one safety point; it's never safe to share a belt with a child or baby.  Please don't try to do that.  Think about the inertia of things.  If you have a sudden stop, all it will do is force your weight behind her into her and she has nowhere to go.  Children can be hurt by sharing belts.

Some airlines have the special belt that the last poster talked about.  I've used that on some airlines, but other airlines don't, and the child just stays in your lap.  My last flight to the US didn't have anything like that.  It bothered me a bit, but the flight was safe as it could be.  I still wish I could have had that extra belt though.

Good luck with your trip!  I'm admiring you.  I couldn't do just the carrier.  When I travel I take a smaller umbrella stroller just to have something, but if you are used to a lot of walking with the baby in the carrier, it may not matter to you.  My back just couldn't take it personally.  Hope your trip is great!

Definitely agree - don't wrap the seat belt around both you and the baby.  I've only had the belt attachment on an Asian flight - never on the flight to/from Europe and UK and the US.

Think it depends on what airline you're flying - we had the special infant belt on our flights to & from Boston on BA in April.

Definitely request the skycot for her, Thomas used his quite a bit.

Thanks for the info! We will be flying BA from Newcastle to London and London to Dallas.

What about feeding? Has anyone tried those disposable bottles from Boots? Do you have to wait to buy cartons of formula until after security?

We just brought regular bottles with water in them on our flights, and then added powder.  My little guy was on lactose free formula, which doesn't come ready made.  I was worried about having to dump the water, but at Heathrow, the security folks made me drink a little from each bottle (so I overfilled them) and in the US, they put the closed bottle in some machine and tested it.  It was much better than I thought, but the first time, someone at Heathrow told me I needed to dump the bottles.  I stayed calm and insisted that wasn't correct and someone came over and corrected her and asked me to take a few sips and was on my way. 

Our next trip with a 15 month old will not be so easy.  Ahhhhh!

Can't help you with the feeding issue as both of mine were on cow milk by the time they flew.

We just brought regular bottles with water in them on our flights, and then added powder.  My little guy was on lactose free formula, which doesn't come ready made.  I was worried about having to dump the water, but at Heathrow, the security folks made me drink a little from each bottle (so I overfilled them) and in the US, they put the closed bottle in some machine and tested it.  It was much better than I thought, but the first time, someone at Heathrow told me I needed to dump the bottles.  I stayed calm and insisted that wasn't correct and someone came over and corrected her and asked me to take a few sips and was on my way. 

Our next trip with a 15 month old will not be so easy.  Ahhhhh!

This is true--the provisions for liquids are different when you are bringing food and drink for a baby.  I didn't bring formula, but I had a load of baby food that I took through security with no trouble at all.  I just made a point of bringing a separate bag that I kept the food in so I could separate it.

Keep an eye out at the bigger airports.  We found that Gatwick, Atlanta, SLC, and Boston all now had special security lines for people with children, and it made life SOOO much easier to not have the entire impatient queue behind me as I had to unload all the extra stuff that comes with kids and reload whilst they inevitably tried to run away while we talked to security people about what was in our bags. Two of the airports didn't even make me take them out of the pushchair but just ran a wand around the chair!!!  That certainly made life a lot easier!  It was the same queue they used for people with mobility issues.

So do you guys think I should bring a stroller and not just try to get by with a carrier. DD will be 4 months old then. Do you think I could use a little foldy stroller by then?

No, I wouldn't recommend using only an umbrella stroller at 4 months. I'd probably bring the carrier. I didn't start bringing a stroller until 8 months or so and it was my bigger stroller, not an umbrella.

No, I wouldn't recommend using only an umbrella stroller at 4 months. I'd probably bring the carrier. I didn't start bringing a stroller until 8 months or so and it was my bigger stroller, not an umbrella.

Ditto.  We brought a stroller at 6 months, but it went flat for a little baby.  The other thing about a carrier is that airline and airport policies vary on when/where you get your stroller back and you can find yourself hauling a baby after a long flight because that airline only returns with luggage.  Discovered this the hard way going back into Heathrow from Boston.  In Boston, the stroller was at the jetway as you exited the plane.  At Heathrow, it was waiting with luggage -- after walking a mile and standing forever at immigration.  The policy had just changed.  I'd have killed for my carrier at that point and it came on every trip after that, along with the stroller.

I hadn't realised yours was that little.  I wouldn't use an umbrella stroller either at four months.  I had a pushchair that was completely flat and could use that at that age, but I'm not sure I'd have wanted to take that on a flight as it was rather bulky. 

I have done the same thing as Ophinky with my babies since a flight from Nice to Bristol.  Bristol makes you go back to the luggage to get your pushchairs and it is a LONG walk sometimes.  My arms were ready to fall off after juggling wiggly baby and carry ons that whole way, and now whenever I have a baby, my carrier goes in the carry on bag too.

I hadn't realised yours was that little.  I wouldn't use an umbrella stroller either at four months.  I had a pushchair that was completely flat and could use that at that age, but I'm not sure I'd have wanted to take that on a flight as it was rather bulky. 

I have done the same thing as Ophinky with my babies since a flight from Nice to Bristol.  Bristol makes you go back to the luggage to get your pushchairs and it is a LONG walk sometimes.  My arms were ready to fall off after juggling wiggly baby and carry ons that whole way, and now whenever I have a baby, my carrier goes in the carry on bag too.

Ok, thanks for the advice. Being that it's my first (and probably only!) baby, I just wasn't sure what sort of stroller I'd be able to get away with by then. I guess they are still pretty small at 4 months! My pushchair does go flat, but it's pretty huge since it's part of a travel system, so I'd rather not bring that. I think maybe we will just try to get by with the carrier and then borrow a proper pushchair from a friend when we get there. Or my mom said she might buy a pushchair, car seat and travel cot just for our visit and keep the stroller and cot for the next visit, hopefully in two years time (she'd have to flog the car seat as DD would be too big for it by the next visit). What did you guys do about all of this stuff when you visited family in the US? I have a few friends I can loan things from, but my mom says it's best to buy new things just for the visit to avoid germs and stuff. She does have a touch of OCD, though!