travelling advice

[Nickit]

Hi there,

We're off to the states (Florida) in a couple of weeks for a holiday. It'll be our first trip with lo, Isabelle is now 10months old. Does anyone have any tips for travelling e.g. how to help her new time zone/sleeping etc?

Also, has anyone been to states and know what food/milk I can get out there? I'm specifically thinking about milk (she's on Aptamil) and breakfast (loves her weetabix/ready brek). Obviously we can take some with us but if we can buy over there it'll save us some hassle!

Ta
Nicki

[mrs_ping]

Hi,
We went to Philly in the summer and Elani was 1. They dont do Aptamil over there as i asked my sister in law to find out for me. With regards to weetabix, i asked her and she said no, but when we went food shopping it was there but under a different name - cant remember it now! I took some with me. The time difference - She had 2 sleeps on the plane (7.5 hour plane ride) as we took off near lunchtime so it was time for her nap. She then nodded off for an hour a bit later on after some playing!!! So when we got there she was able to stay awake until their bedtime as she had had a late nap. On the way back was a night flight so she slept 90% of the way back, but she struggled when we got home as she hadnt had her full 12 hours sleep, she nodded off on the floor laying on my feet once we were home, i had to wake her up evetually or else she wouldnt go down that night. I would say it took her nearly 2 weeks to get back into her normal sleep pattern - it wasnt bad but she wanted to sleep for ages. I would put her down her normal time but she would be still sleeping at midday the next day!!! Her routine was fine and she loved it over there.
IT will be fine! xx

[dymp]

hi, we've travelled quite a lot with our two, did most of travelling when we just has one LO.
She was on Aptamil too, we ended up bringing around 30 cartons in suitcase! Our LO was 4 months then. We've travelled recently to Spain and now we've 2 LOs! Brought cartons again! our little Man was on Aptamil but we got Cow and Gate cartons as they are cheaper and he didn't notice difference, Best try it out at home first. Flights were always ok, Plenty to eat and favourite toy and fingers crossed! Bon Voyage D
PM me if you have any other questions D

[noababy]

Aw goodness-hope you have the flight I had with Noa when she was 6 months-not the oone I had a 12 and then at 14 months. Those last 2 were a nightmare! The one at 6 months she slept the whole flight and was great. The other two she was bouncing off the walls. Took a while to settle her with the time difference.

This is my dream: Maybe if we flew on this plane-Noa would sleep during a flight!

[mitzigollop]

Just got back from Florida last weekend, Flight out was ok but night flight back was difficult due to Ruby wanting to move around in her sleep. if you are flying with virgin they should be able to give you a basinette.
I used beads and stuff for her to play with as suggested by others but she did get bored easily, however she was much better than when we flew before.
Ruby is older (15 months) so routine and stuff might not apply. although when you come back might be worth not trying to get back into a routine too quickly. We did and this bit us on the arse! she was going to bed at 7 and then waking an hour later and crying for 2 hours before deciding that sleep was a good option after all. this lasted about 5 days after getting back.
we're not on formula anymore so can't help there however i can give some useful advice:
Take some cartons of ready made formula, they let us take it through security from Florida to UK (as didnt' want to risk whole milk), which was very handy as didn't seem to sell any at the airport! We were able to buy some on the other side of security at gatwick on the way out to U.S from boots.
if you are planning on taking your baby monitor think about buying one out there from walmart ($18) as ours simply didn't work with the different voltage used there, neither did our friends. Plus walmart do a great safety gate if you need one for only $10 (it's wooden and mesh).
plus buying nappies, the sizing for lbs is diff, ruby would normally wear a pampers size 4 but package said they were from 22lbs up over there so bought a size 3, which turned out to be the same size as a 3 over here, i should have got 4's!
Ruby loved seaworld, lots to visual stuff for babies.
we managed to buy wheetabix out there from walmart but was a bit pricey as imported by the looks of things.
erm can't think of anything else at the mo but will add to thread if i think of anything.
have fun and don't worry about the routine too much out there, i did that on our first holiday and i didn't enjoy it so much, this time i went with the flow and it was much more enjoyable. i just took plenty of snacks with me to help stretch out her meal times.

[Nickit]

Thank you ladies for all your tips. We were trying to get out to Aus but the flights are too full and reading some of your posts perhaps it's a good thing we're going for a shorter flight!! Hubby works for an airline so we're only going standby (we're using his free flights) although these flights are empty so there shouldn't be any problems getting the flights!

Will def buy a baby monitor out there, that's a great tip, thanks. We are going to 'go with the flow' as much as poss but have a villa so we can have a couple of 'chill out' days with Isabelle having normal naps (only naps for half an hour at a time when we're out and about). I'll just have my work cut out getting her back into a routine when we get back! Hubby will be back at work too so it'll be me that gets all that hassle.

Thanks again ladies
Nicki

[victoria9bunny]

found this link which may give you some other hints and tips, it has a section all about travelling to America with your lo. When India was one we took her to Paris, I was a bit of a chicken about the flight but she was great. Have a fab trip xxxx

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/travel/usa/