Lucy loves Australia

Here’s proof that a long haul flight with toddlers can be fun!

Along with flights to Australia at Christmas, the other questions I get asked a LOT are about travelling long-haul to Australia and “how to manage the trip (usually meaning ‘how do we survive the flight?’) with babies, toddlers and small people”.

I’ve written about this before, like here, here and here, but from all the recent questions I’ve had, it seems there’s more to say (!), and also I hope it’s handy to have a re-cap for anyone planning the trip Down Under with babies and small people.

So, in no particular order, here’s some of my recent answers to travelling with babies and toddlers to Australia-type questions:

1. What are the baby meals like on the flights to Australia?
2. Can you stow your nappy & food bag under your seat so easy to access for changes and feeding?
3. Do the video displays bother your baby when in the bassinet (light shining on them)?
4. Is there much room under the bassinet between you and it (i.e. can you get in and out easily)?
5. Do you recommend bringing your own pram/moses basket-sized sheets for the bassinet?
6. Could a baby sleep comfortably in a sleep bag in the bassinet?
7. Does the cabin temperature vary a lot, and is it very noisy (interested if cabin noise will mask my baby’s crying!).
8. I use an inflatable nursing pillow for breastfeeding. How easy will that be for me to use on the flight?
9. Any other useful transit tips, or how to survive departure lounges?
10. How long did your little one take to adjust to the new time zone, and get back onto a loose routine? Any tips?

1. What are the baby meals like on the flights to Australia?

   Typically airlines will offer you jars of Heinz stuff, etc. as baby food, so if your baby has its likes and dislikes, do bring your own pots and jars — these should be allowed through security. However, if there is a problem you can also buy them airside at most major international airports – e.g. Heathrow and Gatwick sell baby food in Boots. You can also order ‘post weany’ meals for older bubs (say 1 year plus), and of course children’s meals for toddlers. For under 1 year, I would bring ALL your own food, and then just ask for the bread roll/fruit, etc. if they have some. As with any ’special’ meals, you need to make sure you ORDER these in advance, either at the time you book your flights, or contact the airline in good time before you fly. At the gate or on board is usually too late…

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2. Can you stow your nappy & food bag under your seat so easy to access for changes and feeding?

   Not if you have a bassinet seat — no, as you’re in the ‘front row’, and so you only have the overhead lockers to store things in. There is a wall in front of you, and no seats to stash bags under. That said, you can use the bassinet for stuff when baby is on your lap, and in theory, if the seatbelt sign is not on, you can have a bag ‘with’ you — i.e. on the floor…

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3. Do the video displays bother your baby when in the bassinet (light shining on them)?

   They might do… some of the Singapore Airlines new aircraft (the A380) have the screens on the wall above the bassinet. On other airlines, when we’ve been on long haul and had a bassinet (Emirates, Virgin and Singapore’s older planes), your TV screen will pull-up on an arm from under your seat (remember to do this before the bassinet goes in, else you watch it at a very low angle — done that before!!). Because you don’t know when baby will want to sleep (ie. the cabin lights could be bright or dimmed), we always made sure we had a muslin or sarong, etc. to ‘drape’ over Alex’s head area so she could get a bit of ’shade’. Having a sarong with you is also a good tip to place over cots in hotel rooms too, for helping encourage sleep while you might want to have the lights on!! All this said, if you’re flying with a small person I always advise trying to sleep as much as you can when they do, and forget film watching — you’ll need your energy for when they wake up. I think I usually manage 1 or 2 TV shows, or possibly a film (in about 20 goes), per trip UK—Australia. Pre-baby, that was about 6 films and a big sleep

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4. Is there much room under the bassinet between you and it (i.e. can you get in and out easily)?

   You get loads of legroom being in the front row on most airlines when you have a bassinet seat, and yes it’s not really a problem getting in and out when the bassinet is there. I didn’t find it a problem anyway Obviously you need to do it carefully, and manoeuvre around, but it’s not really a ‘tight squeeze’.

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5. Do you recommend bringing your own pram/moses basket-sized sheets for the bassinet?

   It might be worth bringing a sheet for the bassinet if you want to, yes. We lined ours with muslins — we always travel with 100 muslins (well maybe not quite that many! but you get the idea — they are so multipurpose!). The airlines do line the bassinets with a new/clean bottom ’sheet’ for you, so it’s not necessary, but you might want to.

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6. Could a baby sleep comfortably in a sleep bag in the bassinet?

   Yes, no problems to use a baby sleeping bag (and I’ve seen this lots of times), especially the Singapore Airlines bassinets which are HUGE! That said, remember that’s another thing you have to carry with you onboard and they can be quite bulky. We personally just went for clothes and a small blanket.

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7. Does the cabin temperature vary a lot, and is it very noisy (interested if cabin noise will mask my baby’s crying!).

   The cabin temperature can vary a lot, although I usually finds this goes from OK, to cold, to too cold! Definitely have some cardigans/extra layers for bub and children, as it can get quite chilly on board. As for the noise… well, yes there is some background noise, but no it doesn’t mask babies crying (unfortunately!!) That said, it can be good ‘white noise’ that helps babies to sleep. It always surprised me how Alex would conk out no probs whatever was going on. However, if you do currently insist on silence for nap times, you might want to try and introduce a little bit of background noise now to help you out for the flight!

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8. I use an inflatable nursing pillow for breastfeeding. How easy will that be for me to use on the flight?

   Depending how big the pillow is, it could be a problem… I didn’t bother and just used a couple of the airline pillows (and a small travel pillow that scrunches up) for making a ‘nest’ for feeding. You will find you need to adapt to all sorts of positions, etc. on the plane anyway for bub being comfortable, so be prepared to improvise

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9. Any other useful transit tips, or how to survive departure lounges?

   Put baby in a carrier (like a Baby Bjorn) — this is the BEST tip I can give you for airports You will need your hands free to wheel a bag, and also hand over documents/tickets/boarding passes, etc. We also had a ‘backpack’ change bag for Alex (easy hands free carrying again), and then we use wheelies for our stuff. With toddlers, try and get your buggy back for transits (you can do this with Singapore Airlines, for example). Also, get some reins (priceless for wandering small people). Practical eating/drinking tips are to have some ‘emergency’ formula in cartons, or ready measured and a couple of pre-sterilised bottles for a feed when it might not be possible/comfortable to breast feed. With bigger kids, always have 2 sippy cups with drink in each (a spare!). Not to mention, of course a couple of little snacks to hand (at all times!). For small people still in nappies, have ‘bagged’ up change packs: 1 nappy, in a nappy bag with a wipe or some cotton wool, and a couple bits of kitchen roll already sorted so you can just whip one out for a change and not have to wrestle with the entire contents of your change bag. Also ASK FOR HELP. Head for other people travelling with kids for some help/sympathy, or the airline or airport staff. If you ask nicely (and always with your best smile) you can be surprised sometimes If you have more than an hour or so en route, think about booking a room in a transit hotel just so you can all have a sit down/bath/roll about on the floor (am thinking babies for that last one!), etc. For example, at Singapore Airport they have a transit hotel in each terminal where they can set up a cot for you in the rooms/offer family rooms. Sometimes it’s good to just ‘retreat’ and re-group for an hour or more if you have it. Also means toddlers can ‘run around’ in a (albeit not huge) safe enclosed space. You’ll also find some airports have play areas too. Look up the transit info and maps of the airports before you fly, so you know where to head when you get there.

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10. How long did your little one take to adjust to the new time zone, and get back onto a loose routine? Any tips?

    If you are arriving first thing in the morning into Australia (as many international flights do), then my advice is to have a hotel room waiting for you (pay for the night before), so that at 8am (or whenever you get there) you can sleep right away. Then get up around lunch time/early afternoon (it’s a struggle, but do it!) and go out, do things for the rest of the day as much as you can ’til a ‘normal’ bedtime (it might be quite early for the first couple of days!) and then it usually takes only 2-3 days to get on track… With small people there is an element of waking up from daytime naps (even though they want to be asleepso expect some grumpiness!), and then having a later-than-usual bedtime and moving it gradually earlier but hopefully only over 2-3 days along with you. Be prepared to go off out on a couple of ‘midnight strolls’ with a buggy for a couple of days if you need to tho And sleeping in shifts over the first couple of nights if small person is awake also likely to happen! The key is to try and ’switch’ as quickly as you can over 2-3 days and get in that morning sleep on the first day if it’s possible.

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Phew!!! – think that’s quite a bit of info shared now. One last thing to add(also a very popular question) is about car seats in Australia…

Now we did take our own for the first trip we made down under (Maxi Cosi if you’re asking), BUT Australia has very strict (and different to UK/EU/US etc) safety standards for car seats, and it’s quite likely that if you take your own car seat to Australia it won’t be ‘legal’. Here’s a link to where you can download the ‘official’ guide to car seats for use in Australia. Also worth noting that the rules are different in different states in Australia as to what age your child does or doesn’t need a car seat… I would say err on the side of caution and always use one whatever age they are! Also, remember that a ‘baby’ car seat in Australia is called a ‘capsule’, in case you get confused

And if I haven’t covered something here that you need to know about flying to Australia with babies and toddlers, or what/when/how/why/where to travel when you get to Australia with babies and children, please do let me know — post a comment — or ask me a question.