plane,baby, travelling needs

[Satellite]

A few questions.

1) Is it still possible to take liquid on board? Do they make exceptions for babies non=prescription items? eg. a bottle of gripe water, some traditional rub-on ointment, a bottle of warm water and lukewarm water (I know these latter two items are optainable from the flight crew but my little guy gets very agitated if I am late with his food so need everything on hand all the time.

2) I might use up my 4 bottles during the first 8 hours of the flight. Is there a microwave that I could use to sterilise the bottles?

3) I never noticed before, are there any baby changing areas on board aeroplanes?

Taking SQ if it matters. Maybe A380? Not sure.

[Morrolan]

1. yes, but you have to indicate it's for the baby, one bottle is usually allowed. large quantities of water in various stages of heating most probably not, as you can get it on board.
2. probably not: health and safety regulations wil most likely not allow use of microwave for other purposes than airplane food.
3. yes, in every toilet.

[Satellite]

thanks,

how do you sterilise bottles on board the plane then?

[Morrolan]

i don't think we ever had to: just brought our supply of sterilised empties and that sufficed.

[Scrummy Mummy]

I routinely take about 5 bottles with measured water on board, never had an issue anywhere except Heathrow - at Heathrow they make you take a sip out of each bottle (so if you have, say, a cold you may want to take a cup to pour into. I take a bottle brush and ask the crew to wash the bottles in hot water if I run out. Shouldn't be a problem by the time you travel, Sate, if they're washed rather than sterilised.

[Satellite]

thanks.. yes, I'm slowly building up his immunity with slack sterilising. Also weaning him .

Edit: I'd be quite happy to to taake a sip out of the gripe water.

[Scrummy Mummy]

I remember having terrible jet lag bloating and my sister in law suggested gripe water. So I was sitting in the pub with a pint of guinness in one hand and a bottle of grip water in the other ......

[Aliya]

I took 5 empty steralised bottles on board and the airline staff gave me cooled boiled water from their hot tap thingy. I took milk powder in that milk powder holder and mixed them as needed.

I'm with Scummy on steralisation, it was a bit hit and miss in our house after about 3 months but I was told to be like that by a retired Plunkett nurse who said kids need a bit of dirt and bugs etc. Having said that we still steralise bottles once a day but that is to make up for my bottle cleaning skills or non skills.

Also I know he is still young but take a selection of small toys he hasnt seen or his fave toys to keep him occupied.

And order gin and tonic on regular intervals, worked for me

[baloo]

French fries and chicken nuggets. On a tray, on the floor, under the seat in front. Works perfectly

[Tas]

excellent show on "catching" cancer from virus last night. talked about how kids exposed to other kids in the first year of their seem to correlate have some of the best immunity / ability to repair cells under attack ..... velly inneresting series. but hygriene plays a part in other ways.

[slinky]

We never did the sterilizing thing with the bottles - just hot, soapy water to wash (or dishwasher). We followed the bottle company's recommendation of boiling the bottles & parts for 5 minutes (or whatever the time was) before the first use & then hot water & soap to clean thereafter. Never had any problems with doing it that way.

We always took enough clean bottles on a plane because we never felt we could be guaranteed a way to wash them thoroughly while flying. Have had to wash baby bottles in the airline lounges in the airports quite a few times though.

[Queenie]

SQ is great for things like that. Pretty sure the cabin crew will oblige if ask them to rinse the bottle with hot water and if possible sterilise it. I 've seen them sterilise bottles in a stainless steel water jug before.

Not every toilet on board have baby changing facilities. The ones with drop down changing table will have a sign on the door to define it.

[Fyn]

Not every toilet on board have baby changing facilities. The ones with drop down changing table will have a sign on the door to define it.

There was always a change table in any of the toilets we went to on board, when it was time to change lil M. We must have been lucky .

[Satellite]

Thanks Aliya about the new toy suggestion!

Tas.. yes I'm a bit ironic in a way because I let the little guy put most things in his mouth (where my helper would not let him do) , yet sterilise his bottles!

Baloo.. nice to know he is taking after his Daddy.

[baloo]

I've been resisting answering this thread for obvious reasons, but we found the Playtex Disposable Drop-In baby bottles to be a godsend no matter where we travelled.

Bring one bottle and a heap of the disposable droping. No need to steralise or clean, a lot lighter than multiple bottles.

http://www.amazon.com/Playtex-Drop-Ins- ... B0006FHB9C

[Satellite]

I went to the link. Doesn't explain how it works apart from dropping the liners in the bottle. How does that clean the bottle? I don't understand.

[baloo]

Google is your friend.

[Scrummy Mummy]

I think the milk goes into a bag inside the bottle, then you just throw the bag/nipple away. The milk doesn' touch the bottle so you don't need to sterilise it.

I think I've seen people selling these on ebay (UK) too.

[Satellite]

I see. NOt very environmentaly friendly, is it!

would have bought it if told earlier to try (even though the bottles we currently use are also BPA free but not much help) due to my little guy's colic but now a little late. I'm pretty confident I would be able to stop the sterilising in a month's time.

[Queenie]

.

There was always a change table in any of the toilets we went to on board, when it was time to change lil M. We must have been lucky .[/quote]

Don't think luck comes into play in this. Presumably you did not travel cattle class. Or maybe A380 does have a change table in every toilet on board but I'd be a little surprise if they did.

[baloo]

I see. NOt very environmentaly friendly, is it!

By that reaction I can only assume you are refusing to use disposable nappies and instead use the traditional cloth nappies. I admire your dedication to the cause.

[Scrummy Mummy]

I imagine the damage to the environment pales into insignificance beside the damage caused by flying!

[Fyn]

Don't think luck comes into play in this. Presumably you did not travel cattle class. Or maybe A380 does have a change table in every toilet on board but I'd be a little surprise if they did.

We did travel economy at times. So yes, lucky .

[FurBaby]

I see. NOt very environmentaly friendly, is it!

By that reaction I can only assume you are refusing to use disposable nappies and instead use the traditional cloth nappies. I admire your dedication to the cause.

actually, i'd be curious to know what the respective carbon footprints are for producing+incinerating disposable nappies vs washing+tumbledrying cloth nappies. likewise with producing bottle inserts vs washing+sterilising bottles?

[Kooky]

There's always Elimination Communication

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