We aren’t strangers to travelling away with our little new little addition with the occasional nights away from 7 weeks of age. We vowed we would continue to live our life just as we always have but now with a baby in tow.
I definitely get a bit nervous each time we go away so there many nerves leading up to our first plane flight.
We were embarking on a short trip from Brisbane to Melbourne to visit my partners dad. I tried to make sure everything would flow as easy as possible so we booked the flights for when she was due to sleep. I knew flying with a six month old could go really good or really bad. She could fall asleep and sleep the flight or she could miss her sleep window from being interested in everything and then lose her shit on the flight. You can bet both happened.
We had one amazing flight and one flight that went nothing out of whack. What I realised though is no one shows you they actually care if your child screams the plane down. They have headphones in.
They know it is likely to happen. You simply just get up (if allowed) and can walk around. I walked down the back of the plane when this happened and after a good twenty minutes she eventually fell asleep and I returned to the seat.
The air pressure didn’t seem to both her during take off and descending. It bothered me though!
Thats for sure! haha.
Just prepare yourself to remember that routine will be out of whack so don’t get caught up in it.
The advice I would give is if your baby sleeps out and about in a pram then don’t feel pressured to get back to the room for sleeps. I always felt guilty when she would sleep in the pram and not the cot in the room but when I tried to put her to sleep in the room she didn’t seem to like it anyways! The same went for night time. She pretty much slept in bed with us all three nights! The bonus was we got full nights sleeps and woke to smiles next to us! haha.
The Essentials
BABY CARRIER
We used a Budu Baby Carrier in true Melbourne style of course!
I have a few different carriers but this one was great for travel because not only stylish it was quick and simple to put on and take off. I was able to roll it up and keep it in my baby bag and my partner was able to easily wear it too. Learn how to pick the best baby carrier for your needs here.
TRAVEL PRAM
I used Portable Travel Pram Copy of the YOYO Zen which is a great choice if you don’t want to spend much money and mine arrived within two days time. Check out the travel pram I purchased here. Even though you can take these ones on flight and put them in the overhead compartment I just checked it in with our baggage (didn’t need to go to oversize which was great!) and we mainly used this when walking to places to eat and for her to sleep in when visiting my partners dads place. The pram is good quality for a copy and I highly recommend! It will be incredibly useful when I can’t bear the weight of her in my carrier too.
TOYS
Bring lots of toys to entertain your little one! I definitely think there wasn’t one I didn’t use. They were a lifesaver when she needed a bit of entertaining especially on car trips and in the hotel room.
BREASTPUMP
Even though Elle isn’t great at bottle feeding being able to pump and have some milk in a bottle for her to chew basically would entertain her in car drives and buy me time if I couldn’t breastfeed somewhere. I don’t know if nerves can cause mastitis but I always seem to get a blocked duct when we are away so having the pump really is a saviour to stop it turning to mastitis.
PLAN
One thing that could’ve saved us a bit of frustration is pre-planning where we want to eat rather than wasting an hour searching for places for us to eat that had gluten free food and are within reasonable walking distance. Our trip was booked last minute but I will be sure next time to pre-plan and write down locations of places we want to eat. We had room service a little bit and some average hotel breakfasts that was devastating considering we were in Melbourne!
Ps, who would know a great coffee shop and delicious macaroons are hidden in a store in this laneway?
That is why you have to plan! Would have no idea walking past that this food store existed.
All in all, don’t be afraid of being a little out of routine.
They adapt if you just trust. They will get sleep. They will probably be crankier than normal.
They might not sleep in their port-a-cot and they might not like driving in a car.
But they will love being out and about. It is good for them and I am sure it is good for us too!
Learning how to mum while on a getaway!
