First Flight ni Baby (thread 3)

[khriseeee]

^my daughter will be 5 months old when we travel and I'm not giving her something for MY own convenience. I am not a selfish mother and for you to assume that is highly judgmental on YOUR part and VERY offensive to me.

You do NOT know my daughter. My daughter is very, very fussy as well and she cannot sleep without being rocked and held. Even then, she would still scream at the top of her lungs. She would scream when she gets overstimulated by playing and she would scream when she wants to sleep but can't fall asleep because of too much distractions. My daughter is NOT like YOUR daughter. How would you know that there's no need for medication? Did I say I'm gonna give her the maximum dosage? Did it ever occur to you that I might, just might, give her a fraction of the prescribed amount by her doctor? Also, that's why I'm looking into other natural alternatives nga diba like chamomile or lemon balm?

Good for you that you didn't have to use a medication. But just because YOU didn't doesn't mean other parents with babies screaming like banshees doesn't have to either.

Point is - you do not know my daughter. You do not know me. Hindi mo alam na ayoko manggising ng buong eroplano when she cries. Well, marami akong reasons but I don't need to explain them to you

You're right I don't know you nor your daughter but I'm trying to understand why the need to medicate? Even if it isn't the maximum dosage as you say. Your pedia agreed to it? Good for you that you are looking for alternatives. I hope they work out for you.

Like I told you, my daughter is really fussy too, she will not sleep when we are out and will just cry and cry until we get home where she can finally sleep. She is also very easily over stimulated. Which is why I suggested in my post on other ways to distract her as opposed to medication. I've been there, I've done that, I was TRYING to help you. No need to get all sassy about it.

[Dacian]

breastfeeding lang kami ni baby the whole time during flight.

[Priceless]

^Actually to Oreo's defense, your message didn't sound as though you were trying to understand or be helpful. It sounded pretty judgemental, especially jumping into conclusion that it was for Oreo's convenience. Could it be na some parents choose to give medication (natural or otherwise) so that the kid is comfortable? Or is not traumatised by the trip?

^^^Oreo, ako ang ginawa ko, I bought ordinary dishwashing liquid and washed the bottle sa toilet, then I asked for really really hot water (punta pa ako sa galley to get it directly from the "tap") to rinse it further, then tapon ko yung tubig. No purifying tablets na.

Yung sa pram, is there an option to borrow a smaller/lightweight pram for you to use during the holiday? Kung wala and you are stuck with your bugaboo, I still suggest you take your pram (mas madali to push it and mas comfortable si baby), then put the rest of your stuff sa isang trolley (which they provide at the departure/check in area and after the immigration). Get some plastic hooks (the ones with velcro) to attach to the handle of your pram para pwede mong sabitan ng maliit na bag if you need to. Or ask your mum to help you with the wheeled carry on luggage. Can your mum help carry the baby while you disassemble (and assemble) your pram? Yung iba nyong things ilapag mo muna sa floor and ask your mum to wait for you while you disassemble/assemble your pram (the ground staff will help you din naman if you request) and based on my experience SQ crew (flight and ground) are very helpful naman. Once you get onboard, paupuuin mo muna si mummy, holding the baby tapos ikaw ang magpasok ng stuff nyo sa overhead compartment.

Speaking of diaper bag, I would suggest that you get a toiletry kit that can hold 3-4 clean nappies, wiping and cleaning essentials. Don't bring the whole house as a carryon/diaper bag. You only need a small kit, tapos maglabas ka ng cloth/lampin for wiping or a big muslin blanket just in case. SQ provides a very nice blanket for the bassinet. The duffle bag can go into the overhead compartment. Kung kailanganin man niya other things from the bag, madali nalang to get it. Don't cramp the space in front of you with baby stuff kasi you will need to be able to move in and out easily of your seat.

[khriseeee]

If I sounded offensive or judgmental I apologize. I really just could not understand why any parent would medicate when there is no need to do so. Or how any pedia could advocate that as well. To each their own parenting style.

For bottles, I put in the amount of water for formula less 1-2 oz. Then once on the plane, I asked the FA to top of with hot water - perfectly warm water for drinking. An alternative is buying the disposable liners and bottles - that way you only need to sanitize the teat and cap and not the entire bottle.

[oreo08]

khrisee, thank you if you were trying to help but you came off judgmental rather than helpful. Yes, her pediatrician definitely agreed to it. I'm not completely sold on the idea though that is why I'm considering natural alternatives. Most mothers are extremely defensive when they feel like their parenting skills are being criticized. I'm no different. Apology accepted 

Priceless, thank you! I already told my Mum na assigned sa kanya yung diaper bag which she can carry naman across her body. I guess I can ask her to push the wheeled carry on luggage as well. I shouldn't worry too much I guess because in Changi naman, there are plenty of trolleys where I can put the laptop and diaper bags on. Either my Mum pushes that or the pram... whichever is lighter I guess. But yes, when I assemble/disassemble the pram, I will ask her to carry my daughter. I might ask the ground staff to help me with the pram as well... I read lang na sa Changi daw, a mother was inside the tube na and trying to disassemble her pram... she asked for the staff daw to help pero inignore sya. Hayyy sana wag mangyari samin! Stress na nga ako sa flight, may mangbbwiset pa sakin

Di ko yata kaya magwash ng bottle sa toilets baka idisinfect ko muna buong toilet bago ako makapaghugas ng bote nya. I'm super OC! 

Masyado mataas ang expectations ko sa sarili ko (as usual) because I'm used to breezing through the immigration, xray, customs what have yous when my husband and I travel. I know which bag to put first sa conveyor belt para mas mabilis namin makuha, I know who's assigned which bags, I know san nakalagay ang what... etc. May system na ako in place when I travel. Para akong robot! Ngayon, first time travelling with a baby... wala pa akong system! And for someone na talagang super OC, this is what keeps me up at night... no exaggeration!

Bottom line I guess is I shouldn't put pressure on myself too much. So what if other people wait a bit longer sa queue? Patience is a virtue. And advice ko sa sarili ko, di ko kelangan magmadali all the time! Hindi kami maiiwan ng plane, hindi kami susunugin ng buhay sa eroplano if my baby cries and hell, I'm ready to give someone an earful if I see someone giving me the evil eye  they're not my priority - my baby is!

[Priceless]

^I had no choice but to wash my bottles in the lavatory because I was pumping as well. So I brought along a towel that I laid on the counter, and then a separate paper towel roll for drying the stuff. Then the hot water rinsing nga.

Sinabi mo pa about the travel "sistema" from pre-baby life! Hubby and I are frequent travelers (individually/together) that we know which queues to take, how long the "walk" to the gate will take, even to the point that we know which immigration officers are "faster". So imagine what a shock it was to both of us that what used to take us a few minutes to breeze through (may contest pa yan) now takes us about half an hour at least!

Anyway, aside from your conclusion, you probably need to relax and not be as much of an OC as well. Until you can charter your own jet and take off from your own terminal, I'm afraid you'll just have to learn to share with the rest of the traveling public and do your best with what you've got.

[yapeegurl]

You can also consider buying Quick Clean Microwave Bag (Medela) if your last option would be to use the lavatory to wash your baby's bottles. Liners would be of help too but that would mean sterilizing the teats and cap as well.

[m_lim]

kinakarga ba ang baby (1yr +) sa plane?

hubby said i should bring the car seat. labo! hahaha

[cutie_05]

^hi sis!sa pagkakaalam ko kungsa time ng travel niyo eh hindi pa rin siya 2yrs old, puwede pa din siya sa lap. Unless you opted to buy a seat for your child. Pag 2 yrs old na kelangan na talaga siya bilhan ng seat.  Kapag pinili mo magpurchase ng seat for your child may airlines na nagaallow for you to bring a car seat para upuan nila

[prickyslime]

Hi Guys. Need ko lang ng advice nyo. Me and my hubby booked a flight to manila this march kasama si baby. e  kaso sa site nung pinag-bookan namin, nanghihingi ng birthday ni baby. E february palang ako manganganak. Hindi ko alam exact date ng delivery date ko. Nagdalawang isip ako kung ilalagay ko na birthdate nya, baka magkaroon ng problema pagdating sa flight. Ginawa ko nagpabook na kami ng ticket pero hindi muna kasama si baby.Bale dun na lang namin babayaran mismo sa airport. Ok lang ba yun? Saka, ano ba mga kailangan dalhin na documents para kay baby na hihingin nila dun sa airport?Thankyou!

[oreo08]

^ganyan din dilemma ko nun... I wanted to book our flights na eh di pa ako nanganganak. Tumawag ako sa airline, sabi nila hindi pwde ibook at hindi rin pwdeng ilagay ang EDD as birthdate kasi hindi pa naman ako nanganganak.

so I waited na lang until I gave birth saka ako nagbook.

call your airline and ask mo kung ok lang yun ginawa mo

me, ang tanging dala ko lang is a photocopy of her birth certificate. We have different surnames kasi and I'm not travelling together with her Dad so baka sabihin kidnapper ako

ANYWAY... we're travelling na on Saturday! I'm almost done packing her nappy bag, checked in luggage and carry on. I bought ziplock bags and sa isang bag naglagay ako ng 1 nappy, 1 nappy sack, saka 1 disposable changing pad... para isang dalahan na lang. Tapos yun wipes

The Benadryl was prescribed to us by our Pedia because my daughter has moderate eczema and scratches like there's no tomorrow! So for her itch daw yun primarily. We only give her Zyrtec but minsan parang walang effect sa kanya, kamot pa rin ng kamot! So the Benadryl we packed pa rin in case nagwawala sya talaga sa kati.

[Priceless]

^Good luck on your trip!

Na alala ko about benadryl. I packed one just in case magkaroon ng itches si baby (bites, allergy, etc) and wala syang prescription dahil nga over the counter ko lang binili. Wala namang problema sana nung pag alis ng SIN-LHR, pero pag balik na namin galing Heathrow, ayun hindi pinayagan ng security at more than 100ml daw. (I think it was just slightly over the allowed limit, pero di pa rin pinalusot). So ayun, tinapon nalang ang halos full na bottle ng benadryl.

I don't think SG will be too fussy pero make sure lang that all medications are properly labelled sa bote mismo (or somewhere that it is clearly indicated) na prescription sya for it to be allowed in your carry on if the packaging is more than the allowed limit. Otherwise, baka you may need to repack some in travel sized containers tapos yung big containers i-check in mo nalang.

Sayang din pag ipatapon yung over the allowed limits.

[oreo08]

update: baby just slept and slept on our flight no need for benadryl rin kasi yun eczema nya is under control

now, my other concern is... how do 1 yr olds cope with long haul flights and jetlag? We're planning on going to the US when she's 14 months old but super worried with jetlag... pano sya babalik sa normal sleeping pattern nya when we're back from the US??

[bylan]

sis oreo08 ask ko lang if binilhan mo ng separate seat si baby mo? plan kasi namin umuwi ng Pinas by May (almost 9 months na si baby by that time) via PAL from Toronto.

[oreo08]

^nope kasi 6 mos palang sya and she prefers na karga lang sya

We decided against going to the US this year because baka mahirapan sya sa jetlag. We are going to Korea instead. Yung lamig naman ang worry ko. Winter kasi dating namin nun... tyempo ng 30th bday ni hubby December!! Super lamig dun brrrrr

[nikki]

Last December hubby, myself and our baby boy who just turned 1yr that time went to the US for 1mo vacation. We took delta which has a layover at narita. I must admit, nahirapan ako but I attribute that to the fact na I was also 5 mos pregnant going and 6 mos upon return to Manila. I didn't have enough energy.. And my baby was extra clingy which was a normal reaction according to his pedia. Ayaw sumama or magpa-karga sa dad so imagine yun sikip ng seats tapos nasa lap ko lang baby ko.

We didn't have problems with my baby during taxi, take off or landing that time unlike when he was 7mos when we went to HK na nagwala na siya pa-take off pa lang. We couldn't pacify him and he was crying so loud for about 20mins until he fell asleep.  Nakakahiya talaga.

What helped though during our flight to the US was the extra seat Kasi Hindi puno.  The long leg going to SFO, hubby transferred to an aisle seat across so it was me and baby in the 2-seater..  He sat, play and lay there for a few hours which was a relief. Unfortunately, the long leg going to narita. We didn't have the extra seat so dito talaga ako maiyak iyak. When my baby got bored, hubby would walk him (yes, he learned to walk in the states) but after a few mins he would cry and look for me.

Snacks, different toys helped a lot to distract him. If u have a spare budget, buy an extra seat

[nikki]

Oh and re jet lag.. Yes, it took our baby around 4 days before he's able to adjust and sleep through the night. When we got back to Manila, surprisingly no adjustment needed. We arrived home around 11:30pm. He slept agad when we got home and he woke up 8am the next day. 

[oreo08]

^thanks Nikki! Medyo nabuhayan ang loob ko na mag States kami this year

normally ba, your baby sleeps by himself as in no hele, no paci, etc? Kasi right now, we're teaching my daughter to sleep on her own... before kasi kelangan swaddled sya tapos super rock to sleep talaga gawa namin. May ayaw pa sya na movement ng pag rock, kelangan yun way nya ang masunod kung di magwawala sya

does he sleep through the night as well as in he doesnt wake up na for feedings? do u mind me asking when he started sleeping through the night? si bubs kasi she sleeps 8:30pm and wakes up 8am pero may feedings in between... pag nagising sya ng madaling araw, kelangan ihele... pero ngayon, we just let her do her thing sa bed and she eventually falls asleep on her own.

[bylan]

^sis oreo08 ganyan din si baby namin..she turned 6months yesterday.... di pa natutulog ng sarili nya not unless antok na antok na sya....

ang concern ko naman sa flying on infant on lap is safety issue.... sa FB group on car seat for little one, sabi kasi dapat may separate seat si baby gawa ng turbulence at take off and landing.... 

[oreo08]

^nah they have seatbelts naman. and besides, yun baby ko hindi talaga nagpababa nasa lap ko lang and naka seatbelt kahit tulog.

there's a reason bakit inaalis sa bassinet yun babies kapag may turbulence, take off and landing kasi nga hindi safe. kelangan naka seatbelt sila like the grown ups.