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This post was originally titled “long haul travel with baby”, however after talking to a few people, I quickly realised that it wasn’t long haul. It was l o n g e r. Glasgow, Scotland to Christchurch, New Zealand. Where most people consider flying UK to the USA long haul, you can’t really compare 9 hours on a plane to 30 hours in the air. So, ‘Overseas Travel with a Baby’ it is!
I’ll break down our travelling thoughts into a few posts, but to start with let’s answer a big question: what do I pack in carryon luggage for baby?!
Seat Harness or Carseat
Baby was 14/15 months old at the time of travel, so considered a ‘baby on lap’ (as he was under 2 years). However, kiddo is also quite tall, and we were travelling 30+ hours each way, so wanted to make sure that we were all comfortable.
We checked the airlines’ websites & safety information, and all advised that we could use a harness (like the 5 point harness of a car seat) that buckles onto the plane seat if we wanted to book baby his own seat (to give us space & a place to pop him down for naps). This would be similar to using a carseat, but unlike carseats that have differing safety standards, adhered to all of the guidelines across the different regions that we were travelling through.
Unfortunately, even though all the airlines SAID that the harness was acceptable for a baby under 2 years with his weight falling into the specific weight range – the air crews on every plane refused to let us use the seat harness. Keeping in mind, we had to call up & book his seat, and no one we spoke to flagged this as an issue. Gutting is one word! From what I understand, the websites might say that it’s accepted, however the actual aircraft safety manual says no. So even when we showed the air crews their websites that advised that it was approved (and preferred in some cases) for use, they were not able to allow us to use the harness.
There’s research to say that these harnesses are actually safer than the lap belt extender on a parent’s knee. But hey, we followed the air crews’ instructions. The extra seat did give us extra room to spread out, baby stayed on my lap for most of the flights, and the harness ended up just taking up room in the carryon luggage.
Shop our kids safety harness here.
Books, toys, fidget toys
Variety without packing the entire toy collection is key when it comes to baby entertainment! A selection of colourful toys that have different actions (fidget poppers, toy cars with spinning wheels) and different types of entertainment! Baby loved the painters tape – he spent quite some time peeling it off the back of the chair / tray table. I also recommend suction toys like these spinners, and buckle toys like this one!
Clip or a strap
Talking about toys, I had the sudden fear as I was packing that we’d end up chasing things all over the plane, or something would roll out into the aisle and a poor air steward would be feet over head after slipping on it. Solution? Essentially a longer dummy clip. I would’ve spent more time on creating something, but honestly, a piece of ribbon tied at one end to a large clip and the other end to a hair elastic did the trick. Clip the clip onto the seat pocket in front of you, and loop the hair elastic around the toy/cup/drink bottle. Job done!
Muslins
Also muslins. Pack plenty of muslins. For quick cleanups, to pop over the seat during meals, or lay down before doing a nappy change. Pack lots of muslins.
Drink bottle, snacks, cutlery, plate and bib
Keeping it simple and washable was key for any utensils, bibs etc. that we packed. There’s nothing worse than carrying around soiled clothing/cloth bibs, especially when going through border control (places like New Zealand and Australia take bringing food/plant material into their countries very seriously). I wanted to make sure we packed a few familiar eating items, to help encourage baby to eat whilst we’re out and about, but also (I’m not sure if this is actually a thing or not) to help signal meal times during all of the timezone changes. Something about the routine of offering baby food on HIS plate seemed to make a tiny difference to that adjustment during overseas travel with a baby.
Ink free colouring / painting
Baby was just starting to show interest in mark making before we left, so we threw in some ink free colouring. There are colouring books that contain the ink and react with the invisible ink in the markers – making it a perfect activity whilst travelling. You can also get paint free painting where you paint onto the special paper with water and the colours appear.
Shop Bluey Ink Free Colouring here.
…And of course, you also want to ensure you have plenty of changes of clothes, nappies and toiletries for baby.
Tips:
Don’t pack your favourite outfits into carryon for baby for overseas travel with baby. We abandoned more than one sleep suit in an airport lounge after a poo-nami. Nothing was going to get me to pack that soiled sleep suit back into our carryon (could you imagine?!). I would however recommend footed sleep suits or trousers – they save you from spending half your trip trying to locate at least 1 sock that’s fallen off.
We also made the most of our carryon allowance, and pre-ordered snacks (biscuits, fruit pouches etc.), nappies, wipes and sudocream at the airport for collection after navigating security. 10/10 would recommend and will be doing this on all of our trips going forward!
What have we left off the list? What do you consider an essential when travelling long-haul with the baby. Let us know in the comment below!
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