South Florida Babies
steveanddani07
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any advice for international travel?
steveanddani07
member
We are going to Costa Rica in April for 2 weeks. The plane ride is 3 hours but we are buying him his own seat. My son will be 6 1/2 months old and I have no idea what to take. Any Suggestions? Can I take a breast pump and pumped milk with me as a carry on, on an international flight? Would you take baby food? I make my own but would be willing to take some organic kind. What will I need for two weeks? We are renting a house so theres no crib. I'm thinking of buying a portable crib. What do I take for entertainment? Any suggestions please help. TIA,Danielle
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Re: any advice for international travel?
To be honest with you, if your son is anything like mine, don't waste your money on a seat if you do not have to. Spencer has flown quite a few times, and the earliest was at 10 months. At 10 months he slept the entire way roundtrip, and when we did buy a seat for him for a 6 hour flight to Cali, he wouldn't even sit in it. It was nice to have the extra space, but it wasn't worth the money. We brought for him, as entertainment, toys he had never seen before....something that would surely grab his attention multiple times. The key is to bring items he has never seen before! He was also very into Mickey Mouse at the time, so we brought DVDs for our laptop. I would get a less expensive no thrills pack-n-play, this way, if you have way to much stuff to bring home with you, you can ditch it. In regards to food, if you trust the food that you can use to make down there, then you should be fine; otherwise, I would bring. On the plane, there is no restrictions to baby items, and they have to be baby items; however, be prepared to be in line for quite sometime. Security will test every bottle, cup, jar, etc.
Bring whatever you would need for two weeks here, plus an extra....be prepared for the unexpected!
Hope this helps!
Photo courtesy of www.yaporiginals.com
It's Beshert
We went to the UK when DS was 15 months, but we also did a lot of flights domestically from when he was 8 weeks on. I agree with Gena that a seat was not necessary until he got more mobile (for us by 8 months) and started launching himself off of our laps during the flight, but it was required for our international flight as well as a car seat to strap him into. I would just confirm with your airline what you need to have.
You should be allowed to carry on a breast pump without too much trouble and pumped milk should also not be a problem (aside from having to open everything so they can check it), but be aware that different airports and different countries may not allow freezer packs for your cooler. I have had them confiscated at BWI and also at security on our flight back from the UK, so now if I need to cool something I usually take an empty bottle or 2 filled with ice and if they make me dump the ice (which hasn't happened yet) I can just plan on getting more once past security.
I would definitely take baby food, unless your son is very open to new flavors. I was surprised to find that the options were completely different when we were in the UK, and you never know what will be available. For example, you can get curry flavored baby food over there, but don't even think about trying to find applesauce!
For entertainment, we took a few of his favorite small toys, but at 6 months my son was just getting to the stage where one of our cell phones could entertain him for a LONG time, so that was mainly what we let him play with. I also nursed on the flights for take off and landing which occupied some time and of course helped with the ear pressurization.
Write down everything that you use on a daily basis for a few days and then look at that list to see what you know you can get in Costa Rica, what you might be able to do without and what you know you need to take.
I hope you have a great trip!