Monday, December 7, 2009

Travelling with Baby….

Something to share….

A few friends asked me how I handle Joel when we brought him to Taiwan….

Q1. Will baby’s ear sting during boarding and landing due to pressure?

For Joel, he was ok… He was quite normal during boarding and landing… :) There’s another couple who also brought their 13 months old daughter, they let her suck her pacifier and she was fine too…. :) However, if your baby doesn’t take pacifier like mine, prepare bread/bun or some teething biscuit, let them bite and suck… The best way is to pray that they will sleep will boarding and landing… =P But Joel was too excited to sleep….

Q2. Is there any food or seat provided for baby in the flight?

NO FOOD. So better prepare your own cereal. We are allowed to bring a thermo flask and water bottle for baby up to the plane. Well, as for seat, limited baby bassinets provided at the front row… The bassinet provided by SIA is too small for Joel… =P So, ended up, Joel slept on my chest…. Try to book the front row, the space is spacious.

Q3. How to kill time in the plane?

Bring along some toys for them to play. There are kids programs for them to watch too. As for Joel, we brought a small handheld fan with light, and he likes to play with the fan.

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Then he also likes to look out of the window….

Q4. How to prepare baby food?

This was the biggest challenge! How to prepare baby food…. My SIL asked me whether I’ll be bringing slow cooker to prepare Joel’s porridge. Thank God I didn’t… We were hardly stayed in hotel. Most of the time we were on the road. There were a few alternatives:

My friend YL recommended me to Pigeon Retortable Food Pouch… Very simple, all you need to do is dipped the pack in hot water and they are ready to be served… I let Joel tried, he didn’t really like it. I tasted it myself too, it was pretty salty….

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Finally we decided to try Nestle Cereal Rice Mix Vegetable

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This is the best solution. It contains not only cereal, but also milk and rich with nutrients and vitamins…. :) Joel LOVES it! It’s easy to prepare too…Just mix with lukewarm water and ready to be served!

Besides that, I also mixed with rice… We ate rice almost every meal.

We also fed Joel with buns and breads… We ‘stole’ some buns from the breakfast table for Joel for the rest of the day. =P

I continued breastfeeding Joel throughout the trip. Most of the time, I breastfed in the bus. Quite convenient…. And not many people noticed, cos most of them were fast asleep!! LOL!!!

Q5. How to bath Joel? Especially in cold weather….

My aunt taught this method which I find it very very useful. Turn on the hot water tap and let the hot steam filled up the room. Then bath and change Joel in the bathroom. Besides that, I also brought eucalyptus oil to rub Joel’s body and a bit on the crown to keep warm. This can also help the baby to sleep well at night…. :)

Q6. How to change baby’s diaper if there’s no baby changing room?

Simple! Joel was wearing pull-up pants diapers most of the time. We changed him in the bus and one time @ a shop cos my hub thought he passed motion. It’s easier to use pull-up pants. You don’t need to lie him down on changing mat and can change in standing position… :)

Q7. Is stroller useful during the trip?

We purposely bought a light stroller for this trip and we only used it twice (when we were at Yeh Liu and walking along the Tunnel of the Nine Turns trail. Other time, we didn’t have a chance to use it. Most of the places that we went had staircases and very crowded. Thank God, we brought baby carrier along, so my husband carried Joel most of the time. Besides that, Joel was more comfortable in the carrier too: warmer and he felt more secure… ;)

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Q8. How about at the Hotel? Any extra mattress for Joel?

Well, Joel slept with us. He slept in between… We didn’t request for any extra mattress. However, one of the couple requested for extra mattress and baby cot… Some hotels do have baby cot! So, remember to request… If they don’t have, request for a twin sharing room, so that you can pull two beds together to create bigger space. That time we didn’t request for twin sharing room, ended up, the three of us had to squeeze on one queen size bed… :( Except @ Shangrila Boutique Hotel, they provided us with twin sharing room! That’s the only night both Alan and I had a good sleep. Think Joel too… LOL!!!

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That’s about all… If you have any tips or tricks on travelling with babies, feel free to comment…. :) I’m sure some of us will be very keen to know… :)

7 comments:

Knotty Bicsie said...

Wow! U've been very busy blogging these 2days! Good tips, Jullie! Thanx for sharing! :)

chocolatelover said...

Had brought Cayden on flight previously when he was 5 months old. It is only an hour flight. Didnt get a bassinet but the was been given an extra seat since the ticket of infant was paid.

For me, it was easy on the ear pressure as i told Cayden weeks before the journey that he need to sleep during landing and take off. He really slept throughout. So one advice, get your babies mentally prepared on the trip.

Actually bread and cereal will be good.. no need bring food that required cooking.

Yes. DO remember to ask for baby cot if possible. It definitely worked best.

Jullie Teo said...

After this, will be hibernating for awhile to rush the orders... =P

Jullie Teo said...

Hi Christie, to my surprise, hotels in Taiwan do provide baby cot!!

Unknown said...

I have been flyiing back and forth from Europe to LAX for 3 years and every single time I had to walk my son up and down the aisles and kept him busy for 11 hours in a row. ONE time he slept for 1 hour and that was it! To be able to eat myself I stood in the stewardesses little nook, my son sitting on the counter beside me as I ate.So every trip has been quite tiring, but we made it! :)Hard to be a single parent sometimes.

Jullie Teo said...

Wow! That's a long long flight... The flight to Taiwan was only 4 hours long and nothing compares to your 11 hours flight... I'm sure there's entertainment or toys for your son to play?

l780717 said...

Jullie thanks for sharing the tips.. it useful...