LittlePanda in Singapore @ 1yr1m Travel tip #1 Flying smoothly with the baby without breastfeeding (EN)

Singapore was the first country we brought along our little girl on her first overseas trip. It’s our all time favorite country we’d recommend our friends who are parents with small kids/babies to bring theirs for travelling especially if it’s their first time as well.

We traveled abroad with our baby 2 times prior to this trip i.e. when she was 3.5 months (to Singapore) and 8 months (to Tokyo). Protecting their ears from air pressure is one of the top list of our worry (and most parents I believe) as babies & small kids may not be able to spontaneously resolve if they have the problem, they might feel uncomfortable and might cry a lot. We successfully fly with her, taking off and landing, smoothly – relying on breastfeeding/ nursing.

Now our baby is already over 1 year, and I have to start thinking when to stop breastfeed and without breastfeed, how would I take care of this ear problem when we fly with our little girl! So I start to look for information, even posted a question to pantip webboard and managed to get a lot of suggestions from many people.

http://pantip.com/topic/33583366

In summary these are some tips provided

1. Let them have snacks or candies, their favorites ones (can be crispy seaweed , Vitamin C, hichew morinaka candies, fruits, lollipop etc)

2. Let them drink water or milk

3. Try to distract their attention to other things like playing toys, singing for them

4. Use pacifier

5. ear plug for children, especially made for preventing ear pressure.

Illiadin nose drops (but this one need to consult our doctor first)

The important tip is the baby/toddler/ kid needs to be sucking something so they keep swallowing and that helps relieve ear pressure.

With lots of info, I’ve decided to try on this trip. I thought if feeding her snacks doesn’t work, I can still breastfeed her 🙂

Now I’m choosing few stuff to try today before the trip, Vitamin C, crispy strawberry & banana, organic puffs.

Some photos from our flight —

Taking a photo with the lovely flight attendants.

Today we got the window seat. Mommy requested front seat during booking (got row 31). Flight was delayed today, thanks to the window and the planes, I have many things to distract her 🙂

There are different challenges in bringing kids/ baby’s at different age.

When the baby traveled overseas for the first time, we have a lot of worries that they would heave headache from ear pressure. We we brought her to Tokyo at 8 months, she’s already standing, she was already very naught, wanted to climb seats. Now at 1 year old new challenge is that they want to get down on the floor and walk.

Anyways .. we made it today! taking off & landing with no breastfeeding (but still breastfeed when she’s hungry and wants to sleep).

Some more tips:

– Always bring many options! My baby is normally very choosy when it comes to food. Even snacks she gets bored easily, she might happily eats something for a few bites and won’t take anymore. So I brought many things for peace of mind.

– Don’t feed the babies too much prior to taking off otherwise they might refuse to eat anything.

– Cartoon on TV screens is also helpful even without the sound. Most airlines provide entertainment on screen which you can choose from and also have a lot of content for kids.

– window seat gives good distraction outside the plane.

– front row seat is good too as kids can at least stand and play there, parents just gotta be careful.

– travel with more people (friends & family) could be helpful as they can help take turn and look after the babies.

some photos from the flight 🙂