Baby's First Flight

As planned, we left for Jakarta on October 20. My brother just had his baby and I still have few more weeks left before going back to work. So now 'm spending the rest of my maternity leave at home. This should be the perfect time as I will never have a straight three week leave unless if it's an unpaid or another maternity leave.

There were three of us, my mom, me and the baby. Baby's ayah will only go early next month.to fetch me and the baby. So the little traveler was only 35 days old. Though it's only a two hour trip, we never felt as nervous as we did since traveling by plane with a newborn could be challenging. But mom said she did successfully with my brother from Brussels to Jakarta when he was 5 months old. As of this time, the baby is only a little over a month and he's not really a quite one which we thought wouldn't really be a good traveler.

So we departed in the evening which was usually the schedule of his cluster feeding. Sheraz has been having growth spurt and cluster feeding nearly every evening. We used to have 3-4 hours feeding session before his longest stretch of sleep for the night. Normally, we'd spend every evening with marathon susu session. So that evening was different, whether he likes it or not he had to travel instead of staying with his bunda, milking. And how did we manage?

#1 Carry him with a carrier. He's 5 kg, as heavy as my laptop but this one is a moving object and he could be slippery so it's saver to carry him with a carrier especially when we walk through the immigration, to the gate and board the plane. Luckily he could fit in it well.

#2 I tried to feed him at home just before we went out which I knew since it's the cluster feeding time, he wouldn't have enough of it. But at least he didn't leave with an empty tummy. During check in Sheraz started to looking for his susu again and crying. As there was no way to feed him, I had to let him have the pacifier. To some people pacifier is not really a good thing but I think it is created for reason. Especially during 'emergency' like this, this thing can be really useful. He never had one so at first he made a funny face when we put it in his mouth. Luckily it worked for him, he sucked and surprisingly became calm.

#3 During takeoff and landing he had his pacifier, allowed him to swallow more frequently to relieve ear pressure. Alhamdulillah he didn't scream or cry at all.

#4 I fed him a bottle of expressed breast milk which is easy and more efficient. It was a quick satisfaction for the baby too. He took 100ml on the plane and another 100ml in the car on the way home. He was a good traveler indeed, slept all the way through except during those feedings.

Sheraz's first flight was a good experience (for us), luckily he was so cooperative.