[leslie]

once flew with severe ear infection - as an adult - thought it was a head cold. fortunately the flight was only an hour but has left me with permanent scar tissue - changed balance, hearing etc. requires operation to set straight. the doctor couldn't believe how bad it was, a week later. the pain was so unbearable i was ready to jump out the emergency exit. you know when all those people were jumping out the world trade centre - well, i knew how they felt. i just kept saying (out loud, i think) 'its only an hour, only an hour, almost there'. the ba flight staff never brought the requested painkillers - nice.

learned to always have childrens ears checked the day before - definately not worth risk.

[Diny]

Totally agree. Although I'm not sure whether there's still the 'hoo haa' about not taking young babies on long haul flights (we did), it's very important that you get them MOT'd before the flight.

Not only for their health & safety - but for your sanity too.

Diny

[eric_amanda]

Hi

I spoke to our health visitor before our youngest was even born!

Once he was, it was some of the first questioning I had for GP etc. When we flew he was 6 months old, the middle one was 16mths. We had no problems with either of them, except for a few frustrated moments and in fact take off and landing were fine, although it does help to have something for them to drink, helped our 3 1/2 year old and better than sweets!!!

Amanda

[veronica]

Kerry was 6 weeks old when she flew her first London to Perth flight and she was fine, Trudie was 6 months old, at that age we had no problems with them during the flight or after. As I said in another post just give them a bottle to drink on take off and landing as the swallowing adjusts their ears automatically. Did the same when they were a bit older too. only thing when they are older they get more fidgetty and bored so lots of new things to do from a 'magic' bag. all the cheap books, magic painting, sticker books and stuff from the market you normally would say no to.

[captainxmas]

Also worth bearing in mind that you are more likely to get bulkhead seats so you can spread around a bit. At least that's how it seems, so legroom is less of a pain... :yes

[Iain & Liz]

hello
we have a 1 and 4 year old and the week before we flew our youngest had a throte infection and was given antibiotics we were advised to have a check up the day before flighing to make sure his ears were fine.
and they were.
we booked a window seat and 2 next to it 1 asle seat in the middle and we got a cot for our youngest the air line dont usally give families the bulk seats because of emergancy exit , but i guess it depends on the airline.
it worked out really well as i sat on the asle seat the kids by the window and hubby on the asle seat next opposit to me and when i needed a break we just switched seats they slept almost all of the way we just packed a few toys sweets etc and it was fine we are coming back to the uk in july for 3 weeks and we hope the flight (kids) is just as good and we were right near the tv screen.
if you get a chance and a lap top we down loaded loads of games eg teletubbies,thimbols,thomas the tank and when they were restless we let them play them.oh and a extra battery.even if there is't any thing wrong with your child and you dont feel guilty about going to see your GP then get it checked out you could explain your worries etc.

[jocalla]

Myself (always had alot of pain during flights)and my son suffered with our ears last time we flew over to australia, we were in agony :eek

This time I bought some ear-planes and popped them in our ears, no problems what so ever, this was the first pain free flight I have had :nice1

Joanne

[wayne]

best thing is not to let em fly until theyre at least 18 then they can buy their own tickets :P , Some friends of ours flew to the USA to visit family and they booked them selves in Business class whilst their kids sat at the back in economy( the boys were all in their teens)thats the way to fly with your kids.
The youngest child I have ever seen on a flight was days old! it was born prematurely whilst the parents were on holiday,the father used to walk down the plane to the toilets carrying this tiny child on the palm of his hand it did the flight from USA to NZ and barely made a sound

[Diny]

Some very good suggestions there Wayne.

PB is so adamant that he doesn't want to do a stop over on he way to NZ that he's actually offering me a seat in business class and him and the boys go cattle class. That way he reckons I'll be comfortable and won't need a stopover.

OK call me selfish but I'm actually considering the option :eek

Diny

[wayne]

We have done the trip 5 or 6 times and only once with the stopover, we would never do the stopover again it wasnt worth the cash you still feel like s**t when you get there , actually after a nights sleep in a hotel you have breakfast and think got to do it all over again today, Just give me the 2hr refuelling stop in Singapore and on with the journey any time

[Diny]

Jeeze Wayne I hope PB doesn't read your last post :uhoh

I've also done the trip more times than I care to remember (UK to Oz too). Before we had the boys I always had a stop over - mainly in Bali flying from Darwin - and I really loved it.

Mark always kicks against any stops because he reckons that if you're just on holiday there's no point in wasting time on the journey - he just likes to get there. I've always gone along with this (hate to admit it but I guess he has a point). But seeing as the next trip will be on a one way ticket I think I'm entitled to my stop over.

It's not the legnth of time spent on the plane as much as the intense discomfort I experience.

Anyway watch this space ..... I'll put money on us having a stop over :nice1

Diny

[wayne]

Aww its just a man thing even when we drive to Devon on holiday it usually goes like this
Trudy;"we arent going to do the drive in one are we?"
Me "oh no we will stop a couple of times along the way"
Trudy ; "how about stopping at the hog's back picnic area"
Me : "naw i dont think so we have made good time we have only been in the car x hours dont want to stop yet"
Trudy ; "well lets stop at Stonehenge then"
Me ; "OK"
Trudy ; "the turn off for Stone henge is just coming up"
Me ; "where there ... oh oops missed it we will have to carry on for a bit longer now"
Trudy ; "you missed that on purpose"
Me "well weve seen it before... we will stop soon"
Trudy "how about stopping at .........we havent been there ?"
Me "stop where naah no point in stopping now we are nearly there"
Trudy "*****" " you ***** done it again " "we WILL stop on the way home"
Me " yes OK wherever you want to stop :cool :cool "

[Diny]

How spooky .... it must be a man thing. That is exactly how trips in our car go.

When we lived in Aberdeen the trip home to see my folks would take about 7 hours - with me in the car. If Mark did the journey alone he could do it in 6.

He has a very strong bladder and is happy with a bottle of water and a Mars Bar.

Not me !!

[Babette & Andy]

Diny - you'll have to make sure that Wayne and PB don't meet, can you imagine if they start swapping ideas :wah

Babette

[Annierobrigado]

Diny - you'll have to make sure that Wayne and PB don't meet, can you imagine if they start swapping ideas :wah

Babette

diny and babette,

uh oh now that you mentioned it wayne and pb will now make sure they'll meet. who knows, they've made a date already :laugh

we go to bicol once a year, that's about 400 kms from manila, roughly an 8 hour drive (if continuous), but 10 hours more like it with all the stops. my youngest (he's 7) has been doing that trip eversince he was a year old, and he copes with it by just falling asleep or eating chips and playing games on his dad's cellphone. :angel

my older ones just listen to their cds.

i wonder though if they'll cope with the plane changes though. the fastest route to nz from manila, i heard was qantas to sydney, then to auckland, then if i go down south, auckland to welly. i don't know if they change planes.

well, i'll just have to rely on the forum posts for descriptions.

hope to see you soon
annie