Flying with Bebe - lessons learned

I have been  meaning to write this for ages. But you know, life and stuff.
Then a pal of mine messaged and asked if I had some tips so I was like, okay, I will get my ass into gear.
So now my ass is in gear.
And here we go.

These are my tips for flying with a baby.

Give yourself a lot of time.

We are chronic “early arrivers” at airports. But even with all the time we gave ourself, we ended up rushing. Things just come up with babies. For us, we were on time until we hit a big cue at the petrol station on the way to the airport. And, then, as we were packing our stuff on to a trolley and about to head to the airport bus, Soph had a poo-splosion (her first ever – right out of her pants, into the baby carrier and down my front). So we had an emergency nappy, and outfit change in the car boot in the dark in the carpark.

Double check everything.

But not at 3 am. The night before we left I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited to see my parents. So I decided to check our luggage allowance on the website. Read it wrong. Got up and repacked the suitcase. Added more things.

Then when we checked in the suitcase was 8 kilos over and we had to be the people that go to the side and repack all their bags. Much to Robs horror lol.

Checking baby stuff.

As far as I can see, most airlines give you an allowance for certain baby items. You know, like a portacot, pram/stroller and maybe a car seat. Check it out first. But yeah, from what I can see most normal (like, non-budget) airlines give you an allowance to check 3 baby items. Keep in mind though, you will probably need to lug them down to oversized luggage section. Another reason you want to give yourself heaps of time.

Carrying.

Wear that baby. If you aren’t into wraps, get a more conventional baby carrier. Either way, it makes it was easier. Gives you your hands back. And makes each process smoother.
Also - in the time leading up to your trip, if you or babe aren't so comfortable with the baby carrier, try and use it around the house and get used to it. That way there is one less stress.

Stuff.

Limit your carry on items and stuff you carry. So, what I mean is, if you have jackets and aren’t wearing them - have them in a bag, if you have multiple carry on items, plus a baby, you are bound to get frustrated and wish you had packed differently. Or, if you have multiple carry on items, make one a backpack so your arms are free. Have one as a nappy bag with babes stuff in it. If you have a laptop or ipad and need to take it out as security you will appreciate having your arms free. 

Identification.

Check what babe requires. All babies need passports for all international travel. This much I know. Domestic travel policies vary in each country. For domestic travel within Australia, you need to have your Medicare card with baby's name on it. I am not sure what you need in the US, probably your SSC. 

Security.

Before you turn up, know what you can take through. EBM, formula, water for making your formula? If you are in the States, wear slip on shoes so you don’t have to then sit down balancing a kid while sorting your shoes out.

When you go through security, baby HAS to come out of the carrier. The carrier has to be xrayed and baby needs to be carried through. So if they are due for a nap, TRY to keep them awake until you get through the security checkpoint. Soph fell asleep just before we went through and lost her shit when I had to wake her up.

This is what it looks like when Sophie finally falls asleep, and then gets woken up to go through security. 

Poor thing. 

Take off and Landing.

Babies have to wear the little seatbelt when taking off or landing, and this can be when they are in most discomfort because of the pressure changes. If you can, feed/nurse them now – it serves as a nice distraction, plus the sucking helps relieve the discomfort. 

Meals.

Be prepared to take turns eating. It is worth eating a cold meal (which I am sure you are pretty much used to at this point) to not have babe flipping out.

Note to breastfeeding Mamas. I normally drink heaps and heaps of water during the day, however, on flights I hate getting up and normally don’t drink much at all – this led to a sudden and massive milk supply drop. It bounced back a few days later, but yeah, it’s not worth it. Keep drinking water!

Seating.

If you can it is worth having an extra seat between you for babe or babes things. I couldn’t book one when I chose our seats ahead of time but the check in lady helped get us some extra space which was lovely.

Air Hostess Pals.

Make friends with your flight staff. They can be a huge help whether you are flying solo with baby or in a couple/group. They have pillows which help with nursing or balancing a sleeping babe. They can help juggle babe if you need to use the toilet. And they can bring you an extra wine if you need it!

Plan ahead.

How much of parenting is planning ahead? (And then usually changing things up on the fly :P). How long is your flight? Do you have all the changes you need? Do you have enough nappies and wipes?

Can you book connecting flights with a generous lay over? Like, not super long but enough time to account for an hour delay. Is babe teething? Do you need to bring panadol or bonjela with you? Make sure they are small enough to bring in your carry on.

Chill Out.

You know what? If your baby cries the whole time and you are worried about pissing people off, don’t worry. They will get over it. There is always gonna be someone who gets annoyed about nothing. Most people will love the cute distraction of a baby.

And chances are, this is far more eventful for you than babe. For them, its just another day hanging out with you (except with a lot of randoms around). Soph was a champ. She totally rocked it and enjoyed sleeping and playing. 

Keep calm.

Baby reads your feelings (as I am sure you have heard heaps already). We once saw a family rushing to catch their next plane, they were so stressed. They were so stressed in fact that the father was rushing to get their documents to the Customs officer and dropped the passports down the side of a gap in the desk and they then had to wait for the whole desk to be taken apart by airport staff. Rushing made them miss their connecting flight all together.

Oh and lastly, 

Don’t bother buying a magazine.

Chances are, you won’t get time to read it haha.

Pumping at work - Lessons Learned

Haha such a scientist. Let's have a look back and figure out some lessons learned Sarah.

Right.

I returned to work when Sophie was four and a half months. So she went from one bottle of expressed milk and five or six boob feeds a day to all bottle feeds (unless she woke during the night). I had a pretty dramatic (if I say so myself) loss of two months supply of frozen breast milk the week before I went back to work, so I had lots of pumping to do.

My tips for gettin' it done.

First of all. Make sure you have pumped before. Don't start your first pump at work. That would be a disaster. Be comfortable with your pump and your ability to do the pumping.

Dress appropriately - do you want to strip down completely? If not, then you gotta make sure your boobs are accessible.

Bring some wipes or cloths - you never know when these will come in handy.

Bring a towel - it is good to have it in your lap. Catches any drips. Saves you from worrying if you smell like milk later.

Bring a book - or your phone. Its pretty boring.

Videos - I spent ages watching videos of Sophie on my phone. It makes the time go quicker, helps with milk let down, and makes you smile.

Figure things out first - Is there a room to use at your work? Do you need to schedule it? Do you need "permission"? We are lucky enough to have a lactation room at work, but I didn't know who to contact about getting a key or about booking it. By the time I got into it, I was about to burst. Also, know your rights. It can be really stressful worrying about the time it takes. This can negatively impact your milk supply. Contact your HR rep and know whats up.
Have you used the storage bags or bottles before? I took my collection bags out the night before I went back to work and there was some plastic connector thing I had to figure out. Glad I did that at home.

Hands free pumping - Do you have a pump that you can use hands free? Some of them say they are, but actually need a bra or something else to make it hands free. I use a super cute little bandeau thing that the funnels pop into. (And it has polka dots on it, totally important haha).

EAT EAT EAT - pumping plus full time work is TIRING. Dude. It is so tiring. You gotta keep the calories up. I have some containers with nuts and dried fruit in them for nibbling as I go.

Drink lots of water - I know they say that everywhere. But it really is true. When we flew to Melbourne I didn't drink a lot on the flight so that I didn't have to get up to pee. But that night - I had NO milk. I mean NO milk. So keep drinking ladies.

Lactation cookies or balls - my milk supply dropped significantly when I headed back to work. So I ate lots of lactation supplements.

Plan - I know I am an over-planner. But you returning to work is a big step for you and for babe. I didn't want to make a bunch of changes for Sophie at once. Rob had been bottle feeding her once a day since she was about 8 weeks, so we knew she could take a bottle, which was a good start. The week before I went back to work, we made all of her feeds bottle feeds so she would get a little more used to that being the norm while I was still around.


 And... for the thing we all love to look at..
Whats in my pumping bag?

Paleo Lactation Raw Balls

That's quite the mouthful y'all!

A lovely lady in my Mother's Group bought in some lactation cookies a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't make it that day, but when I heard, I thought yum. I wanted to try these magical cookies that boost your milk production, unfortunately, most of these aren't Paleo.. So I got experimenting!

From what I can see, the main ingredients to boost your milky, are flaxseed, oats and brewers yeast. Now, I don't know if brewer's yeast is Paleo or not, but I know oats aren't. So here is what I used..


150 g raw nuts - I used 50 g almonds, 50 g cashews, 50 g walnuts 
150 g dates
50 g flaxseeds
2 T brewers yeast
40 g coconut oil
30 g cacao powder
dessicated coconut to roll

Blitz all ingredients together in some form of chopping machine. I use a Thermomix, my pal uses a Vitamix, any food processor like thing should work.
Roll in the coconut.
Store in freezer in BPA storage container or bag.

Notes
I used three types of nuts because they were in the cupboard. If you use just walnuts, the mixture will be wetter than if you use just almonds - you will need to lessen the amount of coconut oil you use.
The brewers yeast is strongly flavoured. I tried it with two tablespoons first and thought it tasted fine so I added one more. Choose the amount you would like.
The flaxseeds give the balls a chunkier texture, if you don't like this you could use flaxseed meal.
If you want your balls to be smoother (ahem!) then you can just blitz the nuts to a butter consistency first, then add everything else.

Let me know what you think? Do you use any other recipe to boost your supply? I'm happy with mine, but thought it was worth boosting since I am pumping for when I return to work.

Two Months with our Poppet

Well. Sophie is two months old. Our lives have changed forever more! We are the very blessed and very proud parents of a sweet, smart and funny baby. 

Somehow the days have run into one another and we are already thinking where has time gone. 

Here is a run down of how it's all been.

Sophie's labor began spontaneously at 41 weeks, a relief as she was due to be induced a few days later. The labor was pretty smooth until the fibroids began to get very painful and back labor started. An epidural wasn't in our plans but we are very glad we made the choice to get one. I labored for 16 hours at which point the midwife suggested I try a practice push. Four minutes later Sophie was born. A squirmy and screaming little bundle with a smoodgy little face. She had a meconium birth which was quite stressful but all in all (and compared to so many others) my experience was pretty smooth and straight forward. 

We went home the next day in 38 degree heat (100 F) and the first task was to give her a wee wash and cool her down!

The next week was a steep and tiring learning curve. All the books and websites I had read and researched on really didn't prepare me for the post partum period. Luckily we had Mum with us to help us out and support us for the first week. Having her here was a huge relief and gave us kind of a confidence boost. And I will say, no matter how tired I was, rolling over and seeing Soph always bought a smile to my face!

We went into the birth hoping that breastfeeding would work out for us and we feel both happy and lucky that it is going well. The first week was sore and a challenge but she is a natural. And man, what an eater! She is chubbing out so well! 

We had Robs Mum stay with us for three weeks which was so great. The visit worked out to be at the same time that I got mastitis so it was a massive relief to have an extra hand while I was wiped out. 

Before we knew it four weeks, then five, six, seven and eight had passed since she was born. She has put on a couple of kilos since she was born and is getting longer and longer! She is nearly to big for her Moses basket now!

She is currently in 3 month sized clothing - her newborn clothes are long gone (in a box on the way to New Zealand for her cousin who is expected any day now!). 

She is getting much stronger and is itching to get in a walker or a jolly jumper. She is so nearly ready to hold her head up! Setting a schedule is something we are working on, for now her mornings and evenings are set and we just kind of try and be flexible. We have found that the second we say something is a definite that she mixes things up and surprises us. 

At two months these are Sophie's favorite things!

Morning cuddles and bottle with Dad (while Mum sleeps!)

Boobs - she's all about the milk

Her IKEA jungle gym play thing

The colorful quilt that Grandma made for under her play mat

Her All Black kiwi who plays the Haka from Nan

Warm shower with Mummy in the evening during her "witching hour"

DIY Special: A baby

Thats right! Our latest DIY project: we made a baby.

Heres what you will need:
Yourself
Willing partner
Barry White (not nessecary but this can help)
Soft - firmish surface

Prep time:
Give yourselves 30 minutes

Total project time:
9 months (initally)
Extended project time, full on approximately 18 years

Instructions:

Hahahaha well I guess I can skip the instructions part. But yep! We made a baby!
We have a wee one on the way, he or she will be done early January, and we couldn't be more excited!!


This is the real reason I have been AWOL around here lately. The wee one is kind of kicking my butt, so bring on that second semester where the nausea eases! Can't wait to take this next step in life with Rob, who has already stepped up and is nursing all my aches and pains. I am excited to share new projects, attempts at maintaining vintage fashion during the next 6 months and developments along the way. I am sure there will be a bucket load of fails too, so watch out for them.

Most of all, I can't wait to be a mummy.

Yay!!

xox