Comments on: Nursing is best for a traveling baby

By: Pumping on a plane: travel while nursing » TravelBlog Archive » Family Travel

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:41:35 +0000

[...] Nursing is best for a traveling baby [...]

By: Sharon

Sharon — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:10:25 +0000

Soooo true!

I’m an ex-Flight Attendant and I used to make endless trips to the galley to check on bottle temperatures…and the moms still weren’t happy. They would ask at the most awkward times and once the entire cabin had to wait to be given their meals because of one last-minute bottle warming request. How babies would scream when they were waiting! One of my coworkers had a screaming bottle feeder upset that we weren’t going to supply her with endless bottles of Evian for her baby. We never had enough for just the passengers, let alone special requests like that!

The breastfeeding moms, well, we didn’t hear much from them. Perhaps they would ask where the baby changer was…

I also have travelled with both breast and bottlefed babies and it was so much easier without the extra bottle gear. I made sure my son took them at room temperature (no health advantage to warming them) but still, it was a headache.

My two daughters never had bottles. One of them, as a toddler, saw a bottle in a store and asked me what it was.

My kids fly transatlantically about every 6 months, between Europe and California. I have also taken my kids to Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland (all seveal times), England, Morocco and elsewhere in France. We’re going to Brittany next week and again to Switzerland (but the first time to the Italian part) next month. I took one breastfed newborn to Switzerland. I had been to almost 60 countries before I had them so I wasn’t going to stop once I procreated!

There’s no way I could have done it if I hadn’t breastfed. Keep moving moms!!!

By: Seafarer

Seafarer — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:04:19 +0000

Hi Michael, Glad you enjoyed your visit to Family Travel, and keep it up with Family Hack; what a nicely-designed blog.

A Mighty Blog!

By: Michael | Family Hack

Michael | Family Hack — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:12:20 +0000

What a terrific blog. We’re a traveling family and think breastfeeding is a great fit for our lifestyle.

In fact, we just posted the “10 Essential Packing Rules for Traveling with Kids” on Family Hack and Rule #7 is called the “Mighty Boob”. I’ll give you one guess what the topic is

Best,
Michael
http://www.familyhack.com

By: Seafarer

Seafarer — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:05:58 +0000

Thanks Liz, for your kind words and ability to make me feel about 10 feet tall.

“Just keep humming, just keep humming….”

By: Liz Strauss

Liz Strauss — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:41:19 +0000

What a wonderful story for the traveler, both for the nursing mom and for those who travel alongside her. You’ve told it with candor and life. It’s so easy. Thanks for not beating a drum, but just humming the tune.

Yea!

By: Seafarer

Seafarer — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:29:10 +0000

Hi Debbie, Thanks very much for your supportive words and your own story. It’s great to have someone visit who has done it both ways!

I like your Delicious Baby blog very much; your upcoming trip to Spain sounds wonderful. I also liked the post about convincing kids to try new foods; even paella.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 05:12:45 +0000

Hear! Hear!

My son was unable to nurse, and we took a slew of domestic and international trips with him while he was a baby. My greatest stress came from having to keep clean baby bottles, fresh water, and enough formula always available. Luckily most of our travel was done before the recent liquid crackdowns, which would have made things even harder.

My daughter is nursed, and I cannot believe how much easier it is to travel with her. No more asking the stewardess to keep milk cold, no more trying to wash bottles with the hot water from tea service, etc etc etc. It can be a little awkward nursing on an airplane, in such close quarters with other passengers, but it’s well worth it for me, and I think for her too.