The editor of Mummy Travels gives her tips on how to make feeding time on airplanes as easy as possible.
1/ Be prepared at the airport
You can check as much baby formula and breast milk as you want, but you are also allowed to take a reasonable amount in your carry-on, according to TSA. Just make sure they are packed towards the top since they will have to be taken out and screened separately at security. You also don’t have to be travelling with your child in order to be allowed to bring formula and breast milk with you.
2/ Room temperature rules
If your baby’s happy to drink milk at room temperature, your travelling life will be much easier. However, most airlines are happy to heat bottles or provide hot water – but the cabin crew will have other duties on their mind too, so ask before your baby’s desperate for to be fed.
3/ Bottle it
Those 3.4oz liquid limits don’t apply to baby food or milk in hand luggage, but you’ll almost certainly be asked to taste it as you go through security. So avoid packing cartons which you’ll need to open and stick to cooled boiled water (which must be in a baby bottle) and a container of pre-measured powder.
4/ Pack a spare
Two spares, if you have room. That way, if you hit a spot of turbulence as you’re mixing the bottle (lightly coating the entire plane in formula), or hit heavy delays you’ve got a back-up.
Cathy is a 30-something travel-obsessed writer who’s visited more than 50 countries around the world. She’s also mum to her first baby and trying to work out how to juggle both at the same time. Her award-winning blog, MummyTravels.com, follows her attempts to combine buggies with border control, as well as tips on what to do (and what to avoid at all costs) while seeing the world as a family.