Making Up Formula on Plane

D

Dink

Registered User
Hello - anyone travelled with a baby recently can tell me about taking water onto plane for making up baby's bottles? How do you do it? Do I put the water in the bottles at home and take like that (but what do I carry them in, my thermos bag is not big enough for all the bottles)? Doesn't the water spill everywhere if you do this? Can I use mineral water that I buy after security? Will the airline staff just make them up using their boiled water?

Sorry if this is an idiotic question!
 
Hi Dink,

You can ask the the stewardess for boiled water, you can request for cooled water, warm or hot water, they will understand and mix it or you can ask for hot and cold water and mix it to get your desired temperature. The airplane staff are usually very accomodating. Just bring enough sterilised bottles with you. Good Luck!
 
They have loads of bottled water on the plane. I know they also have outlets on the planes in various locations. Maybe you can bring a bottle warmer. One more thing to bring!
 
just flew long haul with a couple of feeds and stewards are very accommodating as louisouis. i used the bottled water they gave out (don't usually used mineral water of course but for 2 feeds as a one off for convenience, I think is fine) and asked them to top up with boiled water. the bottled water was chilled so i had to adjust my cold to hot ratio a bit! i also saw another bottle being warmed by staff in a teapot in the kitchen galley.
 
it also depends on the age of your child...my 2 year old is VERY fond of her milk. most of the airports we've been through have been ok. but one airport (calgary) wouldn't even let us through with their disney-themed juice bottles (eventhough my kids were avidly drinking from them). i was told it was because they were older than 2 years.

no problems though in:
hong kong, shanghai, vancouver, regina...
 
As long as you are travelling with a baby, baby food and liquids are exempt from the security restrictions, so you can fill your bottles with water and take them on board.
I've never bothered to warm them, my 2 were always happy with room temp.

What kind of bottles do you use? I've always used Avent, and they don't leak.
 
just flew with my baby last week. i brought along the baby wildalp water to mix the formula & then asked the cabin attendants for hot water to warm up the milk in a flask. no problems with security at the hong kong airport. remember to bring more than enough sterilized bottles & milk powder just in case.
 
I have never had any problem traveling with filled baby bottles. I just came back from a trip where I went HKG - Narita - Honolulu - San Francisco - Las Vegas - HKG and carried sterilized water in baby bottles (in plastic ziplock bags) the entire time, I had six on the last leg (SFO to HKG).

I asked for hot water in a venti starbucks cup (which I brought with me) to warm the bottle. Make sure you bring your own cup to put the hot water into as the first time I traveled they tried to put hot water in an air-sickness bag and it leaked all over - apparently they don't have containers on the plane that are large enough for the bottles to fit in.

good luck and safe travels!
 
A tip I was given was to get baby used to drinking formula or milk at room temperature. It makes it SO much easier when you're out and about or travelling.

I've not had problems getting sterilized water in baby bottles through security before, but that's just been HK and Australia. Have heard other places are a nightmare, though.
 
Don't try and take any liquid through Heathrow London - it will be confiscated. They allowed me to take EBM but it had to be in marked bottles each less than 100ml and i had to drink from each - I had some frozen (thinking it would keep fresh better on the plane) but I was not allowed to take that without defrosting and drinking it - making it completely useless for a 13 hour flight. They do not allow un-opened cartons of ready made formula either.

With baby food - i was told i could not take my own food in jars I had to hand it in and was then made to buy it on the 'other side' - this was a real problem as my baby was only about 6 months and had only been introduced to e.g apple, pear, carrot, sweet potatoe - the jars they had for sale were e.g chicken and vegetable pasta or vanilla and peach custard - this made me very nervous as I obviously didn't want to allergy test my baby for 6 different food types in 1 meal up in the air in a plane !!
 
Also.. Hong Kong Airport

I have never had problem in HK before but when I flew this weekend I was not allowed to take the Ella's Kitchen Organic sachets of pureed fruit. They were all taken of me. I have flown from HK with them before. My friend also had some but she got through with hers it was only me who was stopped with mine.

Just warning you as they may be tightening the rules in HK as well.
 
We've found HK airport stricter compared to Singapore and Thailand. If you drink from the bottle most will let you go through, except HK.
 
it really depends on who you get so I prefer being prepared for the worst. I have had the toughest times in Heathrow and Sydney.
 
last time we flew with our baby, i took warm boiled water in a thermos, the security staff at the air port were very polite and i showed them the thermos beforehand. I offered to drink a sip to confirm it is just water, but they said its not reqd, rather the security check guys played with our daughter during our checking time. So dont bother much about this.
 
hi, although u do get water for the baby on the plane.....i suggest u carry atleast one bottle of hot water with u in yr bag.....this is in case yr flight gets delayed and the feed time happens at the airport itself u need not run around looking for water.....make the water extra hot and carry in a thermos bag so that by the time u ahve to feed yr baby it is atleast warm........i have carried 2 bottles that way and they allow baby bottles if u just show it to them at security....they will take them and put them ina [lastic bag separately and give u once u pass the x-ray m.c,....all the best!
 
we took hot water onboard and kept it in a bottle bag and as for the cold water, we asked for distilled water, which they usually have onboard. but remember to request for it at the gate or first thing when you get on coz they don't carry that many bottles.
 
We just flew back from the States. Going over, I brought an entire bottle of Baby Alp Water for our son and empty bottles. I brought a ton of food and 6 small boxes of Paul's milk. Going from HK into the States was much harder. I was stopped for about 20 minutes to defend my case. I explained to them that I needed this food b/c:
* my flight home was 15 hours
* there's 2 hours before leaving
* I have to take into account any possible delays
the flight itself is 15 hours then there's getting t through immigration at the other end

I said, if you can guarrantee that my son will have all the milk and water he will need, then I will gladly leave all these liquids here in HK. They conceded and I won! haha! It took awhile, but if you want it badly enough, then fight for it for your baby.
 
In HK I think it depends on who you get at security. I carry the small Paul's cartons plus some jar food for emergencies, and have travelled plenty of times with these. In HK only once have I been stopped and questionned about the milk cartons. A supervisor then came over and waved me through without a problem.
 
Now you all have me very worried! We are travelling in September and October and I have never been stopped at Hong Kong, Sydney, Brisbane or Auckland with bottles of boiled water in baby bottles (usually about 3 or 4 of them) plus milk powder and jars of baby food. Never been stopped and never been asked to try them. I have them in separate plastic bags and always ask them if I need to take them out to be separately scanned (like you sometimes need to do for your toilettries). I always take the water with me as you cannot be sure that the water on board has actually been boiled (ie: the stuff they use for coffee and tea is usually hot not boiled). We always fly Cathay and the flight attendants have no issue heating up the water for us. Think they use a coffee pot for it!

Will have to be prepared for HK to stop us if we get a tough one!

SB2

PS - having looked at the Heathrow website - they are very tough ...

Can I take milk powder with me to make up a bottle of milk on the plane?

Yes, you can carry milk powder.

What about a bottle or carton of prepared milk or sterilized water, do they need to be a maximum of 100ml?

No, nor do they have to fit in the resealable bag. However, the amount must be sufficient for your trip only and you will be asked to taste 50 per cent of the contents of the containers. There are no limits for powder formula; bottled water is available in shops after security. Your airline can provide water during the flight.

Can you buy cartons of formula milk from the shops after security?

Yes. Boots sell Cow & Gate ready to drink formula in both 250ml and 500ml sizes after security. Every country which is implementing the new security arrangements has accepted that parents with babies should be able to carry sufficient baby food/milk for the journey, so "reasonable amounts" are exempted although you will be asked to open and taste at least 50per cent of the containers when going through BAA’s UK airports

What about jars of baby food?

We are required to test at least 50% of the jars of infant or baby food that you bring with you. Try to only carry what you need for the journey. The jars do not need to go into the re-sealable bag.

What about pureed food in plastic pots or containers?

The same test applies. We have to test at least half of what you bring with you; the jars do not need to go into the re-sealable bag.

Can we carry children’s liquid ibuprofen and paracetamol in our hand luggage?

Yes, carry sufficient for the trip and less than 100ml. You may need to test the liquid medicine by tasting it.
 
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