[comit1]

hi everyone,

I have been so concerned with my up coming trip to bring my son home.

My concern is food and formula...

Will I be able to buy the formula there and bring it back on the plane??

Should I buy little jars of baby food and take it with me?

And when I fed him there, it was warm. How will I warm up his food. Our room did not have a microwave..

any suggestions regarding food and formula would be appreciated????

thankyou

[jeannecr]

The general answer to your questions is no problem. I have traveled a few times with DS on airplanes, starting at 6 months old. You can bring the powdered formula on with you, and ask the attendant for both cold and hot water. That way you can mix it to the temp you like. Same with baby food--you can place the jar in a cup of warm water to heat it up. But assuming your child will be over 10 months of age, mashed up real food should work just as well. You could bring a container of instant oatmeal or mashed potatoes and just add water to it. Lots of ways to be creative!

[momraine]

I was in Russia almost ten years ago and I was able to buy powdered formula there. Dd was also fine with room temperature baby food. I felt it was best at the time to keep her on the Russian formula till we got home, figuring it would be easier to deal with any, um "fallout" from a formula change at home. Also the can made a great souvineer! I was also able to buy jars of babyfood there and some "baby tea" that was a comfort thing for her. I think it was pretty much like cool aid and had a lot of sugar so we did very little of that though again we saved the container. We were also able to buy diapers there and I even bought a few clothes there.

[votemom]

i would ask the caregivers to write down exactly what formula and food he is used to having. and then ask your translator to take you to the local grocery store.

as far as heating up goes, most kids eat room-temp baby food with no issue. if it's ice cold out of the fridge, that's another issue.

how old is your little guy?

very excited for you!

[TweetyMom04]

Will I be able to buy the formula there and bring it back on the plane??
Yes. Ask the caregiver(s) or in country /region host to find out what brand of formula. Keep with the same formula until you are back in the states. An abrupt change in diet can lead to disasterous days/nights in the hotel and flight home. If you can buy the disposable bags for plastic bottles, take them with you. Pre-measure the powder into each bag and roll tightly securing with a rubber-band (either each bag or a group of bags.) Be sure not to bind them to tight. Carry extra formula. You may have to taste a sample at security, but you shouldn't have any problems.


Should I buy little jars of baby food and take it with me?
Find out from the caregiver(s) or in your in country / region host. If you can keep with the same foods your child (and you) will be happy. We gave our lil guys some jarred food in the hotel room. But the flight home, strictly formula.


And when I fed him there, it was warm. How will I warm up his food. Our room did not have a microwave.
Our Sons food (bottled) was warm. We had no means to warm up food. We served at room temp and they enjoyed every last drop.


any suggestions regarding food and formula would be appreciated????
I would keep with the same formula and foods if possible. You can switch formulas to a mild brand here in the states - check w/your Ped.

[pwnort64]

Not sure which region you are going to...I was in Vladivostok and you would have no issues getting anything you needed.

I took a bit of formula and baby food with me for my trip to bring home my son. But since I had custody during the 10 day wait, I ran out of everything.

I didn't experience any issues switching back and forth between the American brands and the Russian brands of baby food and formula, but I know others have. So follow your gut on that one.

[momofMikhail]

I agree with everyone else. We didn't switch our ds's food until coming home (Luckly since he had horrible diarhea from the switch). We had no problems with finding baby formula or food in region or Moscow. We used our coffee maker to warm up water and sat his bottle in that until it was warm enough. Room temp baby food was fine with him also.

Just a suggestion, make sure you have at least 3 outfits available on the plane. We went through 4 changes for ds on our way home, and 1 change for dh (poor dh was initiated on the plane)

Congrats and have a safe and memorable trip!

[MamaChinch]

I forgot how old your little guy is, but I took little jars of baby/graduates food and did not heat them up and my dd ate them with no problems. I also took Rice Cereal and she ate that very easily, too. Also yogurt and soup. You should have no problem getting what you need. You will have to test the waters to see how he is is reacting....

Of course, she also ate beef terakyi, lemon risotto, gnochhi, ice cream, eggs, cheese, salami......he he!

[angelkisses0102]

My kids were both still on the bottle and they were used to HOT bottles. We were able to get a microwave in our rooms...and on the planes they heated the bottles for us in a hot pot of water.

Both ate room temp. baby cereal and food. Everything can be bought in Russia although I did change DS's formula over to Enfamil LIPIL (brought from home) immediately and had no blow outs. I liked that they had the single serve powder packets (this was 5 years ago so it may have changed.) For DD we switched her over to a toddler formula...and again no blow outs but I believe we were very lucky. We ran out of her formula in Moscow so I bought some there...she went through about 80 ounces per day...she was 11 months old and starved so she just ate and ate and ate.

Good luck!!!

[britfish]

we purchased formula in Russia although I remember not knowing how much formula to mix w/ how much water since it was all in Russian! We had to get the hotel Dr. to translate for us! We bought and extra can to bring home w/ us so we could phase it out slowly once home. We bought baby food there, the jars had pictures of what they were on them. The baby food there had more spices in them, I remember alot had dill and things like that in them.
The one thing DD loved that we brought with us was the zwiebac teething cookies. Not sure how old your little one is but we couldn't find these there and they were a big hit and lasted a long time. also the gerber fruit puffs are awesome for babies and toddlers!

[sak9645]

Baby food jars are breakable and weigh a good bit. I would suggest bringing a jar of baby food prunes from home, in case your child is constipated, but not bringing much else in the way of jars.

If a child is old enough for solids, you can find table foods that will work just fine for him/her in country. You can use a fork or spoon to mash up well-cooked veggies. You can cut or tear tiny slivers of chicken, if well cooked. Fresh bananas work well. And so on. And, of course, soup is always a good thing, unless it is very spicy or strong flavored.

Before coming home, you might want to buy some Russian baby food, if it is available. Find foods that you have found your child enjoying, such as mashed up carrots, and buy a couple of jars. Then, in case the airplane foods don't include anything that can be mashed up well for your child, at least he/she won't go hungry.

Do consider bringing from home some Cheerios -- most kids, even toothless ones, love them, even without milk -- and some biter biscuits or animal crackers. Put some in ziplock bags, so you don't have to take up a lot of space with boxes.

Of course, don't be surprised if your child does not eat well in flight. Your child will be very off-schedule, and he/she may do best with a bottle or sippy cup of formula or milk, for comfort as much as anything.

[misshawna]

I agree with all of the suggestions on getting the food/ formula there. We also did the children's tea, which he loved. One thing we bought that ended up being DISGUSTING was a seafood baby food. We just grabbed the jars the translator pointed out. I didn't look closely at the pictures. We opened the jar and the smell made us gag. Then I looked at the picture and it was salmon something. I did let him try a bite in case he liked it, but he agreed with us and gagged! It is a funny memory now, but a smelly experience at the time.