Advice For New Mums+dads

[bkkjames]

The Wife, myself and our 8 month old baby are coming over to visit the relatives from the UK.

Any advice would be good for the type of food that would be available for our youngster for example we use SMA 2 for his bottles of milk over here but what are the equivalent thai products? What other kinds of food would you all recommend for an infant of this age ?

And are these foods available in the vicinity of Suvanabhum because we will need them when we get of the aircraft?

As you can probably guess this our first time over with the baby.

Cheers 23

Just for the record, Thailand is PRO formula and most widely ANTI breastfeeding. The big companies win through lack of education and corruption in the hospitals (profit-takingin private hospitals is rampant).

But to answer your question: Yes, SMA products are sold in Thailand. So are other brands. You can generally get them at any Big C or Lotus shopping center. You may have to ask the taxi driver to take you to the closest one to the airport. I recommend taking the "Limo" service (silver cars and kiosk is inside airport, not at taxi stand). Cost is more, but the ride is safer for family and baby.

Other recommendations for food for infants: Breastmilk. Buy a pump and give your baby what's really need that isn't in formula. My wife is pumping now...

Good luck. BTW, why not put some in zip-lock bags and ask for bottled water from flight attendant and bring from home??

I disagree, every time my Mrs takes the little one to the doctor for a check up / immunization, the pediatrician keeps asking her about breatfeeding habits - how it's much better than formula.

[johnnymoretti]

The Wife, myself and our 8 month old baby are coming over to visit the relatives from the UK.

Any advice would be good for the type of food that would be available for our youngster for example we use SMA 2 for his bottles of milk over here but what are the equivalent thai products? What other kinds of food would you all recommend for an infant of this age ?

And are these foods available in the vicinity of Suvanabhum because we will need them when we get of the aircraft?

As you can probably guess this our first time over with the baby.

Cheers 23

Just for the record, Thailand is PRO formula and most widely ANTI breastfeeding. The big companies win through lack of education and corruption in the hospitals (profit-takingin private hospitals is rampant).

But to answer your question: Yes, SMA products are sold in Thailand. So are other brands. You can generally get them at any Big C or Lotus shopping center. You may have to ask the taxi driver to take you to the closest one to the airport. I recommend taking the "Limo" service (silver cars and kiosk is inside airport, not at taxi stand). Cost is more, but the ride is safer for family and baby.

Other recommendations for food for infants: Breastmilk. Buy a pump and give your baby what's really need that isn't in formula. My wife is pumping now...

Good luck. BTW, why not put some in zip-lock bags and ask for bottled water from flight attendant and bring from home??

I disagree, every time my Mrs takes the little one to the doctor for a check up / immunization, the pediatrician keeps asking her about breatfeeding habits - how it's much better than formula.

That's why I said in my post "most widely ANTI breastfeeding..." and I think its great that your wife has a pediatrician that endorses and promotes breastfeeding. But this is NOT the norm for Thailand. It was an abomination that we even asked for my wife to begin breastfeeding immediately after delivery. The nurse in the delivery room fumbled our baby into a position of breastfeeding while my wife delivered the placenta...and it has ridiculous. The nurses had NO idea why we even wanted to do this. WHY? Because they have not been trained in breastfeeding, bonding or any other means of mother/baby connection. They would rather wisk the baby away for 24 hours. BTW, they never even asked if I wanted to cut the cord.

So, kudos to your wife! But, unfortunately, others are not so lucky.

Did you get phamplets on breastfeeding and gifts for breastfeeding while in hospital?? Or did you get formula brochures and knick-knacks for bottle feeding?

I rest my case.

[MJo]

I have to go with James on this one. Right after the birth when we were back to our room we got a visit by breast feeding nurse / advisor who started right away to teach how it's done and what are the benefits compared to formula. Propably depends on hospital as well and for sure there used to be "common knowledge" especially with less educated that formula makes your kids smarter as they often advertise. However i believe there has been some campaigns to educate mothers for benefits gained by breast feeding lately.

For the mamy poko your right, i always bought the big ones but missus did the math just this week in carrefour and the small package was cheaper. Propably some mistake with the pricing from mamy poko as yesterday i noticed that all the big packages had "30 baht discount sticker" added making them bit cheaper than the small one at 199 baht.

Edited August 7, 2009 by MJo

[optimistvik]

This thread is really very informative.Yeah without proper knowledge of breast feeding it becomes very difficult but nurses are really very helpful at that time.

[DanBlack]

So, anybody seen any good diaper sales in Phuket lately

[emma2009]

Hi I want to start this topic so that new Mums and Dads can get advice from each other and the more 'pro' parents can tell us what products/toys/foods etc work and don't work, whats a waste of our precious Bahts and stuff like when you started solid food etc..

Firstly I would like to UNrecommend Pampers nappies!! So I fell for the 'We're the priciest therefore we must be the best' ruse I was using Mamy Poko which are great and thought I'd try Pampers just to see, I can't count how many times my bab has woken soaked through to the mattress in them and in 2 days we've had 2 major poop explosions! and I mean major!

They're just not worth the money, you get about 20 more nappies for the same price with Mamy Poko and very few explosions, in my experience!

So a whinge plus my recomendation for the cheaper nappies!

Shola

XXX

I agree having tried the cheaper ones - Mamy Poko do the trick! There is loads of info on this and more on the new website www.phuket4kids.com - might be worth having a look as the more general info will apply throughout Thailand.

P.S Babywalkers any advice, would like one but keep hearing about how uber dangerous they are???

[MikeyIdea]

Good thread. May I stick in with my 2 cents? It's a long post so maybe 22222 cents rather

Thai's have all kinds of more or less useless rituals and habits when they are pregnant. Most of it is old tradition and that is what is making it useless, not that it once didn't help somewhat, it's just that it's not needed any longer – since a generation back but why change only because a medical doctor with 12 years in school and 7 years in university and another 10 years experience actually treating children recommends something? Grand mother with 2 years in school of course still knows better, just look how well she did with her daughter…

Many of the rituals are workarounds, if only the Thai's had followed more of the "scientifically based advice" that exist now a days, then their rituals and workarounds would not be as needed. I write "as needed" because since Thai's don't follow doctors advice, the workarounds are indeed helping. Addressing the root cause instead? Naa, not this generation.

Please understand that yai (grand mom) only wants well, what she does she does out of love. Her knowledge in the area is generally so low that it is virtually incomprehensible, for you that is, not for her or the mother…

Most of the stuff that yai and the young mother (your wife) does will not in any way hurt the kid long term, so regardless of it's usefulness or "well, if you only did this instead, then you wouldn't have to do that", we can just as well let them do what they want to do. The last thing we want is to cause bad feelings, and regardless of how much we insist, when we don't look, then they will do it anyway.

The same thing applies to feeding. Thai grand mothers insist that the only reason that babies cry is that they are hungry and not to give them the breast also the 25^th time in one and the same day is cruel. My daughter Idea was fed 25 times per day, or more, all the time, also after the doctor had recommended that the only reason she is throwing up is that she has been given way too much milk, her little tummy is about to explode, that's why she screams in pain and throws up all over the floor several times every day between 9 and 11 PM. The doctor also kindly explained for the grand mother that we should ask ourselves if the little girl has been fed, and if she already has, then we should not feed her again until it is reasonable that she is hungry. And not even 15 minutes later, even before we had left the hospital, my daughter was fed for the 6^th time that hour…

It is better not to take a fight over these things, after all, it is unlikely that the kid will be harmed for life or die because of the unnecessary or wrong treatment. I just had headache for a month non-stop but kept quiet, after I had suggested going back to the hospital again the following day and the mother answers – What's the point, she doesn't do anything anyway. I thought of mentioning the fact that she had already fed Idea 20 times today and she was just about to do it again but decided, naa, what's the point…

Don't question what or when a pregnant woman wants to eat. Just give it to her

Someone wrote:

"Sometimes you don't know who to listen to" You listen to those with knowledge, the doctors, but do nothing anyway… This applies to pregnancy and the first couple of months after birth. I am not saying that it applies to how Thai children are taught in terms of spirit, self confidence, initiative, creativeness etc. and how to combine Western and Thai values to best result but that's another subject. And a subject that I am passionately interested in so if I start, then I'll never stop... Guys, you don't know what a long post is yet

The reason why there is so much contradicting information in Thailand in regards to pregnancy, I think, is that Thai's do not take qualifications of the person advising into account before soaking it up. My experience is that Thai's are equally quick at dropping something that turned out not so good, as they were at picking it up

Note the difference in knowledge (in my experience) between doctors and nurses in Thailand. Doctors know how to address root causes, nurses know how to recommend workarounds.

Any doctor who recommends ceaseren when the pregnancy is only 3-4 months gone is a sign that a second opinion is needed. Idea's mother is 151 cm tall and 42 kilos and I'm a 6 foot Swede, still she gave birth naturally without any problem and the doctor we had recommended - no ceaseren and no "block lang", can't remember the word now, block pain, unless absolutely necessary. Mummy was worried and asked many times and the doctor just answered "don't know, I see no signs of it being needed", also when she was 8 months pregnant and I had to clean her feet in the shower

Good Luck all of you

Mikey

Proud father of Idea, the Good Idea

17 years in Thailand now, never regretted a second

Edited October 20, 2009 by MikeyIdea

[MikeyIdea]

Hi Again

I thought of posting a bit more about my experience of being the proud father of a child in Thailand.

Powder milk child?

Powder milk is good, the advertisements clearly say so it must be good, solid food is considered supplement to the powder milk for my 4-year-old neighbours' kid so it was not difficult to guess that my daughter Idea would suffer a similar fate. It must be because they don't know… Better start early… I tried educating mummy, but mummy wasn't interested in listening, I tried again, and again, same result. I tried "doctors recommend…" more times than I can remember, and mummy was still not interested in listening. Mummy wants our daughter to be tall of course so I tried "children need proteins to grow, she won't get tall if we give her milk all the time". No, not interested in listening to that either.

Here's a good one: Why do you think they have milk powder for 4-5-6 year olds in the department stores? Do you think it would have been there and people would by it if there weren't anything good with it? OK, I admit it, I lost the argument, I couldn't find anything good to answer. Mummy took this as evidence that I was wrong of course, one down for daddy

We were at Lat Prao hospital one day and Dr. Piyawan there asked about food habits, I saw the opportunity and explained that our daughter gets a lot of powder milk. Dr Piyawan picked up on it and said that "children get short and fat if they get too much powder milk" and suggested that it is time to move over to normal food. Later the same evening I hear mummy talk to grand mother, powder milk is not good… yes, I know, I have tried to tell you that for 2 years… A complete success story, our daughter was off powder milk long before average (in Thailand…) and no feelings hurt anywhere

Note the enormous difference between "children will not get tall if they are given milk all the time" and "children will get short and fat if they are given milk all the time". I am just stupid who didn't realise this

4 year-olds walking around with milk bottles?

I think it looks ugly personally. In the western world we are taught that we should help the children off the bottle and move them over to proper food, here the need to help a child off the bottle does not seem to exist. Not wanting to upset the feelings of anyone, I first gently suggested that we should start helping Idea off milk when she was less than 18 months old, then I waited… And suggested and showed how to do and waited, and waited. I suggested that it looked ugly when the neighbours' nearly 4 year old child walked around with her milk bottle and then said nothing more but started to train Idea for a life without the milk bottle although mummy did the opposite. Idea was off the milk bottle before she was 3 years old and no feelings were hurt, a complete success story

Slapping hands?

Slapping hands is not good, it's actually more than that, it's really bad, yet it is normal in Thailand. Small toddlers as we all know take everything they can find and put it into their mouth. There is nothing wrong with that, they learn by exploring and succeeding in grabbing something and moving it to the mouth and come to the conclusion that it doesn't taste good can be a great achievement I can accept many things but I cannot accept that my daughter gets slapped or hit because her parents don't do their duty as parents and child-proof the home and watch over the child. Mummy accepted and no one, as far as I know did. Mummy pinched instead, but not often. Mummy was never very interested and didn't pay much attention when I talked about this. I remember clearly the day when I got through to her on the subject of hitting small children. That was when I used the word lazy. I took the example of the lazy neighbour who slapped her child for playing with her nail polish when she should have done her duty as parent and put the mail polish where the child couldn't see or reach it instead. How lazy of her! Instead of punishing herself for her mistake, she hits the child. That's disgusting. I will call my experience a half success story or shall we call it half a failure story? Our daughter was not slapped, and was only occasionally pinched as a toddler, but mummy refused to child-proof the home and ran around screaming No, No, No, I told you not… Why did you do that… You did it again… all the time. Has anyone successfully managed to get a Thai mother to take on child-proofing the home? How did you do?

Happy Parenting Everybody

Michael

Proud father of Idea, the good idea

Edited October 26, 2009 by MikeyIdea

[chrgrims]

hi, my wife just got pregnant and she bought something called EnfaMama A+ nutrition powder. it looks good, but is expensive. are there better ways to get folate, vitamins and other things needed?

[MikeyIdea]

Better I don't know but I'm sure there are cheaper ways

Thai doctors often give the normal folic acid and multi vitamin tablets to pregnant mothers, probably just as good for less than half the price. Ask the doctor

[skybluestu]

http://www.fonterra.com/wps/wcm/connect/fo...nmum/anmum+home

My wife's taking this, also pretty expensive but having a baby is otherwise I'd have a new motorbike by now!. She used to take the folic acid + multivitamins which are a good alternative but don't work out that much cheaper.

[MisterBeetle]

This is a great thread.!

Congrats to all the new mum's and dad's and soon to be ones too

I will share my experience being a proud hands-on dad of 2 month old(nearly just) baby girl.

NAPPIES:

For night and travelling we use Mamy Poko, as our disposable Nappy of choice- we tried Snugglers, and a few others (Hospital gave us huge amounts of samplers from all the different brands.)

I try and get the 48 pack at moment has a bonus 4 nappies for 349 Baht , that works out to only under 7 baht each. We bought at Carefour last night. Bought one Newborn 2-5 kilo and One small 3-8kilo as little one will be outgrowing them very soon ( fatty )

AT home we use cloth nappies(Muslin) ones , but I find you really have to be checking bubba every hour or more so as not to have any messies! Mum likes them though cause they are cheap and easy to wash.

We also use washable coolababy nappies that I brought over from Oz with me. These work well, however are still a little too loose around the thighs and we get the odd leak... &*(*!! nice one today all over mummies shorts and shirt!! haha. Our little one sleeps really well in these as they do a great job at soaking up the wet ones.

Washing days are a breeze as we just soak them in a bucket in the downstairs bathroom and throw them in the washing machine twice a week.

Breast milk versus Bottle:

Ou doctor and infact most of the nurses that looked after our baby at the Hospital we used, were all pro-breast feeding. The first time baby was brought in to mum after birth, a nurse spent quite a time teaching my partner the secrets to breast feeding.

Yes, they did have a bottle ready , but that was purley there only if mum could not produce enough milk.

My partner has had nothing but encouragement from everyone she has talked to re: breast feeding. I realize not every mum has the luxury of being bale to breast feed- but if you can then do it for the sake of your baby!!

My Auntie has 2 kids and keeps saying she wished she had breast fed her oldest boy longer as his immunity to colds, flues etc is dismal.

They say the longer you feed your baby the better! Well my girl has already indicated she will be feeding baby for as long as physically possible.

The money that can be saved can be put to other things too, such as education, toys, travel, etc etc

As soon as baby is ready she will be started on fruit and vegetable puree- freshly made if possible.

Baby Stuff we use

Night time our baby sleeps now in 3-4 hour bursts, on good nights she can sleep from 11 right through to 5am! That was a record night! I was so impressed I stayed up and took bubba for a walk while I had my morning coffee.

We use a collapsable baby cot, as we tend to travel a lot.

We also use a First years baby sleep positioner to stop her from rolling around. Seems to help make her feel safe and secure when she is wrapped too.

For traveling we use a Camera baby seat- Modo series- which can actually be fitted into a Pram . We like this one as Its easy to fit to any car, not too heavy and doubles as a rocker- Handy for trips to restaurants and visits to relatives.

Baby stroller is a necessity for trips to the shopping Mall, etc. We bought a Capella collapsable one that fits neatly in the back of just about any car- including taxi-s with those giant gas tanks.

AT home when baby is awake she loves to play on one of those soft play mats- has hooks to hang off any number of squeaky- rattling toys. At 6 weeks she was just starting to like it for the toy factor!!

Where to source baby stuff:

This is just me- but we have found pretty much everything we have needed from the big department stores such as The Mall/Central/Lotus being the better ones.

Ok some things are more expensive, but I'm not planning a trip overseas anytime soon(yet )

There are some good local(asian) brands that are high quality in my books and some ok for certain bits and pieces. Plenty of choices in clothes etc etc.

Mikeyidea- I agree sometimes it is hard dealing with the inlaws and their older values on how to raise your precious little bubba.

I just try to zone out and have to remember where I am, we are in Thailand after all!! 20 km's out of Bangkok and your up-country! lol I'm lucky I guess that my partner is a modern thai girl who sees the benefits of the modern western ways for many things!!

We rarely have different opinions about how our baby should be raised, and the in-laws luckily live too far away to interrupt.

Anyway, each to their own!!

Happy Parenting to all! And may you get some much deserved sleep tonight!!

[lost_in_space]

I had problems getting my wife to breastfeed our daughter. I found a Thai nurse who had been trained in Australia to talk some sense into her. She's at one of the Samitivej hospitals but I found her through BAMBI, her name is Meena Sobsamai. She knew how to talk to my wife.

BAMBI is not a bad resource, I don't know how to post a link here.

[MisterBeetle]

I had problems getting my wife to breastfeed our daughter. I found a Thai nurse who had been trained in Australia to talk some sense into her. She's at one of the Samitivej hospitals but I found her through BAMBI, her name is Meena Sobsamai. She knew how to talk to my wife.

BAMBI is not a bad resource, I don't know how to post a link here.

here it is, Bambi

[BuddhistDruid]

Does anyone here know if there is eaither a breast milk bank in Bangkok or breast milk donors in Bangkok for parents who can not provide enough breast milk to feed their children?

We are looking for a supplemental supply for our twins. If anyone knows of an organization in Thailand who can assist with this, please let me know.

BTW, where is the best (read cheapest) place to purchase an exceedingly large supply of cloth nappies/diapers? I figure the twins will need a minimum of around 100 if we are going to keep the washing schedule reasonable. I would much rather do this than disposables. It will be cheaper in the long run as well.

[chris5346]

hello,

i'm just wondering if anyones still following this thread or maybe can restart ? swop some info. and advice maybe ?

our girl is 6 weeks now and my first - live in chiang mai.

our hospital is sephrat and we are going along with there recomendations for vaccinations/check ups etc.

i don't really know what i sould be planning /doing etc maybe getting some insurance/health care ?

my thai girl friend has had a child before 15 years ago so she knows what she's doing, but i don't know much just a few things i've picked up from the uk, so we have a few differences of opinion ! , just wondering if anyone else has been through the same and can help,

chris

[Senia]

hello,

i'm just wondering if anyones still following this thread or maybe can restart ? swop some info. and advice maybe ?

our girl is 6 weeks now and my first - live in chiang mai.

our hospital is sephrat and we are going along with there recomendations for vaccinations/check ups etc.

i don't really know what i sould be planning /doing etc maybe getting some insurance/health care ?

my thai girl friend has had a child before 15 years ago so she knows what she's doing, but i don't know much just a few things i've picked up from the uk, so we have a few differences of opinion ! , just wondering if anyone else has been through the same and can help,

chris

Hi Chris,

I just got on this thread.

I am expecting my boy in March. I have had some differences with my Thai friends and husband, even during pregnancy.

But I have also had some really good advise from them too. Like when I was craving soda all the time, I was having like 2 cans of root beer a day, but a Thai friend suggested to switch to sweetened fruit juices ( i was drinking fresh juices ) and it worked. Now that's all I crave.

Try to read up more about babies online like

http://kidshealth.org/Search01.jsp#cat145, or http://www.babycenter.com/0_12-reasons-babies-cry-and-how-to-soothe-them_9790.bc

I got my hubby to do this too, so for the most part now we agree on more things. We are using google chrome, comes with built in translator which helps alot.

[Ashmanator]

hello,

i'm just wondering if anyones still following this thread or maybe can restart ? swop some info. and advice maybe ?

our girl is 6 weeks now and my first - live in chiang mai.

our hospital is sephrat and we are going along with there recomendations for vaccinations/check ups etc.

i don't really know what i sould be planning /doing etc maybe getting some insurance/health care ?

my thai girl friend has had a child before 15 years ago so she knows what she's doing, but i don't know much just a few things i've picked up from the uk, so we have a few differences of opinion ! , just wondering if anyone else has been through the same and can help,

chris

Hi, My daughter is now 4 weeks old. Like yourself, first time round and learning as we go! Not much pre or post natal carers around, but lots of friends with advice!! The best bit of advice I had was from a friend of my Mother in Uk. She said, do what you feel is right for you and your baby. So far seems good advice. Problem seems to come when you do everything you think is right and the poor baby is still crying/ screaming!!

We are in phuket and had our baby at the Phuket International Hospital. had a great all round experience!!!

[Carry]

Ashmantor I do so agree with you! I have a 6 month old now and I wished that someone wouldve given me that advice before, follow your first instincts listen to yourself and do what feels right!

As a first time parent you are unsure about everything....wanting to do the right thing by the book....

[joker7]

Thought id share a tip I think my wife uses to pretty good affect.

Instead of waiting for our baby to dirty her nappy my wife will take off her nappy and hum at her off and on for about 10 minutes until she poo's. Sounds strange I know but with the 2 girls we have I have to admit I havnt seen a dirty nappy yet. Our first girl is now 3 and the 2nd about 4 months.

Not sure if the baby knows that its now poo time or not but youd be surprised how many times when she starts this off and on humming that it works.

Good luck.

[krisb]

Hi to all!.. Theres a new website that probably would be more for aussies but perhaps for others also. Its called www.mumgo.com.au. Aussies would be familiar with the catch of the day website, well this mumgo site is part of that and works the same way having different bargains daily specifically for baby products. Well worth checking it out!

[TommoPhysicist]

16,000 Baht if you get a passport done at the same time

Yep, I did that too, when he was first born.

My boy is 9 month old now and starting more solid food.

Tescos sell Nestle Cerelak packets at about 75bht which last almost a week. Very good value for money, several flavours (he hates the fish). You can pad them out a bit with some mashed fruit.

Mama Poko Happy pants for us, don't leak at all.

Our local hospital sends out a home visitor about once a month, for an inspection, usually brings some freebies.

We also take him to hospital once a month for the doctors inspection, blood tests, vitamin supplements, inoculations.

No charge for any of that.

[karmenjayne]

Hi everyone, could I suggest also that you join our Facebook page BKK Kids. It's not for profit, just something I started to help other parents in Bangkok. It has suggestions for activities, events and resources + some funnies and inspiration.

[eezergood]

Anything similar for us folks down in Phuket?

[krisb]

Our daughter had a face rash that my wife thought was from drinking formula milk. We asked our doctor and she said no, just some babies are prone to a bit of eczema. Ok then, left it at that. Anyhow went to a chemist next time we needed formula and had a chat with him about what the doctor said and what my wife had a hunch about. Ahh said the pharmacist, I just got back from a convention about lactose intolerance in babies and one of the symptoms is a skin rash on their face and we now believe formula milk is a main contributor. So he sold us lactose free formula and her skin cleared fully within 3 days and hasn't returned! Well I'll be! Was good luck talking to this chemist!

Just thought I'd share that with y'all in case your ever in the same boat..

[krisb]

Here's a little tip courtesy of my wife.

If babies on bottles of milk, buy a thermas. You know 1 of those things you can put coffee or soup in and it stays hot most of the day. Then at night fill it with boiling water and sit babies milk bottle in it. So when baby wakes up for a feed at 4am or whenever, it's milk is already warm. Beats messing around heating milk up at that time of the night.

[David48]

Well. I've read this from head to tails ... and some great information contained within ...

MissFarmGirl and I are expecting TWINS in BKK in early 2014.

Cheers for now ...

.

[krisb]

Well just in case anyone still reads this thread, here's a tip that can save the tears bigtime.

When you buy your child that blanket that will become their favourite safety blanket that they can't go to sleep without....buy 2 to start with!

Now at 16 months I am searching high and low trying to find the same blanket to replace the old worn out one.

[richard_smith237]

Just a quick question: Is Ready-made formula available anywhere in BKK? I am using Wyeth S-26 at the moment. We're going on a long-haul flight in two months time and ready-made formula would mean a little less hassle on the plane. I've had a look around, but could not find any- maybe someone else has had more success?

We (Wife and I) have just flown with a 4 month old boy...

Regarding the travel supplies..

Feeding:

1 flask of pre-boiled room temerpature water (which may get too cool on a flight).

1 flask of boiled water (still hot)

6 bottles

1 tupperwear container of Formula Milk

My Wife had pretty much come off breastfeeding by then (all she was producing was 1-2 Oz per day by month 4)

We couldn't find pre-mixed formula but found mixing it ourselves not an issue.

On our return flight from the UK to Bangkok we did have formula with us. The Pre-mixed formula (SMA) was helpful and more convenient, however, I found little difference and wouldn't worry about taking powder and pre-boiled water.

Nappies:

We took too much and used only 8 on the flight (we took 12 which I think is a reasonable estimate)

Clothing:

We also took 3 sleep suits for the little fella (as backup for excessive poop, pee or puke events (the 3 P's))

I also took a spare t-shirt as carry on *(just in case !)

[richard_smith237]

Here's a little tip courtesy of my wife.

If babies on bottles of milk, buy a thermas. You know 1 of those things you can put coffee or soup in and it stays hot most of the day. Then at night fill it with boiling water and sit babies milk bottle in it. So when baby wakes up for a feed at 4am or whenever, it's milk is already warm. Beats messing around heating milk up at that time of the night.

We've found that the little fella is fine with 'room temperature' milk...

When back in the UK on a recent visit the room temperature was a little too cold and we had to warm the milk though.