So off we went to Singapore. The above photo came a little bit after Quinn turned some heads with a tight grouping of massive farts in the airport lounge. Her gas (and subsequent poop) would have been epic even if the lounge hadn't been library silent.
After the diaper change she was a little happier, but the lounge just wasn't for her.
She actually made us evacuate to the public areas of the airport because the lounge has such good acoustics.
Once we got on the plane it was a little tough since our timing got a little screwy with the runway delays. The flight was scheduled for 9:15pm but with delays we didn't take off until closer to 10:15. And with the whole "you gotta feed your baby when the plane is taking off we made sure she was hungry for 9:15-9:30. So by the time we were finally taking off Schmoopy was hungry and crying with good reason. But she fed with the take off and ear pressure wasn't a problem.
For enduring a 17 hour flight she actually held up amazingly well, which helped us arrive intact and sane. There were some moments where Mommy had to work especially hard to soothe the baby but hey, it was only moments and not 17 hours of soothing.
It does seem like she's teething and if Sophie the Giraffe wasn't such a durable playmate Schmoopy would have chewed her into pieces.
And along with the teething goes the massive amounts of drool.
I mean massive. Look at how wet her shirt is. She slept for a pretty good portion of the flight and she still went through 10 bibs. You can see the how soaked her shirt is. And it smelled awesome.
I never has any aspirations to be a clown but the 3 of us in the airplane bathroom made me think that clowns have it easy fitting 15 people into a car. Changing a diaper in the airplane with 2 adults and a (thank goodness not crying) baby is way more interesting.
And photographs in that environment get really interesting. It doesn't matter where you go the walls are always closing in. I'm surprised there aren't any bruises from maneuvering in the tiny little cell of a bathroom.
And finally we arrived at 5:35 am with a very happy mother and mostly happy baby.
And now for the gritty details for those of you who want more than just the fun photo commentary.
The flight is long. Like super long. Like super oh my god when are we going to arrive" kind of long. But it's much much better than if we had to disembark and have an hour layover with our 47 carryon bags and stroller etc etc.
Take off and landing are a little tricky with the timing of the feedings. If you try to make sure she's hungry for the take off and landing the odds are good that there will be a delay in one or the other and she's going to cry when she get's really hungry because the delays are too long. But nothing you can really do. Baby has to feed with during the change in pressure or it's just going to go bad.
But overall I think if I was going to do it again I'd fly into Tokyo stop for a as many days as we could afford there, then travel on to Singapore from there. A ten hour red eye flight with little Schoopy wouldn't be too bad since she would hopefully sleep most of the way. And on the way back from Singapore we'd do the same (possibly stopping in Seoul or Tokyo again) A six hour flight with her would be bearable even if it was during the daytime as she'd nap after her meals but it wouldn't be easy.
So my final opinion is...9-12 hours on a plane with a 5 1/2 month old is fine if you take the red eye. 17 hours takes some serious parenting skills if your baby is as needy as our little Quinners. Take off and landing you just have to be ready and keep her hungry. We brought lots of toys, several changes of clothes and 10 bibs (should've brought 20) and it went okay.
But this isn't to say that we're looking forward to the return trip. Thank the trade winds that the return flight is 1 hour and 40 minutes shorter.
