Travelling with 5-month-old Arielle!

Since it was Arielle's first time on a plane, we decided on somewhere not too far away. We didn't want to plan somewhere further because we have heard of how babies are harder to handle on a plane, especially when they are to be confined for awhile. Glad we decided on Bali which was just 2 hours flight away from Singapore.

It sure was tiring because it was 24/7 Arielle-duty but we did it! But we must say, she was pretty well-behaved, even in Bali. The key challenge for us would be to keep her occupied, because babies' attention span is really short.

Our first picture on the plane ride there to mark Arielle's first vacation!! She was sleepy cause our flight was at 7am. It was the first time we woke up before her and not because we were awoken by her hahaha! :D

Flights

On the flight to Bali, I insisted on carrying Arielle because I heard about babies crying because of the air pressure and wanted to stand-by to latch! I held her extra tightly as we took off and land. Thankfully, she was fine and only whined on the flights because she wanted us to speak to her. It was tiring to keep her entertained! She slept for about 45 minutes so that's our only rest time too. We had to keep her occupied for the rest of the time, with her teeters. (Remember to pack toys!!) We really had to keep bringing out new things to let her play! She ended up playing with the plane's magazines and even the portable fans' blades. I also had to sing to her (Barney's I love you) which always worked to keep her quiet. It's easier to handle her while baby-wearing so she was strapped to us besides during take off and landing.

Alvin baby-weared her there while I baby-weared her back. We took her out once to move about cause it's quite shiong to carry her in there and be seated for 2 hours.

Sleep

Surely as expected, Arielle's sleep schedule went haywire. She didn't clock her usual 4 hours of nap times in the day. Arielle didn't cry when she's tired, instead she burrowed her face into my chest. This always melts my heart 😍 She had irregular nap timings when we went out but she always catch her own sleep when we babywear her around. She slept extra well at nights, clocking 14 hours total sleep time. Day naps are around 2.5-3 hours.

Feeds

I packed my Freemie Liberty, haakaa, 1 spectra pump bottle, 2 milk bottles and 2 nursing covers. Also made sure I have at least 1 nursing outfit a day. I latched Arielle everywhere we went with my nursing-friendly outfits and nursing cover. Making sure I wear a breast pad so the other side won't leak through my clothes. I did not bring any sterilizing liquid/ tablets.

Therefore, the excess milk were used for her mornings' baths so no milk goes to waste. The excess were from nights- relieve-pump when Arielle didn't wake after 4-5 hours to feed & from the haakaa when she latched.

At least 10 of you asked if we brought her tub there. We didn't, we rented it there! But I packed her bath towels over.

Moving around Bali

We brought our pram but only used it twice. The roads at Bali were too bumpy and Arielle didn't like being in the pram cause of the rocky rides. Must have been painful for her butt, poor girl! We took turns to baby-wear her.

Alvin and I have our own baby carrier each so we brought both. We didn't want to have to keep changing the strap settings haha! We also brought around a portable fan in the diaper bag too.

Swimming was the main activity for Arielle there.

It's her first time in chlorine-water at 16 weeks old. Her swim classes in Singapore are in non-chlorinated, heated pool. We bring her to the villa's private pool once a day and for a maximum of 30 minutes each time. The swim classes she took since she was 3 months old really boosted her confidence in water! She loves swimming a lot. The swim classes teach submersion too. The moment we look at her in the eye and say 1, 2 (before 3) she will close her eyes and prepare to get her head into water!