If you are flying, you should bring on board a small luggage with your baby's diapers and milk powder, milk bottles, wipes, change of clothes, medical supplies, toys, security blankets, snack box, water, a few pacifiers, sweater, etc. You should expect this bag to last you at least 2 days in case your checked in luggage is delayed or lost.

If your child has a medical condition, like Dominic had at that time, it may be advisable to ask the doctor or hospital for a written medical report to bring along.  Do note that it may take a few weeks to get the report, so do not leave this to the last minute.  In case anything were to happen (touch wood!), the doctors there will be able to understand the medical report better than your explanations, which will result in better and faster response.  Remember to make a few copies of the report and keep them separately, one in the bring-on-board luggage, of course.

I would advise that you start making a list of things to bring a few weeks in advance, adding things along the way as you remember, to avoid last minute rush and forgetting important things.

After the Trip

Plan for plenty of rest time for yourself after the trip!  After a few days of excitement, it would be good to have a few days of 'normal life'.  Try not to plan any other extraordinary activities the few days after the trip, and try not to rush back to the office the next day.  You and your child need to get back to the quietness 'normal life'.  Not to mention you may have to deal with your child's jet lag!

How I dealt with Dominic's Jet Lag

Sadly, there is are little information on this on the internet.

For almost one whole week after we returned to Singapore, Dominic, who had been sleeping through from 9 plus in the evening to 7 plus in the morning, started to wake up in the middle of the night, living in US time.

There seemed to be nothing much we could do, short of drugging him.  The general advice we got from people and from information gathered from the internet was that we should try to maintain the normal daily routine as much as possible.

This I tried to follow, having no other options.  More specifically, I made sure that Dominic took his naps at his usual nap times, and napped for no more than what he was supposed to/used to.  In other words, I would wake him up from a nap if he was sleeping for too long.  During his waking hours, I made sure that he had enough activities to occupy him, ate his meals at the right time, eat nutritious food, drank enough fluids - basically maintaining healthy living.

A young child may not get over jet lag so easily, so please be patient.  It took almost a whole week for things to more or less get back to normal, and even that was considered quite an achievement.  Some kids will take a longer time, some kids simply have no problem with jet lag.  The bottom line is that while you are dealing with this problem, you have to be as patient as you can.  For the night wakings, I would recommend that both you and your spouse share the burden to dealing with a wakeful child, instead of relying on just one person to do it.  It's really a physically draining work and to have two persons handling it is much easier than just one.  This way, you also give each other moral/psychological/emotional support in the midst of sleep deprivation and frustration.

Will we do it again?

Honestly, no, not for such a long distance trip.  Short trips to nearby places, maybe, but certain not half-way across the globe, unless we have no choice, or the opportunity is too good to be missed (like the Disney trip).

Even now, as I write this, I can still fell the tiredness of travelling with Dominic to so far a place, on so long a flight (> 24 hrs, including transit time).  However, I know that there will be people who wants to travel or need to travel with their children.  Hence, I hope my experience will be of help to you.

Not all children are as taxing as Dominic was.  I still enjoyed the trip and in a way, feel blessed that I had the opportunity to experience it.  Hence, I will still encourage you to go and give it a try and experience this part of parenting.