Don't expect to breeze into the airport with a teeny-tiny case, say experienced mums. Here's how to plan ahead...

• 'If you can, book a holiday before you're 28 weeks pregnant. It could be the most relaxing break you'll have in a while,' advises Yvonne Grant, mum of twins. 'Insurance companies seem to get fussy and require a doctor's letter when you are past around the 28-week mark.'
• Yvonne adds, 'When I flew at 23 weeks' pregnant I found it helped if I drank loads of water to stop my feet from swelling.'
• 'I always asked for a room with a big bathroom, and put up the travel cot in there,' says Lesley Marsden, mum of one-year-old Isabel. 'That way, every time Isabel grizzles, or I turn over, we don't wake each other up. You just have to master the art of going to the toilet very quietly.'
• 'Don't do what I used to, and take everything bar the kitchen sink,' says Emma Howard, mum of three girls and a boy. 'I have learnt to take double the number of nappies I thought I would need for the journey, but I buy the rest when I'm there, along with ready-prepared formula milk.' Wrap travelling tots in softness: wash their clothes and baby sleeping bags in Fairy Non-Bio and Fairy Fabric Softener. Tests by independent dermatologists show that clothes washed in Fairy are as kind next to skin as clothes washed in water alone.
• 'Take wet wipes, tissues and water in a bottle with a teat and a lid for the plane,' says Tess Sanders, mum of Beth, now three. 'Our trip to Greece when Beth was four months old was made easier because a friend told me to pack a separate baby bag, with all the essentials. It went with whoever was carrying the baby. We also took a baby backpack with a sun shade.'
• 'Our health visitor told us that if the soft fontanella at the top of our baby's head was dipped the baby was dehydrated,' says Pete Elliott, firefighter and dad to Joe. 'We took a UV-protective sun shelter so that Joe could snooze by the pool without catching any rays.'
• All parents say: leave loads of extra time for your journey. A baby slows you right down!
• 'Both my kids didn't like takeoff and landing when we flew,' says Sharon Holder. 'I breast or bottle fed which seemed to stop them feeling so much discomfort.'
• Polly Bignell, mum of Milo, 1, and Sam, 3, says, 'Buy a few metres of blackout backing from a haberdashery department before you go. Pack it with a couple of clothes pegs and some Blutac, and this way you can turn any room into a nice dark bedroom for your baby, and hopefully get some sleep every time you travel.'
• 'A roll-up bath mat or a little inflatable bath can take the heartache out of bathtime in a strange, and often slippery, tub,' says Polly.