Travelling overseas with a baby under oxygen therapy

[MariaVinaixa]

Dear all,

I am a mom of a preemie baby girl born at 28 weeks gestational age. Our LO is currently under oxygen therapy, with oxygen levels at 0.03L and in the process of weaning her off. We would like to raise our daughter back in Spain where we have all our family and home. We are Spanish and we had been living in UK for the last two years for work purposes. We are planning to move her to Spain by the end of this month regardless of whether she is off of oxygen or she is not. Is there anybody in this community facing a similar case? Has anybody ever travelled overseas with a baby under oxygen therapy?. Do you know which companies would sell paediatric oxygen cylinders?. Do you know which would be the best solution to move her? I thank you very much in advance for your attention. Best wishes,

Maria

[stone-UK]

Hi

Unusual situation.

I would speak to the health authorities in the U.K. and Spain to see if they will support a ambulance transfer. You need the best medical care available, for such a precious person.

[MariaVinaixa in reply to stone-UK]

Thank you very much stone-UK . To the best of my knowledge the NHS does not cover oxygen for flights or travel outside the UK, it must always be arranged and paid for privately. I am trying to contact Spanish authorities right now and see what do they support. We are under the supervision of her neonatologist consultant who suggest us to wait the reasonable time-period needed to ensure a safe travel. So it is two months now that she was discharged from hospital and by the end of this month she will have meet all conditions for a safe travel. Oxygen should not interfere in our plans. Each premature baby is different and despite our LO is in very low amounts of oxygen nobody can guarantee when she will be off. Eventually she should be. In the meanwhile we would like to move to Spain where we have our family and home. Hopefully it should be a way to do it.

[stone-UK in reply to MariaVinaixa]

Hi

Make enquiries with.

oxygenworldwide.com/home.html

[peege]

Oh my goodness, what a decision.

I agree with Stone, such a precious cargo to travel with.

It's hard enough to find travel O2 for adults. Would you be driving? I don't think airlines would accept such a risk.

A friend of mine is on ambulatory O2, she has portable provided by the NHS which is not allowed to leave the country. She had to buy her own equipment to travel with.

Can you ring The British Lung Foundation for advice? 03000 030555 UK office hours. P

[MariaVinaixa in reply to peege]

Thank you very much peege . Driving would be not a good idea. I think that it would be too many kilometres for a LO, specially in a car seat which implies a position impairing proper breathing. Therefore we are looking at other possibilities such as airplane or even train. And yes I agree it does not seem easy to liase everything for travelling with a baby under oxygen. Thank you for advice anyway,

[peege in reply to MariaVinaixa]

Ah yes, train! I hadn't thought of that.

I know Eurostar now does direct trains to Marseille (get out at Lille to show your passports). Then you could get a boat from Marseille to Spain? Very reasonable if you book in advance.

I travel to Marseille every few weeks, the train is bliss compared to the faff of Ryanair from Stanstead or Easyjet from Gatwick. Journey to airport is horrible, so are the airlines, so is the 2nd rate termal 2 at Marseille.

Heathrow & BA however to Terminal 1 is excellent.

Perhaps Marseille is the wrong side for you. You could change train at Lille for Biarritz?

Anyway, I wish you all the luck and love in the world for your little one and your journey.

[MariaVinaixa in reply to peege]

BA seem to have a very reasonable politics with oxygen and therefore it would be a good candidate to travel with. Our destination airport would be Barcelona. Ideally we would need to travel from Manchester to Barcelona, therefore the train option would be Manchester-London-Paris (Eurostar)-Barcelona (High Speed Train). Thanks for your information and your wishes,

[Hacienda]

Hola Maria, Muy Buenas Tardes,

I will tell you in English. I too have all my family in Spain, I lived in your Beautiful country for 28 Years. I am waiting here for Lung transplant so I cannot Travel there just yet.

These are my Oxygen Suppliers here in the UK, they tell me If I go to Spain they will give me all the Information I need....AIR LIQUIDE Tel: [phone]..I hope they can help you. Un Beso a tu Hija, Buen Suelte Maria. Carolina XXXX

[MariaVinaixa in reply to Hacienda]

Hola Hacienda y muy buenas noches. Thank you very much for your advice. Our oxygen suppliers Air Liquide Home Care have confirmed us that we can not take oxygen equipment out of the UK. Supply of oxygen in Spain should be arranged by local authorities there. If we take a flight, there are some airlines providing oxygen on board despite they do it at a certain flow rates that are far bellow what my LO needs. However, none of them provide ground oxygen while we are in transit through the airport which is one of my main concern. If we finally decide going by train I do not see how we can take out a paediatric cylinder out of the country. BLF have advised to approach some UK-based companies who will hire or sell oxygen equipment and see what they can do. I am in the process of doing so. I hope you can move asap back with your family. All the best,

[Hacienda in reply to MariaVinaixa]

Gracias Maria,

Sorry, I didn't look into it Thoroughly, I will have to look into it properly, if I find myself well enough to go to Spain. it is a worry for you with LO. I imagine when patients have to return to their home countries and Have to have Oxygen, then there must be a supplier?, especially for babies. I do hope and pray you find a Solution asap. I'll be thinking of you Maria. keep us informed Please. Saludos. Carolina xxx