Holidays abroad with babies

[Kenickie]

What are people's experiences of this? I guess the argument against is that you're going to end up doing much of the same stuff, but it seems like it would be a lot more preferable to be doing it somewhere warm rather than the currently grey and cold UK.

I've also got it in my head that under six months is the easiest time for a while, as they're not crawling or weaned etc. And maybe planes will be easier at this age too?

Have people regretted going for a sunshine type holiday with s young baby? Or has it been a nice break? I'm thinking of a resort with buffet options to make things nice and easy. And a patio/balcony for the evenings.

Is there anything else I should consider? Any top tips? Or should I sack off the idea as it'll just be a waste of money?

[Topcat]

Ears popping on babies that are small were the only issue that I can vaguely recall, especially if they can't articulate what the issue is.

Youngest did an absolute stack of long haul flights as a baby (starting as soon as she was legally /physically allowed to fly) and was never a problem outside of one case of nappy explosion which offended the BA staff on board no end. The twats.

[smalex]

I don't have anything to add, because we didn't take him abroad until he was about 2.5, and didn't do much in this country either tbh. It was all budgetary, I'd have definitely tried it if we'd been able to afford it because I did think it was worthwhile even if you end up doing the same things you would at home. I'd have definitely preferred a non moving baby on a plane to a moving one.

[Froozy]

I don’t have any experience but have heard that breastfeeding, especially on take off and landing, really helps with ears.

[Rhodonite]

J was 18 months when we first took him on holiday and I honestly wish we went when he was younger too. I think we got scared that it would be difficult, but even at 18 months, it really wasn't.

We went to Crete and at that age, still managed to eat out in the evenings. Although we tend to eat much earlier than most people anyway, so that wasn't really a problem for J's sleep. They love children there too, which really helps, so didn't worry about taking him into a restaurant the way we might in the UK.

[Ruby]

I took mine abroad first when they were between 8-11 months. It was a perfect age and it was lovely. I wouldn't have taken them much earlier than that as I wanted them to be properly weaned. We went to France & Italy - the flights weren't too long and the weather was warm without being scorching.

[Rhodonite]

Oh, if you do go, be prepared for the fact they might breastfeed more than at home because of the heat, and being more thirsty than usual.

[Kenickie]

Thanks, this is surprisingly positive!

What's the advantage of them being properly weaned, Ruby? I was thinking it'd be easier if they're just having milk as then I don't have to worry about what has salt or if anything might cause a stomach upset but I don't know if that makes sense.

The budget thing is a bit of a question as we really should be saving for when I'm on almost nothing in a few weeks and absolutely nothing in a few months. But I kind of think it would be nice to just have a final lovely trip when we have more than one income coming in (as when I go back, mine will essentially be paying childcare).

[Ruby]

What's the advantage of them being properly weaned, Ruby? I was thinking it'd be easier if they're just having milk as then I don't have to worry about what has salt or if anything might cause a stomach upset but I don't know if that makes sense.

Well, I didn't breast feed so that's a big difference. I didn't want to haul bottles and have to sterilise them. I found feeding them in France and Italy to be super easy - and I was more relaxed about it. We went self-catering and I just took a cereal I knew they would eat. They ate what we are and stuff I probably wouldn't have fed them at home - like ice cream etc. I think we had those fruit pouches and European supermarkets are full of baby food.

[Kenickie]

Ah, cool. Sterilising bottles would be a massive pain on holiday. For some reason I'd forgotten that they'd have baby food and stuff abroad. :racist:

[F'Artiste]

I’ve done holidays where my eldest was bottle fed (a wedding Lake Garda, when she was 11 months old). Finding Formula was tricky but not impossible. A dummy also helps with ear popping, and distraction toys too depending on their age. But both V and A2 have found the white noise of the plane while flying relatively soothing, and eventually pop off to sleep an hour or so into the flight.

The hardest element I have always found is avoiding intense heat with babies that refused to wear sunhats (when we had the wedding in Italy, it was during the ridiculous heat wave that hit Europe and it was something hideous like 30 degrees at 10am). But that can be avoided by staying inside during peak hours.

[Ruby]

I forgot as well and it only dawned on me when I saw rows and rows of the same stuff I'd packed. I forget every time. I am a huge fan of foreign supermarkets so I have no idea why. Where there's an Aldi, there's a way. I will caution you in advance to take Calpol though because those weird foreigners love putting paracetamol up their babies arses.

[F'Artiste]

You can buy sterilising tablets Ken, I did that for Italy, and took a bottle cleaner/scrubbing brush with me to wash before putting in a lunchbox of sterilised water.

[Leap]

We’ve taken the plunge on a 2 week holiday to Austria for 2 weeks right after Hop turns 1. It’ll be one flight and a few hours driving to get there.

I have a LOT of rationale as I won’t even book an overnight/weekend away yet for fear of spending more time faffing than getting any benefit. It helped that she’s sleeping so much better now, so even if that goes haywire it does feel like the routine we have can be lifted and shifted, with time enough to hopefully settle in while we’re there. It’s also self catering, and we went there the same time of year in 2018 with friends/family who had babies who had also just turned 1, so we have the benefit of knowing the place and also not having to break any new ground :riskaverse: Plus it’s in the mountains so at that time it’s usually more like nice Spring weather which would be ideal - not too hot, but still shorts and t-shirt temperatures.

S/c is more our type of holiday anyway, and that solves any problem for us of going out for dinner in the evening if that is difficult. C likes to cook though! The timing is mainly to get the best weather before I go back to work (July), but I’m much more positive about going at that time because presumably she’ll have dropped most or all milk feeds, so things will be a 50/50 share again for us as a couple. Or back to 25/75 in my favour what with C cooking

[Princess Morripov]

We did a couple of holidays abroad whilst I was on mat leave last time, and we are going away in May and October this year. My key priority is always baby club it makes for a very relaxing holiday

I would say (for us) keeping it relatively short haul (less than 5 hours) and getting flight times that didn’t involve early starts or late landings and could time in with a nap really helped. This meant that Tupac usually slept for 1.5-2 hours of the flight so there was only a short amount of awake time to entertain them. For that time loads of snacks, new toys they’ve not seen and programmes downloaded on the iPad (when they are a bit older) helped fill the rest of the gap.

We checked an extra case each time (so three cases) so we could bring ALL OF THE HOME COMFORTS with us and that was really useful, I also brought jars of baby food and pouches and a few snacks in case Tupac wasn’t up for the hotel food. We had stopped sterilising at that point so that wasn’t an issue. I took my own travel kettle though so that I could be sure it was clean, and a washing up bowl/sponges etc. If you are struggling on luggage you can just do a Boots order and collect it after security and it’s like free extra hand luggage. We did that with nappies and formula one time and just took a couple of those big carrier bags in our hand luggage to load the order into.

We stuck to Tupac’s routine and we would just do bath/bottle/bed but put him to sleep in the pram at his usual time with a snooze shade on and then head out for dinner in the evening, it was fab as they are very accommodating abroad for you rocking up with a baby in a pram and would happily put us at a table where we could just tuck him in the corner. I’d just transfer him back into bed when we got back if we remember to bring him home*.

Also I’ve always booked apartment rooms/suite rooms in hotels so that Tupac has been in a separate room to us when he’s asleep, as that’s what he is used to at home.

It is tricky though in the sunshine and to be honest this is where the baby club stuff really helped us, as once he’d had a nap, some food, played in the pool, and basically wanted to explore a bit and it was too hot, we would drop him off there (they generally have indoor soft play with qualified nannies) and he could get some more interaction and we could have some chill time.

We always go all inclusive but usually eat out in the evening elsewhere as I can’t be arsed with too much buffet and definitely don’t want it as my evening meal. I generally hate buffets though anyway for various reasons Also, worth bearing in mind that when you have little ones, someone would have to sit at the table with them whilst one person goes up to the buffet and then you swap when you get back, so it doesn’t really feel like you are eating a relaxed meal together as if one person waits they’ll have cold food, etc.

*joke, obvs.

[Zoomer]

I took A to the US (Connecticut) when she was 4 months and it was brilliant. She slept most of the way in a little cardboard box that Aer Lingus kindly provided. We did use dummies though, so no issue with her ears. Also, I was bottle feeding at that stage and took the French approach to sterilization (lax) so it was all very easy.
I was going for my brother's wedding, so a bit different to an actual holiday, but I found it a lot easier than I would have if she was older, probably. I brought her everywhere and she would just sleep in her pram. She stopped being so easy a few months down the line, so I would definitely do it now-ish if you can.

[maya]

I would definitely recommend a different room for the babies to sleep in otherwise you’re tiptoeing around in the dark and whispering all evening every evening (even if you have a balcony...) and definitely some kind of balcony or patio so you can sit outside and have a drink together once they’re asleep. I also think if you’re breastfeeding it’s much less faff to go before they’re weaned - even if you’re supplementing and have to sterilise, I bought a plug in mini steriliser to take on holiday and that was fine.

Somewhere that has room service or self catering facilities or restaurants nearby for take out is also a good idea in case you find going out for dinner isn’t great for them (we found lunch out easier than dinner out as 2 of mine refused to sleep in the pram in the evenings...)

And the option of a baby club or kids club is great - even if you don’t leave them there, it’ll mean there’s a child friendly space to be in with them (with toys etc) if you want to escape the heat or whatever and don’t want to be in your room. And then if you decide you can leave them for an hour (or however long) it means you can lie by the pool nearby and read in peace!

I would recommend it anyway, for the change of scenery and weather - nice walks somewhere pretty in the sunshine with your family makes it worth it to me.

[Kenickie]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm still dithering about this, mainly because P is still unenthusiastic. We need to decide soon though as otherwise we'll be running out of time to get passports sorted.

Looking for a baby club is a good idea. If there isn't one, and we went somewhere where it was low to mid twenties temperature, would we be ok with taking one of those tents and putting them in it for shade during the day, or would we need to take them back to the hotel/apartment or somewhere indoors between around 11-3? Just trying to work out if there'd be a way for us to get decent beach/pool time if there's not a baby club.

[wendy james]

We did b&b with a 9 month old in Turkey. We had a tent for the beach, but mainly stayed around the hotel pool as there was shelter and it was easy to go back and forth to the room. I think we only went to the beach once, but we were there for a wedding so lots was going on.

[Kenickie]

Thanks, both. I guess the extra space with a self catering apartment would be good but I can't imagine I'd really want to cook so I'm thinking that an all inclusive might be better for easier eating options.