Travellin with 10 month old baby to Spain

[Shaila]

Hi there,
Can anyone help me with what I need to take with me to holiday in Spain. We will be going end of April. Any tips will be warmly appreciated.
Thanks

[Tillysmummy]

HI Shaila

I haven't been abroad with my dd yet but will be going in June. She will be 9 months then. I do know a bit about what to take etc though and it depends a lot on what they are eating. I know from friends who have been abroad to Portugal that nappies are available but the baby food is not great. I would take as much food with you as possible - of course you can buy fruit and veg out there - depends if you're self catering or in a hotel. If you are self catering it's quite a lot easier because you can probably buy most things and cook yourself but if you are in a hotel if he eats things like pasta with a plain sauce, toast, fruit, potatoes, chicken etc and can manage the textures then it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I know we are going to take half her meals with us (jars) and then make do with the hotel / restaurant food for the other half. We will probably buy things like bananas and also take some packet stuff. She has weetabix for brekky and I imagine most hotels have these.
One thing I would say, the water in spain is still very dodgy so unless you are staying in an appartment / hotel that has a kettle, I would take a travel kettle with you for your room so that you can boil water for bottles - I wouldn't trust their tap water.
Hope this helps..

[Tillysmummy]

oh, another thing. It's a good idea to test the suncream you buy on a small patch of skin before you go because a friend of mine's baby came up in a massive rash because he was allergic to the cream !

[Art]

Baby food is pretty limited here - no organic selection, so if you are fussy about it take your own.
Nappies, wet wipes etc. are easy to get and all the usual brands.
The tap water is fine to drink, but boil it first.
Medicines such as calpol are different here so it might be wise to take a little selection just in case.
Weather is still quite changeable (pouring today!) so a selection of clothes. If you are going down to the south it will probably be quite hot.
Definately lots of sun cream and a hat.
Cant really add anything more to what the others have said, - except have a great time.

[Tillysmummy]

Straight from the horses mouth ! Whereabouts in Spain are you Art ?

[Shaila]

Thanks both Tillysmummy and Art. We going to Mabella in few weeks so I guess it will be nice with lots of sun.
By the way, Tillysmummy, you mentioned giving Weetabix to your 6 months old, does she eat it and is it wise to give it to babies? I havn't tried that before. What else can you give a 9 month old food wise - mind you we are veggies.

[Ailsa]

We took dd to majorca when she was 9 months, she ate the same food as us from the hotel buffet.

[Rhiannon]

Remember to take some thick, long trousers (jogging bottoms) as I presume she'll be crawling and won't want sore knees.

A small inflatable paddling pool to fill up, hopefully this will stop her wandering off.

Calpol in sachets. First aid kit to keep in your handbag. A set of reins to attach to high chairs as many don't have straps (in our experience. Disposable or wipeable bibs. Plastic sip cups, favourite toys. R

[Art]

Tillysmummy - living and working in Barcelona. Are you a spanish mumsnetter?

[Art]

Sorry - ive just read previous message so I can see youre not in Spain !

[Queenie]

Shaila, we took dd to Portugal and tenerife when under 12 mths and both times no problems with foods (plenty of pasta, fresh fruit and veg and yogurts etc) or nappies and wipes but had problem with locating familiar brand of formula although local brands where fine. We were told by HV to use evian to make up feeds but couldn't get so just chose lowest sodium level bottled water we could find - no need to boil. Also may be useful to bring those rehydration sachets just in case any tummy upset. DD had tummy upset in Portugal probably cause she was crawling and putting dirty hands in her mouth. Doctor there suggested either dehydration sachets or sugared water b4 usual milk feed as this would help absorb food into stomach b4 throwing it back up - it worked almost as soon as we gave her the sugared water. Also bring form E111 (available fm Post office)with you as we didn't and had to pay all medical costs.

[Tillysmummy]

Shaila - you can give Weetabix from 6 months and she loves it ! I give it to her with mashed banana instead of sugar to avoid too much sugar.

[Eulalia]

We didn't take any food with us for our 9 month old. We were self catering and just bought tins of tuna, cheese, eggs etc and made up our own meals whizzed in our baby blender (rem travel adaptor). I found Spain to be pretty much the same as here with regards to anything food-wise. The next time we went when our son was over 2 I did actually take nappies as I didn't think the choice was good but then again we were staying in a small town.

[alison222]

Hi Shalia,
We took our DS to Spain last September when he was 9 months old.
We took some jars with us, but bought the remainder out there.
We found that unlike in the UK where you are beginning to expect a few lumps (well not completely smooth puree) that all the Spanish foods were very smooth.
Also the Spanish don't seem to have qite got the hang of being vegetarians, and I think that everything we got had either meat or fish in it.
(not a problem for us- but I did read all the labels to try to get as much veg into him as possible as generally he eats loads).
With regarids to water it is safe to drink, but the reason they tell you to avoid drinking it is that it contains higher levels of Chlorine than in England and so this may upset your stomach if you are not used to it.
Just look for bottled water with low sodium in it they say on them. Evian is definately OK but we used a local brand and he was fine.
We took breakfast cereal with us as Spaniards don't eat too much and what they do is the sugary stuff like coco pops etc.
We also took formula as we were arriving late on Saturday and Supermarkets are closed on Sundays on the whole.
Ready brek with added fruit is a hit for babies too as well as the weetabix.
We were self catering so were able too cook up some vegetables too.
I found local brands of nappies fine - I think they are the same as here they just call them different names.

have a great time


Other than that I would recomend lots of suncream, a sun hat that can be tied on.

[Mel]

Pampers are called Dodots in Spain and it's hard to get unscented baby anything, so if yours has sensitive skin go prepared. Babywipes are so useful for everything there anyway. Formula milk was fine, but had to do a trial and error thing , which worked ouy quite expensive at first. Have a great time!!

[Shaila]

Tillysmummy,
I thought that Weetabix is very high in fibre so i havn't started giving him that. Also, he still hates any lumps in his food...any suggestions on how u can encourage to eat lumpy food? He is fine with finger foods though...
Thanks