First holiday with toddler questions?

[Holidayyy]

We're going on holiday to Spain with our toddler who'll be 14 months by then. First time travelling anywhere due to Covid. Can anyone offer any advice or tips I've not thought of to make the travelling or indeed the holiday easier?

We have a villa with a garden and a pool so we will be extremely careful with pool safety, goes without saying.
Planning on bringing a load of new toys and snacks for the flight for DD.
We have a buggy which folds to cabin luggage size.

A few specific questions:

• in Spain in normally drink bottled water, but you're not supposed to give babies bottled water. What can a 14 mo drink?
• silly question but will Spain have full fat cows milk we can buy on the way to our villa? I will bring some follow on milk cartons as a back up.
• is it worth paying £5 each for "fast track" at Stanstead airport?
• The seat next to us is currently empty along with 50% of the flight. Should we still buy our toddler a seat or take the chance that it will be free?

• what else have I forgotten!?

For our 11 month old we boiled tap water each evening and transferred to a jug and then water bottle which she drank with no issues. Not sure why I bothered as she spent most of the day lapping up the water from the hotel swimming pool.

The resort we stayed in had an Aldi so was easy to get bits that we needed. Our DD was not eating solids at 11 months old so we had to take all her formula and bottles with us. We took the formula as I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get the one she had but most other baby supplies were bought out there.

Oh no, is that really necessary? Sounds laborious!

Sorry, that was re the water

I think bottled water will be fine for the short time you're away. My DS is just 2 but is happily drinking bottled water.

I probably wouldn't bother with the extra seat for that short a time if you have DH to share holding your little one. On a longer flight it might be worth it.

Whole milk should be no problem. I've recently been to Majorca and there was a Lidl in every town we visited!

It's been a while but I'm sure some of the bottled water in Spain has a symbol on to show which brands are safe for babies

We really struggled to find formula... Take it all with you.
Nappies were more expensive.
Need to have a drink ready to go on flight as the air pressure made out children screem on take off/landing... Drinks helped.
I wouldn't bother with extra seat.. If they can sort you out for free they will..

I also wouldn't bother getting on early... Just more time to try and pin a toddler down!!!

You can buy table water (rather than mineral) or just drink the tap water. I have always given the tap water to mine but not stayed anywhere not on municipal supply. Supermarkets have everything you need

We don't bother boiling the water. We buy the cheapest water going which is normally €0.45 for 5litres rather than any sort of fancy 'mineral' water and only ever go for max two weeks, so I haven't even ever looked up the mineral content vs, the NHS guidelines.

I wouldn't bother buying the extra seat. Either the plane will be full and it will get occupied or the crew might be able to move the other person (who will probably happily do so!).

We have a Puddle Jumper arm bands/chest float which is excellent and much better than just arm bands.

You can definitely buy full fat milk in the big supermarkets. Options are more limited in corner shops, but I've never seen semi skimmed on offer without full fat. However, don't panic if you have to use something different. I'm sure it wouldn't nutritionally affect your DC for such a short episode of time.

In terms of other things to consider: do you know what's provided in your villa? Do you need to take feeding bowls and spoons, for example?

Bottled water will be fine for a 15-month old for a holiday. Just choose a low sodium one like Evian if you’re worried. I made up bottles of formula with it for my 5-month old during a cruise - CDC say it’s fine to do so 🤷🏼‍♀️ He’s 2.5 now and drinks bottled water often. Whole milk shouldn’t be an issue.

Just bring lots of snacks wherever you go, and don’t plan too much for your days. If she takes a bottle, the sucking will help her ears during take off and landing. Most people I know give calpol before take off to help any ear pain/pressure. I would pay for fast track, although I don’t know what it’s like in Stansted. I wouldn’t buy her a seat for a short flight.

I’ll try to think of any other tips but it’s been so long since we’ve been on holiday!

The issue with bottled water is the sodium and sulphate content

NHS website says that
If you do have to use bottled water check the label to make sure the sodium/Na level is less than 200 milligrams (mg) per litre. The sulphate/SO/SO4 content shouldn't be higher than 250mg per litre.

I took my kids to places without drinkable tap water when they were under a year and used that to check.

You can definitely buy low sodium bottled water, just find out the acceptable range beforehand and check the labels before you buy.

Some brands have a wee baby logo on them to show they are baby safe also.

We had no problem getting full fat milk.