AIBU to be afraid to travel abroad with my child?

[Nessie100]

Ok, so I'm not afraid to travel with my child as such, that makes me sound like a wuss. I'm afraid to travel with my allergic child. I'm not a precious mammy with her precious child. I'm a mammy who every time she leaves the house with her child has the antihistimine, and the epipens and the spare prescription & the phone for the ambulance etc etc etc- and that's even just to go to the shop .

I recently got invited on a holiday with a mother & her 3 kids. My partner was invited too, but workwise he cant at the minute. All I could think was that there was no way I could face that by myself. I know I wouldnt be 'by myself' but there's only so much support you can ask off someone who is not the parent of a child with food allergies. We havnt even travelled much here in Ireland with him yet (he's not 3 yet), but the thoughts of a foreign country without my partner when he doesnt fully understand his allergies yet just terrifies me.

Hell, I dont even understand his allergies yet, we cant get a test for insect stings / bites etc & where I live is 30 mins from a hospital, never mind abroad where god only knows how far away one would be.

I dread (in the future) being the person who has to get the airline to make the food announcement before the flight. Or worse still, be refused a flight home due to risk of reaction like I saw on the net before.

Sorry for waffling . Maybe someone has been through this?

His allergies might get less severe as he gets older?
And have you considered starting off with self catering or Centre Parks, somewhere like Germany or the Netherlands, where they'll speak fluent English and have good medical facilities?

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I'm seriously allergic to a number of things including peanuts.

In western Europe this isn't really an issue - or at least, not any more than it would be in the UK. It probably makes sense not to book a holiday too far off the beaten track, but european doctors and hospitals are perfectly capable of dealing with allergy.

If it helps, I find my worst food allergies (peanut and mustard) much less of a hassle when eating in France. In the UK, food labeling is generally less helpful, there is mayo (=mustard) in everything, and Thai-style foods are everywhere. It's a minefield.

With a very allergic child I might be more cautious about venturing further afield - it really depends how serious the allergies are and how confident you feel about dealing with them.

Please don't be so hard on yourself, it's a scary thing to have a child who needs a epipen, when you don't know yet what the allergies are.
Going abroad with a small child can be scary enough without a medical problem, and not having your DP with you also adds more stress.
I think from your post you should thank them nicely for being thoughtful enough to ask you, but wait until Dc's is older and you are more confident in managing his condition. You would probably have a problem with travel insurance, could be restrictive and expensive.

Would it be self catered? Do they speak good english where you are going? If the answers are yes, I would do it. Travelling alone is actually not that much harder than with someone, you have more resources than you can imagine. I find when you are 100% focused on the child it is really ok.

Nope. DD is coeliac which is not life threatening and I stress about travelling with her and will only do self catering and bring a suitcase of suitable food.

Thank you everyone, I hadnt expected so many responses and so soon .

The holiday was only mentioned 4 hours ago (travel in june), but my initial gut reaction was a huge resounding NO. I havnt even checked out the facilities or whether the english speaking would be good.

Even thinking about it now, the more I realise its just not possible at the min. He is not potty trained yet (and due to his allergies & eczema he can only use 1 type of nappy & 1 type of wipe ).

Some of his allergies might be more manageable as he gets older (some wont unfortunately ) but for the minute I think we should just sit tight in Ireland.

Thank you so much for your advice ladies, it actually has made me more resolved to say no at the minute (in the nicest possible way of course )