To take a 5 month old on a girls' weekend to Paris

[Patapouf]

Has anyone done this and has tips to make it less stressful? I know the baby will get nothing out of it but I am not ready to leave him at home with DH for 2 nights just yet and I'm desperate to make the most of mat leave.

Travelling by Eurostar, probably stay in an Airbnb. Planning a bit of sightseeing but mainly mooching about, sitting in cafés and stocking up on skincare and food or maybe not having seen the value of the pound

Friends will be hands on and help as much as they can but I'm very anxious that it will be disastrous. Baby is BF (not going well), but mostly EBM so worrying about the logistics of expressing or BF out and about. I also can't imagine trying to manoeuvre a pram on the narrow pavements. I know babies live in Paris, I did too once, but I'm a worrier.

Can I make this work? How can I pack light?

I suppose my AIBU should really be how can I be less nervous about travelling with a baby?

PP spouting some nonsense about how wonderful the OPs friends must be as they went to Ibiza when pregnant WTF. That’s got sod all to do with anything. Being pregnant doesn’t restrict anything!
This thread is very cringeworthy.

It’s a girls trip. Give it a miss OP. Especially if it’s to become a regular trip. There’ll be other opportunities

regularbutpanickingabit - how long has it been since you had s 5 month old? Most would completely blow their minds being kept awake from 2pm to 7pm at that age.

I think it’s lovely that your friends are happy for your DS to go along on the trip - I would have been genuinely happy to do the same in my pre-child days - I don’t particularly like staying out late and getting drunk, so a reason to be back earlier would have suited me fine.

We’ve travelled all over, including city breaks, when our children were younger and this is by far the easiest age - I would just say to pack the essentials so you aren’t carrying to much and to use a sling as much as you can.

If you were posting so as to have your view that this is reasonable reenforced you have misjudged the situation, the idea of taking your child with you is madness. Find childcare & powder milk or don't go.

I'm currently out and about sightseeing in Berlin with my baby in the heat and it's been no problem at all. Bring a baby carrier and a light buggy, travel light and off you go! You can breastfeed anywhere and if baby gets overwhelmed at any point just sit down somewhere and catch up with your friends later. There's a lot of doom mongering here, not sure why. In my experience babies this age are all too happy to sleep on the go and look around. My four year old? Not so much. Good luck x

FO learn to spell @Jade218

If you are breastfeeding and take a sling it'll be easy and fine. I'd take a 5mo on a city break with DH or another friend & baby, but not a girls weekend away, and I'd not be impressed with a friend bringing a baby either.

@regularbutpanickingabit thank you, lots of great tips there. He will be closer to 5 than 6 months but we haven't settled on dates yet because I wasn't happy to commit to going.

I'm not sure why I'm getting such a telling off for asking whether I ought to go...I suspect it's more that some PPs are getting pissed off that I might not follow their advice rather than that they have a problem with me using AIBU to ask if IABU.

FO learn to spell @Jade218**

Why do some posters feel the need to post things like this?

Does it make you feel superior when you point out another poster's inability to spell certain word?

Aw from the title I thought this would be a ‘shall I just turn up on a sky diving hen night with my day old baby’ thread. Very disappointing!!

Practical thing, Paris hotel rooms have less as standard. Will you have everything you need for sterilising and milk storage?

Your baby can’t have the temperament for mine. The idea of taking them at that age makes me feel ill years later 😂

Stupid idea will ruin it

A girls weekend is no place for a baby!! I’ve just got back from a wedding and all those with babies spent the whole time soothing them and faffing about. It looked so stressful. Leave baby behind!

@pigsDOfly yes I imagine it's similar to the feeling some posters get from being absolute bitches on AIBU.

The suggestion to use 'powdered milk' was deliberately engineered to piss me off, so I will revel in the fact she appears to have some literacy difficulties.

I went away on a mini break with a friend and her baby many moons ago, I loved it... I was baby crazy. Advice on travelling with a 5 month old... it all depends on your LO OP. My DD was so easy at 5 months, all she really needed was the boob and sleep. On the other hand my niece was really hard work. Think about an average day with your LO? How much stimulation do they need? How fussy are they? How easy is it to get them to sleep?

When travelling with LO, I kept the routine as close to normal as possible, BF on demand but tended to be every 3/4 hours, BF in public in Paris, shouldn’t be a problem - time feeds with trips to coffee shops or restaurants so you can relax and feed, I ensured my clothing allowed for easy access or wore her in a sling. DD wasn’t on solids and would have solid 2/3 hour naps after a feed. DD was very nosey and would happily people watch from her pushchair or baby carrier. DD slept in a sleepyhead, so we brought it with us when we travelled.

What will your LO need? 5 months olds are pretty easy, comfort items if they have one, nappies, wipes, clothing and spares. I’m guilty of under packing on many occasions with DD, easy to pop in the shops and grab a few extra nappies or an outfit.

I’d leave the baby at home with your oh

But if you have got help and they are happy to help then with all ur friends around you should not have ANYTHING to worry about

It had not occurred to me that the demographic on MN had changed so significantly. I have been around for many years and have seen AIBU become increasingly hostile but it was always fairly well-meaning and good humoured.

I hadn't considered the effect of an influx of new users from shitty newspaper readerships and how this might skew responses to a fairly innocuous question. I don't want to manipulate the responses I receive, I'm genuinely grateful for all of the opinions I've had that relate to the proposed trip rather than how I feed my baby but I'm not sure the opinion of someone who has no experience of travelling with a baby, having a baby or travelling to a European city on a girls trip is relevant. It's certainly given me food for thought about how much weight I give sarky responses on here.

@Patapouf Whatever floats your boat, I suppose.

I hadn't considered the effect of an influx of new users from shitty newspaper readerships

Oh dear. What a raver! Have a Horlicks and calm down duck!

@Patapouf - what a bitchy response. Lovely

You’re obviously determined to take your baby so have fun. Hope your friends enjoy the break too.

My goodness, really don't understand everyones negativity. Take your child with you, strap them to you and off you go. Bow out of anything you don't think will work with baby and enjoy the bits you can. If it's a shambles at least you will come back with some things learnt for next time.

I don't know what sort of friends some people have but yes OP I would imagine (even without you expecting it 🙄🙄) your mates will give you a little hand if you want it.

My god life doesn't stop because you have a baby and absolutely not OP you are not alone in thinking 5 months is still really young to be left.

Go for it OP.

It's certainly given me food for thought about how much weight I give sarky responses on here

Heck me too and I’m not committing the greatest sin ever known to man and travelling to Paris with a baby. AIBU has become a total cesspit.

Oh some of the replies on this thread are just ridiculous... some parents have obviously put their entire lives on hold while they bring up their kids!

OP for what it's worth I think you sound like you've got the whole thing sorted... my DS is now 19 months and he's been with me alone/ me and my lovely SIL/ me and DH on 14 trips to 12 different countries because I too wanted to make the most of maternity leave. Flights for £24 here and there and staying in Airbnb's have given us the freedom to work with each other's routines and although the holidays are not what they were pre-baby, we've still had wonderful times.

The only tip I'd suggest is (as you've mentioned above) get good at co-sleeping and that way you can do without a travel cot (though if you need one I got an amazing Koo-De bubble cot which was fab and doubled up as a 'cage' when I was alone and needed a shower or a wee (DS would only sleep on me so i didn't have the freedom to do anything when he was asleep).
Have a great time, enjoy your portable baby, I have definitely found it progressively harder as he got older. Have a lovely time and sack off all these doom-mongers: maybe THEY need better friends, not you?!

Not sure about all the negativity.... I had a girlie weekend away for my 30th and one friend brought her 5 month old. It was great - he was an easy baby, breastfed on demand and we all just cooed over him. Some of us had left kids at home, others didn't have kids yet, but it was totally fine. It wasn't a boozy trip anyway, we ate dinners in the house and relaxed together.
That said, at 5 months my DD was exhausting, hardly slept, still had colic and thoroughly wore me out. So it depends so much on baby's temperament.
I wouldn't have left baby home with DH at that age but I suspect it would have been good for me to do so - the break would have done me the world of good.
So I would say if you are confident your baby won't be too difficult then go for it, it will be a different sort of trip but you'll be fine.
But don't rule out leaving baby home with DH and treating yourself to a break. They will be fine, and the time away will be such a great break. Pump and dump to avoid mastitis and enjoy a proper trip with your friends.
Good luck with whatever you choose

I wouldn't do it personally.

I'd be worried the baby wouldn't sleep well in a strange environment and would scream and wake my friends and neighbours.

At 3 months my PFB slept pretty well. By 4 months it was awful, and didn't get better until nearly 6 months.

He wasn't happy just laid down in a buggy all day at that age - he was almost sitting and wanting to grab things, and not being able to put them down gets really tiring, you have to have them on your lap unless you plan to spend lots of time in your airbnb.

Why not reschedule for next year?

Patapouf - what a bitchy response

The OP has had 10 pages of people having a go at her! I think she's been incredibly self restrained.