To ask for travel tips with 9mth old

[Poppy92r]

Really need the help!

FTM and going to Spain from the UK with a 9mth old baby and I'm absolutely clueless.

Staying in a family friendly resort (hotel not apartment) via a family holiday type tour operator. It's your standard 2 weeks in the sun family holiday.

Baby is formula fed.

What do I need to know? Now we've booked it I'm wondering how I will make up bottles, whether to take a car seat (guess will have to for getting to and from airport in a taxi?!), what do we do with the pram, how will I feed the baby on the plane, what water I should use while away, how will I sterilise the bottles, what do I need to pack and so many other questions! Like what are the essential items I might not think to take?

I'm completely clueless and hoping you can give me your best advice, tips and hints!

Thank you

Yes take car seat. Not worth not having it. Get a big nylon bag for it from amazon and then you can stuff it full of nappies, and extra luggage.

Take a light weight pram not a big travel system. I'd recommend the yoyo as you can take on board plane so you have immediately after flight. Also maybe take a sling/carrier as its much easier than a buggy in some places- is the town you are staying hilly/ full of steps?

Take lots of suncream and baby aftersun. Uv50 full bodysuit swim nappies, hat etc.

Only taken my boy on a plane twice at 6 months and maybe 18 months

6 months - we took formula but did run out , the local shop did stock what we used which I had checked before hand.

On the plane we took the pre-made bottles

We took the Milton cold water steriliser

You'll likely need a sheet for the travel cot maybe even a mattress protector

Pram went in the hold at the plane door

18 months - took a travel pram which is cabin luggage size

Didn't take a car seat either time , was short coach transfer so wouldn't have been able to use it as they had lap belts

You might want to see what the hotel can provide , they maybe have some baby stuff to hire

Swim nappies - not all places have these that I saw

Likely the hotel will only have a shower might want something to bath more easily - inflatable bath or small paddling pool

We went to Cyprus at 6 months
Barcelona at 18 months

We had this dilemma recently when we went to Tenerife and here’s what I did:

• found a company before I went that hire baby equipment and hired an angel care bath seat plus microwave for sterilising bottles while away then took the bags with me. They delivered to the hotel and picked up again
• didn’t bother with car seat as it’s heavy and bulky - you can have a baby on your lap

in a taxi til they’re 2 here and in Spain. Though perhaps depends on how long the journey is. Ours was 20 mins each way. Or can hire as above and have one delivered to airport - if you’re hiring a car then good to have your own (we’re going to the Balearics in a couple of months and taking our own as will be hiring a car)

• you can take bottles of sterilised water onto the plane but it needs to be in a baby bottle - I bought a couple of extras so took

3 with water onto the flight plus 3 empty bottles - plus formula - you can get boiling water on the plane. Formula in hand luggage and separate check in cases too in case luggage doesn’t arrive

• bouncing chair that folded down plus baby gym so somewhere to put baby
• calpol in hand luggage plus couple of changes of clothes for baby and change for you too in case of accidents / nappy envelope and loads of wipes / muslins etc
• milton wipes in hand luggage and check on
• bought silver cross zest umbrella pushchair 2nd hand from FB as can take to the gate and is lightweight
• loads of food/ snacks and toys for baby to keep occupied on flight
• spare dummies etc / blanket in case cold
• swim nappies and swimmers/ cover up plus legionnaires hat, sun cream for baby
• travel wash in case you need this whole away
• digital thermometer, Sudocrem - mini first aid kit for you all
• enough nappies that you need while away - spread across the cases. Sure you can buy nappies anywhere but I wanted the ones that we have now that don’t leak etc!
• baby spoons/ dishes etc that DS eats with now plus cups for water
• also took enough Ella’s kitchen pouches wlrh me so I knew we could feed him lunch/ dinner as wasn’t really sure how it’d all work with meals etc
• cot sheet for travel cot that hotel provided
• baby towel that he uses and bath toys that can be used in pool too!
• loads of water wipes across all cases /

Hand luggage. I also took his porridge for breakfast too as weaning at the time though he ended up with this plus 4 more courses from the buffet!!

That all seems a lot but worked for us and meant we had all we needed - and used all of it!

Oh if your baby has pre made bottles of formula then you can order these from Boots airside (after security) and collect when you’re through so don’t have to carry. DS has a special formula hence all the faff of perfect prep and bottles etc….

We took tubs of formula with us. Not sure how you make up bottles when out but I used the method that replicates the perfect prep - some boiling water to mix in the powder and top up with cold.

We used tap water but boiled it in the kettle before use. Each evening I would boil a kettle and pour into a jug and then drinks bottle to cool down for the cold water. I then just took a flask out with the hot water.

For sterilising we took a Milton bucket and tablets and just used the tap water.

Just to add, I took boiling water in a thermos flask and cold water in a spare baby bottle through security at the airport with no issues. They just took it off for testing. I was worried about the hot water as it wasn’t in a baby bottle but it was fine (did it more than once).

Forgot to add - you can use bottled Evian water to make up bottles too as has low sodium/ mineral content

Thank you so much. This is all really helpful!

I wish we could use the pre-made formula, it would be so much easier but baby is on a prescribed formula for cmpa.

I'm going to start creating my lists today :-)

Check the bottled water, I think in Spain, definitely in France, it has a baby picture on it if it's low sodium enough for babies, or you can get 'baby water' from the pharmacy which is distilled.

I took my CMPA baby to Dubai when he was 10 months.

I took a tin of powder with us but they did actually sell it in the supermarket there.

You can take enough boiled water with you on the plane for the baby's needs on the plane. I also found breastmilk storage bags great for taking pre measured powder around as they lie flat. Very easy to use on holiday as you don't have to clean or sterilise them.

Cold water sterilising bags are amazing for holidays as well. Boots sell them.

Get a cheap fold up pushchair and use a sling for getting on and off the plane.

The best tip I ever had (from maternity nurse who was a Norland Nanny) was to give the baby or toddler a drink to suck on when taking off and landing. The sucking motion equalises pressure so they don’t have pains from changes of air pressure when the plane gains or loses altitude. We travelled a lot with two DS under two and this made the experience much easier for the babies (and therefore also parents and all the other passengers).
Otherwise don’t over think it- they have babies in other countries too. So long as you can ensure shade and clean water ( and perhaps favourite teddy) the rest should be available on arrival, it just might be different from what you and your baby are used to. Unstressed parents are much more likely to have a happy baby when travelling. Good luck and happy travels, OP.

@nearlyspringyay

Check the bottled water, I think in Spain, definitely in France, it has a baby picture on it if it's low sodium enough for babies, or you can get 'baby water' from the pharmacy which is distilled.

I've definitely seen bottled water with pictures of babies on them in Spain. I never knew that was the reason

@Darbishire27 thank you! Good tip!

We went on holiday at 10 months and had bought a cheaper umbrella style pushchair for travelling.

Defo second the sling suggestion, you normally give up the pushchair at the gate/airplane steps but don't always get it back until the baggage carousel so need to carry baby from plane, through immigration queues and then waiting around at carousel until it turns up - pack the sling in hand luggage and strap it on just before landing then can put baby in and carry easily until reach carousel.

We took the car seat but skipped the isofix and we got car seat and pushchair protective bags off Amazon - this meant could sneak some stuff in car seat like blankets, etc. I know people say to add nappies as well.

When you check in make sure to get a tag for both car seat and pushchair if taking, then car seat goes to oversize luggage so give yourself time to drop this off.

Security was fine, if you have a baby/pushchair they normally send you to a different section where you get pushchair scanned and also extra liquids - you're fine to take in excess of 100ml, I think technically it's reasonable amount for travel so we took 3 pre-sterilised 8oz bottles with cooled boiled water in (we were on nutramigen, handy for travel as is made up with normal temp water, but would have used ready made if could) and then powder in a formula dispenser. We got our bags drug tested as took a large amount of formula in hand luggage in formula dispensers to give leeway if checked luggage with the tins in went astray haha.

Do you know if the hotel supplies travel cots? Take your own sheets though as can be grotty and check reviews for them if you can, might be worth paying extra for additional infant items and taking own travel cot.

Not sure where you're at with weaning but we took a lot of CMPI friendly food, like fritters and muffins, with us to tide us over until could get ingredients to make more (we stayed somewhere with cooking facilities though). And defo take snacks! Especially to save yourself trying to google translate ingredient lists checking for milk products...

Also test the sun cream before you go, somewhere like arm/leg then face if that's okay, just in case allergy to it seeing as already allergy prone as milk allergy. We found Childs Farm fine, albeit a bit more expensive.

Sorry for the massive post!

These have been so helpful thank you again!

One more question - what did you dress your LO to sleep in? I know the weather will be warm but they'll also be aircon. Currently baby is in a vest and 2.5tog sleep bag. In the UK in hot weather, it will be down to a 1 or 1.5tog sleep bag.

Not sure what's best in a warm climate in a room with air con though?

@Ihatewinding great tip about the suncream! I will get some soon (we've all got covid at the moment but as soon as we're all better).

@Poppy92r

These have been so helpful thank you again!

One more question - what did you dress your LO to sleep in? I know the weather will be warm but they'll also be aircon. Currently baby is in a vest and 2.5tog sleep bag. In the UK in hot weather, it will be down to a 1 or 1.5tog sleep bag.

Not sure what's best in a warm climate in a room with air con though?

@Ihatewinding great tip about the suncream! I will get some soon (we've all got covid at the moment but as soon as we're all better).

I think we did long sleeved sleep suit and a mid weight sleeping bag.

If you're with TUI you can hire most things off them.

Re sleeping bag I used to take a sheet one (buy from Jojo) but turn the air con off so they could regulate themselves better unless it is absolutely sweltering.