First Holiday

[Audra]

We are taking ourselves and 5.5m old baby on our first holiday, to Spain, over Easter. Does anyone have any good tips? Ie things to take that I might not automatically think of. Ways to amuse baby on plane? Ways to get her to sleep somewhere other than her own room? Anything I might have wished I'd known before the trip, rather than after.

Thank you.

Take a few of her own blankets/sheets etc (they may provide a duvet!)which would have a familiar smell, nappy sacks, basic medicine kit just in case, some washing powder or travel wash so you can rinse things through, travel kettle if you are not self catering.

Somebody else started a conversation about camping. We're going camping soon when our son will be nearly 10 months. Any tips for mushy camping food or things that make it a bit easier with a baby? Oh and any ideas for entertaining his 14 year old brother too?!! (mind you son number two does a pretty good job of entertaining us all anyway!!) When I have taken our baby to my parents for a few days I took his teddy and he has a baby sleeping bag which I think helped settle him and lots of cuddles.
On other camping holidays, I have taken big plastic ikea bags which hold all the swimming stuff in one go or a load of laundry; without taking up extra room packing.

If you're bottle feeding take ready sterilised bottles (from Boots). I'll be taking them when we take ds3 in the campervan in August (he'll be 8 months),

Buy a sling or front pack and get used to it. There is always a distance to walk without pram and you may want your hands free for such essentials as handing over passports!

Baby will be amused by all the new stuff on plane. Sing to her right next to her ear if she seems distressed.

She will sleep when she is tired, this may be different from home. Go with the flow.

Hi Audra
Where are you going in Spain? We want to go with our 6 month as soon as her passport comes through - would be interested in hearing about your destination....be so nice to get away from all this rain

Hi Audra
I had a similar thread going about taking a 11 month old to Italy (you much braver than me) and someone sugested this site
www.babygoes2.com (sorry couldn't find squiggly brackets on PC to make a proper link)
V useful though might make you want to spend loads of money.
Good tips on preparing for hols
Ah ha just realised you probably gone already! Do let us know how it went!

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tip for flying - try to feed her on the way down - - even if it's just a few gulps - she'll equalise the air pressure in her ears by swallowing. if the pressure isn't equalised it can hurt. I wouldn;t worry about amusing a five month old on a short plane journey - plane seats are designed for playing peep-o. She'll probably make eyes at the people in the seat behind who (unless they're horribly grumpy) will give her a few smiles to amuse her. Mine always liked the brightly coloured safety sheets.

in continuation to hatsoff comment... don't start feeding her until the airplane is already running for take off, I don't remember how many times I started feeding him as the plane started moving just to have a too-full-to drink-more baby before take off which resulted in a lot of earache. So if the pilot say you are ready for take over... don't trust him until you are already gathering speed .

Ahh, and most important... go with the flow, if your baby refuses to go to sleep as she normally does is perfectly understandable as everything would look very different to her eyes, trying to force the things can result in a nightmare so keep in mind that if she ends up eating at different hours or ends up sleeping in your bed, you are in holidays!, you will have time to fix the problem once that you come back

Enjoy!

If you're going to a big resort you should be fine for baby food/nappies etc but I took readymade formula because even if you boil the local water the chemical content may be different to ours and may upset your baby's tummy. It's not safe to use mineral water either as these sometimes hold too much sodium which can be harmful to a young baby. Boiling the bottles worked OK for us but I guess you could take sterilising tablets. I took a sieve to 'mash' the food I cooked at the apartment and I froze the mashed food in the fridge in ice-cube trays, to be defrosted when I needed them by the restaurants which are much more child friendly than they are here. So take plenty of sealable plastic bowls too. Take a blow up high chair (or reigns) to sit your baby on a chair whilst you eat as I found that high chairs weren't always readily available - depends on the size of your resort.
The Spanish LOVE children and you will find they are very happy to jiggle/hold your baby whilst you eat if they're not busy.
Your baby's routines will be upset but as another lady said, go with the flow and don't be too set on strict timetables.
Finally, a light, umbrella folding buggy is a must together with a familiar blanket to cover baby's legs in the evening. If you can get one that reclines slightly then your baby will be more comfortable when they fall asleep. You take the buggy as far as the airport gate and it gets loaded last, just before you get on the plane and comes out first at the toher end.
Have a great time - we have travelled a lot with my 2 girls and have never had a problem.

Audra, how did your trip go? (if you're back yet) i'm taking my 7 month old in may and am already feeling a bit nervous although after reading SV's comments i feel a bit easier.

Anything that was missed that would be a handy tip would be greatly appreciated.

Hope you had a lovely time and weather was good.

Thank you for all the advice.

Janx - we stayed with friends in a little village called Guadacorte. I wouldn't recommend it because there is nothing to do there, unless you have friends to visit. And unless of course you like shopping. There are lots of discount stores there.

NannyJo - it went quite well. She was very interested in her surroundings and only got cranky on the plane when she was tired. A very nice lady took her off us and played with her for about 1 hour which was fantastic. On way home she howled on take off then slept most of the flight. Got lots of dirty looks from silly people which really doesn't help.

Took Milton for sterilising, and ready made milk. Feeding/sterilising was very easy. Did forget bottle scrubber however and had to make do with fingers. Took almost everything she owned to make her feel comfortable but found the only thing we used was her changing mat and her buggy.

If you book a car and carseat over the internet, phone the actual office to make sure they're going to have it. Flew into Gibraltar and there wasn't one! Sorted it out with lots of yelling and screaming but not a good start to the holiday.

She was actually quite an angel, probably better behaved than at home because of so many new things to see. And I did take a baby sling which was also a must.