What age to take baby abroad

[SL80]

Hi all. My Wife is keen to book up a 10 day break to Greece next summer, by then our Baby girl will be 16 months. I am a little reluctant to book up something as I think 16 months is still a bit too young to go abroad away from the ease of home comforts. Not from a safety point of view, but just generally how much attention our little girl is still likely to need at 16 months and we may end up not really enjoying the holiday and just becoming frustrated (sorry don't mean to sound like an ogre). My personal view is we should stick to breaks in the UK for a few years just for the ease of having things you need ready at hand - small things like knowing most places have baby changing facilities.

It's our first Baby so keen to get some views/opinions on when is a sensible age to venture abroad from people's past experiences. Be honest!

My baby first travelled abroad at 10 weeks old. Absolutely fine. Children are much more wejcined abroad than in the UK it's easier than holidaying in the UK too

DS went to France at 4mo, Portugal at 6mo, France again sometime, Mexico at 18mo, then turned 2 in France and we haven't been abroad since last summer due to Covid. DS2 is due in December and I really hope we will be in France again in the spring. So yes, I echo other posters saying take DC abroad before you have to pay for a flight for them!

We went to Italy to a friends wedding and a weeks holiday when dd1 was 2 and ds was 8 months. We went to Canada for 3 weeks when dd1 was 3 and ds was 16 months. We went backpacking for a month in Central America when dd1 was 5, ds was 3 and dd2 was 17 months (literally carried her in a backpack!).

Don't sweat it and overthink it. It's cheaper, loads of fun and you get to know local people in a totally different way when you have kids with you.

Ds was 5 months when we went abroad. Easy to sit by the pool, cafe etc in the shade and have a little swim. I would have found it harder if he had been mobile

I found travelling with babies very easy and cheap. We aren't adventurers but driving holidays, train travel, plane and hire car type holidays in self catering or hotels was fine. Before three months we stayed with family or friends but from 12 weeks have taken them( 3DC) to France by car, skiing by train and all over Europe by a combination or car and plane.you just have to make a few adjustments eg stop regularly if driving, don't plan for a lie by the pool holiday, we always had a different routine on holiday ie DC had a nap in the day to stay up at night or when tiny let them sleep in the pram in the restaurant while we ate our evening meal. It is just nice all being together. It's good for them to eat with parents and don't forget there is tge luxury of two whole adults to look after them. It never occurred to me not to go on holiday . Go for it.

Much easier to travel when they are younger, especially long haul in my experience. Just do your research and book somewhere that caters for families with young children.

Same shit, different location. As any holiday with a kid ever is. There's no reason not to take them abroad at all, and it depends massively on the child. I wasn't blessed with sleep in the buggy at the table types.

We did first long haul flight when DT’s were six months - much easier when they are small. Babies don’t need much stuff (it’s the parents that think they do).

SL80 abroad is a big place - go somewhere easy and most importantly pick child friendly accommodation, no need to go trecking in Nepal or anything. Eurocamp style holidays work brilliantly with small toddlers. Take a short haul flight or the Eurostar or ferry, most of Europe is more child/ baby friendly than the UK.

We took dc1 abroad for the first time at nearly 3 months old, but that was to visit family. First holiday with her was a canal boat in France when she was 5 months old - so easy as she wasn't mobile really and sat in the travel cot when we did locks.

We took her on a self catering holiday at 11 months which was harder as she was walking and the accommodation was very much not child-proof. Tiny walkers are a bit of a handful in non childproof accommodation.

We did a camper van holiday when dc1 was 16 months - that worked brilliantly.

Once we had multiple small children eurocamp style holidays were perfect. We did them most years from when dc1 was nearly 3 and dc2 nearly 1 until dc1 was 12, dc2 10 and dc3 was 7, including the time when dc3 was 4 weeks old, dc2 was 3 and dc1 5.

DS is 14mths and we’ve travelled a fair bit already (we live in mainland Europe so easier to travel than from the UK covid wise). Our first trip at 2mths felt stressful as we had to take so much stuff with us and we struggled with sleep. Just leaving the hotel room seemed to take forever so we didn’t see much.

We last travelled over his first birthday and it was great. He ate what we did so we didn’t have to prepare anything extra. We had dinner out and he would just eat bits off our plates. Bottles no longer had to be sterilised and he drank cows milk. He had just dropped to one solid nap per day (2-2.5hrs) so we had time to relax with a book too. Bedtime was a reliable 7pm so we could enjoy a glass of wine on the balcony in the evening. At that age you’ve got it much more figured if you can’t find changing facilities you’ll always find somewhere (boot of the car is a favourite). Although not the same as pre baby, it really felt like a holiday.

We went to Thailand for 3 months with our 3mo. old using shared parental leave, best thing ever I don’t understand why more people who can afford to don’t use it - the only time you can take so much time off together. So easy at that age, they don’t have opinions, will nap anywhere and if you’re breastfeeding it could not be easier or safer/cleaner

A 16 month old will love it, but it will be as hard work as at home, though with more fun and distractions surely?

We’d taken DD abroad twice by 9 months and at about your DDs age we took her long haul.

Greece will be lovely, it’s very relaxed, very child friendly, food is familiar, there are private medical clinics in all the more touristed places, as well as the state hospitals of course.

The only thing I would say is that Greece is really hot in peak summer. You may be best off going May/June or September as it’s cooler and cheaper.

//What age to take baby abroad//

5 weeks in our case, we lived abroad and brought her back to UK to see grandparents, no problems at all, much easier than when she was older!