Going On Holiday With 5 month Baby

[bluesmissus]

Has anyone got any good tips, dos and donts about taking a 5 month old baby abroad.

Watch out for the sun but enjoy yourself. Took dd to New York at 5 weeks, then Switzerland at 3 months, and spent a week in Bahamas at 5 months. It was great as long as we avoided the midday sun (went swimming about 4.30pm) - she even kissed a dolphin on the nose. Go for it - there are no problems. If baby is bottlefed get a travel steriliser. Take enough milk and baby food if going somewhere farflung. Enjoy and drink lots of wine.

Swedishmum - you sound amazing! I applaud you. We're still contemplating going away with 4 m.o. for a week to Italy or Malta or somewhere a bit warmer in Feb. Am nervous about it all but read that the best time to travel is before DS becomes mobile so we want to make the most of it ....

bluesmissus - I actually borrowed a book from the library about travelling with babies by Fodors or something. It is the size of a pocket companion type book. It has useful tips and checklists.

I think 5 months is a great time to take them abroad - they're not mobile enough or stroppy enough to be a nuisance . Don't assume that even other european countries will have the same formulas as here - double check it. make sure the room has a kettle if you are making up formula - but if worst comes to the worst you can always buy a travel kettle out there!

Went to Egypt when DS was 5 months old and would certainaly agree that it is so much easier before they are mobile! We where lucky as a friend out there lent us her steriliser but I can imagine this could be a bind. As for baby food, we managed to get suitable stuff in a small Egyptian village so I can't imagine this should be a problem if you are going to Europe, although you may find the range more limited.
If you bottle feed, decant the formula into strong freezer bags as it takes up less room in your luggage and weighs less.

Took Dd to spain at three and again a four months. She was no problem and food was easy enough to find and most shops sell major brands of nappies and toiletries. Found the same in Greece, she was ten months and 18 months for those holidays.

Theres never been a problem with flights even as we traveled on budget airlines. Most let you board early and in Greece we even got to go the front of the check in que. Tend to find that everything takes longer and you have to get prams from bagage reclaim in most places and have to carry everything from the plane so try not to take loads of hand luggage.

Most peope are really helpful and the locals thought she was great, we kept getting presents for her in shops in Greece.

Would agree it was easier when she was younger as she was happy sitting watching. At ten months she was getting into everthing and the beach wasn't much fun as she kept eating the sand, the next trip was better as she woud happily sit and dig holes all day.

Did take a travel kettle for the second trip for food but I think I used it about once and got jars of food if she needed them.

If your taking them swinmming in the pool get reuseable swimming happies as you can take them off when they come out the water and use them again if they go back in we found Dd got really cold if you left disposable ones one her.

Agree with the others: a brilliant time to travel. The baby is so portable, and really has few demands. We did 2.5 weeks in Spain in the summer with dd1 (then 3) and dd2 (then 5 months).

I would avoid anywhere toooooo hot. And we found self-catering easier than the few nights in a hotel. We got more sleep in a separate room from the kids, plus our evenings were lovely and relaxed cooking our own food and not dependent on the hotel restaurant.

If the baby is breastfed I would resist weaning to make life even easier for you. I didn't have to take bottles, or deal with any food for dd2 on that trip.

But if you do need to feed the baby solids it's not a problem, we found loads of jars available when on holiday in Portugal with dd1 at 7 months. And in the end I bought a cheap blender over there and did a bit of vegetable pureeing myself.

Have a fun time.

i agre with the others, we took ds1 away from when he was 12wks, i took my twins away when they were 8mths and ds1 was 4. we always buy a five litre water bottle, cut the top off and pop sterilising tablet in, then use this as sterilising unit. found it much easier than the bags you can buy. our youngest son has very severe disabilities, quadriplegic, blind, unable to eat and drink and has lots of fits (now 2.5yrs) and we have took him abroad 2-3 times per year since he was born (including america). it is a bit more difficult with him as we have to carry special ingreidients for his diet and scales etc, but it is possible. i think the key is being prepared.

For sterilizing we used to use a small tupperware, (big enough for a couple of bottles), marked the side with the water mark and cold sterilized. The tuperware doesn't take up much room in the bag - you can pack bits and pieces in it.

It's a great time to go - flights are really easy.
Second the idea of self catering ... it's much easier to do naps and things if you have 2 rooms.

See here for some information that might (or might not) be useful.