advice and tips on taking a 6 week old baby abroad

[BooDooVoo]

hello, we are going away at the end of August for a week in Rhodes and 'bump' will then be 6 weeks old - yikes!! I have a 9 year old and a 7 year old too and we are going with other families so there will be no shortage of help but I have never taken such a young baby abroad before so any tips would be very much appreciated. I will be breastfeeding so formula and bottles won't be an issue but any tips on ANYTHING else is welcome. . . . thanks from an anxious expectant mum x

Apply early for your lo's passport and don't forget the EHIP card (replaced to E111).

Make sure you will have shade where-ever you go - sun cream isn't advised for such young babies.

You'll need to drink loads and be prepared for a thirsty baby too.

Hope you have a great time!

I travelled to Tenerife when DS1 was 10 weeks and to Cyprus when DS2 was also 10 weeks. I found it a lot easier than when they started to crawl and were awake for longer periods of time during the day. For Cyprus I packed a bouncing chair, I took it apart first. It was one of those cloth ones with a metal frame. I then rebuilt it once I was on holiday and put my son in it during the day in the shade at the end of my sun lounger and gently bounced it.
During the actual journey my husband and I worked out who was doing what. So for instance I look after our 2 youngest and do all the passport/ticket stuff and my husband keeps an eye on our eldest and does all the luggage. That works well for us as we then have the right stuff in each of our hand luggage.

thank you for the advice! The thirsty baby bit never occurred to me! And great idea to dismantal the bouncy chair. . . .definately going to bare those in mind! How about what pram/buggy you can take with you? I assume the apartments have travel cots but won't a 6 week old be too small, I'm freaking about where baby will sleep so do I take my pram with carry cot. . . .?!

I saw a very tiny baby on the beach in an M&P pramette, they parked it in the shade of the umbrella with a sun/insect net over. The baby just wore a nappy and a bodysuit. The mum brought it out to feed and popped it back in again! She had three other DC as well, perhaps she thought the baby would be safe from having sand kicked over it accidentally as they played. You can get used pramettes quite cheaply on ebay, would probably be useful for a holiday, not sure if suitable for overnight sleeping though.

You could get one of those pop-up travel cots for the baby to sleep in, or perhaps get one of those travel cot coolmax thin mattresses to take to put in the cot at the apartment if there is one and you are dubious about the mattress. You will need to make sure that a cot will be available in advance if that is what you choose for the baby to sleep in, don't leave it to chance.