Should I take my 18 month old to Croatia for a 2 week hol or cancel now?

[Ladyopheliastar]

I have booked a holiday to Croatia for my dh, ds and myself. It is on a half board basis in a hotel near Porec. Recently, my ds has become very active and is learning to walk. He is never still. This has led to my dh panicking about what he'll be like on the plane. I checked and a seat for my ds would cost nearly £400 more. We also worry about not having a child seat for him when travelling on the coach to the hotel. Plus I noticed that the evening meal doesn't start until 18.30pm and my son eats at three and has porridge at six and is in bed by seven. Not sure how we'd eat, unless we took turns to do so alone...

Download some CBeebies onto an ipad for the plane, if you have one, and some colouring type apps, etc. Take snacks and a drink. Take books and tiny toys - car, etc.

He'll be fine on holiday but you will need to relax a bit and not fret so much about his routine.

What about sterilising bottles? We use a microwave...

How would I go about sterilising bottles? I use the microwave at home...

We had stopped sterilising bottles long before dd was 18 months old - as a friend pointed out to me, once they're mobile and eating worms in the garden, sterilising bottles is somewhat superfluous - but before that we used Milton when travelling.

If you are worried about sterilising bottles for an 18 month old, you will have a nervous breakdown about all the other things he'll put in his mouth - toys, gravel, Cheerios from under the sofa, the fingers he just poked down the toilet, etc......

Give up now if you are worried about a holiday with a toddler - it's supposed to be relaxing and fun. Which it won't be if you spend the time till you go on holiday panicking.

You don't need to sterilise for an 18mo and the time difference (presumably +1hour?) will mean 6.30pm dinner will feel like 5.30pm to him anyway which is a pretty normal teatime for most kids.

Flight will be fine - just take loads of snacks for him and books or whatever you think will occupy him.

Do not cancel you will have a great time!

Take him. He'll be fine. Take him to restaurants, the waiters will love him and you'll get non stop service. Take a dummy or something he can suck to lift the soft palate in the plane and a travel potty and you will be fine.

Lol. He us waking around and you are still sterilizing ? N

I still sterilised bottles at that age and I used boots own brand sterilising cold water tablets when we went away.Yes I appreciate that they're getting lots of germs, but I still preferred them to have very clean bottles. No I didn't use them when my twins were that age, but I did hot wash dishwasher them. I think it's a little unkind to lol at the op.
I found my pfb more stressful than my twins in some ways and I hope we can all empathise with that first time mum new experience thing.
Hope you have a lovely holiday op.

Chill out and stop being a slave to the routine. Kids are flexible and adaptable. Mine have travelled all over the world.

Go!

I have taken mine on holiday since they were tiny. They adapt to whatever you are doing so don't worry and certainly don't try to stick to a routine, routine should go out of the window on holiday. Just enjoy yourselves and don't worry so much!

I flew to Australia when my dd was just 2 and the other dd was 5 on my own. Live your life. It will be fine.

Don't take bottles, sippy cups are fine at this age!

As many people have said, go and enjoy yourself. Bin your routine though as if try and stick to your routine you will stress yourself out and not enjoy the holiday at all.

We took our eldest when she was 15 months to Hong Kong without a seat on the plane or a car seat when we got there. It was absolutely fine and we had a great time.

No - you don't need to sterilise bottles (a good clean is enough) BUT I remember still sterilising my ds's at that age. You can buy a special bottle that takes disposable liners - we used these in teh US. Or use steralising liquid / tablets (I hate teh smell though)

Large Boots stores and John Lewis sell these great disposable steriliser bags - you just fill with cold water and the tablet dissolves and you can chuck in drink bottles, bottles, zippy cups etc. All clean after 30 mins and i appreciate that over two weeks you don't just want to rinse things in a bathroom sink.

As for flying you'll be fine - please don't spend the money on a seat which your dc probably won't sit in. Otherwise I will bore you with the tale of how I took my 18 month old to new Zealand on my lap. by myself. that's 32 hours travelling.

I used to pack a tupperware container in my luggage - you can fill it with stuff so it takes up no room - and sterilising tablets - I could do a couple of bottles at a time. I wasn't still sterilising at 18 months though.... Honestly though - we have been away at least once a year to different countries since dd was 4 months old.....without incident!

At 18 months, she would mostly stay up in the evening, or sleep in the buggy. She used to love the baby disco that they hold for the little ones in many resorts. It is completely normal to be out with small children on the continent - even til late at night. I had to remind dh of this when we were in UK last week and he wanted to take dd to the pub (she is 8 now) that it is NOT the done thing there....

Only you know your child, but I found mine coped very well with the normal routine out the window for a week or so. It still works now...

Thank you for the responses. The steriliser bags sound perfect too. I think we are over thinking it, well, over worrying it. I think forward planning is the key. Have looked at tablets today as a possible form of entertainment.

Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced buggy to take abroad? I love my current one too much to allow it to be chucked into a plane!

We just bought a cheap one from Argos - and a parasol.

We do stick with routine as a tired child makes the day so horrible! Ours wakes at 630 whatever time she goes to bed. What we have done though is not adjust her sleep clock so in Spain/France we just pretend 8pm is 7pm rather than bringing her fwd to their 7 iyswim!

We do the sleeping in a buggy thing occasionally but not every night. Having said that we've only ever done apartments/self catering.

Agree you should Defo go though. Enjoy