Heat and a 9 month old

[manna]

I'm desperate to get away following the birth of ds in November. Dh can only take time off in August, due to work, and I would love to go to Andalucia, my favorite place.Ds will be 9 months old then. I reckon the temperature will be at least 30 degrees. The places we usually rent are old cortijos with no air con. However, the walls are very thick to prevent the insides becoming too hot. If I rent a place with no air con, but a shaded veranda and pool to cool off in, will ds be ok? will he sleep at night?

I took my dd to greece when she was 6months old and ds to spain at 5months. Neither place had air conditioning, so we just hired a couple of fans and it was fine. In fact I think they slept better than normal , and on both occasions the temperature was at least 30 degrees. Ds should be fine as long as you bring some sort of sunshade for when he is in the pushchair, and plenty of sunscreen.

Have a great trip (i say enviously !)

manna - we love Andalucia as well and we took our boy there when he was 9 months too. However it was May so a bit cooler than August. I found our baby was OK in the shade and at night he just slept in his vest. I would just follow the usual advice about not going out in the middle of the day, plenty of suncream and so on. At least before a baby is walking it is easy to just strap them in their pushchair on the beach with a sun canopy. I would sit on the balcony with our baby in the shade and a washing up bowl of water and a few containers and let him play around with that. You could alsways take a fan with you and a travel plug for evenings when the air gets very still.

Hi having brought up 3 children in Greece I can offer the following advice - some has already been mentioned,some not. No particular order of priority.
A fan will probably be very useful especially for siesta time.
Very high factor sunscreen.Don't even think of trying to take home a suntanned baby!!
Lots of T shirts for wearing in pool/sea.Not vests as shoulders burn easily.
Hat to be worn at all times even in sea/pool.
Sunshade for buggy.The big ones are best if it can be tilted forward/backward - provides more cover.The umbrella types invariably don't provide "full" shade cover.
Plenty of fluids - bottled water.Light meals.
I would advise trying to follow the routinue the locals follow.Out in the mornings, home and sleep between 1.00 and 5.00pm Early evening - swim and beach visit - best time of the day and the sea is warmer(!) and out for a meal later. I have to add here that I don't know how upseting it is to the baby if this involves a major change in routinue.It is nice though to be able to go out and eat in the evenings especially as the temps are cooler.Mine always changed quite easily to a more British routine of early nights and less middle of the day sleeps when I came home every summer.
Hope some of this helps- have a great holiday.

oops - forgot to mention insect repellant.Sprays are much easier to apply.I always use citronella - smells good and non-chemical.

Hi Rozzy, yes I am living in Greece - been here 16 years now.I get back to the UK every summer.My kids love to come over and are already planning where we will go this year.On the whole Greece is a great place to bring up kids and we like to think that we have offered them the best of both cultures (DH is Greek)

We live in Spain and ds copes fine with the heat. During the summer he just wore a nappy - no clothes at night and we used a mosquito net that went over the cot/pushchair. You might think babies dont sweat, but they do so lots of fluids (I think that was mentioned already). And a fan is essential.
Enjoy the break!

Well we live in Agios Stefanos which used to be a small village 35kms north of central Athens but this area is now rapidly expanding and could be called the comuter belt I suppose.Its a nice area with lots of open spaces still, and plenty of trees,fields etc around - not at all like central Athens (which I avoid at all costs)I am very happy here -it was originally very difficult to settle down - took me a long time to learn the language and get used to the different attitudes here but now so many years down the line I feel more of a stranger when I come home than I do here.I still adore coming home though and always shed a tear when the plane lands on British soil !!!
I'm a physiotherapist and I do private work -part-time to fit in with the children.Working is difficult here - you really need to know the language and for women it can be a night- mare as the school day is short 8.15-1.30 and the summer holidays are 3 months long ( Yes you read it right!!) 15 June - 15 September.
On the whole you can have a very good life out here although like everywhere there are some things that drive you mad.The food is delicious which is why I'm on a diet at the moment (!) and I have learnt all my greek cooking from my mother-in-law so if you need any recipes let me know!!!

Hi Rozzy,I've only just seen your sil's comment!LOL.It is an up and coming area i agree, but for me whose husband's company has just gone bust and was never rich to start with, "rich" is a pipe dream I don't thimk we'll ever achieve.Starting again from nothing is a challenge at 45.But as mentioned on another thread money definitly isn't everything and at least i don't have to pay out for holidays in the sun!!!

We'll be staying here- dh has a new job ,back to being an employee-I prefer it as he is around more and I can't see the point of owning your own company,working your every waking hour just in the hope that it may make us wealthy.In any case my children are well into the greek school system and it would be a huge upheaval for them to move back to the UK-not impossible though if it had to be done.
I've not been to Naxos but next door Paros is lovely (more touristy though)I am actually the opposite of most people in that i have travelled extensively on the mainland and much less on the islands.
We celebrate Greek Easter so today is an ordinairy school day for us -easter is May 5th this year.But I am about to go and make some hot cross buns for my children and friends- I try to keep as many British customs going as possible .
Happy Easter to everyone !!!

GRMUM - great advice, thanks. Must say I'm jealous, we love Greece, the food, sun, people, history etc. Your advice about routine was great - just what I hope to do, ds seems to change his routine really easily so I hope he won't be too disturbed. Dh has got his holiday sorted anyway - watching the world cup!!