Anyone taken a baby to Greece? Handy hints please before I pack my whole house!!

[melsam]

Anyone any top tips about taking our 8 month old to Greece in June? At the moment I think me & dh will be taking a bikini between us with the amount of stuff I want to take for ds.

What about food? Can we give him bottled water to drink? Can anyone recommend a good sun cream?

Thanks

If it's any help, my mum took me to spain when I was about the same age. A friend had assured her there would be baby food a plenty on sale. There wasn't. Apparently I survived unscathed (well, mum seems to think so) and spent most of the time with a calamari ring stuck on my finger which I used to teeth on.

That probably isn't any help. Just needed to share the experience as still seeking closure.

If you look on the Heat and 9 month old thread you'll find plenty of info.As far as food goes, there are powdered baby foods here and some jars but nowhere near the variety of flavours that are available in the UK.Also I think availability MAY depend on there being a reasonably sized supermarket near you.Are you self catering or half board in a hotel?

What about trying one of those suncreams which goes on a colour then fades after time, so you can see any bits that you've missed. We've got one called Coppertone (I think), and goes on a lovely blue colour! We got it from Boots. I've also used Boots Soltan for babies - SPF 50 - which was very good.

Not sure about the food side though. Although I lived in Greece for 3 years, it was pre-dd. Saying that though, the supermarkets there are pretty good and certainly stock Heinz foods. I will get in touch with a few of my Greek friends and see if they can shed some light.

Which part of Greece are you venturing to?

I would say definitely use a sun cream that you spray on - it means you don't have to rub it into sandy skin or grumpy and impatient babies.

If it was me, I would take cans of food rather than jars (my youngest is 6 so I am assuming you can still get them) and be on the safe side. Nothing worse than being in a strange and hot country with a baby who won't eat the local baby food.

Take BIG beach towels and nappy pins, so you can attach the towels to the curtains and make black-out blinds - more chance of a decent night's sleep.

Take take the minimum of clothes for the baby - you can always rinse them out and dry them quickly.

Can't think of anything else. Have a good time - June is a great month to go!

Thanks for the advice so far! We are off to Kefalonia self catering. We used to eat out all the time pre ds & stay in pretty basic accom but we have gone a bit more upmarket this time. I do plan to but some food from the local market & cook - but hten again it is my holiday too!!

I already have some of the Boots factor 50 sun cream but it takes an age to rub in & is quite tricky to wash off.

Anyone any experience of using one of those sun tents? Are they worth taking?

Melsam, I used Boots factor 50 last year and it was brilliant, ds didn't get a hint of sun on him in 2 weeks. Its a polava to put on and he hated me doing it, but I'd do it in the morning before I dressed him, then again after his nap before we hit the beach. The spray ones I agree are good too. We didn't take a sun tent thing, but used to buggy and a well positioned parasol. We could recline the seat right back and he'd often have a 2 hour snooze on the beach - bliss! Hope you have a great time.

I think that you may not find a big variety of ready baby food in Kefalonia.There's obviously plenty of fresh fruit and veg around at that time of the year so you should be able to fix your own meals in the appartment.I would advise taking a small blender with you as the utensils supplied are often limited. Otherwise why don't you contact your travel company maybe there is an e-mail for the rep. in Kefalonia and you could contact her directly?

Jars of baby food are pretty thin on the ground in Greece. We took our then 5-month-old to Crete last summer and I was pretty much regarded as a mad woman every time I enquired about it. Greek mothers just don't seem to use it. (They're obviously far less lazy than me). Eventually I tracked down a chicken variety, a beef variety, a vegetable one and a couple of fruit concoctions, but that was only after much searching. I'm afraid I ended up cooking stuff myself after a while, so either take jars with you, or don't forget to pack a couple of ice cube trays to freeze things in.