Sri Lanka with an 8 month old

[Emilyalice22]

Hello,
Me and my husband are thinking of going to Sri Lanka with our then 8 month old in January/February. We have been to Sri Lanka before and love the country and the people. However I do have some concerns as to how we will manage and was wondering if anyone reading this has been to Sri Lanka themselves recently with a young child and can help me out with any of my questions.
We will probably be staying in or around Galle. (Any recommendations on nice places that provide cots?) We will go on day trips. Is it worth bringing our car seat?
When I looked on the rough guide website it stated that public breast feeding, even when discree is not really done in Sri Lanka, anyone have any experience of this?
The website also talked about risk of malaria and other diseases. Which has made me a little nervous, do baby's even have vaccinations?!

Although not our first time to Sri Lanka This is our first child and will be our first holiday so any advice as to whether Sri Lanka would be an recommended place to holiday with baby would be most appreciated.
Thank you ??

Have you had the baby yet?IMHE holidays with Young children are more like hard work. I think you'd be mad to go all that way with a young baby.

Yes have had the baby. I think we might be mad too but we could enjoy ourselves in the process so willing to give it a shot.

not really the same, but we went to Egypt with DD when she was 7 months old - we were careful about what she ate and drank and all was fine. It was fun - and I am sure you will have a great time. the Sri Lankans love children so will make it as easy as they can for you. Enjoy.

We spent 2-3 weeks travelling round Sri Lanka when DS was 7-8 months old. It was fab! I think if you're used to travelling and especially if you've been to SL before, it should be fine. Yes, holidays with young children are harder work than they were pre-DC, but totally do-able. And actually that age is great - we took him out for dinner with us every night in a sling and he slept through on my/DH's front, plus he won't be running off everywhere...yet!

We had a driver who was brilliant. Picked us up from the airport and drove us everywhere. Much easier than sorting transfers at every place and cheap. Yes, defo take car seat - they had no idea what one was!

We did Colombo, elephant orphanage, Candy, Sigiriya, Anuradaphura (sp?), Nuwara Eliya, Ella, then down to the south coast and 5 days relaxing in Unawatuna, just outside Galle. A bit backpackery but nice to be near beach and with pool. Stayed here:
www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g644047-d3935227-Reviews-Thaproban_Pavilion_Resort_and_Spa-Unawatuna_Galle_Southern_Province.html
which was good for DS, and lovely for us.

Breastfeeding totally fine - take muslins. I managed to do it discretely in corners of restaurants etc, but nobody batted an eye. Also much easier than sterlising bottles etc. Plus lots of weaning friendly food: fruit, yoghurt, porridge, rice (and poppadoms!).

We chose SL because there was no malaria risk (not sure if that's changed?). We didn't get any more vaccinations than routine UK ones. None of us got sick.

Overall it was an amazing holiday - can you tell I loved it?! Everyone was so lovely with DS. I'd do it again in a heart beat! Get back to me with any more questions.

Go !
I've been twice with my children and the first time my son was 6mths old.
Take nappies as they aren't not sold everywhere, especially over tiny baby size.
I second hiring a driver and taking a carseat . Make sure the car/van has belts that will fit round the seat though . On one trip we roped one toddler carseat to the frame of the car's seat because it only had lap belts .

We stayed in viilas/hotels from this site www.i-escape.com/sri-lanka/boutique-hotels
Though I took baby mush pouches, all the places we stayed cooked fresh purees for us.