First time travelling with a baby

[sthitch]

We will be taking our 9 month old baby on holiday to Spain (currently 4 months) so looking for some advice. I have a few questions if anyone has some time! Thanks

1. if we take a ready made bottle to the airport, do we taste it and go through with it?
2. with tui/thomson she gets 10kg of hold luggage, but does she get hand luggage? (She has a trunkie that’s quite handy for fitting stuff in)
3. we are staying half board ,although we’re not at the point of weaning currently, I’m guessing by May she will be on solids and not just mushed up food. Did you take food with you? - I don’t plan on using them at home, but wondering if I should take those precooked meal packets as we are staying half board and Spanish food can be quite salty.
4. did you take a travel kettle? (For making formula)

And just any general advice really! Trying to think of everything before we go.

Oh dear. I'm hoping someone comes on with some top tips for you but my heart is sinking.

We did two hotel abroad hols with DS at about 1 and about 20 months before we saw the light and stuck to UK self catering.

Pack plenty of Calpol. They didn't used to sell it in Spain but might now. Travel kettle might be a good idea. DS wanted the comfort of a bottle in the night and room service charged nearly £10. 00 seventeen years ago. Good luck!

On the flight we usually take a couple of sterilised bottles and some formula cartons (and extra one or two in case of delays). Take them out of your ba at security and then they usually put them through a special liquid scanner but we've never had to taste anything. You can take water through as well for babies as I assume she'll be eating either at the airport or on the plane by then.

What sort of half board is it (buffet or restaurant)? Most places we've been have been fine for DD if there's a buffet. For breakfast there's usually fruit, bread, yoghurt etc, then maybe eggs or cereal. And at dinner there's usually some kind of pasta (quite a few places have had a little children's section with plain pasta and sauce you can add if you want), grilled meat etc, and again fruit for desert. We did take a couple of the Ella's microwave meal type things for when we wanted to eat a bit later but generally we've never struggled feeding DD abroad.

Email ahead and ask if they have a kettle in the room. Most places have them even if they aren't in the room as standard.

Thank you for your replies- the milk she has doesn’t have ready made cartons (very annoying) so I’ll have to get boiling water in the air to make her bottle but I’m guessing they will be fine with that (and take a bottle through).

I’ve stayed at the hotel and you’re right about breakfast so that’s good to know one meal will be sorted. They occasionally have a pasta station but how careful do I have to be on the salt levels in food as I will have no idea what they use? (I have no idea if I’m just worrying about something needlessly but I heard you have to be really careful!) we are half board and it’s buffet style.

For lunch, there’s a big supermarket nearby so I plan to go and buy whatever we are feeding her at home.

We stayed with Thomson all Inc (buffet service) when dd was 14 months. Breakfast was easy as pastries, cereals and yoghurts were fine for her, however, she was a very early riser (usually 5 am) so I packed a few porridge, yoghurt and fruit pouches (Ella etc) for her to have when she first woke up and to have as a snack in the afternoon. We also popped to a supermarket and grabbed some fruit and yoghurts to keep in the fridge in our room.

Lunch and dinners were again fine, plenty of food to choose from although she mainly ate pasta, rice and soups. The salt content is an issue but it was only one weeks worth of food and there will be fruit and water available to somewhat mitigate it.

Contrary to pp, 9 months would be a good time to travel as its unlikely your dc will be walking. You can buy calpol sachets which are useful for the flight.

If I remember correctly I don't think under 2s does get hold luggage. However, Thomson hold luggage is quite generous, we didn't need a specific bag for dd, we had enough room between mine and dp's rucksacks for all her paraphernalia. In any event, I wouldn't want to deal with a trunki for a 9 month old given you'll presumably have pushchair (you can keep pushchair with you right up to getting on the plane) and your own hold luggage to deal with (I wouldn't even entertain one now for my 2.5 year old)

I can't help remember formula I'm afraid.

You’ll be fine to take a pre-made bottles through security along with cold boiled water and baby food pouches (such as Ella’s kitchen) through security. Just declare them to the security person, they’ll go through the regular scanner and then some or all of them will be subject to an extra run through a special liquid scanner. A good tip is to make sure you put these items in a tray by themselves as anything else in the same tray (like a handbag) will also get searched and it will speed things up if only the baby liquids are inspected!

Definitely don’t ask the cabin crew on board for hot water to make a bottle- the hot water on your planes is not particularly clean, it’s not unheard for it to fail bacteria tests and I know at least one cabin crew in real life that refuses to drink tea/coffee on planes as a result! If you can’t make up the bottles before as it’s a long flight and it won’t stay fresh, I would take the powder through security then ask a cafe/restaurant for hot water and make up the bottle(s) just before boarding.

At 9 months baby should be fine to eat from the hotel restaurant but a large supermarket should definitely have pre made food so that’s an option too.

Unsure on Thomson specifically but babies are usually allowed to check a car seat and pushchair and carry on a nappy bag. I agree that a Trunki is more trouble than anything else so would avoid taking that until DC can pull it themselves.

Happy Holidays!

Thanks everyone!

Good idea re the bottle in the air- it’s only a 2 hr flight so I’ll make one air side at the airport by getting some boiling water there (and take one through) also good idea re the calpol.

We have been taking her trunkie on UK holidays as it fits so much stuff (not to pull)

I shall definitely be getting some Ella’s stuff- also great idea re taking some breakfast stuff as babies don’t always follow restaurant time tables!

Have a look online to see if the airport you are flying from has a Boots or Superdrug, you can do an online order and collect once you are through security so won't be included in your weight allowance. I used to order DS's swim nappies, wipes, food jars, snacks.

I don't think I have flown with Thomson while he was under 2 but with other airlines I could take 2 peices of baby equipment (pram, car seat or travel cot) then an additional 10kg was added to my hold allowance. No carry on for him, large back pack with the big part for him and the small front bit for me worked well.

Most hotel rooms come with kettles or can be requested but I would take a cheap travel one if not.

Wow, what airline didn’t allow you an extra carry on for an infant?! Even easyJet and Ryan Air let you bring a nappy bag! Not doubting you, just genuinely curious so can watch out for/avoid that airline in future!

Jet2 and Thomas Cook did not allow an additional piece of hand luggage. Ive flown with Air France and Easy Jet while he was under 2 and to be honest I didnt check with the airlines just assumed they were all the same however it was just me and him so It was actually easier with just the 1 bag and 1 case

You can take any type of formula through: Bottles with sterilised water, powder container dispensers, pre-done cartons/bottles. They just put it through the liquid thing - no tasting. But the best tip I can offer is you can pre-order stuff for collection from boots airside. So you could order two weeks worth of Ella's pouches or formula (if they do your kind) and then carry it in your hand luggage. Thus not sending your hold baggage overweight.

I'm also pretty sure she'll be allowed hand luggage too.

Even if you can take a buggy with you, take a sling/carrier too. It is so much easier to have the baby in a sling then you have two hands free for luggage. You probably won't need to do this, but getting on/off trains with buggy plus luggage was a nightmare. Also our LG hated the buggy (she was much younger than your lo though) sonitnwould have made getting around so much easier