Advice on holiday with 20mth dd please

[lilymolly]

Hi
First time mum warning !!!!!!!

we are thinking about going on holiday in Sept with DD who will be about 20 months old.

I was thinking of balerics- short flight, warm but not too hot, family friendly, etc

BUT I have so many questions....

Will she sit still on the plane?
Shall we take in laws?
do we take a car seat for taxis etc?

will she sleep in the same room as us, or will we be able to sleep i.e will we disturb each other?

Can i disrupt the routine and keep her up late so we can go out on an evening, she currently is exhausted by 7pm, she sleeps like an angel at the moment

What companies offer childcare for under 2s

Will mummy and daddy have a relaxing time?

Where is the best place to go?

thanks to anyone who can answer these questions

Hi
I have just been to Spain with a 22m old ds.

A few points:

• Portable DVD player great for the plane, as is a magna doodle/etch sketch thing. He also loved faffing with the seat belts, buttons for TV etc
• how the flight might be depends really on whether she is the kind of child who sits still normally or won't - ds was fine on a 4+ hour flight but he is quite good at sitting in one place anyway.
• don't expect the holiday to bear much resemblance to those you had pre dd as a couple - if you adjust your expectations you can still have a fab time - different sources of enjoyment e.g. your daughter's delight at playing on the beach rather than you lounging around with a good book!
• Powder Byrne have childcare at a Mallorca hotel if I remember correctly. Childcare for under 2s is hard to find everywhere but take a look at babygoes2.com as they have a list.

-Soller and Deia are lovely, avoid Magaluf

• ds wouldn't sleep in the same room as us so we always get a suite or apartment so we don't have to share.
• re in laws - ha ha depends how well you get on with them!!

Thanks

Good advice
DD wil NOT sit in one place for more than 10 mins!

Any more ladies??

In laws might be your better option for babysitting if you want to relax.

You might want to get dd her own seat on the plane.

You will have to play it by ear, my ds now 17 months does very well on a routine, and I found if I keep his routine around his nap and bedtime he just carries on without any problems, if you can get a separate room for her obviously with a connecting door to yours you might be better off, I had to share with ds and he kept me awake most nights, because he sometimes dreamed and would not wake from it, but it woke me.

Take her own blanket, it might help settling in. I'm going again in Dec this year so ds would be 25 months and I'm planning on buying those beds that are like a sleeping bag, I think it has an air mattress. I'm hoping it might get him used to not sleeping in a cot, and then to go straight into big bed when we get back.

bump please

hiya, i am going to benidorm on monday with hubby and dd who is 18months. im really looking forward to the actual holiday, but dreading the flight. it is around 2 hours and she will not sit still for more than 4-5 minutes, and thats stretching it!! i have bought crayons and stickers to take and have just ordered a water play mat type thing from kiddicare. i cant remember what they are called exactly, but you just use a pen on the plastic page and it colours the picture in.but i just know she will want to run up and down the aisles! as for her routine, we are going to go out for walks after our evening meal, and will try to keep her awake untill her usual bedtime or maybe and hour longer. its only for 5 days so its not too bad.

ooh let me know how it went! enjoy and try to relax

bump........anyone else got some advice

Bump anyone, you MUST have gone on holiday at some point with a toddler, if so please give me some advice.
Particularly regarding the car seat for taxi journeys etc, do we really need one?

hiya, just got back from our hols. overall had a great time. we didnt take a car seat with us and didnt use one when going in a taxi either. we didnt go far and not on any motorways so felt quite safe. at the airport when waiting for our bags to arrive, i only noticed one family who had taken a car seat, and that was a very small baby. if we had hired a car then obviously we would have had a car seat, but i suppose it depends on the amount of travelling you are going to do.

when it cane to the plane, she didnt mind actually being on it,as fortunately there was a spare seat next to us,(there and back) so i kept her amused. the best toy i founf was the seat belt buckle. she spent a good ten minutes playing with that. i took books and stickers, crayons and paper, and she liked to play peek a boo with those head rest covers!!

i was quite slack with her routine, but found getting her to sleep was difficult as we were in the same room. if she could see me, she wanted to come out of the cot, so i took my book into the bathroom on the 2nd night and read in there till she drifted off!!

i wouldnt say i had a relaxing time as i was worried about her getting burnt, falling in the pool, someone taking her,falling up and down steps- but it was great fun seeing her play in the sand for the first time nad splashing in the outdoor pool.

we have been back for 2 nights and yesterday we went to the in laws, so she has slept in 3 beds in 3 nights. if she is in a darkened room, generally she will sleep in any cot.

i forgot to mention where we went. it was benidorm. i know its not glamorous or anything, but i have been before so i know where the shops and chemists are if i needed anything, and i have always found it really clean.

if i had the chance to take the in laws, i would, if you get on with them ok. then at least you could maybe go out as a couple for a night or 2. and you would have someone else to help keep an eye on the baby. we couldnt even have a drink in the bar because she would get grumpy at her bedtime, but wouldnt fall asleep in her pushchair as she is too nosy, so we had to take her to bed,

i hope this little lot helps!!

We have taken our kids on all sorts of holidays, I generally prefer self-catering or at least an appartment so that the kids are in their own room. We all sleep better that way. And I get something with terrace/balcony so that we don't have to sit on the loo reading while they go to sleep! We often get a bottle of the local plonk and sit for hours chatting on the terrace.

A flight of an hour or so should be alright, dont forget something to drink and some snacks. I normally take loads of toys and they don't look at them cause they are too interested in playing peekaboo with the woman in the seat behind.

I would take a car seat, even if it is only a short trip, it is worth it. I would never forgive myself if we were in an accident. Most airlines don't charge.

We often go on hols with my parents, good for us (we can get away for a while or go out in the evening), good for dcs (they don't see a lot of their grandparents as we live abroad) and good for my parents.

We try to keep to our normal routine, but allow them to stay up a wee bit later in the evening.

Adding to the playing peekaboo with the headrest, we kept ds entertained for a good while walking from one end of the plane to the next, as we walk ds has to try and find daddy - I'd say is it this row, no, and ds had to work out where daddy was. Worked a treat but probably drove other passengers mad!

we took ds on holiday in feb when he was 15 months. we had an 8 hour flight followed by a 1 hour flight. on the way back our flights were both delayed!

he's generally very wriggly, but he was fine, actually. he slept a bit on the long flight, about 4 hours. other than that, we walked down the plane and he smiled/ charmed everyone. had food. played with cuddly toys and a pretend computer. it's definitely manageable on a short flight with a few fav toys, some imagination and snacks.

going with in laws is good idea. we went with in laws when ds was 6 mths and this time with my sister so free babysitting. routine was upset by 5 hr time difference anyway, but generally we are fairly relaxed about routine. we didn't DO half as much as we used to before ds as trying to co-ordinate around food & sleep means you can't always do what you would have done. but he had a great time, and we had some relaxtion when sister/ parents took him off our hands.