Going abroad with a baby

[SnuggyBuggy]

DH and I are considering taking DD abroad next February when she will be about 9 months. Has anyone had a successful holiday with a baby of this age? What sort of place did you stay at? What did you bring?

We are somewhat clueless

We have been to Portugal and Australia with ours at that age. Good age to go as neither of ours was on the move so they're much easier to contain. A buggy that they can sleep in is essential for evening meals out. We stayed in houses, self catering.

Self catering all the way
Spain and Portugal are pretty good, although waitresses might steal your baby for a while!

Spain/Portugal sound good. My DH is convinced we would still be doing day trips and should go somewhere all inclusive whearas I'm not so sure that's a good idea. What do people do during the day?

On a practical note do you take nappies or buy them at the other end? Do hotels or villas tend to provide cots?

At 9 months my DD was on a 2-3-4 routine, ie she'd be awake for 2 hours (then sleep around an hour), then 3 hours (then sleep 1.5-2 hours), then be awake until bedtime. So she would wake at 7, sleep 9-10, then again at 1-3 and go to bed at 7 for 7.30.

Day trips are more than doable! If it's somewhere that's not buggy-friendly, they can always sleep in a front pack.

Spain when dd was 3 months, definitely self catering or a catered apartment- you are likely to be in for some of the day and, depending on how your baby sleeps, up in the night so having space is important. Take enough nappies to last the trip- quality ones are expensive in Spain.
Enjoy your trip

We’re going to Cala D’Or in Majorca next month with DS who will be 9mths. We have a 1-bed self catering apartment with a cot. I’ll report back when we’re home in October! :)

You can book a cot/ high chair with a lot of sc places and you should only need enough nappies for the journey and 1 day or so. Top tip is take a change of clothes on the plane ( or at least a top) for YOU as well as the baby in case of Vom!
If they use a dummy having one on the plane is handy as the suck reflex helps their ears.
If you have a sc place with enough outside space but a cheap paddling pool when you get there, it will be easier then taking the Baby in the pool all the time and you can put it in the shade
I doubt you will be doing many day trips, at that age they tend to go in short bursts and can get pretty hot and grumpy,especially if teeth are coming through.
We’ve been going abroad with small children for years nd although some people say it’s no fun we’ve always had a great time. The trick is to realise that ( like the rest of your life) it’s different now

We book the baby stuff and take enough nappies to get over there...everywhere has babies so you can get pretty much everything you need there. Baby food, nappies etc.

That's a good age for travel and yes Spain, Portugal, Canaries would all be sunny in Feb (Canaries would be reasonably warm too). Definitely SC so you can put her in a room to sleep while you and DH enjoy some time to yourselves, and if she sleeps in the push chair you can eat out or just wander round a museum or some shops or whatever while she dozes.

We're going to Majorca next month with DD (3.5) and DS (9 months). We've always gone away with them, you just have to adjust your expectations a bit. How many nappies, etc to take depends on what access you'll have to shops. One resort we stayed at in Ibiza only had a tiny shop so it was a real struggle to get the right nappies as we didn't hire a car. This time we're picking a car up at the airport so we'll take enough for he journey and find a supermarket on the way to the apartment and stock up.

I would've hated to go away during the crawling stages tbh. We are away with our 13 month old and I'm so glad he can walk, same as when we went away with 12 month old DD. None of mine have liked being in a buggy for long and you can't really let them crawl on rough tiles/concrete round the pool etc.

For the past 2 years we've done villa holidays as after taking 12 month old to an All Inclusive hotel we found one of us was always in the room/pushing the pram/stopping her from falling in pool. It wasn't that much fun for what WE want from a holiday.

Being in a villa they can go down for a nap, put the monitor on and we can still sunbathe. We can eat what we want and make little snacks as and when. We also hire a car so can get out and about

Ivebjust come back from my third holiday with my LO he’s currently 1onths old but he went on his first at 5months old and another at 14 and just got home from another at 18months, I was so worried on the first ever one but so glad I told these items

1. The billie faires prams - amazing for travel as I didn’t want to take my egg pram
2. The kid-kudi pop up travel crib- it’s amaozng for not just a little crib but for spurned the pool as a mini play plen pop it on a sun bed on the shade and your away

3.milton sterilising tablets

1. Giant Muslins !!! The best thing EVER for popping over the pram for shade just in general don’t leave with out these I got mine from tkmaxx
2. Pack a load of Ella’s pouches there a nightmare to find abroad
3. Don’t over pack clothes done it on all my holidays with my LO and never used half of it
4. A little bag of calpol, ibuprofen and anti histamine ironically both hot holiday my LO dicded to cut molars on both holidays 😩😂
5. Evian water spray for there little faces and body cools them straight away
6. Pack loads of nappies I’ve regretted this every time as there so expensive I paid 15 euro for 25 just in France !

10. The best advice that was given to me was babies adapt better than adults to heat and that is so so so true 11. I also made my self aware of emergency phone numbers just incase 12. Pram fans are the best 13. I find the airport staff both ends are amazing specially with a baby security is actually easier with a kid 14. Don’t worry about the plane, it can’t be helped and it’s not forever

Don’t let anything put you off it’s he best thing ever specially at 9months, this holiday with my LO at 18m out of the three has been the hardest yet

Many thanks for all your replies. I suppose the tricky thing is that I have limited knowledge of babies and obviously no idea what she will be like at that age. I know that I was neither crawling nor sleeping through at that age though.

We had a pretty disastrous honeymoon in the Canaries so it might be a nice idea to give it another chance .

My other question is what do you do about the car seat? Can you pay extra to check them in?

No you don’t pay extra you can take them right up to the plane or leave them at the check in desk, again brought a cheaper one to take with me but that’s cause we hired a car , if yournnot you can require taxis to come with one ok he other end that we did on this recent one xx

By 9 months she could easily be crawling - both mine were by then - so assume that she will be and plan accordingly. You should be able to check your car seat in for free, but check the airline's rules. I was always able to take a push chair and a car seat for free, in addition to our usual luggage allowance.

As for sleeping through - no way you can know this - but I night weaned and sleep trained at 9 months with both of mine and they started sleeping through as a result of that. Some DC though seem not to sleep through until they're much older than this.

The thought of her crawling is a bit scary , I'm guessing pool safety needs to be considered.

We are also hoping to learn how to back carry her by then which might help with some outings.

I'm going to try and get her passport in the next few weeks

We’re taking our baby (not yet born but will be 4 months by then) to Tenerife in Jan. perhaps a mistake but staying half board at Grán Meliá in south Tenerife as appears to have decent restaurants etc on site and they provide a cot.

Neither OH or I are sit round the pool type of people but thinking we might just want to chill that week by pool (getting a UV tent for baby) and take it in turns to have some relaxing spa treatments!

I've done self catering, all inclusive, bread and breakfast city breaks with my 2 at all ages. All were good, depends what you like to do. Agree with suggestions, depends on where you can fly from your local airport then. It's out of season for many places. Make the travel as easy as you can by picking good flight times, easy parking, local airport. I tend to plan around this.

I think taking it in turns to do some things makes sense. Also DD will be on solids by then and hopefully feeding less frequently.

It's easy for food at that age with Ella pouches. Now mine is 2 and bloody fussy I am kind of stuck to self catering. Sensatori Tenerife gas a lovely creche , but she's prob too young for that if not in child care at home. If she travels well in car then sightseeing can be really easy. Take pull on Sun blinds for car and own car seat.

Can you take milk through security onto the plane?

I love all-inclusive buffets for holidaying with babies/toddlers. Easy to pick out just the bits you know they'll like. Without having to prep it (or wash up) yourself. Also like PP said, the Ella pouches for back up/travelling are handy.

Most places will supply a cot, but good idea to double-check when you book.

9 months, could well be crawling/ bum shuffling (or even walking/cruising) ... or might not be! Some of mine were, some were not even close at that stage. If she is, you'll just have to be vigilant (like you will have to be anyway) but you'll know how to do that when the time comes.

Car seats can be hired with hire car (but are often a total rip-off price).

Re back carrying, I'm a big fan. We bought a Deuter backpack ( www.amazon.com/Deuter-Comfort-Carrier-Infants-Toddlers/dp/B00HOATAAK?psc=1&linkCode=xm2&SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&creativeASIN=B00HOATAAK)&tag=mumsnetforum-21&creative=165953&camp=2025 2nd hand and are still using it now, 8 years and 4 children later and it's still tip top, really good quality, comfortable & adjustable and space for all the snacks/changing bag stuff. You can start using from around 6 months old... and go on using it up til about 16kg I think (if you can still lift it that is - 16kg is MASSIVE - I'm not sure my nearly 5 year old weighs that much yet, but thank goodness we don't carry him any more...)

Most airlines will let you take something like 2 large baby items for free - eg Easyjet you can take any 2 items off list of: travel cot, pushchair, carseat, backpack.... check on the website of whatever airline you're travelling with. And if you want extra stuff, just pay for extra hold items...

And this is great advice from Loudloopy (as is everything else she said) : Don’t worry about the plane, it can’t be helped and it’s not forever

I'm hoping to still be breastfeeding at that stage so hopefully that will keep her quiet for at least some of the journey.

Have you considered somewhere in Italy op?
IME, the Italians particularly love babies and children, they are very family oriented, and will make a huge fuss of your DD.

I have Italian family Poptart so would definitely consider Italy too. My DH is leaning towards Greece.

I think I will focus on the passport and then what flights we can get locally as I would prefer a direct flight.