Staying in hotel with a 7 month old

[KJK1993]

Hi! I currently have a 3 month old and we are planning to go to Scotland for a family gathering in March - he will be 7 months - it’s hard to imagine what he will be like then so any advice on what to expect I would be grateful! We were thinking premier inn, it’s 3 nights but would this work logistically with disposal of nappies, would I need a fridge to refrigerate any food for him, what do 7 months old tend to eat? I’m BF exclusively right now but plan to wean at 6 months. It’s cheaper to stay in a hotel but would an Air B&B with access to our own facilities be easier? It’s just somewhere to sleep really as we will be out each day seeing family members.

All of these things will be very dependant on your baby.
My LO was exclusively breastfed for 6 months and didn't really take to food (actually eating a meal) until about 7.5 months. But some babies can be on 3 meals a day from 6 months!
I'd say your best bet is to take Ella's Kitchen pouches and spoons. They don't need refrigerating, pretty decent ingredients and lots of variety. I always keep some handy for when we are out and about/away.
As for premier inns, I've stayed in a few and they've been great - they do provide travel cots but we co sleep.

You won’t need to refrigerate food as you won’t be able to cook it in a travelodge. Just get the supermarket packed stuff that can be eaten at room temperature, it’s all organic, proper food and is perfect for a few days. We did something similar at 4m so was just milk fed then and had a hotel and was fine. When they were 7m we travelled in the UK and abroad and would prefer to get an AirB as we could have a separate room, kitchen, put the baby to bed at 1900 and have a lovely evening to ourselves! But if you’ll be near family and be out most of the day you might just want to crash if you’ve been out late, so hotel would be perfect.

Oh and you don’t need to take a lot, just for a day as you’ll be int he UK, so all the same supermarkets etc. nappies in the bin aren’t a bother either.

Thank you! I’ve seen Ella’s kitchen pouches and they look great. Does one pouch count as a meal?

This is great, thank you so much x

Hi OP. We had an almost identical situation last month.
We stayed in a premier inn which was great and booked a family room (had 4 year old too). Lots of space for the travel cot and pushchair, and it had a bath, rather than just a shower.
For the baby, I took pouches which don’t need refrigerating. We formula fed, so I also took a starter pack of ready made formula, the little bottles that come with teats, so I didn’t have to faff around with a steriliser.

I think at 7 months will still be lots of milk. They can hold stuff like cooked carrot, toast - stuff you would eat, but also the ella pouches are handy, eg the yoghurt one. They can all be served at room temp off a spoon. The hotel can provide a travel cot. They are quite easy ish at that age I think

We went on a mini holiday to Cambridge at this age. In terms of food, we brought pouches. Just the smaller ones so she ate the whole thing at meal times with no need for storage (we did a mix of BLW and purées). We used the hotel travel cot (which was amazing!) brought our own thermometer and a few thicknesses of sleeping bag just in case, to make sure we were dressing her correctly. For nappies, we just put them in a bin bag and threw them out when we went out for the day. Not a problem really. Dad bathed with our baby so no need for a baby bath. She was still sleeping in our room at that time so we were used to keeping quiet when she was asleep. She slept like a log, I think because of all the excitement! I think one thing I didn't regret was getting a big room. It meant we had plenty of room for her to crawl and play and for us not to be tripping over baby things. Good luck! It'll be lovely :)

Yea there are the Ella's kitchen pouches which work great. I would warm the "meals" but you can stand the pouch in hot water for a few minutes so I would take a big bowl to be able to do that. Otherwise a kettle can make feeds and just take a bin liner for nappies to keep in the bathroom and take out with you each day. You can ask the hotel to dispose of them by taking them downstairs. Have fun

It really depends on your baby. Sometimes I’d take a savoury and sweet one so DS could have pudding and he’d eat both. Sometimes he’d only have half a pouch. I still breastfed at 7.5 months (after solids) so I didn’t worry too much as I knew he’d fill up on milk if he needed it. You can also take things like bananas. He may be unsettled in a different environment too.
Nappies I just disposed of as normal, because the bin in changed at daily house keeping. Fingers crossed for not too many smelly ones!

I'd maybe just buy a few of the baby pouches or trays or pick up fresh fruit on the go. At that age the diet is still predominately milk.

Take your own tracks cot if you can as the ones they provide in the hotels only have the hard board and no proper mattress. If you can't take a full travel cot you can ask the hotel for one then buy a folding mattress from Amazon which comes in a carry case then unfolds so they have a soft base to sleep on

I'd go for an air bnb if you can. Three days is a long time in a small hotel room.

You'll want space to play and probably a separate bedroom for naps during the day so youre not all in one room disturbing her. And maybe overnight sleep, we slept in separate rooms from 6mo and I'd never go back!!

Kitchen will be good for food prep. At that age I think my son was probably just on one meal a day oand we did puree so you could prep it in pottles at home, freeze, thaw and reheat on holiday.

You can buy disposable sterilisation bags which I used when away great for putting Spoons, bottles etc in.