First sun holiday with 6 month old - what to bring

[1andd1]

Heading on our first sun holiday for 2 weeks with 6 month old baby and curious to know what people think are absolute necessities for a small baby.

We have a few toys sorted for the plane (those spin things that fix to the window, rattles, teething rings etc) but I'm wondering how did people manage with formula? It's a 4 ish hour flight to Lanzarote and we have to take the drive to the airport and waiting around for the flight into consideration as well. Baby is on Mamia formula so unfortunately the ready made formula isn't available in this brand. We have 2 Nuby rapid cool flasks to bring with us and will have a bottle ready to go for the car journey just in case.

Also, are there any specific baby safe sunscreens anyone would recommend? I've been googling but the amount of information on ingredients is mind boggling!!

We're bringing our car seat and buggy, but the list of day to day items that we also need seems endless!! We're going for 2 weeks, have rented a 2 bed bungalow so we have a fully equipped kitchen with washing machine so can keep clothes etc to a minimum and just put on a couple of washes while there. Tossing up whether or not we'll need to bring sleep bags (what tog for mid-May, I'm thinking 1.5 tog will be needed as the temp will still drop a decent amount at night time) or just a couple of cellular blankets. We use MAM bottles so can sterilise those in the microwave over there.

Trying to keep luggage to a minimum so any tips and tricks are most welcome!

I was able to use ready made formula myself, so cant give you personal experiences ...
Most cafes airside will provide hot water so you can make a bottle. Or some may even have a bottle warmer that you could use.
For the plane and transfer, pack bottles with pre-measured amounts of formula powder, plus bottles of cooled, boiled water to make up the formula en route. The 100ml limit for liquids doesn’t apply to formula, or the water you need for making it.
I’ve always used Childs Farm kids and baby SPF 50+ water resistant suncream.

Sunsuits with uv protection and hat.

Thanks for that!

I've seen Child's Farm mentioned online so will take a look!

We've booked flexi tickets anyway in case something goes wrong so we've access to the lounge which will hopefully make the wait for the flight easier. Like everything else we'll wing it a little and hope for the best! 🤣

Why are you trying to keep luggage to a minimum? I realise it makes life easier for the actual journey but that is a very small part of the holiday.
We went just before DC1 turned 6 months and took her play mat, the Galt inflatable nest and her bouncy chair. Friends went with the 7mo and took the jumperoo! It's not as if there's anything for the baby to do on holiday so it will be doing the same as it does at home, particularly if you want a chance to sit on a sun lounger and enjoy yourself for a few minutes.
A sun tent for the beach. And buy a little paddling pool out there and then you can put that on the balcony or by the pool with a little bit of water in it.

Sunsuits that will cover the baby all over.

Water shoes.

A sunhat with a very wide brim that can be securely tied.

Sunscreen spf 50 or above. Banana Boat and any Australian brands are good. Needs to be waterproof.

Wipes to carry everywhere and a bag you can put your garbage into and carry with you until you can dump it. Otherwise you'll spend a lot of time wandering around looking for a bin.

Small plastic containers to carry little snacks for the baby if they are on solids.

First aid kit. Aloe.

A biggish backpack/ daypack to hold baby essentials when you're out and about, including a roll-up changing mat or hotel style bath mat that can be washed and dried easily.

We had access to a microwave so took the sterilising bags for bottles, took lots of formula and snacks and smaller toys to entertain, love the idea of taking a donut for them to sit in, we also got a sunshield for the buggy - it was an Australian brand and I sold it on afterwards so cost wasn't too bad and made me feel a lot happier about walking/napping outside.
Also had some really cute short all-in-ones from la redoute which were easier than separates

A buggy that folds in one piece and you can take on plane, an umbrella or sun protection for buggy. And a buggy that goes completely flat. Love the Silver Cross Clic.
Big muslin cloths to cover sleeping baby. Definitely UV suits and hats, you don’t want a sun burned baby! Swim nappies.
anti bac wipes and use on plane!

something to suck on for landing and take off - a dummy? Travel first aid kit incl teething gel and calpol. You might need it at 3am when you don’t want to be looking for the local pharmacy.

Other than a particular brand of formula, car seat and buggy I can't think of a single thing you won't be able to get at your destination if you even need it. Assume the bungalow has a cot? Suncream: I just used boots because my children weren't sensitive but Child's Farm do a good one. I'd take large muslins rather than blankets but you will probably be fine in just a vest and sleep suit. (My newborn slept in just a vest in June in the UK). As for toys, I wouldn't take too many tbh.

Snooze shade for the pram, we wouldn't be without it in late spring/summer and on holiday.

Swim nappies and full body swim costume with sun hat UV protection.

I use boots own brand baby sun cream which is highly rated and never had an issue.

Milton tablets just in case microwave stops working or you need to soak stains from clothes.

Is the villa air conditioned? We took 2 togs, one lighter and one heavier and used the heavier one as the room was 18 at night due to aircon.

Extra clothes for you on the plane (DD was sick on me on the way to Spain and I had nothing to change in to!) just something light like a T-shirt and leggings, extra something for baby also. We took 2 extra sleep suits on plane and used 1.

Pool float for baby, we got one with the sun protection canopy attached.

Fly net for the buggy and the cot overnight...

CMPA baby (12 months old) on hol last year. I took 8 tins of formula and was on the last one.

I took flasks with me. Large flask with cooled boiled water, small flask with hot water, and 5 bottles with the formula measured out so I could make a bottle quickly when I needed. Security just took the flasks to test and they were back with me very quickly . Also took 2 x 1l straw drinking bottles filled with water as travelling with a 4 year old too. No issues.

I had a sling and a prim and found the sling most useful.

Spinny toys with suckers on for the window. Little popper fiddle toy. UFO toy, which has been recalled since. Busy book, which both kids still love a year later.

calpol sachets and loads of pouches for take off. I’ve talked about how horrendous she was as a lap baby on other posts - we aren’t doing that ever again.

snoozeshade, Milton tablets.

Happy nappy and linings. Took 2 full UV swim suits but she had a little life jacket thing too so wasn’t too worried when she wouldn’t wear them. Jan & Jul large hats which were brilliant. Float thing with a sunshade on which was ok but wouldn’t bother again.

Pestects mosquito patches. Get loads. We’ve already stocked up for this year, we were very impressed. After getting eaten alive with jungle formula and noticing the kids hadn’t been bitten at all we switched to the patches too.

Also she was on antibiotics and we had a few poonamis in the run up. Spare clothes and double bagged her nappy so she was in a pull up for extra security and on top of that I put a reuseable nappy. Half way through the flight I was very very pleased I had seen that tip on here.

M&S do a 0.5 tog sleeping bag. It’s essentially a muslin sleeping bag. She had that with just a nappy on for sleeping.

Babies drink a lot more in the hot weather than they do at home so make sure you pack a lot more formula than you would usually use. I have seen several posts on Lanzarote FB pages this week from people asking where they can buy formula because their babies have drunk a lot more than usual. Remember that a lot of brands are only sold in the UK, you can't walk into a Spanish supermarket and buy SMA formula for example.

Take Calpol, baby Nurofen and Piriton Allergy Syrup. Again you cannot just walk into a supermarket in Lanzarote and buy these off the shelf, you would need to go to a Pharmacy and they are only open certain hours. Also these are UK brands so you would only get the Spanish equivalent. If your baby gets sick abroad it's a lifesaver if you have the medicine already.

Does your accommodative have air con? If so you might need a 2.5 tog sleeping bag if the air con is really good!

I'm going to have to start making a list! Thanks for all the suggestions.

The keeping luggage to a minimum was mostly aimed at myself as I'm a serial over packer!! But at the same time I don't want to waste time before the holiday packing stuff that's not needed, to unpack it when we arrive to then repack for heading home and then repeat the whole process again when we get home. We also need to be careful on the other side that everything we bring fits in our car rental!

Our accommodation has aircon and they're supplying us with a travel cot so we're bringing our buggy, car seat and sling for the baby. She's started swimming lessons so we already have a happy nappy and UV wetsuit. I can't imagine we'll have her in the pool much during the day anyway due to the sun. We're planning on getting out and about during the day because we'll have the car so will more than likely only use the pool late afternoon.

We're going to bring her play mat so she has something to lie on when we're out on the terrace, provided there's shade. My husband has roughly worked out how much formula we'll need for 2 weeks so we'll add on a bit extra to be safe - thanks for that tip and heads up on medicine. And double layering nappies!!! 🤣