First time abroad with 7 month old babe - tips needed please

[janx]

We are going to S france at the end of the month and I am bound to forget something. We are flying to nice and then staying in Antibes - no car. Have you got top tips? She is bf and has one bottle a day - eats like a horse

loads of t-shirts, because she will need one all the time..in the pool, on the beach etc. big floppy hats, take more than one because they get so grotty so quickly. my friend gave me these great little bags for sterilising bottles..you just add water and then hang them up on the back of a chair or something and they take a while , but very small and light and easily packable.

what were you planning on taking?

Hi alexsmum
Those sterilising bags sound good - will look out for them. Feel like I need to take the kitchen sink. What did you do about suntan cream? is spray better than cream?

you can get microwave sterilising bags (bit easier i think) from boots. Were off on hols then with a 7 month old too. nervous about packing but am starting my list now

i think the key is to be organised and think of all possibilities when there.

Good luck

Are you staying near a big supermarket - you can get all nappies, baby jars etc from there. Suncream is on sale additionally in pharmacies - we use the Avene brand on sale in France as our dds react to chemicals in other brands. I'd take some mosquito repellent cream from Boots and buy plug in repellants for use a night if necessary (again from the supermarkets). Sudocream is always handy as is some calpol. Do you have a babysling?(I've used a babybjorn) as pavements can be really narrow for pushchairs.

we used the johnsons baby factor 60 for our babs.our boys both have eczema and that is the only one we have found that is ok for them. we had to try lots before we found that...the simple one just stung them so badly which is surprising.
but not saying that johnsons is best for eveyone..you have to find you're own brand.

sorry pressed post before i had a finished!
just wanted to say keep an eye on how much you do take....we got charged £60 excess baggage last year because we had packed so much for ds2!

Take as little as possible. Will drag you down and piss you off no end. Only essential is suncream (that stuff that is coloured when you put it on is godd-you don't miss too much) and some shade. Just take a few babygros and vests.
Travel/led loads with very small children so I have tried it all ways.
My now 9 month old is now basically having the same food and drink as us here in the far east of Turkey. No problems whatsoever!

Great advice everyone - was thinking about the excess baggage. We have a back pack for our dd, but was going to take pushchair as well - do we need to get some sort of bag for it? we have a maclaren techno which is fairly lightweight

We took our Techno XT on holiday last year and didn't need a special bag for it - just loaded in on with the rest of the luggage at check in.

Oh, and a mosquito net is good for over the travel cot. Also take sterilising bags or solution as our travel steriliser didn't fit in the supplied microwave!

Take a Totseat if your babe will sit up on her own. Fits most chairs (even camping chairs). Completely packable and utterly indispensible for travelling. See \link{http://totseat.com}.
Plastic shopping bags plus sterilizing tablets are ok (you can hang from taps) and a clothes peg is always useful.

most airlines let you take your buggy to the door of the aircraft/airbridge. This is better than handing it over at check-in because you may have a couple of hours or more in the departure lounge.When you get the buggy back at the destination airport, don't panic if it's not on the carousel - after a frenzied 20 mins at Stansted we found it with the surfboards and skis in the oversized luggage collection area!

We found "sunnies" suncream wipes invaluable as it was (and is!)the only way to properly cover dd's face with sunscreen without her wiping it into her eyes.