Spain with 8 month old - advice/tips appreciated

[BirdyBedtime]

Looking for some advice and tips about going to Spain with a baby. In February after a dreadful 3 weeks when DS (under 1 month) was in hospital with meningitis we thought it would be a good idea to book a holiday (in September) as something to look forward to. Fast forward to June and now I'm wondering what on earth we were thinking. We didn't take DD (now 4) on holiday abroad until she was 18 months so past the formula stage and pretty easy to entertain. Has anyone taken a DC of this age to Spain and if so what did you do about formula? He is on SMA gold and will still be having quite a bit of milk at that stage so it would be quite heavy to take a tin, but I don't know if we'll be able to get it out there. Also what kinds of things did your DC eat when you were out in restaurants, and what types of toys etc did you take to keep him entertained when you were there? We are going to a self catering villa so plenty of space. Hope someone can relate a good experience as I'm almost dreading it in a way.

hi, we have taken dd to mallorca from the age of about 6 months, you will be fine.

what part of spain are you going to, some area will have 'english shops' that sell sma, but tbh i have always just taken it wilth us in the suitcase. dd is 4 now so milk not a problem anymore but i used to take a tin in the suitcase, then theday before travelling i used to phone boots airside and get them to keep me 10 cartons of the ready made milk, enough to keep you going on the flight and usually to last until the next day when you've sorted yourself out abit. i used to take the microwave sterilising bags that you get from mothercare for the bottles.

toy wise i cant remember what she played with when she was that young but i know we took loads!

you will find that most restaurants in spain are used to people having kids with them and will usually knock up an omlette or something if there is nothing the kids will eat

Thanks Nancy - good idea about phoning Boots to make sure they have cartons as I wasn't sure whether you'd be able to take these through security as they are over 100mls. Another thought - is it OK to use the water (boiled obviously) for making up formula?

personally i didnt use the tap water, we bought bottled water and boiled that.
they do let you take the cartons through but more often than not they make you open and taste then (uurgh)which means that baby has to drink them within a couple of hours, much easier to get them the other side.

we go to spain a lot, went when DD1 was 8 months old, it was great.

most of the formula in spain is nestle, so i would bring tubs of your own.
i used the tap water boiled in kettle.
nappies are easy to get - Huggies and Dodot (Pampers)

food wise, she ate a lot of mashed banana, mashed avocado, jacket potato. i made up a bolognaise when i got there and froze it in tubs. the spanish are very amenable in restaurants, just ask them to grill you a piece of plain chicken, some plain broccoli, piece of potato etc..

this was always a good toy for restaurants as it sticks to the table fascination station and get one of those inflatable boosters too.