Just booked a city break and am panicing

[lobsters]

I'm heading to a European city with DH while he's working and DD aged 5 months and I'm starting to panic so could use some advice.

How do you sterlise bottles while travelling? We're staying at a big city centre chain hotel, so no microwave I don't think.

I'm trying to figure out how we'll get from the airport to city centre. Ideally I don't want to take the car seat, but I'm not sure how we'll travel in a taxi without it. Any ideas?

For various reasons I'll be doing the flight on my own, any words of wisdom? We're flying BA so hopefully it shouldn't be too bad. We've got a bugaboo and at the moment I use the pram, however DD doesn't seem to like it anymore so I'm thinking about using the pushchair instead. Are babies able to sleep in the pushchair when out and about? She rarely sleeps in the pram anymore so I'm not sure we're losing many benefits there.

Any other tips or things I should think about?

Sterilising - use Milton tablets. You can either get a plastic hanging bag, or pack bottles etc in a big tupperware and then use that.

Taxi - DD will be on your lap

Flight - do you have a sling ? It makes life a lot easier getting on and off the plane on your own. You can then check the pushchair in, and not have to faff around with it through security etc

Remember that you can buy the ready made formula cartons airside at the airport, so just take a sterilised bottle and buy milk there.

Take the minimum you need on the flight - apart from some extra nappies. You really don't want to be struggling with an excess of hand luggage

Take the pushchair. She'll sleep fine in it

Thanks for all that. Only issue I have with milk is that she's on prescription formula which can't be made up advance. I'm currently drafting a letter for my doc to sign to hopefully get the formula and medication through security

If she's on prescription formula then it won't be a problem at all to take it through. You just need it all labelled with the prescription stickers and it will be fine.

Can you tell I spend too much time in airport security queues ?

I'm thinking about warning everyone not to get into the security queue behind me, with the pram and liquids I'm going to be ages. Or I might just consider it revenge for those years stood behind the people with prams etc, when I just had a briefcase.

I never had a problem w pre-prepared bottles for my dd - just had to drink a little from the bottle. I always found security people v helpful and understanding (maybe i was just lucky?) Have fun

Don't spend lots of time worrying about sterilising bottles if she's 5 months already, just make sure you wash them properly each time. Definitely take a sling for the airport and check the pushchair in, which will mean you are self-contained. Going through security with infant + buggy is a REAL stress, especially if you're trying to explain what your special formula is. But you have as much right to be there as the other people, so ignore them You never know, someone might even help.

Give yourself LOADS of time for the trip so you're not panicking if there are any hitches along the way. Take snacks for yourself and make sure you take any opportunity to go to the loo as you don't know when the next one will arise.

Wouldn't bother with a car seat - taxis won't need them by law.

And DO GET TRAVEL INSURANCE. I went to Germany for 3 days with 14mo, who promptly had febrile seizures the first night so we spent the rest of the trip in hospital. Everything can cost money, eg ambulance, on-call doctor, food, everything, depending on where you are. Take a copy of your policy and have the phone number and policy number written down separately in case it gets lost.

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