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Parenting

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Original poster

Holiday with a 4 month old

7 replies

waffles1 · 20/09/2011 09:04

We're taking our 4 month old to france next week for a week's holiday. We'll be flying there and i'm a bit nervous about the flight especially as our little one has a cold so can imagine flying may not be too pleasant for him. Anyone have any tips for the flight?
Also, we have just got him into a great bedtime routine and now he is always asleep by 7.30pm but how does this work when you're on holiday as we would like to go out in the evenings for a bit but by 7pm little man is very grumpy and tired!!
Any tips for how to make the holiday the relaxing break we had envisaged would be fab!

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AKMD · 20/09/2011 09:18

For the flight, make sure he is feeding at take-off and landing so that the sucking equalizes the pressure in his ears. For the evenings, will he sleep in a your pram? If so, put him to bed in that and take him out with you. It's well worth taking your main pram just for that purpose :)

4 months is a great time to be going on holiday; I'm sure it will be fab!

amyboo · 20/09/2011 09:23

For the flight, I've always found that giving DS his dummy at take off/landing helps him settle and sucking is supposed to stop the ear popping problem. We've flown 5 or 6 times with DS and never had problems. Other friends of mine have given their babies a bottle at take off/landing for the same reason, and that worked quite well.

As regards the going out in the evenings, as your DS is still quite young, I'd personally try doing your usual routine but then settling him in his pushchair rather than in his cot. He may then still fall asleep as normal. This worked a couple of times for us with DS, although often he ended up being so fascinated by the restaurant/people that he'd stay awake later than he usually could manage and then pass out on the way home! When we're away now (DS is now 18 months) we either go out for lunch and then just grab something small a bit earlier for dinner (so that DS goes to bed near-ish to normal time), or just go out for an earlish dinner (around 6.30pm) and feed DS bits of our food to keep him entertained!

Original poster

waffles1 · 20/09/2011 10:44

Thanks AKMD & amyboo, will make sure we have his dummy at the ready for take off and landing which i'm sure will work as he loves his dummy!
Will most certainly try to settle him in his pushchair as it does lie flat so hopefully we'll be able to have a meal out a few nights but it does sound like a good idea to have lunch out and then settle him to bed at a normal time a couple of nights. Here's to a fab holiday!!

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PipPipPip · 20/09/2011 13:30

Just flew to UK-Australia with a 5-month old. It was so nervous but it was fine!

My main tip is to be very smiley/friendly with the airline staff and appreciative of their help. I'm sure they'll go out of their way to help you.

sittinginthesun · 20/09/2011 14:39

I took both of mine on holiday at 4 months, and it was fine (even though DS2 developed chicken pox whilst we were away!).

Like the others said - sucking on take off and landing, and don't worry too much about bedtimes. We have done both options over the years, either lunch out and early night, or dinner out and baby sleeps in pram. Both work fine at that age.

Only tip I have for the flight, is change of nappy before takeoff. I once forgot with DS1, and he leaked all over me on the flight. I was soaked through with wee...

Svrider · 22/09/2011 21:48

Are you weaning him at all yet ? If so , take plenty of his usual weaning food, as you might not be able to get his usual food in France. When we went to Spain we took a siesta , this kept my boy out of the sun at the hottest part of the day. We then had later bedtimes, allowing it it to cool down before bed. I gave the children a bath before bed every nite ( sand n nappies don't mix! )
Also take twice as many nappies as you normally need, coz they mite be stupidly expensive. Have a great time

shebird · 24/09/2011 20:24

All of the above plus aisle seat to make it easier to get out to the loo to do a nappy change or have a walk about if you need to. Try to keep your essential baby bits under the seat in front of you rather than in the overhead bin and include a favorite rattle or toy - there's nothing worse than being stuck with a screaming babywhile you wait for that light to go out. Enjoy :)

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