Traveling to hot country at 6 months

[Bellyrub1980]

My baby is 2 months old and, so far, has only ever known very cold drizzly weather and being wrapped up all cosy and warm.

In 4 months we're going abroad to a part of Spain where the temp can go up to 38/39 at that time of year. How well do babies cope in these kinds of temperatures?

Any hints or tips to help us out?? She's exclusively breast fed at the moment but I guess will be weaned onto solids by 6 months.

Just be sensible and she'll cope fine. I would say the biggest leap is for you, to go from wrapping them up constantly - it's very odd to then switch to putting as little on them as possible.

In the shade / indoors 11am-3pm at minimum, let her BF as much as she wants to (or if you've stopped by then, offer water as well as milk). Put her in the coolest part of the house to sleep, with a fan, probably fully stripped off (i.e. just a nappy). I don't remember when I first gave DD these, but kids' yoghurts that come in tubes make excellent popsicles, just chuck them in the freezer. (She won't be eating that much at 6mo though, assuming you start at the recommended 24 weeks. It takes them a while to work solids out. But she might suck on one.) What else? tepid baths before bed, and talc after is lovely on their skin. Sit her in a wee paddling pool to play. And be prepared for her sleep to be disrupted if nights are hot.

Will there be air con? It's best to try and do things in the morning then be inside in the afternoon the out again in the early evening.

Make sure she has a wide brimmed hat and drinks more than usual.

My kid's first few months were in 40 degree heat and routinely does hot weather. It's totally manageable

Keep then in the shade, offer them water/breast/whatever they're drinking really regularly, try and hang out in air conditioning, drink loads if your breast feeding, dress them in vests/not very much if you're out in the sun, dress them appropriately if you're in air conditioning (it might be 30 outside at night, but my kid still wears pyjamas and a thin sleeping bag to bed if the a/c is running).

Ice lollies are a good way of getting fluids into babies, as are things like watermelon if they're on solids (you could get one of this mesh bags for them to munch through).

My LO was fine went we went to Caribbean at 6 months. Flight was fine, no aircon, he coped fine. Lots of breastfeeds to keep him hydrated. He had started on solids but, understandably had no appetite for food in the heat. He wore just a nappy, or a vest. Cool baths in paddling pool helped.

He was a winter baby, and coped much better than I did (he also slept really well)

I live in the Caribbean and have had both kids here. Babies adjust so quickly anyway so you won't have any problems. Just let them sleep in a pamper and vest if there isn't air con. We have air con at 80oF at night and DS2 (9 months) has a sleeper suit, DS1 in shorts and t-shirt.

Just keep them in the shade if you're out by the pool or at the beach and keep a hat on (better luck to you, neither of my boys tolerate a hat so I'm glad they have loads of hair!)

I found it harder travelling back to the UK in early December, all those layers pissed DS2 off no end! Not to mention the reindeer hat I put him in and the socks. Good GOd the socks. He yelled at his feet beligerently until I distracted him with Christmas tat...

Much easier in hot weather!

I must admit, I'm looking forward to 2 weeks of no hat/mittens/socks! Plus, clothes dry in about 15 minutes out there.

I'm a bit worried about over hydrating her. At the moment she Breast feeds on demand, I really have no idea how many ounces a baby of her age needs. Will she regulate water intake herself??

If she is BF on demand, and you don't restrict her access to the breast, and she continues to feed well and seems well in herself, then you need not worry. Either about her taking in too much BM (not possible) or about her thirst, which will be satisfied by her feeding. If she becomes listless or lethargic at the breast or is feeding less than usual, that would be a cause for concern. If for any reason she is formula fed at that point, then you'll need to encourage her to drink water too, either from a bottle or a cup.

And yes, keep yourself hydrated, drink a LOT, especially if BF.

What she said ^^ - I found myself thirsty all the time when I was nursing but that was probably due to nursing than staying hydrated in the Heat. But when I took them to the beach very early on (2-3weeks) I would drink gallons of water tho, to combat any dehydration. You're more likely to dehydrate than baby if baby is nursing well.
Have fun, flying will be easy at 6 months!

I found my 6 month old slept brilliantly when we went to the Caribbean on holiday! The heat made her sleepy and it was the first time she ever napped properly during the day. Night time was fine too, but we had aircon in the bedroom. No pool at our place, but we had a little paddling pool. To be honest we hardly used it - we just sat in the shade to keep cool. We were just starting to wean DD and she loved all the fresh fruit and fish.
The only thing I disliked was the faff of trying to keep the Mosquitos at bay. And applying sun cream constantly.