Holiday abroad with our 7 month old...

[Rose138]

Hello everyone,

We are going to turkey next month, staying in a villa. My sister, her husband, my mum and dad, myself my husband and our 7 month old son.

Initially I wasn't sure if he would be too young but decided to go as it'll be lovely for us as a family, I'm a teacher so when I go back to work our holidays will be in school holidays- more expensive!

I've got over my concerns of the plane and the heat as i know my husband is right that if our son cries on the plane then he does and if people are grumpy about that then that's up to them! And we have fans, cool spray, high sun cream, a tent and good shade for buggy.

So now the only thing I'm really concerned about is the water!!! We are weaning our son but we will still have to do bottles (morning, mid afternoon and night milk and of course water for him during the day) do I need to boil bottled water-will that be safe for him? I read something about being careful with bottled water for babies (due to something in it-can't remember what) The same when cooking vegs for him?

I know I sound like a real worrier but just want to be prepared and wouldn't want our son to get poorly from our silly mistakes!

Thank you in advance.xxx

If he's only having a small amount of milk a day why not take ready made formula if you're worried?

It's the sodium content in bottled water that you have to be careful about. But I think it varies between brands. I don't think bouling bottled water would make any difference to the sodium.
I think some bottled water is just filtered tap water rather than mineral water- there was that big scandal about Coke selling 'dasani' which is essentially tap water in a bottle. in this case that might be exactly what you want!

I haven't been to Turkey but have been taking my kids away since they were babies and I've always formula fed. I use bottled water to boil for the bottles. I know in Spain there is a baby symbol, sort of like the ones you see on baby changing rooms on the back of bottles of water that have low sodium.

The NHS website will give you the max sodium content allowed. I just took a screenshot on my mobile for when we went away to compare against bottles. When we went to Cyprus there was a specific section in the supermarkets for baby water which had low sodium

We took ready mades too they were fab for being out and about and the plane

We used bottled water, not mineral water obviously due to sodium, for formula.

Thank you all so much! All of your comments are really helpful.

As many of you have taken babies abroad are there any medicines you would advice we take for him just in case? I'll take teething gel and calpol- as he's having a really hard time with teething at the moment. I didn't know if there was anything else you would recommend we take along?

Thank you! Xxx

I took Calpol, teething gel and Piriton (there's an under 1 syrup). I also took some Calpol sachets in my hand luggage.

Agree with pre made cartons of formula. So easy.
From bitter experience a thermometer is also useful just in case.
Enjoy. Babies are very easy to travel with.

Yep, just take some cartons - so much easier! We take (in our go-to holiday kit) individual sachets of calpol, a syringe to dispense, teething powers and bonjela, and diarolyte.

Enjoy, it's easy before they're too mobile!

Depending on which airport you're flying from, you can usually phone the Boots (or other chemist!) a week or so before you go, and order as much ready made formula as you want - that way it won't weigh your suitcase down and use up all of your baggage allowance.

Such helpful advice-thank you all! Xxx