routine while on holiday

[Racheyg]

Evening all,
Off in our holidays in 6 weeks and I'm just thinking about routines for ds2. He will be 1 weeks shy of his 1st birthday and is bf apart from 1 bottle before bed at 18.45.

Do I carry on with his routine? Or shall I relax and just fed ds2 when he wants? He still breast feeds about 6 times through out the day. (Apart from when I'm at work and he has ebm)

I always find that relaxing about routine and going with flow makes for happier holidays for all. Others will disagree, but I think it depends on your/your child's temperament. We are generally relaxed and flexible about routine anyway so we let DS sleep when he wants and eat when he wants really. He's almost 2 now so a bit older but same applies really. Not sure what your holiday set up is but we always have self catering eurocamp holidays or rent apartments for skiing hols which makes the whole thing much easier that having set mealtimes at a hotel imo. Fwiw DS has never been the best sleeper but generally goes to bed late and sleeps well and gives us a lie in on holiday. Good all round really.

I agree, it can be stressful trying to stick to a routine. Go with the flow regarding feeding and sleeping.

When DS was that age he tended to get tired and nap around 3pm. Perfect for DH and I to relax on the balcony with a couple of beers

He's 9 now and we joke that it'll be him telling us it's time for a nap soon.

First holiday I took DTs on we kept to routine. Religiously. It was a stressy nightmare for all of us.

Now we don't bother and just go with the flow which admittedly I struggle with but it makes it slightly more relaxing!

Thanks all. I was thinking of going with the flow also. We are all inclusive apartments in Costa del sol, so we have our own kitchen.

X

When I holidayed with mine when he was smaller I did try to still stick to the basics like keeping naps and bedtime in approximately the same times.

I was relaxed to a point but my son would have been grumpy if he was hungry and overtired from totally losing his routine.

And you have to think about what they're like when you get home if you go totally off piste.

Sleeping at about the right times - give or take an hour if your dc can stay up. Food/bf - I only ever bf dd on demand so would just do that

A loose structure has worked best for us too. We did a four day festival and a weeks camping last summer when DD was just over one. We found she 'lasted' better with all the new stuff going on around her so wasn't ready for sleeps at quite the same time, but was pooped by the time she went to bed which had the added benefit of her lying in a bit in the morning. She was very happy to be flexible with meal times provided there were enough snacks in between, and at the festival she really enjoyed grazing from all our friend's meals throughout the day (we all bought stuff at different times as we were hungry). We found she settled back to reality once home fairly quickly too.