What age did you take your baby on first holiday?

[LouB1990xX]

Where did you go?
Would love to go Jamaica in January but DC will be 7 months I think it might be too hot & too far to travel

Thank you

We took DS2 to South Africa in Feb at 5 months. He coped fine.

We took DD to Morocco at 11months. She had a ball!

We took DC1 to Canada at that age. It's a good age to travel IMO as they generally stay where you put them ( unlike an older baby who wants to spend the entire flight walking up and down the aeroplane --I'm looking at you, DC2).

We did Canaries at 6 months- would have ideally gone sooner but DD was a total nightmare baby and we could barely function before then. We went there as it was around 20 degrees, I think much hotter would have been a bit tough with a baby.
We waited until 18 months to go long haul to somewhere properly hot and it was easier to keep them cool and entertained then.

4 months for Dc 1 and for the next anyway between 6-8 weeks depending when they arrive!

Dc1 5 months - France (but visited family involving a flight at 3 months).

Dc2 I honestly can't remember exactly - visited family involving a flight at a few months, 3 or 4 months old, holiday was probably 7 or 8 months, definitely crawling, Croatia.

Dc3 4 weeks, Italy.

I cba with leaving Europe any more though, I travelled loads in Asia in my late trans and 20s but am happy with the multitude of possibilities Europe has to offer these days. Leaving some of the world for the kids to discover for themselves in their late teens and 20s like I did

Teens not trans

Dd 15 weeks to Lanzorotte with ds who was just 2. Absolutely no bother. Was hot but not scorching and we had a ground floor apartment right next to the pool so she slept a lot indoors while sat on patio.
Lovely holiday

17 months. Biggest mistake and waste of money ever!

NYC at 9m old - was brilliant, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat

6 months to New York!

Travelled several times (twice long haul) in our daughters first year. No problem at all - better than when she got older as she just happily came along to whatever we wanted to do without her own opinions! She was never bothered by the heat but some babies are so that's harder to predict.

7 weeks to a villa in Menorca. Totally fine.

UK holiday 6 weeks, Menorca aged twelve weeks. Both ok, certainly easier than when they were toddlers anyway.

My friend just took her son to Florida at 11 weeks.

I am doing Norfolk at 21 weeks old with my son... it’s all personal choice and how your baby is x x

DS was 3 and we went to Menorca. He asked to come home every day

We went on UK holidays before that though.

These threads always make me feel so useless because we went on a holiday in the UK when DS was six months and it was so unbearably shit - all the same work without all our stuff from home (even though we seemed to have carted a small mountain of stuff with us), he cried throughout the drive there and then he barely slept and we were all completely miserable and desperate to get home - that I don't really want to take him on holiday again until he's about 18! Reading how amazingly easy it is to holiday with a non-mobile baby makes me feel seriously incompetent!

Holidays with babies and toddlers can be excellent, bit you have to be realistic.

We liked Eurocamp type (not necessarily actually Eurocamp) medium sized European camp sites with child friendly pools and on site restaurant and shop, self catering accommodation including terrace (not always a static caravan, many sites have bungalows). Those were very chilled options with toddlers and very friendly - kids always found playmates which was really important to them when they were little, and there was always a shallow kids pool beach style gradual slope plus a bigger pool or several pools, but canal boat with a non mobile baby was surprisingly good, and self catering by the beach in Croatia also worked well with baby and toddler.

We've had a lot of European holidays with preschool children, babies and toddlers. Youth hostels are also surprisingly good.

The worst option is a hotel, unless you have interconnecting rooms, and even then hotels are a bit shit with young children.

Wouldn't do long haul. Why bother? There are so many possibilities within 2 hours flight.

We went to Spain when dc1 was 3 months and the canaries when dc2 was 8 weeks.

We went to Mexico with dd1 at 10 months and Cuba with dc2 at 6 months. Both holidays were fab but Cuba was easier as dc2 wasn't moving yet. At 10 months dd crawled up and down the plane and around the resort investigating everything constantly. I would say 7 months would be ideal if dc not yet crawling.

We had a sun sense tent which was great for keeping the, out of the sun and to nap in. Used a full uv suit for the day in the pool. Had no problems with food.

UK holiday at 4 months, European city at 9 months.

Ten weeks old. It meant an overnight ferry and DD was a dream.

However the moment she hit 12 months she became an “enemy of travel” and I stand by anyone flying with a kid between 12months and 4 years old getting a free pass for the drinks trolley on all flights universally.