Holiday tips for baby

[Ju5tAgirlstandinginfrontofaboy]

Wise parents of Mumsnet I am here hat in hand to ask for your expertise.
I am planning to take my 3 month old on holiday soon. It will be warm and we will be staying in a basic hotel room so no kitchen facilities or washer.
Tell me, what do I need / not need?
Do I take my normal pram and car seat?
Breastfeeding but want to take pump - how would I sterilise.
Do I wear breast pads in my swim wear? 😂🙈
I see sun cream is not reccomended before 6 months so what do I do there?
Do I need a tent?
Please give me all your knowledge!

Oh and can I / should I take the seat attachment for my pram or get a cheap stroller?
Not sure if he's old enough

Breast pumps just need to be washed in hot soapy water. No need to sterilise.

Seriously? Oh I've been sterilising all this time. What about the bottles? Is that the same?
Will it be ok using Spanish tap water to wash?

As long as you have a healthy baby it’s fine to just wash them.

That is the steriliser and bottles.

Take a steriliser. You can buy steriliser bags zip lock bags to just pop things in and into the microwave. There is baby suncream have a look at mineral based ones. Also give baby calpol one hour before you fly- I wish someone had told me this! We didn’t and baby cried all the way to Italy.

I don't think we will have a microwave

Take sterilising tablets.... you just need to fill sink up, pop in a tablet and your pump/bottles for 20min then air dry,

Do you really want the hassle of pumping on holiday though. Breastfeeding is so easy and in hot weather it will be very often so finding the time to pump will be few.

At 3 months I’d imagine your baby would be too young for a stroller, unless it’s one that lays fairly flat and can keep him/her in safely. If it’s going to be very hot, might not be suitable to baby carry... but you can get some that are recommended for warmer climates too.

Can you hire a car seat there? Just thinking about less hassle for you.

No advice on breast pads, luckily by 3 months I’d stopped leaking. You could perhaps look into those bamboo reusable ones? Less conspicuous IMO.

You can get newborn sun protection - I think boots might do it but I got mine from amazon (think baby). Hats with big flaps, eye shades annoyed my baby, thin legged rompers are probably best for shade and keeping cool, umbrella for pram for shade, tent if your by pool/beach, sponge mat from supermarkets for bath (stops them sliding and super easy to pack), breastfeed on take off and landing and baby will be fine, definitely take a meds supply.

I bought a cheapish stroller for dd and she loved it. She was 4 months. I had a microwave so used the steriliser bags.

I also took a travel cot. I flew with easyJet who let me check the cot and pram for free. I also had a sling - a cheap one from Amazon.

We just took a cheap pushchair, then didn't matter if it got damaged on plane. No car seat, didn't need it.

I just breastfed, take cold water sterilising tablets cause of the water.

You can't wear pads in the swimming pool, they'll soak up water

Oh sorry to answer I was thinking of taking the breast pump with me incase of blocked ducts or bleb

Do you think it's necessary to bring the baby's bassinet attachment for the pram as well as the car seat?

We took our little boy to Spain over Christmas (10 weeks old) I would highly recommend the Joie Juva travel system (only £99 at Argos) it's a travel buggy with a car seat that clips onto the pushchair. The pushchair lays flat so ok for newborns too and really handy with the car seat as we hired a car in spain. We flew with easy jet so we're able to check the pram and car seat for free.

We also used the microwave steriliser bags for bottles but steriliser tablets will work in the sink if no microwave.

Take a couple of spare outfits for baby for on the plane and spare for you too. My husband had a baby poo incident on the plane and luckily had a spare T-shirt (So glad it was him and big me! 😂)

We took a 4 month old to Greece in September (ds2 is now 6). I was breast feeding and due to the heat it felt like I was constantly feeding him! I’m not sure I’d have had anything left to leak.

I was heavier and wore a swimming costume and it probably would have been cooler when feeding (I put a larger t shirt in to cover baby and myself) if I’d worn a bikini.

Babies are very portable before they start crawling, have a wonderful time and don’t over think it. Just get swimming nappies. Spain will sell everything you need, although nappie is seem to remember were expensive.

I live in a hot country and travel back and forth a lot.

If your pump is just for emergency blocked ducts I personally found it easier just to hand express into a muslin but if not could you take a little manual or hakka?

Basically you just need to keep the baby out of the sun, so if you are going to the pool get the full suit that goes from neck to knees and little hat with a flap that covers the back of the neck. Make sure hes in the shade at hotter times of the day. Most babies here just wear a nappy and a vest.

People aren't all that fussed about big fancy prams but I've noticed the mamas and papas inbetween ones like armadillo go right back and have a good sun shade. I take my good one back and forth on the plane and they do get bashed a bit so if you want to keep it nice dont bother.

Make sure you drink so much more water when you are breastfeeding, he will probably feed a bit more to keep cool.

Sorry to jump in but I saw someone says there portable before crawling...il be going to spain soon with a crawling one year old have I made a mistake ?😂

@sh13

I'm taking my DD to Majorca in April when she will be 4.5 months and am also trying to think of everything we will need! I was thinking of a travel fold up bassinet to sleep in - anyone have experience?