Spain holiday with a 1 year old

[Peonypizza]

So assuming Boris lets us go in October (!) we'll be taking our then 1 year old to an all inclusive resort in Spain. We also have a 15 year old who we are guardians for, and his cousin coming along for company.

Just wondering what everyone else does on holiday? I'm a stickler for routine, baby knows what time to expect everything, feeds, naps etc. But does that all go out of the window on holiday? I know we'll have to split up as a couple and group at times when she needs to go for naps, but what about evening meals for example? I've looked and some of the nicer restaurants on site don't item until 8. Would you take her in the pram with you (asleep)? Or take turns as a couple eating out with one staying at the cabin?!

*open, not item 😂

We took a 10 month old to California. Most routine went out the window really. She slept in her pram if we weren’t back at the hotel by bedtime.

Just let her sleep in the pushchair

sleep in pushchair or just a later bedtime if still awake. It will be miserable eating separately every night. We always took ours with us and they were generally ok. If they were particularly grouchy we'd head back early and have a drink on the balcony.

I've never understood friends going abroad and then sitting in every night due to bedtime routines, might as well stay at home.

Ah that's really helpful, thank you! I'll have to push my ocd aside for the week and see how we get on 😂.

I started taking my ds to Spain from 8 months old. At first I tried to keep a routine but after a few days it seemed like a lot of messing around. Your on holiday and wanna enjoy later evenings and not having to work around a routine all the time. I decided it was easier just to get him back into a routine when we got back and let it go out of the window for the week or 2 I'm away. With regards to restaurant times. I found it easier just to pick up some bread, cheese etc and make sandwiches for him in the room b4 I bathed him to go out. That way it didn't matter if he was asleep when we got our meal as we ate later, if he was awake I'd just give him a bit of something off our plates. In the day we would have a cooked meal anyway and if he was asleep then too I'd just pick up a banana or something from a supermarket. Like others have said a baby will sleep in a pushchair too if you wanna go out and enjoy yourself.

Depends on the child I think. We tried to push the routine out the window with ds1 (9mo at the time)- no chance. He made our lives hell until we re-instituted normal bedtimes/mealtimes. DS2 has always been more inclined to go with the flow, so napping/sleeping in pushchair/in arms at the table was fine for him.

This is why I don't think holidays with under 3s are actually holidays - same shit, more inconvenient location.

Some good tips there, thank you! Did you find your LO's got back into their routine OK when you got home?

Ha ha ha noted 😅😅. She's a pretty decent sleeper so I'm always really over cautious I think in case I break her! Will see how it goes...

We took DTs for France when they were just turning 1, it was a fucking nightmare tbh. They could not handle being out of a routine AT ALL so we were putting them to bed at 7. We have a mobile home so at least we could sit out on the deck after they were in bed. They were never ever the type of kids who could stay up later but then sleep in a bit, or nap in a buggy while we had a meal.

Totally agree with @squishmittens - same shit different location.

We prefer to self cater. Then we used to go earlier for food so we could be back not too late for bedtime. (We would take a buggy in case but normally they didn't sleep until home). Oh and I were happy to sit, have a drink, read a book in the evenings. So we pushed normal routine a little but not loads. Each ti their own. We had lots of fun during the day and made the most of the days so didn't feel we missed out by having earlyish nights.

I think it completely depends on the day and what you want to do. I took my then 8 month old to Spain (not a resort though) and we generally went by Spanish time. Up and out early ish, back to the flat for a bit of a siesta/quiet time/shade in the afternoon, and then often would go out for dinner around 7-8. In Spain (many less so in resort areas), it's very normal for children to be out to dinner at 10-11pm. We just got extra naps and slept a bit later in the morning if possible. I didn't necessarily do that every day, as some days you're tired and you just want to rest and have a quiet night. I would aim to eat out most nights, but alternate off who goes back to put the baby to bed and who stays with the older kids, and also maybe plan some baby-free nights for them too.

@squishmittens

Depends on the child I think. We tried to push the routine out the window with ds1 (9mo at the time)- no chance. He made our lives hell until we re-instituted normal bedtimes/mealtimes. DS2 has always been more inclined to go with the flow, so napping/sleeping in pushchair/in arms at the table was fine for him.

This is why I don't think holidays with under 3s are actually holidays - same shit, more inconvenient location.

Quite. I am not going on holiday with my LO until he's at least 3 or 4 because of this and also trying to keep then in shade etc it all just sound alike a massive faff!

All out the window

Your best bet is to let your baby nap in the pushchair in the evening so you can go out.

Remember they are an hour ahead to start with so use that to your advantage too.

Everyone is different but I don't go on holiday to sit in a hotel room all evening. I have lovely photos of my two asleep in their double buggy as little ones, once memorably in a jazz club, and yes it was quite loud!

I travelled extensively with mine, it's far easier than dealing with school holidays and them having an opinion! Backpacking around Alaska to 3000 mile road trips, kids are only as rigid as you allow them to be. Have fun!

We took my LO at 8 months! And tbh it was a breeze!

Napped in buggy in day - I recommend a snooze shade!
Also napped in buggy on night time so we were able to still go out and about!

Bottle and food wise were fine, he ate before we went for lunch dinner etc but we always offered him a little something whilst we ate, breadsticks yoghurts etc.

We ordered everything from boots at airport and picked up there to save taking over the cases so, nappies, wipes, creams, food, snacks, milk.

We also bought a little rubber boat, dingy, filled it with pool water and put toys in for times he didn’t want to be in the actual pool. He loved it.

Routine wasn’t kept we were relaxed about it and he slotted straight back into once we got home.

Plenty snacks and distractions for flights.

This is all about the parent and not about the child.

So it's up to you. Kids adapt to whatever they need to, if you make their routines so rigid then they will be. We've taken ours all over the world from being little babies and it's great.

It might take a little bit of time to adjust back to their routine again when home but it will be worth it to enjoy your holiday and not worry. my ds is 5 now and I don't really care what his routine was when he was 1. We remember the good times we had on holiday not what the routine was at the time. A siesta in the evening before you head back out is a good idea. We would come back in about 5pm ish and give him a a sandwich, bath him/ a little sleep b4 we head back out around 8 ish. He would sleep in his push chair. Even in the day he would fall asleep when were walking round. As for the heat parasol, fan attached to buggy, head to toe uv suit and hat and plenty of sun cream. My ds loved the pool so that kept him cool.

Oh I love the boots tip! Thank you!!

Thanks everyone for your input, really helpful 😊