Taking 6 month old aboard

[username09643]

We are first time parents and looking to go on holiday with our 6 month old. We will be flying from gatwick and looking for recommendations for all inclusive baby friendly resorts with a short transfer time from the airport and any other tips for travelling with a baby please

which country/region/continent are you looking to go to? short haul or long haul flights. How many hours in flight?

With a baby you really can go anywhere, they are far more portable than toddlers. I took mine all over the place, mostly the USA where I was living then. There's a few adults only resorts but the cast majority are suitable - where do you fancy? What's your budget? Easiest option is Spain as there's a short flying time, or dispense with flying altogether and book a cruise to the med - they include all food and most offer drinks packages (we don't bother as we just pay as we go with alcohol)

Any reason you're flying ....as in would you consider UK break ?

TUI blue are geared up for young children. Look at the holiday transfer time, I think corfu is really short but for many longer places a taxi transfer is much quicker and they provide car seats. Avoid school holidays while you still can as they will be much busier and a lot more expensive.

Travelling with a small baby is very easy, get a lightweight pushchair and you can it to the airplane steps, I recommend taking a sling to put baby in when you land as you won't get your pushchair back until you get your luggage. We took a pop-up travel cot because we didn't like the idea of putting a small baby in a hotel cot that loads of other baby's had been in before (ours was four months). If your pool isn't heated you might want to consider some kind of baby wetsuit, ours refused to go in because the water was cold. A full length UV sunsuit is a good way to protect baby from the hot sun. Take some baby medicine with you incase baby gets sick so you have your Calpol etc to hand straight away and you don't have to go searching for it.

Also recommended TUI Blue. We went to Flamingo Beach in Lanzarote, can't remember the transfer time but baby slept the whole time on the coach.

@Skyeheather

Travelling with a small baby is very easy, get a lightweight pushchair and you can it to the airplane steps, I recommend taking a sling to put baby in when you land as you won't get your pushchair back until you get your luggage. We took a pop-up travel cot because we didn't like the idea of putting a small baby in a hotel cot that loads of other baby's had been in before (ours was four months). If your pool isn't heated you might want to consider some kind of baby wetsuit, ours refused to go in because the water was cold. A full length UV sunsuit is a good way to protect baby from the hot sun. Take some baby medicine with you incase baby gets sick so you have your Calpol etc to hand straight away and you don't have to go searching for it.

Also recommended TUI Blue. We went to Flamingo Beach in Lanzarote, can't remember the transfer time but baby slept the whole time on the coach.

Silly question - how do we bring a travel cot? Would we need to pay to put it in the hold? If so how much roughly please?

@GingerScallop

which country/region/continent are you looking to go to? short haul or long haul flights. How many hours in flight?

Short haul if possible as not sure what baby will be like flying 😳

when booking accommodation, ask for cot. Most resorts will have.

Short haul: Turkey. Spain, The Netherlands, Greece, Almost all of western Europe actually

It's toddlers that can be tough to travel with. Babies are generally a breeze. I traveled with mind about 5 times to two African countries (albeit places I know very well) before he reached one incl traveling alone a couple of times). Turkey was super but be prepared for fawning over baby (he was 1 yr 4 months). I didn't mind but can be intrusive and anxiety inducing in covid times. Netherlands (he was 8 months) was just ok as almost everything was clockwork but again I know the country well and had lots of "home bases". Lesson is: take it easy-dont stress, give your self time

It's easier before they can move so go for it.

You usually get two pieces of baby equipment - one is your stroller, you could take a travel cot but it's easier if you book one at the hotel/apartment. Take a sling as well as sometimes you don't get your buggy back till luggage reclaim and some airports are massive. You can get a snooze shade for a buggy which helps in sunny countries. Take spare clothes for you in your hand luggage just in case you get covered in vom/wee.

Following as ours will be 7 months when we go!
We are flying Ryanair with extra room seats and get 2 baby items in hold free of charge. Then have a 2 hour bus to destination... we are staying at family accommodation otherwise would definitely do a TUI package hol!

I'm going to buy a travel cot, maybe even second hand, as others have said hotel cot may have been used loads of times, never know whether people have been smoking etc. Other item of luggage will be our pram in a pram case.

We didn't like the idea of putting our four month old baby in a hotel cot that had been slept in by multiple kids due to the risk of SIDS and the recommendation that all newborns should have a new mattress not one that had been used by another child.

You can take a "proper" travel cot as one of the two items you can check in for free but we got a pop-up one from Amazon. It was called a Koo-di. It fit in our suitcase and only weighed 1kg. Sold it on eBay after the holiday.

We were quite happy for our two year old to sleep in a hotel cot though as the risk of SIDS drops from age one.