Holiday abroad and 8 month old

[MCMP13]

Hi. Just booked our first holiday as a family and just wondering if anyone has any recommendations of what we should take that are useful for plane journey, round the pool and just to make our life a bit easier. The plane journey is 2 hours and we are going in May to Spain.

We are going all inclusive, what food would baby be allowed from the buffet or should I take my own for him? I haven’t started weaning yet so not sure about food or anything

Also if he has cereal what milk do I use ? He is currently breastfed.

Any advice appreciated x

Buy anything you need for baby at boots online to collect once your through security! Saves room in case and doesn't count as hand luggage.
So, sun creams, nappies, wash, Calpol, sudocream. I also ordered snacks like the melty sticks.

Snooze shade - best thing I bought for holiday

Plenty of vests/rompers for through the day

Hats with neck shade

Buy a inflatable dingy/boat when there. We used to fill it with pool water and let him splash under the umbrella few times a day to keep out of the hottest sun times.

Plane - few change of clothes, for you both. iPad, toys, books, plenty of dummies if used.

Is there a reason you haven't weaned yet?

That’s really helpful thank you, especially the boots thing !

He is 5 month tomorrow but still not showing interest in food so will most likely be closer to 6 month when we start

Expressed breast milk or formula are ok with cereal

We're taking baby to Spain in march I hope

Ah god that's my bad maths 😂

So my son was 8 months also when we first went away.
I did take some pouches, the fruit ones and some meals.
Breakfast, I'd give him cereal in the room then he'd have some toast and something else whilst we ate.
Lunch and dinner and I did put something on a small plate for him aswell if he wanted it but he had ate prior.
I stayed away from things that were quite oily.

We did take couple of plastic boxes to put some fruit in for him from breakfast, lunch etc for him to snack on round the pool.

Regarding drinking water, buy bottles for the room once there. It has to be low in sodium or sulphate, maybe both. But every shop has them.

Don't worry about routine, sleep wise etc it goes out the window. But my son slotted straight back in once home

As per PP...you can take anything from the buffet what you think will be suitable to eat as baby should be on some solids by then. You can use expressed milk for cereal assuming there will be a fridge in the room. Or you could make up formula. I was still breast feeding at the stage but DC were already on breast and bottle at 8 months.
Also...book aisle seats so that you can walk the baby in the aisle if it gets unsettled.
Rookie error on our first flight when they put a fat bloke at the end and he obviously wouldn't swap seats.

The UHT milk at the buffet is fine for cereal.

We went when my son was 7 months. I'd say:

• Snooze shade is brilliant for the pram

• Plenty of small non-noisy toys for the plane

• Pram fan was useful

• I preferred the swim outfits with a long sleeved uv top so he was protected from the sun in the pool

• Pool float that they sit in was handy so you don't have to hold them in your arms the whole time in the water.

• Food wise we just gave him stuff from the buffet eg fruit, veg, toast etc.

• It can be a bit of a wait getting through security after the flight before you get your buggy back from the luggage carousel. It's worth thinking whether you want to take a sling/baby carrier for that bit or just carry baby in your arms.

Have a lovely time! ☀️

I'm just here to follow - wondering the same with a 5 month old!

Ours was 11 months when we first went. For the plane he just footered with things, had the suction fidget spinners and looked at our phones. He slept for 40 mins too which was great. I took one sachets of calpol too incase his ears hurt during the flight.
we took some pouches with us for when our time to eat didn't match his. Then he would just pick at the buffet.
we took load of sun suits and like pp we bought the long sleeved long legged ones so he was completely covered. Tbh everyone said ohhh he will sleep more because of the heat but he absolutely didn't.
he wouldn't nap in the pram so one of us had to go back to the room for his daily nap🙈
i wasn't a fan of collecting the stuff at boots as it ment you had to carry it through the airport and at the other end. We just paid for extra luggage and took what we needed.
we bought a sun shade from Aldi which was useful for when out and about when his pram hood didn't quite extend far enough. We also had a snooze shade for over the pram which do work fantastically well-but like i said he wouldn't nap in the pram🙈
take a basic first aid kit- we all caught covid when we were abroad and I was glad I had calpol to treat his temp.

This is very useful thank you

The room has a travel cot, would you take your own sheets and if so what size ?

We bought a cheaper fold up buggy as that meant we could take it to the gate and use it through the airports. I kept DC on U.K. time so they got up later (bliss!) and had supper at adult friendly times. Agree that you need a change of clothing too…if they’re sick on you …

And hope that they aren’t crawling yet! DS1 flew transatlantic at 8 months to a family wedding and was charming because he wasn’t on the move yet so didn’t mind being confined!

I hope he isn’t crawling haha! Did people buy travel strollers for holiday or take their own x

Hi, similar to previous posters:
Took pouches and baby porridge to last the week as was weaning at the time, then DS had toast/ fruit/ yoghurt from the breakfast buffet and some of what we had for lunch too.

Evian water is low sodium and fine to use when you’re in Spain for the baby. We hired a microwave while away (hotel stay) which meant we could sterilise his bottles / dummies.

hotel provided travel cot - I took 2 normal cot sheets with us. Also paid for the luggage we needed and took nappies / wipes too as didn’t want to use a different brand/ spend the morning looking for them.

Snooze shade. Bought a silver cross jet stroller as can take this on the plane into the cabin (good for city travel (London) too)

Calpol in sachets in hand luggage plus any formula made up that you need or powder. If bottles you can take as much as needed plus sterilised water through security.

Toys/ books/ snacks/ spare clothes/ muslins for the flight plus baby plate/ cup etc for meal times.

sounds a lot but ensured we had all we needed!! Have a great holiday!

Unfortunately when you have to have baby/toddler on your lap on plane, you need to sit in aisle seat. I just got my 1 year old asleep and food trolley came along and crew member banged into me and woke my son up. He wasn’t happy, neither was I. We also took a cheap umbrella folding pushchair, where we took it straight through to plane.

Just on the point re: click and collect at Boots at the airport, you can do that but it does count towards your hand luggage allowance. My friend made this mistake with Ryanair and got charged for an extra hand luggage bag at the gate. May be different with other airlines. When we went, we took an empty cabin case with us to put our order into.

@NCcantthinkofanewone that is absolutely genius!

OP I'm going away in March with my then 16 month old. Someone told me that one of you should board the plane and get everything ready and the other parent stays outside tiring the baby out then boards at the end.

A new toy every 20 mins. I'm dreading it tbh, it's an 8 hour flight and she dosent sit still- planning lots of Tv and snacks as she usually does chill then!

And check out where the nearest shops are to where you are staying, you'll be able to get baby food if you need it. For a short period of still being breastfed you will be able to wing it I suspect just from the buffet

Baby and buffet - just avoid salty foods.

We had a great time when ours were weaning at AI buffets because you can try so many things

Ours were 9 months when we went and we didn't take any baby food - they just ate what we did.

Tip - disposable bibs are brill.

And take a reclining buggy with sunshade, plus a blanket for the evening, mine snooze d happily through full rock bands at that age

And so is cows milk but much easier.

It must differ as we went with TUI and weren't even questioned on it.

@NCcantthinkofanewone That's good to know - I'm travelling with Tui in May and DD will be 4 months and I wasn't sure what to do about her formula, so that makes me feel a bit better.

8 months was the age we first went. We were in Malta. DS was breastfed so having some of that, a few pouches we brought with us and lots of bits and pieces. Any milk is fine in cereal, doesn't need to be breast or formula. He had porridge every morning. And we bought some plain rice cakes in a shop there

It was prime age for him trying absolutely everything. We were so delighted he was eating aubergine stew and broad bean dip. Didn't last!

Was also his first taste of ice cream.

Thank you, I’ve added all to my list !

I’ve got milton for sterilising but the room has a microwave so might just take his usual steriliser.

if I’m sterilising with milton or in the microwave, do I use tap water? Or bottled? Or do I boil it first then use it x

Are you planning on switching to formula? If not you don't need any steriliser. You don't need it for any weaning stuff.