Honest opinions on travelling with a baby?

[Loulai]

Hi all. I want to book a holiday for July 24 for my 30th birthday, my first baby will then be 8 months old (I’m due late October). I’d like to go somewhere special, Rome or Vienna etc for a few days but some friends have advised that travelling to a foreign city with a small baby is a logistical nightmare. I’d be happy with a week in Wales but am a bit disappointed.
Also my family live 2+ hours away so I want to get my baby used to being away from home for a few days at a time, not all the time obviously.
what we’re your experiences travelling abroad with an 8 month old? If it’s not doable it is what it is, but I don’t know if my friends are being negative or I’m just being naive? Thanks! 😊

We had lovely weekends any once a year when when all of ours were babies.

we left them with grandma.

Travelling with an 8mth old will be fine. Just make sure you have a bottle or little snacky food to give when the flight takes off and lands. Also stuff to keep the baby entertained (but without disturbing your fellow passengers!)

But do your research on your city breaks as some cities have little cobble streets which are awful for pushchairs. Not to mention some cities, because they are ancient, may not be very pushchair friendly with the public transport e.g. no lifts so carry pushchair up steps etc.

Yes you will have to take extra stuff with you, nappies, toys, travelling pushchair, bottles/food etc, which may seem daunting but for a short break away it is doable and enjoyable!

Organisation is the key!

Completely doable and far easier in many ways than with a toddler. Go for it.

I'd do the holiday at 5-6 months if you can before baby is crawling and when you haven't yet started weaning- will be cheaper outside of school holiday too! City breaks are fine- my baby loves to looks at people and traffic (he is 6m).
If you do 8m I'd get a villa or apartment (check there is a lift) with pool and garden

My baby loves churches and looking at paintings I think Italy would be great!

I recommend Florence

I’d absolutely go, but when your baby is a bit younger. There’ll be easier to manage before they’re mobile, and the weather is better. I’d go to Italy in May/June, the weather will likely be lovely, or even earlier if hot sun isn’t that important. Don’t listen to your friends, it will be different travelling with a baby, but it’s fine!

The younger they are the easier it is. I wouldn’t take a toddler for sightseeing holiday. We took our 2 month old for a holiday in Italy - it was a sightseeing holiday in Cinque Terre area (early September). We went on all inclusive with 10month old (also have ab older child) and had a private pool. It was all ok as we had a play pen to put in a shade for the baby. We would sunbath and swim while he would play and watch his older brother play.
The heat might be a consideration/issue for some but it didn’t bother us. Depending on destination - Med cities would be better prepared to deal with heat than places further north.

I used to work with a woman who's eldest had been to 8 countries before he was one. Including them driving out of Baghdad as the tanks were rolling in on the other side.

Italy is famous for loving children and Spain is similar.

Verona is nice, quite small and has both an old town and a new one, you can go to Venice by train which is not buggy / pram friendly.

I've done plenty of travelling with babies, alone and with my husband. It was fine.

It's much easier before they're moving. I'd recommend going at 6 months ish so you're only dealing with a crawler. Take a lightweight travel cot and a baby carrier and you can go anywhere. Do avoid hot places though as it's so much harder keeping them cool, unless you want to be taking a full pushchair too which is one more thing to carry - normal lightweight ones usually aren't great for cobbles and rubbish roads.

Gosh, there’s some pessimists on this thread.

Of course you can travel with a baby, it just takes a bit of adjustment.

They have babies in Europe, even in July when it’s hot. Shops sell baby things as they do here, people use prams as they do here.

We had some lovely European city breaks with our baby. We stayed in fancy hotels where they had a cot and high chair. You can enjoy sight seeing with a baby in a sling or buggy, and long lunches and dinner whilst the baby sleeps in the pram. Babies can eat in European restaurants as they would in a UK one.

I’d recommend Italy, they are very welcoming to babies. We skipped queues at attractions (they pulled us out), had check in desks opened at airports and even skipped the whole security queue at the airport. France was equally welcoming though sadly not quite as queue skipping.

If you can do a week in Wales there’s no actual difference to a week abroad apart from potentially the weather and the travel.

Hope you have a lovely birthday

We did long haul to Australia at 6 months. Sleep was the hardest part. Don’t think the baby or the toddler coped well with the jet lag and one of us had to be up a lot during the night when their natural body clocks kicked in.

Did Majorca at 9 months which was fine and for a wedding. Buggy was great for naps. Also did Spain at around 6-9 months with other child. One was all inclusive and the other self catering. Didn’t do much ‘sight seeing’ on either and mostly stayed in hotel area by the pool or shirt walks nearby.

If your child can sleep anywhere then that’s a bonus. For those people who insist on a routine where they’re put into their own bed during the day for naps etc then it would never work. You need to be relaxed about nap and bedtimes as they do nod off in a buggy in the heat. The hardest bit we found was formula as both mine had prescription milk so had to make sure we took plenty tins with us and it was quite heavy on our allowance.

I wouldn’t do a city break with a baby at that age.

however we did go to portugal for a relaxing week just before our ds turned 1 and it was stressful but basically nice. Lazy times around the paddling pool etc. And he slept (a bit) in the buggy when we went out for meals etc.

Agree is definitely easier before they’re mobile!!

I much preferred travelling with my son from the point when he could move about 😅 But then, I found the baby stage really boring.

We've done loads of city breaks with our DC - but it's not the same as pre kids! I could probably take DC2 anywhere at any time but DC1 liked to be in bed at her bedtime regardless of where we were so we've booked apartments ever since. I think some where cooler and less busy is probably ideal, get a good baby carrier and hope baby isn't crawling.

Tip for luggage - infants get pram and car seat or travel cot ( usually 2 items), free in travel allowance. You can add other items to these to save actual luggage space.
Ie car seat you usually buy car seat travel bag. There’s an empty space where baby would sit in car seat that you can add bulky baby nappies, muslin cloths, toy. If your taking own travel cot, fold baby sleeping bag and handful nappies into this.

If baby has formula. You can pre order at many airport boots and collect after security. I think you do this with prescription milk also.

Baby dummy clip things are great. Not for just dummies but toys also. Can clip to car seat, pram , sling or baby clothes on plane or around airport to reduce toys or teether being dropped. Handy on city trips as you then have a few toys on you at all times if you stop for lunch or park. Take small picnic rug and you have play space out and about.

The time of year is wrong, but city break is the right call. Some things depend on the child and also on parenting approaches. I’m mystified by the idea they won’t like being in a buggy or carrier, how else do they ever leave the house? Toddlers running around is a concept I understand, but they also don’t generally walk around, when shopping they are probably in a buggy or trolley seat and if walking they are ‘hand held only’ age - ie you don’t let them go at any point, zero negotiation

If the baby is 8 months, it will likely be crawling

@Caspianberg Oh yes definitely. The dummy clips saved us on many a trip (except for our Emilia-Romagna holiday where we forgot them and lost a dummy in Ravenna which I'm still cross about as it's the only one we ever lost 😂). We also bought carabina clips for things like our son's favourite soft toy and his white noise machine so we could attach them to the buggy.

I would go when your baby is a bit younger. It won't be as hot or crowded and babies are much more portable when they can't move. They get frustrated once they start being able to get about. I had a back carrier which my baby loved as he could see what was going on and you could stand it up so easy to put it down when you sat down for lunch. And you're not faffing with a pram which takes up a load of space in narrow streets.

If you do, I’d recommend doing some research on how baby friendly the city is.

I’ve only been to Rome and Vienna before kids, so not sure, but my friend took her baby to Amsterdam and said it was hard. She said places like the hotel didn’t have a lift, and there were hardly any baby changing facilities anywhere.

I went to Majorca with my 8 month old for a week, was absolutely fine had no problems whatsoever. This was 15 years ago and I was 22 and my husband was 25 - this was before the days of drama queen mummies on the internet so I never thought twice about it x

anything is doable if you want to but if it’s enjoyable that’s the difference

personally wouldn’t go anywhere with a baby in July May or sept would be your best bet weather wise

i think Rome and Vienna are very site seeing you wouldn’t get the best experience with an 8 month a beach holiday like majorca would be just as magical

Make the most of cheap flights! It's lovely travelling with a baby, you end up finding parks and things out of necessity which end up being some of the loveliest things. Italy is very baby friendly in terms of eating out and general tolerance. Maybe September so less hot and cheaper flights?