Travelling abroad with a newborn

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We will be going abroad with our son at 9 weeks old. Can anyone share any advice about travelling with the pram and feeding abroad please?

He will be too small for a stroller so we would need to take our pram. Do we take the car seat and the bassinet? He is formula fed, will it be easier to take a mix of formula and pre made? In terms of sterilising, we was considering taking a tub and Milton tablets.

Thanks in advance for any guidance. Very anxious first time mum!

I breastfed so can't advise on the formula aspect.

Otherwise, definitely take a sling for the time between giving your pram up at the gate and collecting it after arrival.

If you're not hiring a car then I don't think you'll need the car seat. Bassinet a must for lie flat naps.

Will he already have had vaccinations by then? That was important to me before our first trip abroad, despite the immunity via breastmilk.

Aw should be a good age to go abroad, baby will sleep a lot during the day so you'll get to actually enjoy the holiday 😊
Car seat- depends what type of holiday you're doing. All inclusive resort type- I wouldn't bother with the car seat. Villa/self catering with a hire car type holiday then yes I'd take one. You can get car seats included in the car hire but not sure I'd trust one with a 9 week old. They tend to be well used.
Formula feeding. Depends on budget and how long you are going for. Pre made will be much easier. Order at boots online to collect once in the terminal. If you're going for longer or don't want to pay for loads of pre made then still buy pre made for the airport and plane. But add formula to your boots order. Do you have the rapid cool or similar? You'll need to use bottled water to make it (still boil it etc)
Yes take your pram and bassinet. You'll need it for naps. If you really don't want to take yours if it's bulky etc you can rent prams. Like the yo-yo with a bassinet.
Take a pram fan!

Yes to Milton sterilising tablets. We also used a Nuby Rapid Cool when travelling, which was really useful. Have fun!

I recently travelled with a 14 week old. We took a silver cross clic as it could lay flat and I also used a newborn insert to make it more comfy. Check with your airline. Generally they allow you to take a pram and a car seat or a cot so you can take most of what you need.

we took the Milton steriliser and tablets. And washed up bottles once a day in the sink. We have to use powder as my little girl has reflux but would have taken ready made if not as it’s so much easier. Check where you are travelling to- we used bottled water rather than tap. And we used Evian water as lower in sodium than others. I took a travel kettle with me and used the nuby rapid cool to bring bottles to temp. Again ready made would be loads easier. And you can bulk order from boots at the airport airside to save taking it through.

and security will let you take whatever baby liquids you need. They just check it in a special machine. So I did have a ready made bottle (as a back up if all else failed ) and a bottle of boiling water. Both was fine.

take spare top for you incase baby is sick etc and loads of muslins. And dummy if baby will take one for sucking on take off for little ears.

also my baby carrier was so helpful for getting onto and off the plane. My pram was compact enough to come on the plane but if it hadn’t she coulda been in the carrier longer so much easier having your hands free.

Have a great time ! Xx

As already mentioned, a lot of bottled waters aren't suitable for babies.

We took a 4 month old to Portugal. We took a second hand buggy that the car seat fitted into, so we had the seat with us. Baby slept fine on the plane but howled on the way to the hotel. We booked a private transfer, where we'd normally take a coach, in case this happened.

We had cold water sterilizing bags for bottles, because we mixed fed, and hung them off the bath taps in the bathroom. Take a sling with you, so you don't have to push a buggy over cobbles with a baby in it if you come across them, but it was otherwise fine. DH and older DC stayed asleep when baby woke at night to feed. I just had the hotel provided travel cot next to me.

We went at 6w and it was the easiest holiday we've ever had with her despite her being a colicky rubbish sleeper 😂

We took our pram with Bassinet (for naps and overnight) but the uk airport forgot to load it. We got it for the last 3 days. We had a doona (combined small pram and carseat) and we managed fine with that and a sling (used the hotel travel cot/bedsharing at night).

Yes to Milton tablets. We didn't take a container as had an apartment and repurposed a saucepan. We took the powder. It was fine. That baby was mostly bf so e didn't make baby bottles but we'd been away with ours eldest when bottle fed and used the same method.

We checked for a local lidl and bought nappies there tasty then take a week's supply.

I found a water ring sling useful for poolside, but mostly because I was also chasing round after a 2yo/in the pool with them.

Honestly though it's a great time to go and add bear as you'll get to a relaxing break for the next 8 years, so make the most of it.

In that case, boiled tap water will be fine assuming europe etc. They have babies there too so do whatever the locals do.

If you need to buy extra abroad, you can only get formula from pharmacies, not supermarkets, and it's more expensive than in the UK. When we went, we bought formula in the UK for about £9 that was £16 in the pharmacy on the continent.

An extra suitcase full of pre-made formula. I especially love Cow & Gate's 70ml disposable bottles with teats, they are so quick to put together when out-and-about, with no need to worry about sterilising or boiling kettles.

Hope you have a fab holiday!

Where are you going and what is your accommodation - eg hotel / villa etc.

I wouldn't use boiled water in a villa, it's likely from a tank. Bottled water suitable for babies has a little symbol on it - picture of a baby / toddler.

You can definitely buy formula in the supermarkets in France, we found it cheaper.

Have you got the passport sorted?

You might need to be on the ball with admin. I couldn't even get an appointment to register the birth until my baby was over six weeks, and you get start a passport application until you have a birth certificate.

There's a Facebook group for this called Travelling with Babies & Children :)