Newborn abroad holiday

[MCMP13]

Would you take a 5-6 week old on an abroad holiday?

We have nothing booked, but this will be the only time husband gets time off work and just a thought at the minute. We already have a 3 year old and just thinking, why not do the newborn trenches round a pool and all inclusive and not having to bother with housework😂 Thinking just to Spain so a 2 hour flight. We took my son away quite young for the first time too but not newborn.

Is there any major problems that I’m not even thinking of?

**this is obviously depending on me having an ok birth with recovery etc and baby being healthy. Will also get 2 rooms so toddlers sleep isn’t disturbed even though he would sleep through anything right now tbf.

No. That was peak colic/evening screaming time for us. Every night from 7pm onwards.

Plus their immune system is so undeveloped, I really wouldn't risk putting 5 week old through a flight. Even a cold can put a newborn in hospital.

Plus the heat. I myself live in a hot country. When he was a newborn, we basically didn't leave the house between 10am - 5pm except in a car to go to other air conditioned places. Even just a 30 Celsius day would cause him to overheat quickly.

It puts pressure on you to get the birth certificate / passport sorted as soon as you give birth.

I think I'd wait until they'd had their jabs probably.

You'd need to get the passport sorted quickly.

You wouldn't be very popular in the hotel/round the pool if the baby is a cryer.

Personally, I think it would make it a hundred times harder than being at home, but I admire your sense of adventure!

I took DD on a long haul flight at 7 weeks. For us, it was a great time to do a holiday. We booked last minute when we knew that she and I were ok.

Passports were the stress. We just got it in time!

No. Because aeroplanes are germ fesrs with the recycled air and you may hot issues with insurance, baby may be colicky, etc.

I think a nice cottage in a nice town with easy access to shops/restaurants would be better.

We took our first DC to the south of France at about 5 weeks and after an emergency CS. All was ok.

Oh and I've just applied for a child passport and it took 1 week between sign off and arrival so there's no backlog there.

No, because of the germ risks to such a tiny baby who won't have been exposed to them and will have virtually no immune system yet.

It won't be a holiday for anyone.

No
thats the time colic, reflux, cmpa can all rear their ugly heads….you could spend the whole holiday trying to settle a crying baby in the hotel room

The only terrible part would be getting the birth registered and getting a passport in time. I know back when I had both of mine it was taking 4 weeks to get the appointment with the registrar. Then you’d have to do the passport application. I got first passports back within 1-2 weeks. But it’s sinking a lot of money into something that isn’t necessarily going to work out. I’m not sure travel insurance would cover you just not getting a passport on time.

Other than that, it would be fine if you had a flat or villa with separate bedrooms, so you weren’t waking your 3 year old up every hour, and you and Dh could trade off on settling baby while the other sleeps, so at least 2 beds in toddler’s room or a 3 bedroom.

That said, I’m not sure sitting around a pool bleeding and leaking milk while Dh gets to drink alcohol and have fun while I’m glued to a baby would be my idea of a fun holiday!

I would much rather go away at the end of mat leave. I took my youngest to Spain for a week at 8 months just before I went back to work and it was great.

Personally I’d wait until after baby had had the first set of jabs.

Absolutely not.

Yes we took my son to Spain when he was six weeks old. It was fine. I then took him as a not yet two year old and my DD at three months old- she was a bit fussy to get to sleep but that wasn’t any different to the way she was at home (luckily she soon grew out of it). I think it’s a great time as you don’t have to worry about food for them! And depending on how well your baby sleeps you might be able to go out in the evening too if they are happy in a pram.

Definitely. Both my children went on 2 holidays each in their first 5 months.

No way

My parents to me to Yugoslavia on holiday (it was that long ago as the country doesn’t exist anymore) when I was 6 weeks old. I was fine!

I had elcs and I wouldn't have wanted to travel at that stage of recovery (you might not be planning one but could ended up being an emergency). It's not safe to carry things and we'd need 2 adults to bring everything we need. We went abroad when dc2 was 4 months and it was easy (to Disneyland, so harder work than AI in Spain) so I'm sure travel would be fine if no other issues. My dcs have always settled well with breastfeeding and being in a carrier. We were never particularly concerned about keeping dcs away from germs especially the second one - she got dragged along to soft plays and museums and public transport because dc1 was going and it wasn't an option to have her cooped up at home.

I did this 6w after an elcs. It was fine. Easiest holiday we'd ever done with kids tbh even with baby being quite colicky. The 2yo was ten times more tricky than the newborn. I'm glad we did it at the newborn stage rather than when things got trickier.