Holiday with a baby?

[Shahhhh]

Hi friends!

So my partner and I booked a little 8 day holiday to Turkey in October next year with my mum as a gift to her. We love our sun holidays so we can't wait!

We've just found out we're 7+4 pregnant which is INCREDIBLE following a MC in April, we're over the moon. 💛 now that the news has settled in, we've realised we have a fully booked and fully paid for holiday next year lol! Obviously we can get baby added on, that's not a problem!

Baby should be 6-7 months by then. Has anyone here taken a 6-7 month old on a sun holiday before? I have seen toddlers on holiday before but usually 1 year+ old. It's our first so I'm trying to imagine what it'll be like 😂🙆‍♀️ but we're so so so excited, even more so now. I do think 6-7 months will be fine to fly and be on holiday... any experience? Thanks girlies x

Yes, we took our 7 month old ds to Turkey. It was booked before pregnancy. It went incredibly well, DS couldn’t crawl by that point so he was happy being pushed in the pushchair or carried or laid down.

We had just started weaning him so took the puree pouches with us (very convenient). Once we got home we then moved on to homemade foods etc. We just didn’t want to risk anything out there since food was new to him.

We took a snoozeshade and a large muslin to half cover the pushchair. Not fully, but to block the sun. Plus a little fan. We would take him back to the room for breaks during the day to use the air con and for milk. Because of the heat he did nap a lot more than usual, and we slept with the air con on at night which helped him.

Oh we took far too many clothes. In the end he was either in a vest, or a short sleeve onesie (not sure of the official name) or just a nappy in the room. Plus a top/bottoms/thin blanket in the evening. We took suncream with us but limited it and mostly focused on him being in shade. I put a bit on his legs if there was a chance of exposure in the pushchair while walking.

We took the baby carrier with us but due to the heat we didn’t use it. I guess we used it in the airport.

The holiday was way better than we expected. Out of the newborn days, starting to interact with the world, but not yet crawling/walking to be a danger to himself.

Hope you have a great time.

I have 2 kids already and would say babies are much easier than toddlers - in Oct it shouldn't be too hot either - go and enjoy it before they start running around and you can still get a free child place 😜

I’d rather take a baby than a teenager! Can we swap?

Will be totally fine, just get their passport sorted as soon as you can

Congratulations! We took DC abroad at 6 months and loved every minute. They slept in the plane, had long naps in the stroller by the pool every day and we just started weaning once we got back, but as a PP said, you could take pouches. Enjoy the holiday before they start walking!

We went on a sun holiday when dd was 7 months. She was fine on the plane both ways (lots of breastfeeding which isn't very comfy on a plane), there were some 1-2 ish year olds on the plane who were wanting to wonder round and obviously couldn't, so I think it's easier when they're still very much a baby. My dd wouldn't nap in the stroller (was mainly used for carrying bags!) but did nap on me or dh happily enough. We were half board with a buffet - it was AMAZING for weaning. We did take some pouches too but didn't use most. Obviously it wasn't possible to cut everything up into the whatever shape an app says a cucumber should be cut up for a 7 month old, but that didn't bother us. She got to try so many foods we'd just never buy. We took silicone bibs with a pocket/food catcher and always wet wiped the floor to tidy up after the mess. I did see another family had bought their ikea highchair insert cushion to put in the restaurant highchair which was genius, as our dd was unsupported at the back as she was still so little. I wish I was back on holiday!

We took our baby on a long haul sun destination at 4.5 months, it was brilliant.

We did lots of trips abroad with ours as babies- it was absolutely fine. A pushchair with a really good sunshade, a UV protective all over suit and a float seat so they can bob around in the pool. And I do have to say that travelling is one of the times when breastfeeding makes life sooooo much easier!

i also had a great experience taking dd 7 months away for a week. Breastfed on the plane, she was no bother and easier to manage than she would be taking her now! The only downside for us was that she refused to nap in the buggy, so twice a day off we went to lie in the pitch black silent hotel rooms🤣

Agree a 6 month old is easier than 18 months!
It's not worth losing your money over, make sure you have everything you need for the plane in hand luggage, extra bottles and milk if you're not EBF in case of delays.
Make sure you have travel insurance that covers the baby!

We took our toddler to Turkey along with our 5-month old earlier this year. I have to say the baby was a lot less effort! Everyone in Turkey absolutely LOVES babies, e.g. if you don't have enough hands free at airport security or you need to fold up your pushchair to get in a taxi, literally everyone wants to hold your baby for you and give it a cuddle.

Also, our baby wasn't weaning yet but if he'd been a month or so older we were at a nice AI hotel and there was plenty of food I'd have been happy to give him. I wouldn't have bothered bringing baby food.

My daughter is now 4 and we had our first flight when she was almost 8 weeks old.
We've done a fair bit of travelling since then and I definitely found travelling with a baby under 12 months easier than with a toddler (although it never put us off).

We took our 4 month old on our honeymoon to Sri Lanka, it was wonderful! She is now nearly 3 and recently went to France and it was very stressful 😅 The younger the better. Have a lovely time x