10 mo & skiing with Esprit... Snow boots? Car seat? BLW?

[Trying2bMindful]

Help - lots of questions going round & round my head.....
We are skiing with Esprit in la rosiere next month and are taking our baby boy with us. He will be 10 months old and currently he is cruising the furniture but not walking unaided. I wanted to get him some boots to keep his feet warm when we are out & about in the resort or if he comes up the mountain for lunch with us. Clarks measured his feet for me but would not recommend snow boots as they said they are too hard and would damage his feet.... So how do I keep his feet warm?!!
I don't know if he will be walking or not but I do want him to have warm feet! He has a pair of baby uggs but they are not water proof so not suitable in case it snows.
Yes, first time mother alert but I have no idea!!! I have visions of him being carried in a sling or dragged along in a sledge and thought boots would complete the picture.....

My other query was about transfers... Should i take our car seat? My husband does not like the idea of him sitting in our laps on the coach but that is what our friends are saying we should do.

Oh &, finally, will the crèche understand BLW? I don't want him to be spoon fed purées but I don't want him to starve either

Creche will understand babyled weaning.

In 11 years I've never seen anyone take a carseat on an Esprit transfer coach but I guess its safer.

If you can find snow boots small enough I'd get them. I know what Clark's are saying but realisticly he's not going to be wearing them enough to damage his feet. Its more important he's dry and warm. When dd was that little she wasn't walking so I think just wore a snowsuit and got pulled around in sledge.

When little one is in sling/pushchair/sledge try something like these booties: www.littletrekkers.co.uk/shop/index.php/flypage/17961/5b48623f80e13839a635d74e3ac3ccf3
We took our 12month old last year and although he was walking unaided he much preferred the sledge and pushchair and the booties were great, we've used them at home too. Try looking on ebay/TkMaxx or sports direct for snow boots. He's probably only wear them a couple of times so you don't want to spend a fortune and he'll have grown out of them within a couple of weeks.
Esprit offer a choice of 'solid' or puree food so don't worry about the BLW either. Have a great time, what chalet are you going to? I've not been to la rosiere but it looks lovely, i'll have to check it out for next year.

If he's not walking yet then what's wrong with the ugg type booties? We used those in the snow in vermont when my son had just started walking at 11 months. If its cold enough they actually don't get wet, because snow when very cold is actually very dry. The structured boots truly do not work, we went into a store and put them on him and he just kinda tumbled over when he tried to stand up. Trust me, he'll be fine with just the uggs.

Sterntaler do great boots for keeping warm. Not for walking but waterproof and fleece lined

Personally I would take a car seat. Can you fly with your seat on the plane? When we used baby seat skiing it only cost £40 or an extra seat on the plane to put car seat in.

Your car seat could go in the hold on the plane, but do check if there will be a seat free for it on the coach (there may not be) and what type of seat belts there will be - the coaches that we have been on in France recently only had lap belts - would that be suitable for your seat?

Boot wise, he's not likely to get in with walking in the snow very well, and snow really is quite dry so I would stick with uggs and thick socks. Rigid snow boots would be hard for him at this age.

Thank you for the help!
BN We are going to stay in Chalet Romeo in la rosiere with friends. I cannot wait! I missed out on skiing last season due to pregnancy & missed it loads. I just hope I still can do it:)
Esprit get a good write up so fingers crossed we enjoy it & LO is ok in the crèche.

I'll check with esprit whether he has his own seat on the coach but from a safety PoV he ought to....

Thanks for the tips on boots. I'll keep an eye out.

chocolate the problem with European skiing, especially in March, is that it can get a bit warm so the snow is too wet. Hence the need for boots which will keep him dry. I don't want to spend a lot though as he will only wear them for 5 minutes!! (So I might just say sod it and use the uggs hoping for the best!!

It really annoys me that they won't provide car seats for transfer buses. Even though it is law to have seatbelts in coaches, somehow it's okay for babies to have no protection whatsoever because an adult belt is useless for them. Are babies less important? Is the fact you're on holiday mean you're suddenly immune from accidents, especially on mountain roads with lunatic drivers around you. These big companies offer family-friendly holidays but then skimp on safety.

This rant brought to you by discovering that Crystal won't provide a car seat for the 3 hour transfer from Grenoble.. and worse, they won't guarantee a seat on the coach available for DS either. But they're happy to take the money for him in their creche once he's in resort and charge an extra "infant" charge, so does he "count" or doesn't he?

For the record, I took a short break on my own with the not-family-targetted SkiWeekends last month and their driver told me they provide carseats. It's just the big "family-orientated" companies that won't or offer much in the way of alternatives.

I agree.

Op for future trips, Family ski company do provide appropriate child seats on their transfers. They come highly recommended!

• thanks for the recommendation!!

We also have spotty otter booties and they're fab, nice and toastie and waterproof. I didn't feel like they were a waste of money either as they've come in very handy at home when DS has been in pushchair/carrier. I also need to buy a pair of snowboots for my 2yo DS so keep me posted if you find any bargains.

Chalet romeo looks lovely, has anyone stayed in le bracconier?

I missed the fact that you had uggs, they'll be fine for pushchair/sledge etc and save any unnecessary expensive. Although if you do decide to buy some of the spotty otter ones they should last for a good while, my lo can easily fit in his pair now and we've had them for a year. Spotty otter sizing is very generous - which is great - we are also still using his snowsuit and mitts!

Coach for transfer will almost certainly have lap belts only. MOST car seats don't work with lap belt only. You can of course chose to do a private transfer, or hire a car, then you can use your choice of car seat. Or drive your own car all the way.

Esprit won't guarantee seats on the coach for under 2yos. There are normally spare seats though but they'd never guarantee it as they often won't know how many people will be on the transfer until a day or two before. Sometimes you get people ring up last minute on the Saturday and fly out on the Sunday for a late deal.

How about something like this Sheep skin booties. I would also have thick wool socks inside.

The lack of a car seat on the coach transfer does worry me. We wrongly assumed that as they are renowned for their family holidays they would take care of the whole family, incl the safety of infants.
Thanks for the recommendations for more family friendly ski companies. We shall take a look for next year!
The otter things look good. & could last until next year too. I'll ask my husband what he thinks. Otherwise we will stick with the uggs plus plastic bags if it rains

If your expecting to find stair gates fitted / baby bath / high chair in etc in the chalet - phone and ask for them. Stair gates are not in place every where every week.

Take some toys of your own to use in your home chalet/ apartment. The nursery will be fully toyed up but not your "home" chalet. Bear in mind also that other children staying your home chalet may be different ages to yours. Our home chalet had some board games , and drawing stuff but nothing much for tinies.