Share your tips for planning a family holiday with a baby or toddler with Thomas Cook - £300 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

Going on holiday with a baby or toddler in tow means you’re likely having to plan for things you’ve never even considered before. Whether you’re new to holidays with a baby or toddler or feel like you’ve got too much experience, Thomas Cook would like to hear the tips you have for planning a family holiday with a baby or toddler.

Here’s what Thomas Cook has to say: “Going away with a baby or toddler can, at times, be a little stressful; there are lots of readers out there with some great tips to help make things easier for other mums, meaning that everyone can enjoy their well-earned time away”

Do you find that it’s easiest to book a package holiday so that the big stuff is done all in one go? Perhaps you have tips for making a flight run smoothly? Or maybe you have ideas for keeping them entertained when you’ve had to scale down their toy collection for the week?

Whatever your tips, share them below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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When booking a family holiday,I always do all inclusive ones for the ease of it.

i also try to make sure the outgoing flight leaves at around 6am or just before,that way,we get the kids up at about 4am,little breakfast if they fancy it,then drive to the airport,then because they were up early,they are more likely to sleep on the plain/coach transfer.

I bring an iPad and a couple of their favourite toys to play with on the journey.

I don’t book holidays that are longer than a 2 hour flight away.the less time spent on the plain with little ones the better.

I always take the kids back to the hotel room for a couple hours rest in the afternoons.i just find they get very excited and burn their energy out so fast on holidays.

I make sure they each have at least 4 prunes each a day,to keep their bowel movements regular. (The first time we took ds when he was 1.5, I didn’t do this, and he was constipated and irritable for days)

I always try to get the kids used to their bearings whilst on holiday,and tell them where to go if lost,whether it’s at the hotel,at the beach etc. Always make sure they know the uniforms the reps wear etc.

Packing 5 or 6 little cars has always been the best toy for my kids. Light and space efficient, but can still keep them busy with imaginary play for ages. And if we get bored we can build ramps for them.

Take your parents/in laws with you. They will love spending time with the grandkids and you will be able to have some time on your own/with your partner.

Take grandparents with you!

My mum and Dad are fantastic and spent two weeks chasing my 1 year old around the beach while shooing me back to my towel with the words “you have a rest, it’s your holiday too.”

I bloody love my parents and am very aware of how lucky I am.

Other than that, have at least 2 uv suits for little one. One can by drying while the other is worn.
They dry really quickly and are great for keeping lo safe in the sun.

Beach, buggy, toys, snacks......and a nice hideaway for you both, when you're frazzled and need reminding you're actually on holiday!

Our main focus is the destination in terms of flight time and the temperature, babies and children can get fractious if the weather is too hot so we tried to holiday in May when it was slightly cooler.

Families also need to think of transfer times, we booked a holiday to Greece and hadn't checked the transfer time. When we arrived we discovered it was 3 hours which, although we were on a air conditioned coach, on reflection we would have preferred to book somewhere with a transfer time of one hour maximum.

if we are going somewhere hot, aircon is a must!

Yes that the coach from airport to hotel can be hell - short journey or pay for private taxi transfer!

if your DC is having formula milk, find out if their normal brand has a different name in the country you are going to.

My DCs have always been good travellers. They can sleep anywhere and through any noise. When they were little but dummy-free at home, I took their dummy's on the flights to help their ears pop with the altitude. Now that they are older, I give then a hard boiled sweet lollypop to suck on.

Book a flight through the night so the majority of the journey can be done while they are (hopefully) asleep.

We've yet to take out son (now 3) on a plane. It's something I thought we'd do when he was a baby coz I figured it'd be easier when he was small, less mobile, more likely just to sleep on one of us for the flight, but it didn't happen and now he's a fidgety preschooler it may have to wait a few more years!
He has been to France though, and we'll be going again this summer. The advantage for us was that we could take our own car and as much luggage as we needed/could fit in! We did hire a roof box the first year, so that his pushchair could fit in. I found it a lot less stressful to know that we had everything we could need for a week without worrying, the car was familiar and allowed him to get some sleep on the journey, plus the ferry was a bit of an adventure!

I book a package holiday, we stayed at the Golf Beach, Santa Ponsa last year. I choose very carefully and make sure that there is air conditioning, good facilities for all of the family. We were able to leave the children in the kid's club while we had some time to sunbathe and take a swim which was relaxing. I always choose good flight times as early or late flights are a nightmare with a tired child. I take my tablet for the flight, to make the journey less boring, and snacks for the journey. My little ones Trunki is great for getting around the airport too as they are having fun and I keep tabs on them (I also dress in bright clothing, so I can spot them in the crowd if they wander off).

Going on holiday with a toddler can be a nightmare if you aren't prepared. I would advise to make a list and then check it twenty times to make sure you have everything that you will need. Preparation is key with these things.
Also research the places you are looking at going. You want to make sure that you are going somewhere that is family friendly and will be set up to accommodate toddlers and babies.

The smaller they are the easier it is. Babies are very portable. Toddlers however, are tiny dictators.

I have travelled with all of mine from being a few weeks old. We kept to well-developed countries, which always had any facilities you could need. We have done cruises which are harder as you cannot buy much on board, but with no luggage limit, it's not an issue! Flights are easy as long as you have enough drinks, snacks and activity packs. The most stressful parts are getting through security pre-flight and waiting to see if the pushchair has made it in one piece when you get off. Always take a baby sling! We had our pushchair lost a few times.

I find babies and young toddlers fairly easy to travel with. Babies just need a travel cot and you can keep a toddler safe in a single bed pushed up to the wall so only one side is 'open', then ask for extra pillows to create a barrier so they don't roll off the other side.

Sterlising bags were my miracle discovery and could usually be filled and hung on the back of a bathroom door. Take a travel kettle with us to make up bottles and miniature bottles of washing up liquid to wash them in the sink.

Spilt packs of nappies and spread them between suitcase, in the outside pockets if possible so they don't take up space. Always take your usual nappy creams and a full medicine kit. Hand wash or powder tablets (not capsules which can burst in case) are really handy to reduce the amount of clothes you need.

Jars and pouches are safe for them to eat and are sold in pharmacies as well as supermarkets in most countries. Felixible meal times are a big bonus if you can get them, as you don't want the stress of rushing if you are running late with anything.

When we are on holiday, we would rather not have to use the car, so do your homework on your accommodation and surrounding area. You can get inflatable booster seats if you hire or get a taxi.

Most importantly is being prepared for the climate- sun screen, hydration, hats etc etc. If anything goes wrong a good insurance policy is essential. That alone will give you peace of mind.

We definitely prefer a package holiday so that everything is organised for us including pick up from the airport to take us to the resort. We opt for all inclusive too and look for a kid's club so that the children are occupied and there's food on hand at all times as they're constantly hungry!

I would never add to the stress of taking a baby on holiday by going abroad by plane. The baby isn't going to remember it, but you will! Trying to soothe a distressed youngster trying to cope with cabin pressure change, and also trying to protect their delicate skin from heat and sun.

Def recommend travelling at night with babies as they usually sleep through the night! Our young dd loves playing with her trunki in the airports which keeps her amused at the min and we always bring an activity pack for her to colour in on the plane or play mini games!

I realised once I had two DCs that keeping an eye on them on a beach was a stressful exercise - no more relaxing of any kind! It was much easier to dress the children in the same sunsuits so I was just scanning the beach for the two identical outfits. Also when out and about in a city, even now that my children are much older I still try to dress them in similar bright colours - red/orange/pink.
For the airport with smaill children I found it was useful to keep a stash of small exercise books and a pack of pens/pencils - you learn this after you've been delayed for 4 hours with small children and no form of entertainment!

We would pick places where travel was minimal e.g short transfer times to hotel. I would pack a bag full of snacks, sticker books and activity items like games, books and colouring. Wear layers incase hot or cold.

take some familiar snacks along for emergencies, but otherwise in my experience they will enjoy exploring their holiday destination as much as you

Toys that don’t roll away for the plane and have a few bags zip bags they can open with one or two things in so if they get board they have something they haven’t seen to explore, even if it’s just some felt shapes or a few stickers etc.

Also we went to a third world country with Dd so we too the disposable sterilising bags. They were brilliant. You could sterilise a days worth of bottles in your hotel room.

For new places I always book an all inclusive package holiday. As long as the place has good reviews and good food I'm pretty happy to do that. It just makes life so much easier if you're travelling with a little one, because you don't have to worry about going off resort and finding food 3 times a day.
When it comes to the flights, there's a few things we do to ensure it runs as smoothly as possible. We've had to fly a 4.5 hour flight many times as we've got parents living abroad. When they were really small, we would take a new toy and not give it to them until we were on the plane, not right away, let them enjoy the novelty of the plane and the experience and when you can see they're getting fed up or things start going south, then introduce the new toy. Try and make it a toy that does different things so they won't get bored with it too quickly. Another thing we do is take their iPads. Choose a show that they love to watch and download new episodes to the iPad without telling them. We keep this until last once the novelty and the new toys have been used. New episodes mean they'll be completely engrossed which will kill some time. All this usually kills off the entire flight time. If we ever went long haul (which I wouldn't do with a baby or very small child) I'd say book a night flight so they can sleep through it and so it doesn't disrupt their routine too much.

Thanks :)

Travelling during sleeping time is good. Micro scooters for getting round is great.

We avoided hotels during the toddler years as we didn’t want to be stuck in the room/on a tiny balcony when the children went to bed (ours never managed to stay up ‘late’). A villa worked well for us so the children could sleep in ther rooms and we could move freely around the rest of the house/outside. This also applied to daytime naps - we were able to stay outside in the sun/pool whilst they napped, rather than being restricted to an hotel room or walking round with a pushchair etc.