First holiday with a baby

[Solly-44]

Baby is probably stretching it as my son will be almost 2 when we go on our first holiday. We’re going to Majorca and were hiring a car but I’m having a change of heart. Question is, how does this work with car seats, will taxi’s have them? Will we need to book in advance if they do? I know you can take them as checked luggage but ours is HUGE and heavy and I’d really rather not.

Also, any tips on surviving an (admittedly very short!) flight with a toddler who will just want to scream and run, send them my way! X

[Lydialego123]

Hi there we recently went to the Canary Islands with our 22 month old, we hired a car and it came with a car seat - I don’t think taxis provide them so you’d have to have your LO on your lap like the plane I guess?

As for the plane….snacks, iPad/iPhone and sticker books - our flight was 4 hours and that was the longest I’d want to do again, but it wasn’t too bad!

All the best have great time x

[Solly-44 in reply to Lydialego123]

Ah thanks so much. Yep the ipad is a must, and I wouldn’t have thought of a sticker book but that’s such a good shout, reckon he’ll love it! Xx

[Twiglet2]

We’ve been to Portugal and canaries with our one year old and both places you can get a taxi with a car seat (but you have to book online in advance and pay a little extra) on the flight it depends on the timing but i I tried to keep him awake before hand so he slept quite a bit of it but other than that we just entertained with favourite toys and books and actually everyone around us was lovely random strangers making faces at him to make him laugh 😊. We were lucky in that he still takes a bottle at night so gave him one at take off and landing so no sore ears but I think a sippy cup helps as well.

Another tip is to see if where your going has anywhere you can hire things for the little one (we got a playpen, trike, paddling pool etc. from the company that supplied us with steriliser and nappies in both resorts) you can actually hire buggies and car seats and stuff from them too usually.

We didn’t hire a car either time as I’m too scared to drive on the wrong side 😂 and I enjoy a holiday cocktail lol but we never needed it anyway. I hope you have the best holiday 🏖 xx

[Solly-44 in reply to Twiglet2]

Ok that makes sense about booking. I just looked it up and there are taxi companies we can book in advance that include car seats. We’ll be saving a small fortune on not hiring a car so I don’t mind paying a bit more and I hate that extra hour trekking around the airport picking up your car!

I’m ashamed to say at almost 2 he does still have 2 bottles a day (we’re working on it but he’s being particularly stubborn with this one 😂).

Great idea on hiring stuff there too, definitely something to look into, thanks lovely! Xx

[Twiglet2 in reply to Solly-44]

Hey don’t be ashamed! The way my boy downs them I’m sure we will still be on bottles for quite a while (HV can roll her eyes all she likes 😂 it never did me any harm lol) and the good news is it really really helped us on plane with ears and to get to sleep with all the goings on 👌🏻Xx

[MissSaoPaulo]

I did Brazil-UK (on my own!!) in Feb. From experience

- take Calpol (or similar) with you on the flight

- however many nappies you think you'll need, take a couple more.

- have a variety of new crap for them to play with and produce it one by one at strategic moments to avert tantrums (doesn't have to be toys, a set of measuring spoons was a big hit with Millie)

- couple of episodes of their fave show downloaded on the tablet

- if you end up doing a nappy change during the flight, put a plastic bag nice and wide open in the sink to drop dirty nappies and wipes in, then you can just tie the whole thing off and bin it and flailing toddler feet won't send everything flying (sorry if that seems obvious, but I learned that one the hard way!!)

- at least one change of clothes for your LO and for you too

- if LO does have a tantrum and anyone gives you sh*t about it, remind them he's 2 and still learning to control his emotions - what's their excuse? Millie had a total meltdown and I couldn't calm her down and she had me in tears. Everyone was so nice to me though and the flight attendant was trying to comfort me

Have a lovely holiday, relax in the sunshine!!