So were thinking of going on holiday in May with our parents and our daughter. She will be 4months old at this point.
Has anyone done this? Just thinking about everything were going to have to bring! We need to be able go wash and sterilse the bottles and then there's the flight with no liquids and there's the pram situation and bringing a weeks worth of nappies!!!
Any advice?
Where are you going and where are you staying? Will you be doing self catering for instance where you may have a microwave and can use the microwave sterilizer bags. Very easy and practical to take. Or perhaps they may offer a service when it comes to stuff like that.
There was a lady asked a similar question not long ago and was told you can pre order milk from boots in the departure lounge at Gatwick to pick up once through security.....maybe you can check about this from the airport you are travelling from.
What kind of pram do you have? I have a silver cross pram and as lovely as it is, is not practical for travel and holidays. I'll be taking my son abroad in September when he's 1 and I just bought a buggy suitable from birth that is quite light and folds down easily and quite slim which I will use for visits to places here and also for holiday....maybe you could invest in one of those type things too to make your life a little easier? x
hey, i wont b goin on hols, but most airports hav a boots in departure lounge u can pre order baby milk if ur baby is on formula, u can hav liquids on flight u cant bring them through security. if u do want to bring through security u hav to test 50 percent of the liquids u hav, so if u hav 4 cartons u wud need to open and test 2, u can bring one bottle through then get the rest through security. Gatwick, heathrow hav specially designated family lanes so u dnt feel rushed or pressured to b quick. maybe see if u can bring a cheap pushchair as u can bring it right to the aeroplane door u wud just need to collapse it through security but will b with u at all times xx
We took our little one on holiday to Scotland at 4 months old, we stayed with family on the way up taking our time driving up there and then spent a week in a self catering baby friendly cottage, it was great (babyfriendlyboltholes.co.uk). Probably all my fault, but my lo had been sleeping fairly well at night and this holiday completely ruined that. Every time she made some noise I rushed to her as I didn't want to disturb the in-laws sleep and so she came to expect that response and I ended up having to get up to her much more often when we got home (it could have been that she was sleeping in strange beds, a developmental phase or any number of other things).
One of my friends that travelled with a formula fed baby to South Africa definitely took milk through security and she just said that she had to drink some of it and it was disgusting. I've heard of people ordering it from Boots at the airport too, worth investigating. Nappies, depending on where you're going, you should be able to buy them when you get there, just take the minimum.
Buggy's, another of my friends just took her lo on a plane, she checked her pram in and it got broken - her advice to others was to remove all moving parts that can be removed. It'd be worth checking with where you're going and trying to hire equipment like a buggy if you can, my parent's own a house in Spain and I know in that area you can hire all sorts of baby equipment - it adds to the cost of your holiday but at least you don't have to get it on the plane and worry about weight and things getting broken.
If you stay in a hotel, remember you only have the one room and you won't be able to do much in there once the baby is asleep, so hiring an apartment or cottage might be better.
Be adventurous and go for it, but explore all the possibilities of how you can make it easier for yourself. Going with parents is a fab idea, so you can do shifts, eating dinner whilst the other couple babysit. Enjoy.
Do it! We went abroad for a week a week after baby starting weaning so had to contend with milk and food! Did as other previous posters mentioned. Pre ordered milk cartons and some food items from boots. Picked it up airside. Apparently frowned upon but there in nothing to say you're not allowed to. Plus this way it doesn't get included in your precious luggage allowance! I took enough pre made bottles for the wait and journey once through security. Yes I had to try some, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Rather sweet. Took a few nappies and swim nappies and got the rest there. I would take more swim nappies than ordinary as they are difficult to get and rather expensive. You won't have to worry about the food, but on top of the purées we got from boots we supplemented with food from the hotel, like bananas and mango and watermelon. We bought a cheap buggy, which lays flat, bought a black out cover thing (snooze shade or something), which helps with all the lights, but we never really used it, he was fascinated by the surroundings so we let him enjoy the view. It was his holiday too. We bought a microwaveable travel steriliser. Even if your room doesn't have a microwave they will somewhere (learn the translation!), it fitted 2 bottles. I have purchased a single bottle steriliser for this one. We've booked to go away when baby is 6 months (not born yet), but for 2 weeks. One last thing, don't worry about routine. Let baby do what baby wants, when you get back you can fix it. If you are constantly looking at the clock you won't be able to relax. Ours went from a 7 am wake up to a 9am wake up, 7pm bedtime to 9pm/10pm bedtime. Nap at 4, basically all over the place. Took just 2 days to normalise when home. Have a great time. You'll have on site babysitters (in the form of grandparents!) so have a night to yourselves... XxX
Hey! As many of the other ladies have suggested thinks it's really a case of planning and organising ahead to make things as easy as possible. As far as lite one goes at 4 months they're still pretty flexible and will fit it with you, just remember to relax and they will too!!
One thing we decided is to cruise, we're going in June. Depending who you cruise with they're English speaking and have just about every service and facility you could ask for. If you're prepared to travel from Southampton you don't even need to worry about luggage allowance - you just walk in, check in your bags, walk on the ship and your bags appear at your door. No need to worry about liquids etc...! Does mean you have to have a few days at sea before you get to your destination but great to relax. P&O have always been excellent.
Happy holidays!!!
We have just booked our holiday and found out from Thomson that they have a range if hotels who will provide baby equipment inc sterilisers, they also allow an extra 10kg for babies so nappies etc needn't be an issue. You can take pre prepared milk on the plane but security will make u taste it! If you don't fancy that which I wouldn't you can buy ready sterile bottles from boots etc along with ready made formula which comes sealed and you are allowed to take through. Also buggies etc can go on the flight at no extra cost. Hope this helps!
buy ur milk once u have been through security not b4, I work for security at Gatwick so if u want any more advice lemme kno x
Oh you know I will xx
Thanks for your post:-). I also will be travelling soon to africa. My son will be 7months. Have noted ceribean advice about formula. Saw my practice nurse yesterday and she told me that my son doesn't need malaria tablet. I don't think she's is right. Spoke to hv she hasn't got any ideas. I have spoken to some of my friends they told me he needs it. Does anyone got any ideas?
Thank you everyone for your replies. Will definitely look into the cruises and the Thomson thing. Also ordering milk to the airport is a great idea!!
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