Taking 8 month old baby on holiday

GeX

GeX

Soldato
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17 Dec 2002
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Manchester
Trying to work out what we need and don't need. There are kid/family friendly hotels but they seem to cater for 1year and over with activity groups etc. As my daughter isn't old enough, I doubt we'd use many of the facilities that we'd be paying for as part of the room rate.

We used to just pick a rough area, then look on Airbnb for a place that looked interesting.

Any travel tips, were looking at Croatia at the moment.
 
Soldato
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7 Dec 2012
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Gloucestershire
We never fancied a foreign holiday when ours were very young. Just didn't think the juice would be worth the squeeze with regards travelling, mostly.

That said, we did go camping with both when they still weren't walking, including a festival with a 4.5 year old and a 13-monther.

You have to be pretty lean with what you pack, but it's not that much of a hassle: you're already used to how **** it is to be a parent, after all :D
 
Soldato
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N. Ireland
formula (if bottle feeding), some way to sterilise the bottles and enough nappies to do you till you find a shop that sells some locally.
Junior calpol/ibuprofen for when the little one inevitably gets ill (usually the moment you step off the plane) or if you want to do a Kate and Gerry :eek::p
Factor 5million infant sun block
The ability to accept you’ll have a crappy holiday.
Anything else I remember I’ll add later!!

Enjoy
 

NVP

NVP

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Took our first at 6 months to majorca, then 8 months to Italy.

Majorca we did our first ever all inclusive which was much better than I expected but it was a 5 star hotel. Chose all inclusive so we could grab food whenever we were free from baby duties, or if baby was sleeping we could tag in and out. The fact the food and hotel were decent made the experience, and the convenience of it all made it stress free. We could plan what times we'd jump out to the beach or shops or drive to another view place etc.

Had a hire car which meant from landing at the airport we were in control. It made things much easier with unscheduled nappy changes, breast feeds etc. A focus estate was what we had and it fit the pram and they supplied the baby seat so it was all pretty smooth sailing.

Would recommend doing it that way.


In italy it was different, stayed on a friends farm/guest houses in the middle of the country side, same hiring car for ease etc but difference was we cooked for ourselves which ate into the little breaks you get from baby duties as you'd have to plan to go shop too etc. It wasnt too bad though but wasn't as much of a holiday feeling as the all inclusive was.
 
Associate
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20 Aug 2013
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Glasgow
formula (if bottle feeding), some way to sterilise the bottles and enough nappies to do you till you find a shop that sells some locally.
Junior calpol/ibuprofen for when the little one inevitably gets ill (usually the moment you step off the plane) or if you want to do a Kate and Gerry :eek::p
Factor 5million infant sun block
The ability to accept you’ll have a crappy holiday.
Anything else I remember I’ll add later!!

Enjoy


Some useful and not useful advice in this thread.

We took our 6 month old to Berlin in December last year, and we're taking him to France (at 11 months) in a few weeks.

RmUDlzy.jpg

requires a wee bit more planning, but isnt impossible.

1) Bottles and steralization kit if bottle fed - we didnt need this as he is breastfed.
2) Are they eating solid foods yet? We got him used to Lidl baby food before we left, which we could get in Germany so there wasnt any drastic changes to diet
3) As above, enough nappies to get you to a local shop
4) How do you usually carry them around, carrier, pram etc? Look up how baby friendly your destinations are, Berlin was easy enough with a Pram, but we read that Paris would be a nightmare.
5) Check what you can take with you on the plane - Ryanair for instance will let you take two baby equimpent with an infant ticket for free (ie, car seat and pram)
6) Prepare to take lots of breaks. I cant speak for your baby, but ours could only do so much before wanting food/nap. It worked out quite good as it gave lots of time for resting in between sightseeing

It was totally worth the extra planning etc, we got some amazing memories, and the baby wasnt too fussed about the plane.
 
Soldato
Joined
3 Feb 2010
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3,034
Mind if I ask why? I’m especially interested the greedy part.
Personal oppinion but i find a young child that will have no memories of the journey being exposed to travel just isn't in the childs best intrests, children can make travel for other passengers borderline unbearable and the child benefits entirely nothing from the ordeal... Adults are often immensley fatigued after a holiday, babies would be exposed to loud noises, climatisation and heat in a country foreign to them.

I have no issue with 3-4 year olds travelling with parents, but babies and young toddlers it makes zero sense to take them abroad in my opinion.

As far as the greed part goes, i see the first couple of years of a childs life as absolutely crucial, and trying to fit a trip abroad in that very small window i feel is greedy beyond measure... Like i mentioned above, the child will have zero memories of the trip, at that age its learning to stay alive.
 
Caporegime
Joined
8 Sep 2005
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29,975
Location
Norrbotten, Sweden.
Not sure why you would do this unless visiting friends or family abroad.
I see zero benefit only hassles and unneeded expenses.
Save it another 2 years then you have a toddler that has a memory forming ability, etc etc.

Week at home eating takeaways 3x a day.
Pure luxury.
 
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