Right folks the family (Me, the girl friend, baby, sister, sisters boyfriend and nephew) are jetting off to the sunny island of Spain this week! It will be the little mans first holiday and i am far too excited about the trip.We have been going to Murcia for roughly five years on and off and this week will be the first time we travel and stay away with the baby. My initial thoughts when booking the flights were that it was going to be hell if he kicks up a stink. You know you start to think about being that "guy" with the crying baby and what happens if hes ill and we can't find and English speaking doctor.
Now that i tis time to have suitcases packed i am actually unafraid of what might happen and i am excited to get myself and the family out in to sun of Los Alcazeres . Over the last few weeks we have been reading, researching and generally searching for advice on what we need to take and why. Having a six month old baby to cater for doesn't half take up your luggage allowance! Over these last few weeks i have found and invested in some fantastic products i thought were worth sharing with you parents should you also be planning to go away aboard in the near future - you might actually find this post and my ramblings useful....i hope...
The Trunki
A Trunki is a little suitcase designed for children. They come in a range of different designs but are all the same size and shape. They are not only suitcases but double up as rideons! Each different design has a different name, which is fun for kids and makes them feel like their Trunki has a life of their own!Trunki's aren't very big and are certainly not the size of adult suitcases (be aware of this if buying online). They are infact designed to hold hand luggage and meet the current UK hand luggage restrictions. They are surprisingly lightweight and are also quite deep. We have invested in one as we think it is a much better alternative to taking our changing bag and it should allow us to quickly access the essential should little grumpy guts start "creating" in the airport or on the place.
The Pushchair Protector
The airport staff usually don't have time to carefully pick up and place your prams in a neat and orderly stack so to best protected the pram get it in your life. Oh and should you have limited space in your suitcases then you can also use the protector to stow other goods inside to like nappies, wipes, toys, etc.
Disposable Steriliser Bags & Remade Milk
Sterlising bottles is going to be in a pain in the ares whichever way you look at doing it. After looking around we found these Oasis disposable sterilisers, they come in a box of seven individually sealed bags. Each bag contains a sterilising tablet and then you just fill it to the line with water and hang it off a tap/door handle/whatever. Each bag of water lasts 24 hours.It even says you can use their water to sterilize the bottles but for use we think we are going to stick to bottled water.
We are lucky that Theo hates having his bottles warm and because of this we have invested in some of the one bottle milk cartoons to use on the plane and in the airport. This will save us from having to test the milk and will make feeding time effortless! We have also packed some of our own milk formula as we wanted to make sure his first few days over in the sun run as smoothly as possible. We have heard that the milk is the same in Spain but sodium levels can be a tad higher than what we are use to here in the the UK. Anyway it might be a myth floating around on MumsNet but we have packed a few of our own in the big cases.
There are companies out there that now specialise in making family friendly package holidays such as Jet2holidays who instead of catering to stags and hens by implementing zero-tolerance policies.
There are a million and one things we need to remember and i advise anyone that going away with a newish born to research and pack as early as you can. Let me know if you have some pearls of wisdom i would be happy to hear and share them.
The Basics
- Keeping sunblock on the go to make sure that they’re protected from the sun
- Staying dehydrated – often people fly to very warm places which can be really enjoyable but it’s important to keep kids topped up with water frequently
- Plan ahead – make sure that you've got everything you need but bear in mind restrictions will be in place such as these taken from Baby Centre:
That
means you can take what you need for the journey in your hand luggage.
This
includes:
·
expressed
breastmilk, formula, or cow’s milk
·
boiled water to make
a feed (must be in a baby bottle)
·
baby food, including
finger foods
Extra reading around the essential baby travel items:
http://www.mumsnet.com/travel/surviving-family-holidays
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/a7157/travelling-with-a-newborn-to-eight-month-old
http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2012/07/11/taking-your-baby-on-holiday-advice-and-information/
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