Best/easiest type of holiday with a baby?

summerday

Hello,

I'm due a baby in 9 weeks time, and wondering what type of holiday people would recommend with a 6 month old. It's our first baby.

The thought of taking all the extra stuff for a baby on a plane plus the possibility of it screaming during the whole flight and making all the other passengers put up with that with no escape puts us off flying completely.

A few ideas we have had are:

hiring a cottage in this country- at least this way we can do our own thing, no need to worry about the noise disturbing anyone etc.

hiring a narrowboat- I've never done this before, although DH has. I've no idea how physically easy/hard it would be getting a baby on and off the boat though, perhaps someone can let me know?

camping in a eurotent/mobile home in France- getting the eurotunnel/ferry somewhere not too long a drive away.

If anyone has any experience of these with a young baby or could recommend something different, I'd love to hear from you.

Not sure either if we should book now to take advantage of early booking discounts, or wait till nearer the time to see how baby is and whether a holiday seems more of a hassle than it's worth?

Many thanks

minerva_windsong

My family used to go to Cornwall every year but as my sisters and I grew up we stopped going due to it not being 'cool'. However, we started going again in 2007 when my eldest nephew was about nine months old, and it's been absolutely brilliant to the extent that we've been back every year since. So from my experience I would definitely go for the cottage in the UK route - if you go for somewhere by the sea then it's great for littlies as they normally seem quite happy splashing in pools and playing with sand (with supervision of course!). I think we booked it quite late on - nephew was born in September and I think we booked it not long after Christmas - but then we chose to go the week after the spring half term so it's a lot cheaper and quieter.

This is the company that we go with: http://www.cornishseaviewcottages.co.uk/ (based in North Cornwall so quieter than the south of the county but still a fair bit to do and lots of good beaches).

daveyjp

Small babies and flying is easy and you'll be surprised just how little you need to take. Nappy bag and pushchair with car seat is included - nappy bags hold enough nappies and wipes for a few days.

In addition we took one small holdall for our daughter's first flight and this included a travelcot and all clothes she required - in a warm country a few baby grows and T shirts which take up very little room. More nappies, a few bottles and some sterilising tablets in our bag and that's about it.

Babies very rarely scream for hours on end.

If you go in the UK you will end up taking a lot more because you can.

**Patty**

I agree with Davey ^^^

Our youngest was 19 days old the first time he flew. Took a sealed carton of milk & some boiled water in a bottle.

Soooo easy compared to flying with a 18-24 month old :eek:

Do it now OP, while you can. Before you're consigned to cottages/Haven/ Butlins for a few years:D

greenface

Firstly dont worry about you little one making a noise.Its ok babies do that often even the grumpy old moaning hag with a face like thunder used to cry as a baby honest. Make sure your comfortable and can pick and choose when you can relax and chill. I would plump for a cottage /caravan somewhere not too mad within easy reach of something that intersts you both as your little one will fit in just right . Good luck with your baby (christmas kids !! good job its your first)

tronski

We took our 6 month old on our honeymoon to Spain. It was a lot easier and more pleasureable then taking her on the long drive to a caravan in Devon when she was 15 months. I wouldn't cancel out flying just yet - we went somewhere that hired out travel cots and high chairs, so only needed to pack clothes, nappies (which we could have bought there), some toys and stroller. Made my own food for her there.

Spendless

With a 6 month old, I've done both a cottage and a mobile home in France. Cottage was prob better with plenty of space whereas mobile home, travel cot was too big to fit in our bedroom or the others, so baby's cot had to go in living area at night-time.

cazziebo

I agree with Patty - take your chance and travel now because it does get more difficult as they get older. Young babies are very transportable.

If you breastfeed, it's even easier and it does mean that you can just keep feeding during take off and landing when cabin pressure might hurt or confuse little ears. My observation is that babies often get crotchety on flights because parents are too quick to try to shush them - I'd much rather listen to a small baby crying than a whiny 7 (or 70!) year old.

My preference was always for self catering - easier to relax without being worried about noise, smoking, random people poking the kids when they're sleeping to tell them how gorgeous they are etc... Self catering you can make your own schedule, spread out a bit, cook to order. I did find France and Italy were great for taking babies when dining out. Even quite top notch restaurants were happy to have the stroller in the dining room.

Once they're walking and crawling, it's a whole different ball game...

alfieroux

First of all congratualtions and good luck!

Flying is no problem with a little one, they are more portable than you'd imagine. Just bear in mind the destination though - they're not great at sunbathing!:rotfl:. Anywhere too hot and we worry their overheating, too cold and we worry that they are freezing. We just got back from a holiday in Yorkshire and the temps at night have really dipped. Our 5 month old spent last night in bed with us using our body heat to keep her warm!

We took her camping this summer in the tent at 5 weeks old and she was a doddle. Breastfed babies in particular need nothing other than clean nappies. She slept on a changing mat in the room with us and if she woke, I fed her, she slept.

I'm not sure about babies, but check with the narrowboats that they accept children. Some only take children who are over 7 and competant swimmers. If they do allow babies, go now as we have another 7 years to wait for our youngest to get there and by then the oldest will be 14.

We tend to use self catering cottages so that you get the fridge and can have bedtime routines similar to at home (we thrive on our bedtime routine:)) I am more worried about noise etc in hotels and I find if I am worried about it, I jump as soon as they whimper, which prolongs the whole thing as the baby picks up immediatly on my anxiety.

Finally, bear in mind the journey - babies are meant to need a break from their car seats etc every two hours. No problem if flying but a pain if travelling the length of this country!

Hope some of this helps
Mrs Alfie

mirrorimage0

i have an 11 yr old a 9 yr old and a 2 week old. personally i fount it so much easier going abroad when they were babies than going in this country. like a previous poster said you end up taking more stuff just because you can.

we went to popular places ie in spain , lanzarote etc theres supermarkets where you can buy milk, nappies etc so dont have to take loads, just remeber sterilising tablets.

with our first baby it was great as he didnt like the sand or the fake grass round the pool area, so spent most of his time in two rubber dinghy type things, 1 with water for splashing about in and 1 dry with his toys to play in instead of crawling around in the sand getting sticky and dirty lol.

even now i find it more of an effort in this country as we end up taking so much.

babies dont bother me on a plane, most of us have been there and done it, i would recommend a shorter flight though so you dont get yourself worked up trying to keep them quite.

just remember suncream suncream suncream

fiddling_flower_petals

Mothercare used to do disposable steralising bags, which were great when we took DS(9 months) to Majorca; I'd also recommend a UV pop up tent, compact for case and great for trips to the beach.
Don't be put off fights with babies, you'd be surprised how well they behave.
I wouldn't hesitate to take 9 week old abroad; just make sure hotel is suitable for your needs.