Advice needed for taking a baby abroad

[Sage]

we are thinking of a family holiday this year in july and Kyran will be roughly 6months by then. obviuosly him being my first, ive never taken a baby on holiday so theres a few queries i have......

babies have to have their own passports now dont they? they cant go on the mothers?

are you allowed to bring formula milk into the airport? im assuming that since they get funny about a tube of mascara then bringing a made-up bottle wont be allowed?

Do you have to buy forumla in the airports? Im slightly worried about feeding him on hols ive never checked supermarket baby ilse abroad before?! Can you bring jars with you?

basically are there any things that i need to know or any useful advice for taking a little one on holiday. any airport or plane rules? and holidaying in general? all i no so far is that kyran is prob guna need a bigger suitcase than me!!

 

[Rachael]

Hiya

Yes, Kyran will need his own passport. They cost about £45 now. Which is extortionate considering two years ago they were £27.50!

Depening on which airport you are flying from, some have relaxed their rules on taking liquids onto the plane. So the best thing to do would be check with the airline on what rules they apply. But you can take fluids that are still sealed, so you could take a carton of unopened formula milk and a bottle without any problems.
Some airports have boots so yes, you could get the formula cartons from some, but its something you would need to check.

You can quite easily buy baby food and milk abroad, as the have babies too! - The difficulty will be in finding what you want when labels will be in another language.

-Basically, wherever you plumb for, just check with your booking agent or travel company, especially on things like luggage allowance and seating for baby on the plain, as airlines differ in their policies.

Hope you have a great holiday!

 

[Sage]

Thanks for that. £45! thats crazy!!!

i forgot to mention he has comfort milk? and unfortunately that doesnt come in cartons.

 

[Rachael]

Mmmm not sure on your milk options as i'm not up to speed with formula milk, but it may be that if he's over 6 months by the time you go away he will have a carton of follow on milk happily.

Cool name by the way lol

 

[Sage]

yes thats a good point. Im sure a carton of follow-on milk wont hurt in the airport....id be able to take a box of his formula milk in a suitcase though wouldnt i for the rest of the holiday?

Ha! of course! Best name ever! 8)

 

[tuck]

depending where you are going i would suggest that you take your own formula as you may not be able to get your preferred formula. i can only advise about corfu and jar and dried baby food is almost impossible to get. a mosquito net for the pushchair/cot is a must as it also keeps off insects during the day if baby falls asleep.
sure you'll have a great time

 

[Foxxi]

Hiya

Fynn has been abroad 3 times now.. his first holiday was when he was 9 weeks old to Lanzarote at xmas.

As already stated the passport is £45.oo.. it lasts for 5 years (which is ridiculous due to them changing so much)

You can take baby jars/boxes/tins of baby milk in your suitcase.

Also, if you make up bottles of milk before you go, you can put them in your hand luggage but when going thru customs they will ask you to taste them.. so you just need to dip a finger in and taste each one.. the same goes for jars if you wanted to take them in your hand luggage for babies flight.

I would check with were you are staying to see if they supply a cot.. The first time we went away I took a travel cot

this one

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/p ... EL+COT.htm

Its really like and so easy to put up... but the other twice I went away.. the hotels supplied them and they where immaculate. If they do supply a cot for you.. I would take a thin cot sheet with you (im a bit funny about things like that, baby sleeping on someone elses sheets).

I would take a mozzy net with you.. fortunately I havent needed one before.. but im going to Tenerife in 2 weeks, so am deffo gonna get one for his pram.

I strongly recommed that you try and work babies feeds out, so he has a bottle on take off and if possible landing.. as their ears will pop and him sucking on his bottle will help to avoid this. Everytime we have taking Fynn on holiday he has slept the full length of the plane journeys!

Take a parasol or the hood of your pram.. I found the parasol was crap.. I had to keep changing it from side to side depending what side of the road we walked on..it was a right pain in the arse.. so we just take the hood off the pram with us now.. its loads better!

Cant think of anything else... Oh take a cap for him.. I always seem to forget this and have to end up buying one wherever we go. I would take some 'little swimmer' nappies too, incase he goes in the pool.

you really dont need to take as much as what you think away with you for baby... The first 2 times we went away I overpacked for him.. now I dont take half as much.. becareful tho, you dont get any luggage allowance for baby.. so his stuff need to combine in with the weight of your own luggage.. depending of who you fly with, the luggage allowence for each person (excluding baby) is 15-20kg.. check with your airline or on your tickets.. if its any over.. they normally charge about 6 quid per kilo in the airport.. this applies for the home journey too.

Hope I havent gone on too much and this has helped you.

Have Fun wherever you go..... where is it you're going too?

 

[Nicola]

Just to say also, I took me LO on holiday aged 5.5 months. I flew from Gatwick and had to clear security with empty baby bottles - you can pack anything in the suitcase, i.e. jars of food, formula etc, but not in the hand luggage. Once we cleared security we bought a carton of ready to drink milk for the flight and a jar of food/yogurt also. We were able to board the plane with that in our hand luggage. When we arrived (we went to the Canaries after being advised against India) the supermarkets did have nappies and some jars we recognised, some Hipp and Heinz, the others were Spanish brands but they had NO milk that I've ever seen here, it was a Nestle branded milk but no idea, plus I couldn't read the instructions etc. I was so relieved I took my own milk although I know next time I'd not bother with nappies, food or wipes etc (apart from hand luggage needed nappies etc) as they are readily avaliable there. Just before LO was 7 months we had a week in Egypt - they had NOTHING at all so check where your going and feel free to pack powdered milk etc in the suitcase, you'll only then pehaps need something different at the airport.

That said on my return home I was allowed to clear security with ANYTHING that was for the baby, I had 2 bottles of milk and 2 ready made cartons in my hand luggage - these I was allowed on the plane but they made a song and dance finding a body spray in there!! The spray got confiscated (no big deal) but I was able to take the babies milk etc.

Any questions I can help with just ask....

 

[X5OT]

Can I just ask quickly about car seats? We are planning on going to Turkey or Greece in August time. There is a coach transfer from the airport to the hotel (about 2 hrs) - I rang the holiday compnay and asked about car seats. They do not provide one and said that babies usually just sit on their parent's lap. Jenna will be about 9 months old. We are not happy for her to travel this way - do not feel it is safe at all! Can understand it on a plane and fine with that, but not on a coach. Other option is we arrange a private car transfer and take our car seat with us.

Has anyone else taken their car seats?

 

[Urchin]

You can check in car seats and buggies in with your suitcases... or you can keep the buggy with you till right at the last minute and hand it over as you board
I would take your own car seat anyway cos even if they did provide one it would be old and second hand etc and you dunno where it's been.

 

[Nicola]

You can take a car seat and pram onto the plane with you which isn't part of your baggage allownace. We took ours to the Canary Islands as we knew we'd hire a car. For the same reasons as you we had a private taxi transfer to the hotel and back to the airport, paid an extra £30 for it but saftey etc it put my mind at rest. Also when we hired the car out there they offered us a car seat....OMG they were DISGUSTING, no word of a lie they were thick with dirt, you could just about tell they used to be red or blue with patterns etc on them but they just looked dingy and grey and there would have been no chance in the world I'd have put my baby in them - so yes, take your own, your perfectly within your rights to do so on the plane etc (you will perhaps be asked to check in either the pram or car seat with the suitcases though - only taking either/or onto the actual plane cabin) but seeing the ones they had to offer, ohh I'd have had kittens if we'd not taken our own!!

 

[Sage]

Thanks for all the replies...

We're going to tenerife, Playa de las Americas. we picked there mainly coz we thougth it being such a tourist area they're bound to provide things for babies? i hope!

We'll be flying from cardiff and im hoping they'll let me bring a small amount of powder in to the airport to make his milk up. If not i guess i'll have to get a carton but i really dont wanna use different milk. Lol the last thing somebody wants on a plane journey is a screaming baby with colic next to them!! Im hoping he'll be more into his food by then, but i wasnt planning on weaning him till 6months so we'll have to see on that.

I might buy a cheaper pushchair just for the holiday. I dont like the thought of taking his incase it gets damaged or lost.

Has anyone taken a baby on here to Playa de las Americas and know what its like for buying baby products?

 

[Oliversmummy]

You can order baby food, milk, nappies etc from Little Logistics. You can also order disposable pre sterilised bottles. We've found it makes our holiday loads more relaxing and helps us keep within the luggage allowance. If you need milk for the flight you can pre order from Boots and then collect once you have gone through security.