Thankfully, with careful thought it doesn’t have to be stressful. Here are some top tips on how to avoid the common pitfalls of holidaying with a baby.
Wendy Shand, mum of three and founder of multi award winning baby friendly villa specialist, www.totstotravel.co.uk is a firm believer that the key to stress-free holidays with babies and children is a question of careful thought and preparation!
Here she shares her secrets of successful family holidays…and is offering a Free NCT Holiday Planner Pack.
Booking a family holiday can be stressful, downright hard work and it’s easy to get it wrong. Sometimes it can even be unsafe …. And I speak from experience. When my son was 2 he fell into an unenclosed swimming pool. We pulled him out and he was fine, but it could easily have been worse.
Remember you may want to feed your baby at odd hours, warm up milk or put your baby down for a nap in the day time and I found that hotel rooms were limiting. A villa or cottage gives you much more flexibility to maintain your baby’s routine and allow you to have some down time in the evenings. You can put baby to bed at 7pm and enjoy a relaxing evening without having to arrange a babysitter or be confined to your hotel balcony for the evening!
This one’s close to my heart. Once your baby starts to move they become turbo powered. Choose accommodation that has a pool barrier, not just an alarm. And whilst your baby may not be on the move when you book your holiday, think ahead as by the time your holiday comes around baby could also be on the go…
You’ll need a long list of baby friendly kit to ensure life is as easy as possible whilst you’re away from home. Look for accommodation that provides everything you’ll need – and that’s more than just a cot and a highchair. If you want your baby to nap in the day, or go to bed at 7pm then you’ll need black out blinds. If you’re at the weaning stage a food blender will be really useful and a steriliser for bottles is essential. At Tots we have a list of over 20 items that are guaranteed at every villa which includes all of these items and more. It means that you can travel light and you won’t have to make do without the things that you’re used to having at home to make life easier. Our free holiday planner pack provides a list of all the kit you’ll need and the details of Tots Essential Kit Guarantee.
If you want to introduce your baby to swimming or want to avoid intense heat then do check out the average weather temperatures. It’s also useful to know where you can head to at different times of the year. You’ll find a list in our Free Holiday Planner Pack as below.
I ended up with scribbled notes on bits of paper everywhere. Not very helpful! So I’ve compiled a series of tick lists of what to pack so that I don’t forget anything. You’ll find this packing tick list in our Holiday Planner Pack – it will really help you to get organised. Relax and enjoy the journey!
And a relaxing journey is all about being well organised which is why we’ve put together our Free Holiday Planner Pack – jam packed full of great advice, top tips from mums and travel tick lists so you don’t forget a thing.
Take the stress out of planning a holiday with a baby.
To claim your FREE Holiday Planner Pack, click this link www.totstotravel.co.uk/nct-planner-pack and we’ll email a download link to the pack straight away.
