Have Baby, will travel! The story of our life :)
Hubby & I love to travel and explore new places. We hadn’t travelled in a while since my doctor didn't allow me to travel while I was expecting and then we were to busy with adjusting to our new life. Hence we were itching to travel.
However we had our concerns around how we would manage travel to an international destination with our 11 month old baby. We realised that if you plan well, travelling with babies can actually be fun since it would involve so many firsts for your little one giving you the opportunity to catch their priceless reactions for when they see the sea and sand for the first time or try some new food.
A few things that we did helped us manage travel with our toddler during our recent trip to Thailand were as follows:
- Plan your trip well: When travelling with a baby, don’t pack your itinerary with too many things to do or see. Space things out because babies don’t understand the concept of “hurry up”. They do things at their own pace. When you land in a new city, give yourself some time to freshen up and settle the baby before you set out sight seeing. On our trip to Thailand, we landed in Bangkok in the morning. Ideally we would have liked to fly out of Bangkok the same day to get an additional day in Krabi but we chose to spend a day in Bangkok to ensure things didn't get too hectic. While planning transit flights between destinations choose timings that are easy to manage with the baby.
- Carry baby essentials: I highly recommend you carry essentials like baby food, some of their favourite toys or any other things your baby is fussy about. I know of a couple who forgot to carry their daughter’s potty seat to Europe and the child just refused to go without it. The parent’s went hunting for a potty seat to tide over the crisis. So think about the things that your child can’t do without and carry those with you. I also carried with me some baby sunscreen since we were going to spend a lot of time on the beach, swimming diapers and mosquito repellant.
- Baby Food: My son had begun to eat solids when we travelled, however I carried Cerelac for him for times when he was fussy. I also carried ample formula. We would stock up on fresh fruits wherever we went and most restaurants obliged us with special meals for the baby like vegetable fried rice. We fed him oats/ pancakes/ waffles or Conjee (thai rice porridge) along with some fruits for breakfast. We steered clear of sea food and non veg during the trip for him to avoid any unfavourable reaction.
- Sterilising baby bottles: We carried with us some liquid dish washing soap and a travel kettle for boiling water. Thoroughly clean the sink with warm water and soap. Then we would wash the bottles with soap and warm water in the sink. Then swish the bottles with some boiled water and leave the nipples and the bottle lids in boiled water for 5-10 minutes.
- Do your research when finalising a destination: when we were planning our trip we did a lot of research to ensure that the properties were stayed in were baby friendly. Reviews from other parents helped us make an informed choice about where to stay. The research also helped us plan things to carry. For instance we realised that in Bangkok, it may not be such a good idea to carry our Chicco Cortina stroller since a lot of places we would have to carry it up stairs or narrow passages. Hence we took along Mee mee travel stroller which was compact and easy to carry.
- Should you carry a stroller? I would highly recommend one even if your child is fussy about sitting in one it comes in handy if the child wants to sleep or catch a nap. I would also recommend you carry a good baby wearing device like a Boba or a soul sling as it makes the task of carrying the baby very easy. For places like Chinatown in Bangkok where it is impossible to take a stroller I wore my son in the Boba for at least 3-4 hours.
- Do not stress over routine, go with the flow and have fun: when holidaying with babies things don’t always go as per plan, accept that and your holiday would be more fun.
- Don’t forget to click a lot of pictures, these are memories for a lifetime
If you are planning travel to Thailand with your toddler a few things to keep in mind
- Thai people love babies. Right from immigration to restaurants and hotels, babies are treated like VIPs. However the flip side is that they would want to hold the baby or pinch their cheeks. So don’t get bothered if they try and get friendly with your child.
- Request the hotel for special preparations in terms of food for the baby, baby cot and fresh fruits. Most of them will oblige
- If you are going for visa on arrival, that usually takes some time so be prepared to wait. Carry some food or formula for the baby to make the wait time peaceful.
- Carry Mosquito repellents with you
- Don’t carry a very bulky stroller as you may have to lift it a number of times. I would highly recommend baby wearing in Thailand.