Hi ladies

i knwo that quite a few of us have booked sumemr jollies and thought I'd see how all your plans are going.

I booked a week in Croatia during August for me, hubby and Mitchell last week - I was soo excited but now the worry seeds have started to spurt.

The flight/travelling there doesn't bother me so much - probably because I fly so much with my job I just don't see it as that big a deal and I've checked with manchester airport that baby milk is excluded from the 100ml liquid limit but I'm wondering the following:

1. Mitchell's down to 2 bottles a day now but has formula with his breakfasts so should I take a full tin of formula or am I better off just putting some in pre-sterilised food bags.

2. What do people do about sterilising bottles on holiday? Mitchell will be 9months so will he be okay if I just immerse his bottles in boiling water?

3. What about making up bottles in the hotel room, a lot of European hotels are not allowed to have kettles in the rooms due to health & safety implications so do people just take a travel kettle.

4. I think using bottled water is fine over there but I just have to check the mineral content - has anyone else heard that too?

5. Food - we're going all inclusive and by the time we go Mitchell will be 9 months so I was sort of hoping that they'll be food there he can eat even if it has to be mashed up, but was maybe going to take his baby cereals and a few pots too - what does everyone else plan on doing?

6. Routine - MItchell's in a really good routine at home but I want us all to really enjoy our holiday so I'm sort of thinking that I shouldn't be too strict with keeping to the routine whilst we're away - is everyone else the same?

I'm sure that there are loads of otehr little things keeping me awake at night but mush brain has returned and I can't quite think of them at the moment.#

Anyway, looking forward to hearing what the rest of you plan on doing whilst on hols.

x

HUn I'm not much help coz the thought of traveling with a baby & toddler horrifies me so I'm avoiding it til they get bigger. You are right about bottled water that you have to check the mineral levels & the sodium level in particular.

As far as bottles & sterilising goes have thought about getting some steri bottles. I think you can get them from boots & mothercare. You just use them & then dispose of them once you have used them

I dont think theres any harm in becoming a bit more relaxed with routine while on holiday. I know we are planning a few days out over the summer so routine will most likely be out the window those days. As long as they are fed & can get a wee sleep when they need it they should be fine. With Amy I found that after 6months she could be more flexible in her routine without it upsetting her at night. I would just try to stick to feed times & bed times & you should be fine. If you are heading out in the evening I would just slip him into his pyjamas before you go so that if he falls asleep in his buggy, which he most likely will, it means you can transfer him to his bed without disturbing him too much.

I hope you all have a lovely holiday xx

Hi Vicki i cant help with the going abroad as we are going to wales but i think i will try to keep a loose routine going like putting lo down an hour later for bed time.i think it will be fine just to put bottles in boiling water.i would take a travel kettle with you. i think thats all i can help with
take care
Lin:)

Hi vicki we are going to portugal in october for 2 weeks with my best friends and there baby who is 8 weeks younger than harry.
i am planning on buying the sachets of milk powder as they will go easier in the suitcase and as for bottles i will take 3/4 with me and today on boots i saw these sterlising bags. you jsut fill in up with water out of the tap (says ok for foreign water but will prob boil still) and they hold one bottle and stay sterile for 24 hours but have to be in the bag at least 3 hours. they were £4.99 for 7 days worth.

i would take a travel kettle with you as i have stayed all inclusive and there hasnt been anything in room. we are going to a villa so its fully equipped.
as to food i am hoping harry might be eating a bit better by then and will jsut eat what we are!! but if not ill take some powder food as again it will pack easily.
hope this helps!!

Hi Rach

Thanks - will have a look on boots for the steri bags - where do you get powder sachets from? I could normally reel off the whole content of the baby shelves at Tesco off by heart as all I seem to do is stand there reading labels these days but can't recall ever seeing sachets - unless I just haven't taken any notice cause I'm settled with his milk.
x

i have seen them in boots and i think it was asda. but then again depends what milk u use but if no sachets then as u say put the powder in sterile bags. or even ask in mothercare as i would have thought they would or could get hold of them.

oh as to routine i think ours will go out the window (what little routine we have!!) i am just not bothering about it and worrying myself as im holiday so i plan to enjoy myelf and if that means going out for an evening meal until 10-11 then so be it, harry can sleep in hi pushchair if he is tired!! like hiliary said i would get him ready for bed before we go out.

I use to sterilise the twins bottles until they were 12 months but I know a lot of people stop sterilising at 9 months so I would think it would be ok to just use boiled water x

I am going to California for 2 weeks on 1st July. We are going to take 2 tins of formula with us and I'm not going to bother sterilising the bottles - I will just make sure I wash them thoroughly in hot soapy water although I may look into these bags from Boots. I did see them in there the other day. Regarding routines, I think it is gonna be a nightmare as they are 7 hours behind too so Sky's routine will be completely out of the window - hopefully she will settle into it soon though x

I'm not going until the end of October by which time Rory will be nearly 1 and so I plan to have stopped sterilising by then. If you google 'where to buy ....... in .......' and insert whatever it is you might want and the name of your resort, you'll probably find several people have listed where you can get e.g. baby milk, nappies etc There are also sites that you can enter questions like 'can you buy c&g follow on in Costa Teguise' and either people who have holidayed there or ex pats will answer and let you know where and what you can buy - often the same brand you use is available, just under a different name.

Not sure how much sense that all made as I'm typing in a hurry - but hope it was some help!

Gill x

Hi there, hope your holiday plans are going well....

We're just back from 2 weeks in Portugal so I'll tell you how we got on...Oakley was 7.5 months when we went - now 8 months.

I took 3 bottles and 2 cups of juice on the plane. Each bottle had 7oz water in and I had power separate in a dispenser - this was fine. Apparently the 100ml rule does not apply to baby liquids...although I did have to taste all bottles and juice...including the dregs at the bottom of a bottle he had had when we arrived at the airport- YUCK!!!

Oakley was fab on the plane and was no bother at all.. the girls on the other hand were fighting over granny!

Oakley was down to 2 7ox bottles before we left and some days he would take th odd 5oz bottle during the day....on holiday though he upped to 4 7oz bottles and took very little solids - probably due to the heat. We managed to get him to eat yoghurts, bananas and bits and pieces of what we were having but not much else. He slept loads - probably again due to the heat. We had only packed one carton of his follow milk with us and it was gone in less thana week so had the nightmare of trying to find baby milk....managed to find a supermarket that stocked Aptamil but they only did stage 1 and stage 2 for hungry babys - no follow on - and they 3 kinds of both so 6 to choose from. The one we shoose he hated!!! So we had a 2 day nightmare of him screaming all the time and not taking anything! Finally bought a tub of Nestle bay milf for 4-6 months and he loved it! (It cost nearly £15 though!!! Wipes were £3 at the cheapest and nappies were dear too so pack loads of them - we didnt!

We were fortunate that we were in a villa so had all mod cons. I dont sterilise Oakleys bottles at home so didnt plan on doing it on hol - we had a dishwasher and just used them fresh from that. I still used cooled boiled water as HV said to use bottled water as long as it wasnt bottled mineral water (bad mother we just used whateever we had and it didnt do him any harm).

I think if you pack a travel kettle you'll be fine, also you could pack a large plastic tub with a lide (like a large sandwich box) and some cold water sterilising tablets if you still want to sterilise.

I think you'll be fine - so will Mitchell. I was so worried about it before going. We even managed to do a huge car journey when there as we travelled north to Fatima which took 6 hours there and 4 hours home (got lost on the way!) and Oakley and the girls managed fine even although it reached 38 degrees!