Travelling With A Baby

I know of some people who don’t go on holiday with their baby because of things like – how will we make our baby’s food? How can we pack everything from home? What about water, etc.? I hear them out but I made a promise to myself that I will never get there.

So, we went on a holiday with the 10 month old without packing a morsel. Since he is still nursing, of course if he got hungry, a snack was always readily available. We didn’t do too much planning, as we’ve always been super adventurous and go with the flow on holidays.

The only thing we did do is stay at a child friendly resort instead of some random family run, adventurous place.

So still trying to be us as much as possible, hubby and me were on our way with the babbling babe. He was happy for the most part but we came back more drained than we did before the holiday.

Here are some things we learnt:

1. Some pre-planning is in order. While we tried to do a little planning here and there, there were times where we would have been better of with a plan. For example, we forgot to leave clear instructions for house keeping and our baby’s meal was cleared from our room. We got back to a devoid-of-baby-food room, and a super hungry baby. I cursed myself for being the worst mother in the world.
2. Changing baby’s routine requires backup plans. While we adhered to his routine almost 90% of the times, there were times where we were late in getting food to him or late in putting him for his nap or to bed. The minutes leading up to the meltdown were very charged because I was panicking and my husband was getting braced for some finger-pointing. So I would function less than efficiently knowing we were walking on thin ice, baby would feed off my panic and begin to wail, and hubby would be blamed for everything. I wasn’t as calm and cool as I thought.
3. Have a separate small bag handy for essentials. While his bib and napkins were abundant in his larger diaper bag, a smaller bag with just a few essentials would have helped avoid major messes in public. Because sometimes you cannot pre-empt when the bowl will get tossed or when mush will be on hair. So it’s better to keep everything within the range of your hand. ALL THE TIME.
4. Babies love variety. We let him eat almost the exact breakfast he eats at home like eggs and fruits at the breakfast buffet. Only difference was that here mom was not making his eggs but someone else was and he devoured everything that came his way because of the difference in taste.
5. Life changes after a baby. Yes I know it’s the most obvious thing. But the vacation was hard work; despite the idyllic setting, we could just click pictures of how relaxed the courtyard of our room looked but couldn’t enjoy the swinging day bed or lounge chairs. Room service was our lifeline, as the parents would curl up in a cozy corner for dinner after baby slept. My husband came back more tired as he discovered the demands of catering to baby all day (and night).

So tell me, what are your experiences in travelling with a baby? Do you get worked up? Or are you relaxed and go-with-the-flow? Thanks for reading!

Aloka Gambhir is a new mom (since October 2012). She is a fitness and nutrition enthusiast and a health and fitness blogger since 2011. She is a Mumbai mom following an alternative lifestyle called the paleo / primal or evolutionary lifestyle. She is passionate about helping fellow moms follow their instincts to a healthier lifestyle for themselves and their family by questioning the rules and conventional wisdom on her blog: www.wholesomemamma.in