When to start traveling with a baby/child?

[taemo]

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This forum is something else. Guy asks about travelling with a baby/kid. All the parents blow rainbows and sunshine up his ass about how great and easy it is. Guy goes on trip and has the a-typical baby travelling experience. Everyone says he should "manage expectations better". Maybe he would've managed his expectations better if everyone hadn't lied to him in the first place. lol.

I always wonder if this is a malicious thing that parents do? They tell everyone how amazing it all is to dupe would be parents, because misery loves company. Or do they just flat out have terrible memory and forget all the downsides that come with the good times?

point is as a parent your schedule will be based on your baby's routine and you don't change it just because you're on vacation.
a baby will need a nap after every couple of hours, they will not magically stay awake for a whole 6-12 hours just because you're on a different place.

on our vacations, we made sure that we could go or do something for a couple of hours and either go back to the hotel for her nap or she slept in the car or even in a public bus in Mexico.

of course mileage of each parents will vary.

also when we introduced the beach and sand to our toddler (she was 11months old and walking), she was at first scared and didn't like the texture of sand.
not going to hold a grudge on her just because she doesn't like sand because she doesn't know what it is.
after she saw another toddler running around in the sand she started not being afraid of the sand and started walking on it.

[dirtsniffer]

our 16 month old just went to one nap a day. We have a lot more freedom to get out now. I think it would be easier to travel vs the 2 naps

[Manhattan]

To be fair it wasn't just posts here that led to having slightly elevated expectations or optimism. Social media is full of young couples traveling with their babies on way more adventurous trips to Europe, Asia and beyond. Just like everything else with social media it really skews your perception of what things are really like and displays only the positive side. To travel on an extravagant or exotic trip with the little one just doesn't seem to be worth it. Vacations are expensive and probably our biggest discretionary purchase throughout the year and to me it's not really worth it if we're only going to spend 2 or 3 hrs each day exploring.

[rage2]

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This forum is something else. Guy asks about travelling with a baby/kid. All the parents blow rainbows and sunshine up his ass about how great and easy it is. Guy goes on trip and has the a-typical baby travelling experience. Everyone says he should "manage expectations better". Maybe he would've managed his expectations better if everyone hadn't lied to him in the first place. lol.

I always wonder if this is a malicious thing that parents do? They tell everyone how amazing it all is to dupe would be parents, because misery loves company. Or do they just flat out have terrible memory and forget all the downsides that come with the good times?

Did you not read the thread or something? I just re read it and there’s no blowing rainbows. Everyone talked about what age is easiest, you can’t vacation like without kids, kids can’t appreciate it till 9 anyways, and they need their sleep. Literally his entire unrealistic expectation was warned by the posts in this thread.

Edit - this post probably comes closest to rainbows and sunshine:

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Just go and stop overthinking. The kid will sleep when they're tired, I've found both of my kids adapt fairly easily to time zones. I don't think there was much freedom lost. Pack the kid up, bring a stroller.
I was back and forth to Europe with my daughter about 15 times before she was 2 years old (now 11), and my now 3 year old is well traveled also.

The worst experience was the first class 'pod' seats when she my daughter was 2. There were WAY too many buttons for her to push and she refused to sleep on the plane. haha.

While benyl lays down the reality.

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Just re-read you OP. Here are my suggestions. The funny thing is that we don't always follow them. haha.

1. Take the first day to settle into your new digs. Don't plan anything on your first day. Kids will be jet lagged, even if there is no time change. We make this mistake all the time and plan Disney or something else and we always regret it. Just chill in and around the hotel, get supplies like diapers that you didn't bring. Enjoy meals. When we do manage to do it, it makes the trips so much better.
2. Plan your activities around naps and don't be afraid to do shit alone. If going to an amusement park, take advantage of parent swap.
3. Make sure you stick to the feeding schedule. We fuck this up all the time. We get busy trying to get somewhere, kids get hungry and leads to hangry.
4. Plan for settle down time at the end of the day and always have something that you can catch up with when the kids go to sleep.
5. If possible, stay on home time. This does wonders when you come back. When we do to Orlando, we get up late and stay up late. Hawaii, we are up at 4am, and sleep at 6pm. haha. Shit starts early there anyway.

Our kids have travelled more in the first 4 years of their lives than I did in the first 20 of mine.

When my son was 5, we hiked Diamond head while I had his 1 year old sister in the carry all. You can do what ever you want with kids, but you just need to follow some rules. The rules just makes things easier.

I am not saying my rules are the right ones, but they work for our kids. You will figure it out.

I swear all you fuckers do is read the thread title and last post.

[Misterman]

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To be fair it wasn't just posts here that led to having slightly elevated expectations or optimism. Social media is full of young couples traveling with their babies on way more adventurous trips to Europe, Asia and beyond. Just like everything else with social media it really skews your perception of what things are really like and displays only the positive side. To travel on an extravagant or exotic trip with the little one just doesn't seem to be worth it. Vacations are expensive and probably our biggest discretionary purchase throughout the year and to me it's not really worth it if we're only going to spend 2 or 3 hrs each day exploring.

Even just people you talk to in your daily life give the same sort of false optimisms I've found. I feel like perhaps they feel guilty to tell the truth, which is that their kids hold them back a lot. Virtually everyone I know with kids will say some version of how travelling with kids is zero issue at all. They just sleep in the stroller if they're tired and nothing changes.

Oh well though, I'm sure you still got some sort of value from the trip. And you learned what it's really like, so you can adjust accordingly next time. For us I am thinking we will bring the MIL on a lot of trips with us, just so we have someone to watch the kid while we get a bit of time to ourselves.

[Swank]

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I always wonder if this is a malicious thing that parents do? They tell everyone how amazing it all is to dupe would be parents, because misery loves company.

Some absolutely do, my wife gets it all the time at work from the young mothers. They will bitch a whine about how much they just want to have 3 minutes to shit in peace and then almost in the same breath tell her to have kids cuz they're so amazing. Some of the older women who are done with kids will ask my wife what she did on the weekend in front of the young angry moms, and when they hear all the "whatever the fuck we wanted" stuff we did, they'll storm away. Seems like a woman thing though, my buddies with kids don't act like that

[revelations]

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Unless you have someone with you who can bottle/feed while you go out and about, its not going to be a 'vacation' in any of the typical sense.

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All the parents blow rainbows and sunshine up his ass about how great and easy it is.

No, not all the parents blow sunshine.

[Misterman]

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No, not all the parents blow sunshine.

Obvious hyperbole is obvious.

But thanks for being one of the few that tell it how it is.

[Abigale]

I guess it depends what area you are choosing and how you are packing bag for your kid, one year is also fine to travel with baby if you are taking good care.

[Buster]

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Even just people you talk to in your daily life give the same sort of false optimisms I've found. I feel like perhaps they feel guilty to tell the truth, which is that their kids hold them back a lot. Virtually everyone I know with kids will say some version of how travelling with kids is zero issue at all. They just sleep in the stroller if they're tired and nothing changes.

Oh well though, I'm sure you still got some sort of value from the trip. And you learned what it's really like, so you can adjust accordingly next time. For us I am thinking we will bring the MIL on a lot of trips with us, just so we have someone to watch the kid while we get a bit of time to ourselves.

Do you have kids?

[speedog]

Been a parent for 27+ years now and I will say there is no one right way to do things with respect to raising a family and doing things/go places with said family.

But anyone who says that travelling with kids is no more difficult than travelling without kids is absolutely kidding themselves. Even the simple act of packing a baby bucket on to a plane had already increased their workload and impacted their trip - when my wife and I were/are without kids it is much, much easier to go somewhere or do something.

Kids, they add complexity to your life but at the same time they'll bring memorable experiences into your life that can be absolutely incredible.

Even as older parents it is still quite the experience as our mature children are adulting, we get taken places now and I don't even necessarily have to drive all the time.

[The Cosworth]

Edit: So either non-parents or early parents tell you (or judge) about how you shouldn't change your life. Which is true, you CAN do anything, but you don't WANT to after a bit. We've traveled a lot with my daughter (3 US destinations, all over BC, Sask lots, down east) and sometimes it was easy and sometimes hard. Worst I always found was end of the day, kid is sleeping by 7-8pm. You can't leave (well both anyways) so you're watching TV or chilling on the patio of your hotel or condo. With 2, the times you can get out or be alone is even less at this point. Camping in our trailer and going to Penticton to be with family is great. Only complication is travel. The wife and I really want to go back to Mexico but the idea of 2 kids (3 and 1) doesn't work well. After 20 minutes on the beach the one would need entertainment, the infant would need cool off times, we'd be stuck in the room a fair amount I'd feel. Probably save those trips for later.

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7 weeks. I'd say it's easier to vacation with a newborn than a toddler. Newborns just sleep most of the time.

+1. Infants can sleep in their car seat, even later in the evening so you can go out for a normal dinner. Once kids (toddlers) start napping it becomes a lot less fun.

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IMO, you missed the best window for vacationing with a kid. 6 months. They can’t run away. They sleep a lot. It’s great.

18 months is the worst if you are cheap and don’t buy a confirmed seat for them.

Haha so true, we did 23.5 months with my daughter for the last hurrah on cheap seats to Hawaii. I wish I'd just bought the seat. LOL.

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Just re-read you OP. Here are my suggestions. The funny thing is that we don't always follow them. haha.

1. Take the first day to settle into your new digs. Don't plan anything on your first day. Kids will be jet lagged, even if there is no time change. We make this mistake all the time and plan Disney or something else and we always regret it. Just chill in and around the hotel, get supplies like diapers that you didn't bring. Enjoy meals. When we do manage to do it, it makes the trips so much better.
2. Plan your activities around naps and don't be afraid to do shit alone. If going to an amusement park, take advantage of parent swap.
3. Make sure you stick to the feeding schedule. We fuck this up all the time. We get busy trying to get somewhere, kids get hungry and leads to hangry.
4. Plan for settle down time at the end of the day and always have something that you can catch up with when the kids go to sleep.
5. If possible, stay on home time. This does wonders when you come back. When we do to Orlando, we get up late and stay up late. Hawaii, we are up at 4am, and sleep at 6pm. haha. Shit starts early there anyway.

Our kids have travelled more in the first 4 years of their lives than I did in the first 20 of mine.

When my son was 5, we hiked Diamond head while I had his 1 year old sister in the carry all. You can do what ever you want with kids, but you just need to follow some rules. The rules just makes things easier.

I am not saying my rules are the right ones, but they work for our kids. You will figure it out.

Almost 100% correct, everywhere we go, regardless if BC, Ottawa / Montreal, or Hawaii we were on Ab time. 4:30am wake ups in Hawaii was weird though.

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/gravol.

First time we did this, worked great. Second time, it was like I fed my kid a double americano from Starbucks. So strange and a terrible flight.

[ExtraSlow]

Yeah, lots of people do the Gravol thing, but it's not really reccomend for a few reasons. Same thing with Benadryl, which is also a strategy I've heard of.

[blitz]

Pick an all inclusive resort that has a kids club for 3+. Great balance of family time and relaxation.

[bjstare]

We've got another trip coming up in Feb, going to visit my parents in Hawaii this time. Our daughter has flown a few times now, but this will be the longest one. She'll be just under 2 when we go, and we've got her her own seat.

My question: for those of you that have gone on a long-ish flight with a ~2yo, did you just put them in the airplane seat, or strap in the carseat? I'm leaning towards putting the carseat in the plane (some familiarity for her), but interested in any other experiences.

[ExtraSlow]

I've done the carseat in the plane, and it's a hassle. Plus, not all carseats are "rated" for airplane use, whatever the hell that means. I'm not sold on the carseat being better or keeping the kid happier. Top tip is to bring lots of snacks. If that kid is poking back Cheerios for the entire flight, then they'll be much happier.

[bjstare]

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I've done the carseat in the plane, and it's a hassle. Plus, not all carseats are "rated" for airplane use, whatever the hell that means. I'm not sold on the carseat being better or keeping the kid happier. Top tip is to bring lots of snacks. If that kid is poking back Cheerios for the entire flight, then they'll be much happier.

Right. Ours is rated for airplane use. Maybe I should be more specific. The Hawaii-Vancouver flight on the way home is a red-eye (only option), so I'm trying to figure out which seat she'd be more comfortable sleeping in. She likes her own space, so laying down/sleeping on our laps might not work all that well, so I'm trying to picture her sleeping in an adult sized plane seat vs her car seat... does that change your answer at all? I don't plan on keeping her up all night feeding her snacks haha.

[ExtraSlow]

No idea. I haven't done an overnight flight with a kid.

[jwslam]

https://www.amazon.ca/Airplane-Infla...NsaWNrPXRydWU=
My friend with her 3yo said one of these fit well to extend the sleeping space... but then he slept on her lap anyways

[taemo]

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Right. Ours is rated for airplane use. Maybe I should be more specific. The Hawaii-Vancouver flight on the way home is a red-eye (only option), so I'm trying to figure out which seat she'd be more comfortable sleeping in. She likes her own space, so laying down/sleeping on our laps might not work all that well, so I'm trying to picture her sleeping in an adult sized plane seat vs her car seat... does that change your answer at all? I don't plan on keeping her up all night feeding her snacks haha.

Does your daughter sleep no problem in the car seat? Maybe bring it on the plane going to Hawaii and if it doesn't work, just have it checked on your return flight.
February is considered high season so maybe don't expect for empty rows.

Our daughter is 18 months and she's never slept on it except when she was very small (3-6 months old).
We have a 12 hour flight to the Philippines in December and didn't book her a seat since this will probably be her last free flight before she turns 2. But she can sleep in our arms no problem.