As you can imagine, traveling for the first time with a baby, is overwhelming. Everyone always tells you this age is hard or this age is easy. Well for a soon-to-be 7 month old, it was a complete toss up.
So this is part 1 of my survival guide because something tells me by August, at 11 months old, I will be telling a totally different story.
1) Time Differences. You probably don't want to go somewhere for a few days that will completely throw off your baby's schedule. The island we visited in the Maldives was 2 hours ahead of Dubai. So it was easy to keep Riya on Dubai schedule. I even got excited at the thought of actually being able to go to dinner since her last feed wouldn't be until 8pm. That part was great, but I didn't factor in having to take turns eating breakfast while she slept till 9am. Every morning the cafe would ask, "just you, by yourself for breakfast?" Yes dammit. My baby is sleeping and my husband is watching her. Shut up already.
2) Stock up! Even if your baby has gone weeks without an explosive diaper or vomiting session, that streak is sure to break on vacation. So packing 2 daytime outfits plus PJ's was a must, and then some. Of course laundry was still a necessity but if you find yourself on a plane with a code brown situation, not much else you can do but throw the clothes away. Oh, and maybe don't have the baby travel in some of your fav outfits in case you have to part with them. I didn't think about that :/
3) Along the same lines as above, pack extra clothing for yourself! Let's be honest, any time a baby soils themselves, the lap bearer suffers too.
4) Distraction, distraction, distraction. Ram and I decided we don't want to expose Riya to TV/IPads for as long as possible. But agreed that we would break this rule when we travel, especially on that 15 hour flight to Houston (blech). So I downloaded a few apps on the iPad in case of emergency and had toddler songs ready to go on my iphone. Thankfully, I didn't have to resort to any of this. Riya was perfectly content with me cradling her and passing her back and forth between Ram and I. Bringing a small mirror is a must so you can play the "who's that baby?" game. It never gets old!
5) On the go essentials. A carrier was a must. Now that Riya has a time limit as to how long she will spend in her stroller (ugh, babies!), it's easy to give her a change of scenery, while allowing you to stay mobile, with the carrier. We love our Baby Bjorn carrier because it allows her to face inwards or outwards, and it's good from birth to 12 months. She loves the forward facing view now that she's older. Also, if you're going to a warm climate or have a baby that overheats in general, a stroller fan is another must have. They are kinda puny, but it's better than nothing. We use ours daily here in the desert.
6) Playthings. It was vital that we had at least a playmat that we could put Riya on so she could play and amuse herself for small pieces of time while we got other stuff done. And to bring some familiar toys. Luckily Riya doesn't play favorites with her toys, but I made sure not to bring anything that wasn't easily replaceable. So all my coveted US items stayed safely in Dubai.
7) And baby makes 3. We ended up booking a one bedroom villa. Even though Riya is not a light sleeper, it still made me nervous to share a room. We've never had her in our room nor do we co-sleep. We had a good experience but not sure I would do it again. Even though Riya slept fine, every creek and peep made me paranoid and I kept looking over to see if she was still sleeping. Sharing a room is especially hard since babies have early bedtimes and it's lights out after 7pm. So if you can have some separation, it's probably a good thing, especially so you can enjoy that glass of wine :)
8) Divide and conquer. My friend Laine suggested that Ram and I divide the tasks to make things easier on travel day. This was excellent advice. Knowing what each of us were responsible for in advance made travel day go very smoothly. And I was shocked when Emirates allowed our rear facing car seat on the plane and fastened it in forward facing. I guess their flight attendants don't know the difference and I wasn't going to correct them :p
6) Playthings. It was vital that we had at least a playmat that we could put Riya on so she could play and amuse herself for small pieces of time while we got other stuff done. And to bring some familiar toys. Luckily Riya doesn't play favorites with her toys, but I made sure not to bring anything that wasn't easily replaceable. So all my coveted US items stayed safely in Dubai.
7) And baby makes 3. We ended up booking a one bedroom villa. Even though Riya is not a light sleeper, it still made me nervous to share a room. We've never had her in our room nor do we co-sleep. We had a good experience but not sure I would do it again. Even though Riya slept fine, every creek and peep made me paranoid and I kept looking over to see if she was still sleeping. Sharing a room is especially hard since babies have early bedtimes and it's lights out after 7pm. So if you can have some separation, it's probably a good thing, especially so you can enjoy that glass of wine :)
8) Divide and conquer. My friend Laine suggested that Ram and I divide the tasks to make things easier on travel day. This was excellent advice. Knowing what each of us were responsible for in advance made travel day go very smoothly. And I was shocked when Emirates allowed our rear facing car seat on the plane and fastened it in forward facing. I guess their flight attendants don't know the difference and I wasn't going to correct them :p
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