Holidaying with a 13 month old - need some advice!

[Taurean]

I want some HONEST advice about holidaying with a 13 month old.

My DH and I love to travel. We travelled so much before I fell pregnant with DD - it was 'us'. Since we've had DD, we've been to the east coast for a wedding and to introduce DD to family and friends. It wasn't really a holiday as most of the time we were catching up with people.

We are thinking about going on a holiday in October when DD will be 13 months old. Half of the trip (about 5 days) will be with friends at a holiday house where we'll be swimming, snorkelling and fishing. It will be relaxing and we will love it but I'd really like a '****tails by the pool' kind of holiday as well so we are considering going to a different destination for 5 days after there on our own and staying at a resort.

Now, for the honesty, am I kidding myself thinking it will be a holiday? Is it just the same stuff but different location or will I feel a little more relaxed just being in a warm place with a nice pool and a bar What do you do with your crawling or walking toddler at a resort? We're not looking for kids clubs either, just wondering how we relax (is it possible?!) while keeping DD happy and safe.

I want honesty and good advice guys, bring it on!

[Shanti]

I think any change in location is relaxing in itself!! Just breaking the grind of daily routine etc at home is a holiday kwim?? Yes it's a bit more challenging travelling with a young child, you have to be more prepared than you ever were when it was just the two of you but it's really not that much harder. If you want to go away, then do it!!

We took our DD away in Dec to Fiji, at the time she was only 10.5mths old, only crawling at that stage so that was easy as she wasn't walking yet, but still very much a velcro bub as she couldn't walk then!! BUT, we had a wonderful time and couldn't imagine not going away without her! We had a fantastic time and it was relaxing..... mind you, we always had someone holding her as in Fiji they LOVE babies and want to carry them and take them off you so we didnt mind one bit hehe
One night we had the hotel nanny mind her (got a great recommendation from another happy guest who had used her!!) and they are Fijian mothers themselves so we felt safe with her, and we could go for dinner that night alone!
you will manage.

Good luck and have fun!!!

[meow]

just wondering how we relax (is it possible?!) while keeping DD happy and safe.

You take turns

[~Trish~]

It will still be relaxing, just different to pre-baby days . We went on our first family holiday to Palm Cove when DS1 was 11 months old. It was great to get away from everything. We could sit by the pool while he had his naps (we brought the baby monitor and were only a few steps away from the door ) and when he was awake we had fun letting him play in the sand at the beach.

[Just Me]

My general advice for holidaying with kids:

We have found the secret to enjoyable holidays is doing activities that are kid friendly and age appropriate most of the time. Holidays where we go places and have to keep them in the pram most of the time don't work for us. They get cross and cranky about being made to sit still all day, they don't burn off the energy they want and they don't get to explore. They get frustrated and in turn chuck tantrums and make the whole experience pretty unpleasant. If we do things that we know meet their needs, we find we all have a much better holiday.

The other advice is - research and plan before you go. I know it kills some of the holiday sponteneity, but knowing where you are going to eat dinner each night and having a booking can make such a big difference between eating at 6pm - 6.30pm when the kids are still reasonable or eating at 8pm when they will scream the restaurant down and make a miserable experience for everyone.

If there is a buffet breakfast available as part of the package - go for it! It makes getting up in the mornings so much quicker and easier. You get up when your kids do, go down for b'fast already dressed and you can head out from there. There is usually fruit available which is great since we always seem to have lots of trouble fitting fresh fruit into our holidays (we tend to eat out the whole time because I am on holidays and think I shouldn't have to cook). We love our buffet breakfasts on holidays.

Your DD is still quite little and I guess it depends whether she sleeps in the pram for you depending on what you can do. She is also still at the stage where she is probably happy to be with you and not so concerned about where you are. So much depends on her temperament though. If she is likely to be making a bee line for the pool the whole time and won't sleep anywhere but her bed, it might end up being a lot of work and more stressful, but if she happily sits and plays and will sleep in her pram, then you might get away with it and have a great time. You know your own baby best so you have the best idea of what she can cope with.

All else failiing, go and see. You may need to be prepared to do things a bit differently, but you can make it work and still have a great holiday.

I don't know if that made much sense but I hope it did.

We are heading off to Sydney for 8 days in September and are so excited. We are staying in the CBD and have planned very busy days but very quiet nights (room service has been a life saver on many of our holidays in the last couple of years ) It is not how we would have done Sydney kid-free, but there are a whole heap of different kinds of adventures we can have with kids. The theatre and night life will be there when our kids have grown up, we only have them on holidays now for a little while when they are young. Having said that, my parents are planning on flying down for a night so they can babysit for us and we can go out to dinner

Hope you have a great holiday

[~Kim~]

The term 'relaxing' takes on a different meaning when you have someone to run after.
So far my DS has been to North Qld, Melbourne, an NT holiday and many many trips to Sydney.
It won't be like you were used to when it was just the two of you. TBH it took DH and I a while to get used to that. Him because I expected the duties to be shared and me because he didn't expect to have to share any duties. Lay out some ground rules between you two so you both know what to expect when it comes to both getting time out, be it together or individually.
Remember a little person can't always 'go with the flow' so any holiday brings some unsettledness from bub.
Get her used to the water before your trip so you don't spend the whole holdiay stressing if she hates it.

ummm that's all I can think of ATM.

[PollyA]

Hey,
I think it still feels like a holiday, especially as you have your partner around all the time so you can share parenting duties more. The tips for enjoyiing area really just to be flexible. Not too many "must be here by this time" so ****tails by the pool sounds awesome.
If you manage to relax your DD will hopefully pick up on it and relax too. Sleep might be weird so just ride the wave.
At 13 months you're still your bubs favourite toy. Books are always good.
I look forward to hearing how wonderufl your trip was!

[Taurean]

Thanks so much for all your advice girls! I'm starting to think it will be brilliant even if it is VERY different to our pre-DD holidays I've phoned a couple of resorts in Broome today and a couple have said you can request an apartment by the pool so then we can relax (with our monitor) while DD sleeps. I had already thought about that but that was good advice for others reading Trish!

I've actually found a great deal on a stunning pool villa at a new complex at Cable Beach. The private pool is fully fenced with security gate and all but do you guys think I'd stress more than relax? In saying that, I hardly take my eyes of DD so between DH and I, I'm sure we'd be fine. The gate to the pool would always be checked by one of us. The alfresco looks great too, good for DD to cruise around easily from inside to out. It's fully self contained which means we'd probably need to hire a car for at least one day to do a decent grocery shop for the 5 days but that's not a real drama.

JM - I love the idea of not cooking at all but I think I'll have to go self contained as that may be my winning card when I present the offer to DH tonight, LOL.

Hmmmm my plan is coming together...

Any more advice would be welcome!