Flying & Hotel Babysitter Questions

Just a couple of questions:

1. DD will be 14 months and in two weeks we will be flying from Johannesburg to Melbourne - the Jborg/Syd flight is 13 hours then just over one hour to Melbourne - DD is on three bottles of milk a day - what do people do - take a litre of milk on the plane and ask the flight attendant to put it in the fridge or use toddler formula - I know this is probably obvious but my brain is dead at the moment.

2. We will be staying at a top hotel in the city of the night of DH's birthday and I have organised to see the Phantom of the Opera at 2 pm followed by drinks & dinner with friends at a close restaurant - we have no other option but to ask the hotel to organise a babysitter - has anyone ever used a hotel babysitter before.....I will be going back to check on DD every hour or so but.....still a bit nervous - we don't have anyone else to ask to babysit in Melbourne as they will be at the dinner. Am I a bad mum for leaving my baby with a stranger?

Much appreciated.
Laurin

If you're staying in a 5 star hotel I'm sure the babysitters they use come from a very reputable company. I'd be nervous too so I understand your concerns - we're talking about going for a holiday over east and I've been wondering about this too. I have a few friends who have done this and none of them have had any complaints or problems at all.

As for the milk/formula question, I would call the airline and ask what their restrictions are. Flights leaving Aus are very restrictive in terms of how much liquid you can take with you, and there seem to be a heap of different stories as to what you can and can't take for a baby. I've been told if you taste the formula etc in front of immigration (to prove its not explosives or whatever) they're usually ok.

Hi,
I had to leave my boys with a 'stranger' babysitter when they got to tired at our wedding reception, we had married away and all friends and family were at the reception, we got someone recommended highly by the hotel, I spoke with her on the phone and we chatted and I felt really comfortable with her. There were no problems and she was great.

Go with recommendations from the hotel they will have used these people before, ask how often they use the child care provider, how long have they used them, talk to them on the phone, or a few in the weeks before you get there to see how you feel about them, pick one and make sure they arrive early enough to spend time with you and your child so she has time to get used to her, bubs at this age can be funny with strangers, and if you are coming back to check on her a lot make sure DD doesn't see you, it might distress her you coming and going all the time which will distress you, but you can expect tears when you first leave, don't draw it out, just go she will settle quickly and be having a great time playing with a new friend!!

Don't feel bad, having time for you and hubby makes you both better parents and is good for your marriage.

Meagan

Hello

We have just come back from 7 weeks away with our kids - Alex is a similar age to your young one. Hope this helps:

1) I used a combination of normal milk and formula...we flew long flights too so had to make sure I had enough. Basically my first bottle for each flight was normal milk as this would be heated almost immediately and therefore did not require any storage in fridges and any subsequent bottles were formula. I would preboil the water before getting on the plane and have it in each bottle ready to go with the formula separate. As required I would then ask the attendants to heat it up (altho half the time didnt bother as my DS doesnt mind it not being hot). I never had a problem with bringing water on board in the baby bottles, most customs people are flexible once they realise that you have a baby.

2) We recently have used hotel babysitters in Prague and Dubai and in the past have used them in Hawaii. You are not a bad mum for leaving your baby with a stranger, you will be amazed at how quickly the kids adapt and how much fun this new person is. The hotel will have their recommended list and you can always ask lots of questions. Personally I wouldnt be going back to check on your child every hour as this could actually make the child more distressed - seeing you coming and going IYKWIM? Leave contact numbers and tell them where you will be, if they have a problem they will get in contact with you.

HTH.:)

Just wanted to say I use to work for a 5 star hotel resort in their activities department. This was a few years ago (8) but back then the hotel babysitters were staff (generally either from activities department or housekeeping (mums)). We put our names down saying we were willing to babysit so don't necessarily assume it is from a babysitting/nanny company.

At the time it was good money coz we got cash in hand from the parents. The hotel didn't get anything it was just a service they arranged.