Preparing for a vacation is never an easy task, and as I am quickly learning it is exponentially harder when there is a baby involved. Right before my daughter turned 8 months old, my husband and I went on a wonderful multigenerational trip with his parents and sister and brother-in-law.
Eileen helped us book the trip, since there was so much to coordinate—my sister and brother-in-law were flying in from Los Angeles and the rest of us were flying in from Philadelphia. Eileen also helped us figure out what we would need to travel out of the country with the baby and made sure we applied for her passport with plenty of lead time. Having Eileen organize this trip for us, took all the stress out of the experience and let us focus on all the other aspects of planning our first family trip with baby.
GETTING THERE
The most nerve-wracking part of the trip was figuring out what to pack for the baby and what the plane ride with her would be like. Here are some of the best tips I can give you for traveling with a baby, so you can focus more on your wonderful vacation:
- Wear the baby in the airport, even if you are gate-checking the stroller. Being hands-free with the baby is an enormous help, especially going through security.
- Bring a new toy for the plane. It will keep them occupied and when all else fails, don’t worry! They’ll think it’s fun to play with water bottles and empty cups.
- Keep them sucking for landing and take off. Whether you offer a boob, bottle or pacifier, it will help keep their little ears from feeling the pressure!
- Ask the flight attendants ahead of time which bathrooms on the plane have a changing table. It will save you a lot of stress if your baby has an explosive diaper during the flight.
- Bring a backpack if you have one. I use a backpack as my diaper bag and, again, the whole hands-free thing makes a big difference!
- Bring your own sheets for the crib. You already know that your baby will be comfortable with them and you won’t have to worry about cleanliness or allergic reactions to the hotel laundry detergent.
- Bring your baby monitor. We didn’t feel comfortable hiring a babysitter, but 2 out of our 4 nights on vacation our parents offered to stay in and watch the baby so we could go out. She would fall asleep after dinner every night, so having the monitor was a big help because someone else could stay in their room (nextdoor) and watch a movie without disturbing the baby.
- Arrange for a carseat in your airport transportation. This is something that I would not have even been aware of, had Eileen not brought it up. But instead of schlepping our carseat into international waters, we arranged for all modes of transportation to have rear-facing carseats in them, so we could travel a little lighter without compromising the baby’s safety.
SETTLING IN
The beautiful ocean view suite
We stayed at the Paradisus Palma Real and did the all-inclusive package at Bavaro Beach. All of our rooms had gorgeous ocean views and big king-sized beds. Eileen had arranged for a crib to be sent up to our room and the only complaint was that there were no private areas for us to tuck the crib away—the room was one big open space, with a curtain to section off the bathroom area (with a separate space with a door to the toilet), so the nights we stayed in with the baby we had to stay quiet and keep the lights off so we wouldn’t wake her up.
ENJOY AND RELAX
While it’s not really a vacation when you’re traveling with a baby, I’m glad that Eileen booked us at a place that, while very child-friendly, was really designed for adults. The whole vibe of the Paradisus was very grown-up and luxurious, even though it was commonplace to see strollers dotted among the beach chairs and highchairs at every restaurant. The all-inclusive package was fantastic—the food and drinks were all premium choices—and it made it a little easier for us to relax whenever we had free time.
The best part was having built-in babysitters on our trip. When my husband and I wanted to go to the gym, or visit the beautiful spa for massages, we knew our little one would be in good hands with Grandma and Grandpa. Not to mention that it was really nice for us to have a break!
Overall, we had a very successful first trip with the baby! It was such a special treat to get to spend time away together as a family and we are hoping to make it an annual event.