Teething, colds and holidays.

Good evening I am writing a bit of a holiday reflection in the midst of storm Babet because what else is there to do if your partner is away and your baby is asleep! 

Portugal was great, we had a fantastic time overall. Heidi had a terrible couple of days which was due to a cold and teething which was a double whammy for her THANK GOD FOR CALPOL! I am so glad I packed Calpol sachets; I know I could have found something similar out there but it took the stress out of having to find a shop and the sachets are great as they can’t break and are easy to chuck in a bag if you are going out and might need a top up. 

We found our mamas and papas pushchair was brilliant. We used a sheepskin liner which is designed to keep the baby warm in cool weather and cool in hot weather. I got mine off Amazon for £44.00 but it was worth the money. We also had a snooze shade which we also found very useful as it has UV protection is fully breathable and made the pram dark in the evenings so once she had gone to sleep we could enjoy the evenings out. The only thing with the pram we had was because it folds down into a long shape it had to go into the hold, other parents had prams that folded down into squares and they could go in the overhead space on the plane which if you are taking only carry on cases it saves you having to go to the baggage reclaim. 

What did we do about heat and a baby? Heidi managed just fine, we kept her cool by keeping her in the shade and in minimal clothes so it was a vest, just a nappy or her swimming costume in the day and at night she had just a vest on and we covered her with a sheet. It was quite cool in the apartment due to Aircon so she would have been cold if she hadn’t had anything on! She had factor 50 sun cream and we reapplied it several times throughout the day. She absolutely loved the swimming pool and splashing about in there but we did have to be a bit careful that she didn’t get too cold in the pool as it was a touch cool! The swimsuits we used were from Next and they came with little hats that covered her neck as well as having UV protection so they are well worth it. I got Heidi’s off Vinted which saved some money. 

I think for short haul I packed lots of toys and had lots of ideas to keep her entertained but in reality she would have been fine with the usual couple of toys we take out for her and she enjoyed the inflight safety sheet far more than anything we could have packed. For our long haul flight it might be different and the more things to entertain the better we shall see. 

For anyone anxious about flying with a baby just go for it. The other passengers on the plane were lovely and mostly just wanted to make a fuss of her, they didn’t moan about other babies who were fussing they just got on with their flight just like we got on with ours. You might get one utter plonker but that’s life and you won’t see them again! So book the flights and ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY!