Taking a toddler on holiday?

[mountainboo]

Me again!!

It's my Aunts' 50th Birthday in June and also it's in Ireland. My son will be 15 months old then. On the the one hand I would really like to take him as I think it would be a great experience, but on the other hand I'm A. petrified at the thought of messing up his routine, B. concerned that he won't cope well with the 4.5 hour car journey to Wales, 2 hour Boat journey and then another 2.5 hour car journey and C. staying at a strange persons house for 7 days.

My husband said he is more than happy to look after him if I went alone, if I did I would shorten the stay and fly alone. Anyway, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[redcrx]

hi MB.
Im sure lille Boo will cope if you try and break down your journey a bit.
Baby CRX is used to travelling 3-4 hours to ferry for IOW and then 1hr on boat but we travel that every 8 weeks and have done since she was born.
If we do the journey during the day she will sleep for most of it, just waking for her bottles / food. we have to stop for food too so thats not a problem.

If you leave first thing, have a stop halfway to wales, then at the ferry let him toddle or burn off some energy before the rest of journey he will probably cope better than you think.

As for staying at a different house for a week, im sure he will love the attention of someone new. It can take a day to settle but he'll soon be back in routine

[annie0000]

I agree with redcrx- we have always travelled with our boys - they are now 8 and 7, but tbh it was a lot easier when they were that age. We left probably about an hour before they were due theie afternoon nap and the generally dropped of before they got bored and slept for a good few hours, waking up in time for a stop and snack and then you are usually nearly there. We would let them get out to stretch their legs, or if it was raining, we let them have a roam around in the boot (we had a scenic, so plenty of room for them to stand up in the back and not when the car was moving!) - the boot also becomes really useful as a changing station when required! Just keep your usual changing things available for the journey, plenty of snacks, a couple of favourite toys and maybe a couple of new things to keep him occupied and you will be fine. Babies are enormously adaptable and he will be fine, they seem to know and accept that rules for places are different and they will behave in different ways in different environments - for instance, they will accept from an early age that although a granparent lets them jump on the sofa, they know that they are not allowed to do it at home. Clever wee things really. I am sure he will know when you are back at home and holiday is over that he goes back to his old routine.

I guess it is up to you, it sounds to me that you would enjoy taking him with you and doing the family trip rather than going off on your own so go for that. On the other hand, if you would enjoy the freedom of being away by yourself, knowing that a bit of father/son bonding was going on, then do that.

Enjoy!

[redcrx]

also, by that age (if he isnt already) he will be in a forward facing seat so will be able to look around him more and will be of an age where he can understand more of whats going on too.

[mountainboo]

Hi red, what a strange coinsidence, I live on the I.O.W (unfortuntaely)!!!

I think your both right, maybe it will be good for him. As yet, we haven't ventured off the Island - sad isn't it!

[redcrx]

I love the island, but then i dont live there, just visit Mr CRXs mum and his sister and her family. They all live in Ryde.

Both my little ones have had to endure the drive from suffolk to IOW from birth so they are used to it i suppose.

A little tip i was told a couple of weeks ago which you may find a help is (if you travel on wightlink) to put your indicator on at the side where you need access to baby. The staff will then ften try and get you more room that side so you can get the baby in and out of his seat. Theres been so many times when weve had to stay in car on the crossing because we cant get out without pranging someones car.

[mountainboo]

I will remember that, thanks Red. I will be going with my Brother, Sister-in-law and my Niece who is just over 2 so maybe being near her will make him happy

[annie0000]

Sorry, but I had to laugh about having the other toddler there and that would keep him happy. It may well do, but we used to removed the middle seat from our car and fill that space with our case or bag, so that my two couldn't get near each other. Otherwise the journey was punctuated with fights and tugs of war with toys and that's too distracting when you are trying to drive - we always went with the "keeping them bored so they will drop off" technique!

Have a great trip.

[mountainboo]

I see what you mean annie. Fortunately or not as the case may be, I would be sitting in the middle!!