Baby's bedtime while traveling

[ssheng]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone! We went to Taiwan this weekend (stayed at a rental house, not a hotel), and employed a lot of these tricks - tried to get her naps in order while we were out (in her stroller...we would take a break in a quiet area, get her to sleep and then push her around to help keep her asleep), went to bed much earlier (since it was a house she could sleep in her own room) and brought food back to the house to eat it for our dinner. We also tried to push her bedtime back by about an hour.

We discovered yet another challenge to traveling - bathing a baby who can't sit up in a full sized tub, since we couldn't bring our baby tub. My husband ended up holding her while I washed her. I wonder if those baby-friendly resorts like Club Med let you rent baby tubs, too? Our baby is just shy of 5 months.

I think for sure what we'll do now is limit our traveling for the next year or so to family friendly resorts where they have babysitters and even nursery facilities on the premises. Or bring our helper, although I was reluctant to do so just because I didn't want to deal with applying for a visa for her and paying for extra plane ticket plus room...seemed like both an added complication plus cost vs. these resorts that have it all. (By the way, where can a Philippino passport holder travel to without a visa?)

Anyway, being limited in vacation choices for a few years isn't so bad, especially when the places with babysitting services are all really excellent vacation spots!

 

[gladyswly]

you can get an inflatable bath tub in B2B, we got one for our daughter last year when we went to the States but now she is too big for that!

 

[carang]

when my kids were too little for a big tub, i did one of two things:
1) took them into the shower with me (you just have to be REALLY careful as they get slippery!)
or
2) bathed them in the sink

i remember as a kid bathing my cousins in the kitchen sink... it was VERY common back then.

 

[m2cw2mhk]

The other option to consider is leave the baby at home with the helper! We have done this for a few trips - Yangshuo, China, Taiwan, and when we went to Bali with friends...we have had our helper for almost 3 years so we felt comfortable leaving the kids with her. It is wonderful to get time away with the hubby. I miss the kids a lot but they do just fine, I swear they don't miss us at all! These were short trips, just 2-4 days.

For baths for a baby, we just did sponge baths, baths in the sink or had one of us hold her in the tub. I've never heard of a hotel with baby tubs but I guess it never hurts to ask!

We had no problems getting our helper her visa to go to China with us, and Singapore and Thailand were no problem. It's just one more form to fill out.