toddler travel medications image
Mummy2Luca
Im going to Bali in October with my 17 month old son. He will be up to date with his immunisations according to Australian Standards. I know not to drink the water or use it to brush teeth etc. Any tips for the temperature, what to bring, what to do etc? Im staying in the Novotel Bali, has anyone had an experience with them?
Answer
We just got back Sunday from a short holiday in Bali. We stayed at the Sheraton Laguna in Nusa Dua (which I really recommend), so I'm sorry - I don't know much about the Novotel.
I'd recommend bringing with you:
-antibacterial gel/wipes
-bug repellent
-suntan lotion
-travel tissues/roll of toilet paper (WC situation at temples may not always be top notch)
-snacks (crackers or the like in case the spicy food catches up)
-immodium/pepto bismol (spicy food)
-sinus medication/panadol (our hotel was lovely, but a bit musty)
-handkerchiefs (even my eyeballs were sweating!)
We brushed our teeth with the tap water, which is filtered in most hotels, but didn't drink it.
Safety concerns - hire drivers from your hotel for the day, be aware that some extremist groups seek out Americans to target (and often cannot tell the difference between Aussies, Americans, & Brits), and guard yourself and little one against dengue fever with the bug repellent.
Heat - I'm not sure of temperatures when we were there, but there was precious little breeze when we were at temple sites, and the humidity is EXTREMELY high. Especially with a little one, try to stop in the shade, under fans, and keep large bottles of water with you. We found that we'd only get out and do 2-3 activities during the day, before we pooped out at the hotel in air conditioning.
With a child that young, I would *not* recommend the "Enchanted Monkey Forest." It's in all the books, but is a very small area, some distance from Nusa Dua/Kuta and the monkeys will jump all over you. I can attest to smelling of monkey waste for an entire day, and while a unique experience, you're not really missing much.
You absolutely should try to catch the sunset Ramayana Dance at the Uluwatu temple (every evening at 6pm), but again - beware the monkeys, one stole the sunglasses right off my head!
As long as you're careful, you'll have a wonderful time - we only encountered the best on our trip - it was beautiful and the people were so kind. :)
We just got back Sunday from a short holiday in Bali. We stayed at the Sheraton Laguna in Nusa Dua (which I really recommend), so I'm sorry - I don't know much about the Novotel.
I'd recommend bringing with you:
-antibacterial gel/wipes
-bug repellent
-suntan lotion
-travel tissues/roll of toilet paper (WC situation at temples may not always be top notch)
-snacks (crackers or the like in case the spicy food catches up)
-immodium/pepto bismol (spicy food)
-sinus medication/panadol (our hotel was lovely, but a bit musty)
-handkerchiefs (even my eyeballs were sweating!)
We brushed our teeth with the tap water, which is filtered in most hotels, but didn't drink it.
Safety concerns - hire drivers from your hotel for the day, be aware that some extremist groups seek out Americans to target (and often cannot tell the difference between Aussies, Americans, & Brits), and guard yourself and little one against dengue fever with the bug repellent.
Heat - I'm not sure of temperatures when we were there, but there was precious little breeze when we were at temple sites, and the humidity is EXTREMELY high. Especially with a little one, try to stop in the shade, under fans, and keep large bottles of water with you. We found that we'd only get out and do 2-3 activities during the day, before we pooped out at the hotel in air conditioning.
With a child that young, I would *not* recommend the "Enchanted Monkey Forest." It's in all the books, but is a very small area, some distance from Nusa Dua/Kuta and the monkeys will jump all over you. I can attest to smelling of monkey waste for an entire day, and while a unique experience, you're not really missing much.
You absolutely should try to catch the sunset Ramayana Dance at the Uluwatu temple (every evening at 6pm), but again - beware the monkeys, one stole the sunglasses right off my head!
As long as you're careful, you'll have a wonderful time - we only encountered the best on our trip - it was beautiful and the people were so kind. :)
Has anyone ever flown on an overnight flight with small kids?
Momof2
I am looking at getting flight tickets where we would depart at 10:30pm and arrive at our destination at 9:30am the next morning.I'll have a one year old and a 3 year old. I'm wondering if it would be easiest to fly with small kids over night since hopefully they would sleep most of the flight. Has anyone ever done this and how did it go for you?
Answer
I'm a former Flight Attendant and I fly a lot with my three children. We always take a "red eye" to Europe because, basically, there are no other options!
I will say from both experience and observation at work, kids do sleep great on overnight trips. There are some pitfalls though.
You would leave very late at night. Any kind of delay and we're talking very, very late for little ones. Our flights leave late afternoon and arrive very early in the morning. We have had delays and it doesn't mean any "meltdowns". If you can take an earlier red eye, it might be easier.
If you do do this, perhaps let them nap longer, or delay the nap but please don't do anything really radical to their schedules. I've seen the unhelpful tip to keep toddlers awake. The truth is that getting through check-in, security and boarding can be a very long process and you need your child awake and cooperative. Also, being somewhere new and different can over-excite them and then it would be difficult to settle overstimulated toddlers down, once on the aircraft.
You don't mention your departure or destination. If there is a big time change, this timing might not be ideal. It might make the jet lag worse but that's just one factor. Don't count on this adding a day since you all might be pretty wiped out after flying all night the first day there.
If it's not long, it might be better to take a very early flight. Toddlers are usually in better humor in the morning and flights are less likely to be delayed and/or can-celled.
Be sure to bring snacks because I doubt your children will stay awake for the meal service and not want the food anyway.
One way to help your children to sleep is to bring their car seats on board and use them. Hopefully you have a seat for the little one but if not, find out if the flight is full and whether you can get an empty seat to use the car seat in. Both the children and I slept much better this way. It's also the only way to fly safely with a child. Lap babies are allowed since air travel is so safe, there's little chance of anything going wrong. If the very unlikely does happen, a car seat can and has made a difference.
Just a reminder that if you need your car seats at your destination, this is the best way to transport them. If you don't get to use one for the little one on board, be sure to *gate-check* it with the strollers and wheelchairs at the door of the airplane. NEVER check a car seat as luggage. They are lost and/or broken by the airlines all the time and the airlines wont take responsibility for what they consider to be a "delicate" check-at-your-own-risk item. They drop on the tarmac, get crushed under other pieces of luggage and sent to the wrong city. Then you're stuck at your destination without a safe way to transport your child. No car seat bag will prevent your seat from any of the above!
I also recommend good baby carriers, that can hold *either* child. They are far too big for fiddly front packs like Bjorns. As a Flight Attendant, I saw too many parents trying to drape sleeping children over their shoulders while getting off the plane with their gear. That wasn't me as I could pop my toddler in my ring sling (still sleeping sometimes!), grab my stuff and my other children and get off the plane with ease.
You may have other people recommend that you give your child some sort of medication to get them to sleep. I've seen this work and twice, I saw it go very wrong when parents gave something the child had never had and the child went all wired (it can have the opposite effect!) I myself have allergies to antihistamines (the usual ingredient which helps them sleep) and it's common. Also, these drugs are very drying, and the air on the airplane is also very dry. Remember that you can't rush him to the ER (like when I was 7 and my parents gave my Benedryl). If the flight is over 6 hours and either/both children are very active, and you're tempted, please talk to your doctor first. Don't give a full dose and make sure they've had it before in the past with no problems.
For more information, ten years ago I wrote an article on this subject. It's based on both my personal and professional experience of flying with children. You may want to look at the sections on drugging and transporting car seats through airports. It's totally non-commercial and other parents from around the world have contributed;
http://flyingwithchildren1.blogspot.com
Have a good trip!
I'm a former Flight Attendant and I fly a lot with my three children. We always take a "red eye" to Europe because, basically, there are no other options!
I will say from both experience and observation at work, kids do sleep great on overnight trips. There are some pitfalls though.
You would leave very late at night. Any kind of delay and we're talking very, very late for little ones. Our flights leave late afternoon and arrive very early in the morning. We have had delays and it doesn't mean any "meltdowns". If you can take an earlier red eye, it might be easier.
If you do do this, perhaps let them nap longer, or delay the nap but please don't do anything really radical to their schedules. I've seen the unhelpful tip to keep toddlers awake. The truth is that getting through check-in, security and boarding can be a very long process and you need your child awake and cooperative. Also, being somewhere new and different can over-excite them and then it would be difficult to settle overstimulated toddlers down, once on the aircraft.
You don't mention your departure or destination. If there is a big time change, this timing might not be ideal. It might make the jet lag worse but that's just one factor. Don't count on this adding a day since you all might be pretty wiped out after flying all night the first day there.
If it's not long, it might be better to take a very early flight. Toddlers are usually in better humor in the morning and flights are less likely to be delayed and/or can-celled.
Be sure to bring snacks because I doubt your children will stay awake for the meal service and not want the food anyway.
One way to help your children to sleep is to bring their car seats on board and use them. Hopefully you have a seat for the little one but if not, find out if the flight is full and whether you can get an empty seat to use the car seat in. Both the children and I slept much better this way. It's also the only way to fly safely with a child. Lap babies are allowed since air travel is so safe, there's little chance of anything going wrong. If the very unlikely does happen, a car seat can and has made a difference.
Just a reminder that if you need your car seats at your destination, this is the best way to transport them. If you don't get to use one for the little one on board, be sure to *gate-check* it with the strollers and wheelchairs at the door of the airplane. NEVER check a car seat as luggage. They are lost and/or broken by the airlines all the time and the airlines wont take responsibility for what they consider to be a "delicate" check-at-your-own-risk item. They drop on the tarmac, get crushed under other pieces of luggage and sent to the wrong city. Then you're stuck at your destination without a safe way to transport your child. No car seat bag will prevent your seat from any of the above!
I also recommend good baby carriers, that can hold *either* child. They are far too big for fiddly front packs like Bjorns. As a Flight Attendant, I saw too many parents trying to drape sleeping children over their shoulders while getting off the plane with their gear. That wasn't me as I could pop my toddler in my ring sling (still sleeping sometimes!), grab my stuff and my other children and get off the plane with ease.
You may have other people recommend that you give your child some sort of medication to get them to sleep. I've seen this work and twice, I saw it go very wrong when parents gave something the child had never had and the child went all wired (it can have the opposite effect!) I myself have allergies to antihistamines (the usual ingredient which helps them sleep) and it's common. Also, these drugs are very drying, and the air on the airplane is also very dry. Remember that you can't rush him to the ER (like when I was 7 and my parents gave my Benedryl). If the flight is over 6 hours and either/both children are very active, and you're tempted, please talk to your doctor first. Don't give a full dose and make sure they've had it before in the past with no problems.
For more information, ten years ago I wrote an article on this subject. It's based on both my personal and professional experience of flying with children. You may want to look at the sections on drugging and transporting car seats through airports. It's totally non-commercial and other parents from around the world have contributed;
http://flyingwithchildren1.blogspot.com
Have a good trip!
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
No comments:
Post a Comment