Advice on 8 month old at the pool all day?

[Anonymous]

I'm cross-posting this in the Travel Forum, too.

I'm looking for advice from moms who have vacationed with an 8 month old. We are going for a week with my in-laws to the Caribbean and they seem to think we can stay all day long at the beach or poolside. I'm wondering how this will work for naps! I think we will have to break up some of these trips for some inside rest time. Also, do you change the swim diaper every time the baby gets out of the pool? And how many toys to take with you to the beach/pool, a few or will the environment be entertaining enough?

My baby is only 4 months now, so planning this far advance kind of worries me because I don't know what to expect yet. Any advice welcome, thanks!

[Anonymous]

Wait until it gets closer...
your baby's routine will change a lot in these 4 months.

I don't think you can have a good nap time in such environment. If you really want your 8mo to rest it has to be a quiet place. a little pop up tent might work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm cross-posting this in the Travel Forum, too.

I'm looking for advice from moms who have vacationed with an 8 month old. We are going for a week with my in-laws to the Caribbean and they seem to think we can stay all day long at the beach or poolside. I'm wondering how this will work for naps! I think we will have to break up some of these trips for some inside rest time. Also, do you change the swim diaper every time the baby gets out of the pool? And how many toys to take with you to the beach/pool, a few or will the environment be entertaining enough?

My baby is only 4 months now, so planning this far advance kind of worries me because I don't know what to expect yet. Any advice welcome, thanks!

Why do you have to follow your in-laws' rules? (not trying to be rude)

We've traveled with an infant, and when it was nap time, we went back to the room. Your child at 8 mos. won't be able to handle long stretches. S/he will need frequent breaks and feedings. Plus, staying out in the heat (tent or not) for long stretches is not good. Use sunscreen and watch any beach bugs - like flies, etc. Also, there are waterproof hats with sun protection. I bought two at Target.

In terms of swimmers, I wouldn't go longer than 2 hours, and by then it's probably time for a break anyway - either a snack or a bottle or a nap. (You'll see the swimmers balloon up - not as much as a regular diaper but they do get "fluffy.")

Babies like the sand. So any sand toy (bucket, shovel, sifter) will do. More than likely s/he will just enjoy taking it all in and playing by the water.

[Anonymous]

At 10 months, we builit in naps and plenty of indoor rest time. We did indoor activites until morning nap. Then headed to the beach around 10:30 am or so with a regular diaper on (swim diapers do not hold urine, so we kept a regular diaper on him at the beach - we did NOT take him in the ocean). Then around 11:20, we changed him into a swim diaper and headed to the pool. (at that age, my son was much more into the beach than the pool). We used a small pop-up tent for diaper change. Then at noon, we went up for lunch and afternoon nap. And then I guess it was probably around 3 or 4 we did the whole thing over again.

As far as toys, cups and things that pour sand and water work well. You don't need a lot.

And at that age, my son could only take an hour to an hour and a half or so outdoors without getting overly stimulated. Actually, even near age 2, about an hour outside was as much as he could handle without needing and indoor break. If your hotel is far from the outdoor area, I'd plan half-day outdoors and make sure you still have plenty of shade.

The good news is that if your child is crawling at that age, they find the new hotel/condo to be as exciting of an adventure as outdoors. And the excitement of it all led to really good sleeping.

[Anonymous]

SOME babies like the sand. Some don't.

From experiences within my family and group of friends, I find that parents of babies (and even toddlers under 2) spent much of their beach vacation indoors, watching the baby. In the more successful cases, other adults are willing to trade off and give the parents some baby-sitting time so they get to enjoy the beach, too.

Even with kids age 3 and 5, I spend a lot of my beach vacation time indoors.

[Anonymous]

My 10-month-old hated our beach vacation. Pool, sand, water, all of it. She was really only happy playing inside. The closest we got to vacation activity was sitting on the shaded deck and playing with water (washtub full of water, various cups for pouring, etc).

I hope yours is more outdoorsy!

[Anonymous]

You will probably be doing 2 naps a day and solid foods by then. So I suggest you structure things so that you can go back to the room or house for two breaks to feed and nap indoors. This will give the baby a chance to get out of the sun. I would let the family stay out at the beach while you and DH split duty on taking the baby back.

At the pool, if you are there in the Caribbean for several hours at a time, you will need shade.

Regarding entertainment, we brought one bucket with a shovel and some toys in it, and that was enough with our 9 mo. But he loves the pool.

I suppose that if you are on a very quiet beach and have very good shade, your baby might be able to nap there. But it's still going to be hot and you would have to bring something for sleeping and I can't think of what that would be.

In any case, the situation with the in-laws will resolve itself. If you stay at the beach all day and the baby is a holy terror by 4:30 or 5, everyone will pretty quickly come to the conclusion that you need to break for naps.

[Anonymous]

Don't forget to factor in teething. Our 10 month old was teething during our entire Carribbean trip. This made for extra-crankiness...

[Anonymous]

I second the poster whose baby hated the beach... same with mine... she did not like the same. At 8 months wanted to crawl everywhere, so did not want to stay in the shade. Still put lots of things in her mouth.... all in all a day at the beach was no day at the beach!

[Anonymous]

Like you say, OP, it's hard to predict how much a 4 mo. old will morph to be at 8 mo.

How much of a time zone difference?

Time change, change in location, eating more solid food (verse nursing/formula), teething, shorter naps, etc. are all factors.

I'm sure you know you can buy SPF bathing suits/hats etc. and to be in the shade so I won't repeat.

As for the beach - my DD (11 mo. when we went) didn't really like the beach. She played with the sand and her toys for about 10 minutes. Didn't care for the water (and then started crying). The pool was ok for her. Not thrilled, but didn't mind. She actually enjoyed her shadow and climbing on the pool furniture.

We stuck to our nap and eating schedule. We went to the room about 20 minutes before anticipated nap time to wind down/dry off, and did our normal nap/bed time "ritual". We bought jarred food and cut up fresh fruit to eat and did our dinner "ritual" at the same approx. time too.

[Anonymous]

We took our 7 month-old baby to Hawaii. He enjoyed the pool and the beach but we'd only stay for a couple of hours. Then it was inside for naps, etc. Your in-laws are just going to have to understand that and go with it. The key to happy and successful travel with an infant is to keep things as routine as possible for the baby. As PPs have said, that includes sticking to his or her schedule and bringing some of whatever solid foods you're using then. We didn't take a lot of toys, but some kind of floating thing for the pool is a good bet.

[Anonymous]

At that age - I took my son to a resort in Mexico and I was lucky that my son easily slept in his stroller reclined all the way back so sometimes I would walk around with him in it and then park him under an umbrella in the shade (even if I was in the sand I would have someone help me carry the stroller to the umbrella on the beach) and it worked out great. I only did that when our gang was out at the pool or beach. Out of 9 days he took his naps in the room 3 times. Keep in mind that not all kids like to sleep in cribs other than their own. We had no problem with that until this specific age where he gave us a really hard time about sleeping in the hotels crib so we ended up cosleeping at night so the day time naps were actually more convenient in the stroller.
Also we brought tons of gerber baby food and disposable spoons. We asked the hotel if we can borrow a high chair to feed him in and kept it in our room - so convenient.
We also brought an infant float and some plastic toys that float. The best thing that entertained him that entire week was I got a clear plastic storage bag (I believe a toy was sold in it, rubber blocks or something) and I filled it with plastic spoons, rubber toys that I took to the pool, little balls, etc and he loved grabbing things out of it and putting them back in - it was perfect bc he can see everything and it was waterproof.
That was my best trip at that age with my son and I have been on many. He is almost 2 and it is more difficult now for some reason.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much everyone! This is the OP.

My inlaws wanted to plan some excursion type trips to go snorkeling. The problem is that there are no facilities at those type of beaches, just umbrellas and sand, and they thought of spending the good part of the day there. My inlaws tend to think my baby "can just go with the flow" because she's an easy baby. For instance, wanting us to meet them for brunch during her first nap, etc. This puts me in the position of feeling like her sole defender in terms of schedule and naps, particularly. I don't want her to have to suffer just because she does it well!

This post has helped me a lot envision this trip. I now have a better understanding of how to plan, especially since she's never been to the beach before.

BTW, I'm constantly amazed how easily people who raised kids (my inlaws, etc.) forget what it was like and imagine these daylong adventures for babies, kind of like they are pets. Meanwhile, that's no vacation for the mom who has to deal with the poor little strung-out baby!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much everyone! This is the OP.

My inlaws wanted to plan some excursion type trips to go snorkeling. The problem is that there are no facilities at those type of beaches, just umbrellas and sand, and they thought of spending the good part of the day there. My inlaws tend to think my baby "can just go with the flow" because she's an easy baby. For instance, wanting us to meet them for brunch during her first nap, etc. This puts me in the position of feeling like her sole defender in terms of schedule and naps, particularly. I don't want her to have to suffer just because she does it well!

This post has helped me a lot envision this trip. I now have a better understanding of how to plan, especially since she's never been to the beach before.

BTW, I'm constantly amazed how easily people who raised kids (my inlaws, etc.) forget what it was like and imagine these daylong adventures for babies, kind of like they are pets. Meanwhile, that's no vacation for the mom who has to deal with the poor little strung-out baby!

Wow. I feel for you. Your in-laws are probably lovely people, but they really need to get a clue about how things work with small children. Yikes.

If it were me, I would tell them I could not make so many plans in advance because I didn't know how my baby would adapt to the travel and new surroundings. I might even go the extra mile and ask the pediatrician about this (keeping a baby outside all day, protecting nap time etc.) just so I could say the doctor recommended taking it easy and planning in some hotel downtown each day. (Our parents always back off when we play the "Our Pediatrician Said" card . . . . )

Also, FWIW, the snorkel trip and general level of activity you describe do not sound like things our DD would have handled very well at all at that age. Although she has always been very easy-going and go with the flow, there is a limit to how much stimulation and change even she can handle. (Much like her mommy, she is very low-maintenance . . . but that is not the same as NO maintenance!)

Finally, I would have a serious heart-to-heart about this issue with DH. Both as it applies to the vacation and more generally. These are his parents, so he needs to back you up here and help you communicate and navigate with the in-laws. You should never have to feel like the "sole defender" of DD's well-being. Bring him into this with you!

Good luck and happy vacation!!

[Anonymous]

PP here. It just hit me that if it were me, I might encourage the in-laws (and even DH if he wanted) to go ahead with the snorkel trip without us one day, just so DD and I could have some quiet alone time together. Family vacations don't have to mean you're all together ALL of the time . . . .