Staying in hotel with baby

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triona

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Hi,

My husband & I had our first baby 3months ago. We're considering going away to a hotel for a couple of nights with the baby, probably Galway.

Are we nuts to be even considering it? Does anyone have any tips to make the stay easier? My concerns are mainly around washing & sterilising bottles. She is a very easy-going baby & sleeps soundly from 8pm to 8am.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Triona
 
I stayed in the Clarion, or the Carlton cant remember which one it was with my two son's 2-3 years ago, there was children's play area's and a swimming pool ect in it. Also the Clare in is a hotel purely for families with kids
 
We did it and with a bit of planning, it was worth it.

Microwave sterilising units are very handy. You can always ask when booking, if the hotel can let you use a microwave once a day to sterilize bottles. If there is a kettle in the room, you will have hot water to wash them.
 
We did it a few months ago. It was great. She slept great. Think she has a liking for nice hotels!! Most hotels are child friendly at this stage. The only thing I did differently to normal breaks was I ate earlier in the restaurant to be fair to other guests if she kicked off and we had a drink in a quiet part of the lobby/lounge rather than the hotel bar.

Most hotels provide a travel cot but we brought our own but that was mainly because my wife didn't trust the hotel ones for some reason!

Last hotel I was in (Druids Glen) provided a kitchen area for people to wash and sterilise bottles. They had everything in it.
 
We went to London last year when our first baby was three months old and survived :) It's actually easier to travel now than in a little while when they're crawling or toddling. Just make sure to check if your hotel has steps anywhere, most Irish hotels are fine now but we accidentally stayed in a hotel that had 20 steps and no lift or ramp.

Also bear in mind that it won't be like any break you've been on before. If all goes well, it'll still be more like work than you're expecting. Definitely worth it though.
 
You mentioned Galway, if I were you I'd stay in a hotel that is within walking distance of Eyre Square as driving around Galway is hell, and some of the hotels are a bit out of the way with a baby. Particularly when you factor in the weather there.

The Connaught for example is a family hotel, the old Ryans/Days but it's out a bit.
 
Thanks again for the replies.

What did you do regarding storage of bottles?
Hotel fridges are usually quite small so I don't think we'd fit all her bottles. It'd be a pain to have to make up bottles a couple of times a day.

Triona
 
triona said:
It'd be a pain to have to make up bottles a couple of times a day.
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You could boil and cool some water and leave it in the bottles without the power (assuming you're using formula). When you want to make up a bottle, just add the powder. There's no need to keep the water cooled if it's not made up yet.

Alternatively, you may have to come back to the hotel around nap time (babys, not yours :)) so you could make up a few extra bottles when you're stuck in the room watching daytime TV.
 
You can get some brands of formula ready-made-up. Works out more expensive but may be worth the extra to avoid hassle/concern about temp, etc when you're away.

I used them for mine when we were staying with friends without babies and they made for a much easier time.
 
We did it quite a bit when ours were babies and it was a once a day procedure. But before I go on let me say that we never heated a baby's bottle in our lives! All bottles given to our lot were at room temp and it was the best advice we ever got. They never complained! And we never had all that hassle of heating and cooling bottles. Our procedure was adopted on the advice of a good friend who was also a GP and mother. But each to their own and all that.

So we would bring the steriliser with us and simply wash and sterilise the bottles as normal. Then it depended on if we were making up a feed or using ready mades. Ready mades are very handy but a bit expensive.

Procedure for ready mades:
Set up bottle empty after sterilisation and just leave it as until you need it. At feed time, open and fill with ready made and job is done! Very, very handy process.

Procedure for making up feed:
After sterilisation fill bottle with boiling water. Close and allow to cool to room temp. Let it sit there until you need it. When you need it add in the feed, shake and serve. Almost as handy as a ready made. We used to have a container (designed by the maker of the feed) that would hold 3 pre-measures of dry feed. Then all you had to do was tip and it in.

Simple - no fridge, no bottle heater, no checking the temperature of the feed etc.

We did this home or away. Three kids and all got the same treatment. But if your baby is already used to a warm feed they may not take the feed at room temp.

As I said this is what we did but it is not exactly the same as what is recommended by the makers of the feed. Decided for yourself.


\\ps the others beat me to it. As you can see we were not alone!
 
Cartons all the way. Much handier when travelling, bit dearer but much less hassle. If its only for a weekend, much better than the powder
 
CrazyWater said:
But before I go on let me say that we never heated a baby's bottle in our lives! All bottles given to our lot were at room temp and it was the best advice we ever got.
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+4

I did find however that it was harder to get the formula to dissolve if the water wasn't hot enough so I would make up the day's bottles and leave them in the fridge until an hour before needed to give them time to warm up.

My kids are neglecterinos though!
 
I live in Galway so feel free to ask for tips.

We brought a 5 month old baby to Spain and it worked fine.

Would you consider a holiday apartment? There are lots in Galway and some beautiful ones overlooking Galway Bay. All of the luxuries of home plus a bit of space but minus the hotel breakfast and swimming pool.

The Connacht Hotel is only 1km from Eyre Square but is on a bus route.

Other recommendations would be Salthill Hotel or the Radisson.
 
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