Once you start a family, travelling will probably change a lot from what you knew before. It can be
stressful to travel with your new baby, but with a bit of planning, you can still enjoy it like you used
to. Sometimes couples are encouraged to go on holiday without the children, but do you really want
to go? Many mothers have found that the relaxing holiday they’d anticipated was actually pretty
stressful, because they missed the baby/toddler and worried about their milk production. If you
need to travel for work or a wedding, try to arrange a relative, friend or babysitter to look after baby
while you are working or going to the wedding reception.
Advantages of travelling with a breastfed child:
Your milk will always be available at the right temperature AND at any time.
No need to fear unsafe water supplies that could affect the health of your child.
The breastfeeding baby or toddler always has a safe haven in mother’s arms, no matter how stressful the strange surroundings are.
If your baby is sleeping with you, s/he will feel at home wherever you go.
On aeroplanes, breastfed babies are much less likely to be affected by sore plugged ears from the altitude difference. By drinking breast milk they automatically adjust to the change in altitude during take-off and landing. The passengers around you will be relieved that there is no crying baby near them.
When your child has started solids, the strange foods in a new place will probably not always be accepted by them, but breast milk will fill them up and tide them over until they can eat something they are familiar with.
Challenges of travelling with a breastfed child which may need some creative thinking:
Travelling in a car for long distances can be more difficult, because your child needs to stop more often to drink. Regular stops are in any case necessary for any child that is not lulled to sleep in the car seat.
Breastfed babies or toddlers need to drink regularly, so plan to stop at every town/fuel station along the way, mostly every 1.5 - 2 hours. It is also considered safer for the driver to stop every two hours to rest.
You may not be used to nursing in public, but practising in front of a mirror with the right clothing/accessories you can learn to breastfeed unobserved any place in the world. Many countries more accepting of nursing babies/toddlers and in most places it is your right to feed baby anywhere they need to be fed.
Visiting family members in far away places that may not always be used to breastfeeding children can be difficult. Decide whether you will be educating them gently about the natural way to feed a child or use the excuse to go and ‘put your baby to sleep’ in another room. This is ideal to catch a nap with baby when mom is also tired. You can prepare yourself with how to handle criticism by reading this article: https://www.llli.org/handling-criticism-becoming-your-own-advocate/
Tips for easier travelling:
Don’t try and cover the same distance with a car in one day as you did BC (‘Before Children’).
Break up your journey into shorter distances by sleeping over in small/interesting towns
along the way. Holiday is not all about the destination. You can discover beautiful places on
the way there and bond as a family too.
Keep a bag of small new or forgotten toys with you to entertain your child (about one for
every hour). These toys don’t need to be expensive but keep an eye on your baby/toddler
for cheap toys that may be unsafe to chew.
Keep healthy snacks at hand that are easy to eat on a long journey.
If baby is over 6 months, keep water in a sippy cup for hydration and hopefully less stopping
to drink breast milk.
Listen to stories and/or music with your child in the car. Sing along as much as you can to
keep them entertained.
Stop at all the places where there are play areas or animal farms that can help your child to
get some exercise.
Some mothers find that the stops are shorter if they lean over and feed baby in the car seat.
That way you don’t need to move a sleepy baby from your arms back to the car seat.
Sit next to your baby/toddler in the back of the car and read stories together. They will love
all the undivided attention.
With older children they can keep each other entertained by giving them each a similar toy
to play games together.
Flying or travelling by train or bus is sometimes easier with kids than long car journeys.
In the plane, let your travelling companion ‘read the newspaper’ with outstretched arms to
create a little private cubicle near the window.
When visiting an exciting new town anywhere in the world, remember to regularly stop at
parks or squares where children can relax. They get restless from not moving around as
usual.
You can travel basically anywhere in the world with breastfed children. It certainly is cheaper to fly
when they are younger, but the older they are, the more they will remember and be enriched by the
experience.
Written by Nicole, La Leche League Leader Centurion, Pretoria. Mother of three daughters who have
travelled all over South Africa and the world with: Laura (29) who went on her first trip to Europe
aged 3 months, Marlene (27) who breastfed as a toddler in Greece and also travelled to Egypt when
she was 8 and now studies Ancient Cultures, and Anika (22) who breastfed as a toddler throughout
Egypt and elsewhere.
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