Ok, so a while ago I posted about travelling with an infant. At the time, we thought that the baby would be at least 3 months...nope!! Based on the dates, we could either do:
1) Berlin, Germany with an 8-week old (if the baby is 10 days late)
2) Sardinia (Italy) without the baby when they are 14 weeks. (Our parents would take care of them).
Each trip is 1 week and luxury accomodations, dining, etc. paid for by my husband's company.
We decided not to do the cruise because the kid would be 10 weeks - not enough medical attention available if we needed it.
I called my GP, who said that we don't really need to worry about going to Berlin with an 8-week old, since its another first world country. He did mention that airplane air is notorious for germs, but so are supermarkets and baby showers with germy hands ![]()
So what would you do? I think we are going to do Berlin with the baby. Its not ideal, but we don't want to pass up a free trip.
Re: Berlin, Germany with an 8-week old vs. Sardinia without?
Well, at the risk of sounding like a total downer, I couldn't even imagine doing it. My daughter was a really good sleeper and generally an easy-going baby, but the thought of taking an international trip with her sounds exhausting. But, I think I had a strong case of the baby blues and since we are on the west coast, that would be a significant amount of travel. The plus side is that she'll probably sleep a lot while you sight see. Is there any way you can decide after she is born? It'll give you a better idea of what you are getting into.
Good luck with whatever you decide!
I just realized I didn't even address the trip without her because I think that would be even harder. As much as I longed for a break, there was no way I could have left her for a week at that age. As the pp said, it's also a lot to ask of someone. At 3 mo my daughter went through a sleep regression. Up until then she would wake up once or twice a night and then all of a sudden she was up every hour, every night for a month. I'd have felt awful expecting that of my parents.
This is another good point. I know many people travel with little ones but unless I was visiting family I would not want to spend that much money with a baby that little, what would you do if they were colicky and cried for hours at a time and you were not at home? I know it is easy to think of how great it will be but I have a few friends that had colicky babies with really bad reflux and they could not even go to dinner let alone another country for a week.
My first concern was the baby itself - health, adjustment, etc. My GP said not to worry, baby will be fine.
The trip is all-expense paid, otherwise I wouldn't plan it with the kid so young. But we hate to miss an opportunity to travel somewhere, especially free!
I think we will do Berlin, I can't imagine leaving the baby so young, especially if Im BFing or anything.
I'm more worried about how I will adjust to the time difference, etc....and if I will just be too tired to really have a semi-decent trip.
I will probably have a LOT more questions when the kid is born and we are actually planning to go.
The bolded part is what crossed my mind after thinking that I would not have left my baby at that age to go on vacation. I was exhausted and still achy from my c/s. You could still be recovering from birth at 8 wks....or you could be perfectly fine and have a baby sleeping through the night.
I would get travel insurance just in case. :-)