How We Transformed from Couple Travel To Family Travel!

So recently I chanced upon a video on Facebook that really speaks out loud to what Mr OOPS and I believed in about travelling.

Mr OOPS and I used to go on spontaneous trips with minimal planning and doing everything the very local way. I remember the most exciting one we had was winning the Jetstar's Friday Free Flights contest and (Read all about it here) on a Friday morning and leaving for Bangkok that very same evening. As seasoned (and not the fashionista) kind of travellers, we have reached a point whereby packing is so fast and simple, maybe just 30 minutes? A pair of match-it-all jeans, a pair of shorts, some interchangeable plain tops, quick drying undergarments, one dress, some skincare, a passport and the local currency is all we need to move to our next destination.

But now with baby OOPS in the picture, we see ourselves facing a new set of challenge, a very exciting and tiring one. We now need to merge our adventures with our dear infant who is still unable to verbalise his preferences but definitely has a mind of his own. Woah. We are determined to continue with our travelling fix even with our infant.

Then again, we are not so garang to the extent we just went ahead with a long trip immediately. There are definitely some steps we did before we went ahead to a full scale travelling with baby oops (without any additional support). So let me share these steps with you!

Step Number 1: Be familiar with your baby and know your baby first.
Every baby is different due to the different kinds of exposure, health conditions and caregiving methods since young. Going to a foreign land is definitely tougher for the parent (not really for the baby) if you are already struggling to understand your child's cries. You won't be able to enjoy the travelling too when 90% of the time you are trying to figure out what he wants.

Spend time at home to just be with the baby and understand his every move.

Step Number 2: Be a pro at changing diapers, feeding and getting your baby to sleep
When a baby's basic needs issues can be met by the parents efficiently, your baby will be satisfied. A satisfied baby is important because that means chances of them whining and crying excessively is reduced greatly. That will mean more time on relaxing and sightseeing when you are on the go!

Step Number 3: Start by bringing your baby out around your neighbourhood / city for a full day without any help.
Personally, this was a very important step for me. Usually when I am home, my parents / my in laws are usually present to help me attend to the baby. When we are out with the baby on our own, we "grow" faster. I learnt how to plan my routes which are stroller friendly, checking out nursing rooms (I still do my nursing room adventures at Instagram if you are keen) and letting baby oops getting used to sleeping in a stroller. I learnt to take public transport with the baby independently without any help. This was one big acheivement because the first few times my anxieties led me to just take taxi all the way. I learnt not to overload too many to-do things in my itinerary for the day because there are other things to look out for. For example: baby's nursing time, diaper changing time, baby's relaxation time to just roll around and being hugged, learning to avoid peak periods / super crowded places that creates unneccessary stress on us and the baby etc etc and the list goes on.

Cafe hopping is still possible with the baby when we chose to have our coffee breaks at non-peak hours (3-5pm) At these timings, cafes are usually less crowded. At this stage (6 months and below), they are not baby-chair friendly so we used his car seat / stroller as his personal seat.

When he is okay with going out, we tried bringing him to more crowded places such as local tourist spots, Gardens by the Bay so he can get used to noisy places. He was crying hysterically previously when we brought him to a crowded shopping mall for the first time. But by this time, he was able to visit 2 crowded flower dome and cloud forest comfortably without being cranky.

Step Number 4: Go on a staycation.
Of course this is not a compulsory step. But it's a huge step for us to familiarize ourselves on how we can orientate ourselves with the caregiving of a child out of our usual comfort zone. We learnt how to shower our child with the most minimum logistics required and make better estimations on how many diapers would be enough. We also learnt that during the booking of hotels, we needed an extra step of ensuring that the infant has a cot which he can sleep in safely.

First staycation at Hard Rock Hotel, Sentosa. It was our first staycation with the baby and we decided to bring along this SwaddleMe by your side sleeper which my sis got for Babyoops.

Staycation at Hotel G. Thankful for the cot.

Step Number 5: Go on a first trip (with some support)
To gain some confidence, we went on our first family trip with our extended family. BabyOOPS was about 4 months old back then. We chose Perth and off we go on road trips and shopping. I remember carrying one full luggage worth of baby stuff to Perth - diapers, a baby sleeper, a car seat stroller, multiple towels and cloth, multiple clothes of all kinds, swaddles, his medications, baby detergent and bottles of lotions and cream etc. The beauty of it was we came back with half of those untouched. In fact, we bought new clothes that are suitable for the winter weather at the local stores and ended up with more barang barang. This was an important lesson for us to realise what are real necessities in baby travel. The additional support from our family members helped us to take a break when we get overwhelmed.

Adapting to winter conditions

When he poops during a road trip and we are surrounded with nothing but tall forest trees, the only way to change his diapers is to do it in the car itself.

I always remember one of my friends telling me that the golden period to travel with a child is when they are 4-6 months old. This is the period whereby they are in their infancy stage, they take relatively long naps and the only food in their diet is milk. Mostly importantly, they do not run around (yet). Since Baby OOPS do direct latch most of the time, we cut down on a lot of logistics such as breast pumps, sterilizing equipments, hot water flask etc etc. We can also do away with logistics required to prepare baby food such as rice cooker, steamer or what not.

With that, we are ready to set off on our own! When BabyOOPS was 6 months, old, I did the most incredible thing ever, travelling on a solo flight from Singapore to Tokyo to meet Mr OOPS there. If I were to do this all over again, I would still pack my bags, carry my baby and off we go.

I hope to be able to share more about the little steps on how I pack my bags and survived my flights in my subsequent posts. Blogging had been such a difficult task when I'm balancing my full time job and coming home to continue my job as a mother. But I will do my best to continue to write! If you are a fellow parent who loves travelling just like us, do share your thoughts with us.

Regards,
Mrs OOPS