written by Cathy B.

When my husband told me he was going on a business trip to Vegas, I said, “when are we going?” He looked at me with a sarcastic grin and asked if I was comfortable about traveling with our 8-month old baby… in a desert? I looked at him and said, “yeah, it’ll be fun!”  I knew it was a gamble (no pun intended), but in the same breath, I knew this was a once and a lifetime opportunity to go away! After all, I was on maternity leave and I knew there was no chance in hell we’d go away for a really long time.

After he agreed and made arrangements for us to tag along, I started to trip out over our trip!  My hands got clammy. My heart started racing. All these bells and whistles went off in my head.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t slot machines I was dreaming about. I had a ca-billion thoughts rush through my head, but I couldn’t tell my husband how worried I was or it would start our vacation off on the wrong foot. So, I sucked up my fears and came up with a plan on how to deal with each and every worry. I’m proud to say that I hit the jackpot with my golden “what-if” list and we had a fabulous time.

1. Is Las Vegas really a place to bring a baby? I mean… really?

After calling a few hotels before I left and going on www.tripadvisor.com to see other families’ advice, surprisingly, Vegas was a great place to travel with a baby. Who would have thought? Most hotels offer cribs or playpens for free or a small cost. There were elevators everywhere. The curbs at intersections were dipped down so they were stroller and wheelchair-friendly. Kids were allowed to walk through casinos, so we didn’t encounter any restrictions. The lights, action and fresh air had our baby so intrigued and stimulated, she was tuckered out by the end of the day. There were a lot of free shows in the hotels that were geared towards families. Tourists were everywhere, so it wasn’t intimidating to walk the streets at night. It was wonderful.

2. What if it’s too hot for the baby and she gets dehydrated?

I did a little research on the web before we left. I researched how far it was to walk from hotel to hotel. Generally, it took about 10 minutes to walk to the neighbouring hotel from outside, but some hotels had interconnecting pathways from inside. I tried to stay indoors as much as possible and brought blankets and sweaters since I anticipated the air conditioning would be blaring in every hotel (and I was right). When we went outside, I removed the blankets and extra layers of clothes and had her in her light shorts and T-shirt. I covered her stroller with a UV Sunveil and kept a bottle of jarred baby juice and ready-to-feed formula on hand in case we were outside for longer than 20 minutes. Of course, I lubed her up with lots of baby sunblock and put on a sunhat before we ventured off!

3. What if my baby’s ears pop on the plane and she starts wailing?

My pediatrician recommended that I stick a pacifier in her mouth when the plane lands and takes off. Next time, I’ll bring a soother strap because it almost fell on the floor a few times. Yuck! If your baby isn’t fond of the pacifier, like mine, I found the sucking and swallowing action from breastfeeding or formula helped too.

I also had a bag of tricks at hand. Pack her favourite books, toys, teddy bears, rattles – anything that will distract her for a few hours. Introduce one at time so she doesn’t get bored of everything at the same time. Once that seat belt sign turns off, if she’s still fussing, walk up and down the aisle. The different faces are bound to entertain her.

4. What if I run out of pureed food, formula, diapers, and wipes?

Always bring triple the amount of what you think your baby will eat and drink per day. Same goes for diapers and wipes. Before I left, I wrote the day and meal (example: Lunch Tuesday) on each jar and bottle so I knew exactly what she was eating on each day. On the extra jars, I labelled “extra”, so I knew I wasn’t dipping into another day’s meal plan.

When I went out for the day, I packed the food jars and formula in a Ziploc bag, along with a few plastic spoons and bibs. I always had another empty Ziploc bag that said “dirty” so i didn’t get them mixed up with the clean ones.

NOTE: Before you leave for your trip, grab a handful of plastic disposable bibs at your local McDonald’s or IKEA eating areas and bring them with you. This way, you don’t have to worry about rinsing your bibs at night. I brought cloth bibs and left them in the Ziploc bag for a few days and the food blobs had blue, fuzzy mould on them when I took them out. It was pretty nasty.

Be extra careful when packing the jars and formula in your luggage before you take off. Since they can break or dent easily, make sure they are packed with lots of softness and clothes around them. Or, to be safe, carry them by hand. Pack them individually in Ziploc bags, just in case they do pop. The last thing you need is butternut squash all over your clothes.  I split them – half in my luggage and half in a carry-on bag – so I wasn’t scrambling for food in case we lost our luggage.

5. What if I can’t heat her food and formula fast enough?
Although this isn’t necessary but it definitely helped me, packing a really good thermos, a deep Tupperware and a plug-in tea kettle was helpful. Before I left the hotel, I’d boil water in the kettle and put it in the thermos. I tucked the thermos and empty Tupperware in the bottom of the stroller so I could easily heat her milk and food when I was out. Restaurants and food courts are everywhere, so it wasn’t really hard to find hot water, but when my baby was crying and fussy – saving those few extra minutes helped keep us both in high spirits. I just poured the hot water in the Tupperware, added the bottle and jarred food – and I was set.

NOTE: I don’t recommend the baby drinks the boiled Vegas water. I used bottled water OR ready-to-feed formula for her to drink.

6. What if there’s no private place to breastfeed?

There are bathrooms in every hotel lobby and casino. Trust me, there are many private places to breastfeed. If not, I packed an oversized smock, and kept it in her stroller in case.

7. What if the casinos are too smokey and loud for the baby?

Although casinos were smokey and loud, we were grateful that kids were allowed to walk through them because it gave us access to the shops, restaurants and air conditioning. Casinos are not an ideal place to hang out with a baby for a long time, but we walked fast and I even used the UV sunveil in extreme cloudy areas just to get to where we had to go. Unfortunately, we just had to grin and bare this one.

8. What if I get lost travelling on my own while my husband is working?

I went on the web before I left and studied and printed a map to get familiar with the hotel locations. When I got to each hotel, I have to say, it was a bit complicated with all the twists and turns inside, but I stayed aware of where I was going. Whenever I lost my way, there was staff everywhere in the hotel – so I asked them to point me back to the strip. Once I was on the strip, it was exactly that – a straight strip!

9. What if there are drunkards and winos all over the strip?

There were a few homeless people and drunkards since alcohol was allowed while walking outdoors. When my husband was working at night, I stayed in my hotel and explored our lobby’s restaurants and shops. During the day, I did venture off on my own and as long as I stayed on the main strip and in the hotels, I felt safe. Tourists and hotel staff were everywhere!

When my husband wasn’t working, we’d walk and walk and walk. We made sure we were back in our hotel by 9pm so the baby could get a good-night sleep and we wouldn’t have to worry about encountering any problems. There were always people around. In fact, the streets had more people on them at night then during the day, but we didn’t want to take chances and it worked for us.

So, there you have my golden list! If you’re going away somewhere and you’re nervous about it… write down what you’re worried about and then write possible solutions for it. The more prepared you are, the less likely you are to hit a hurdle. Of course, you can’t anticipate everything, but just fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the ride! If anything good comes out of a hurdle, it’ll make a really funny story when you get back.

Bon voyage!