A Babies Do’s and Don’ts of a Day at the Seaside
I was super excited to take Arran to the beach in half term, his first ever time by the sea! I was hoping he would love it, Dylan despite his dislike of water has always enjoyed the beach. Its also my favourite day trip location as varying petrol costs and food aside (which you can always make a picnic) it’s a relatively cheap day out.
But I don’t remember the last time I took a human so small to the seaside and there were a few things I didn’t really think about before we set off on our little adventure. Here is a few things I think my little one would suggest considering before embarking on such an adventure.
Babies don’t do long drives
I thought Arran would be fine, we travel a lot to visit family and he’s always seemed to cope well but it turns out he does not want to be in his car seat for 4 hours (we did stop halfway, we aren’t monsters). Honestly, I don’t want to be in the car for 4 hours.
When planning we obviously didn’t choose a location that far away but heavy traffic due to road works and no alternative route added a lot of time onto our journey. So, when taking your little one away its worth considering the distance you are prepared to travel and factor in that google maps lies to you. Needless to say, by the drive home we all wanted to tear our own ears off, I thought Dylan may push his little brother out the window at one point.
Babies don’t queue for lunch
So here is the thing about a seaside town in the school holidays; they are packed to the brim with people who had the same great idea you did. Naturally; at lunchtime every eatery within a 3 mile radius of the beach has a waiting list operating or a queue of people coming back out of the door. Sadly, little people tend to have pretty strict feeding regimes or at least mine does. It doesn’t seem to matter how much he has snacked throughout the day, 12 o’clock comes and I better be there with a spoon or I am going to hear about it.
If you’re little person is old enough to munch down on sandwiches or you are breast feeding, then this one is not going to be an issue for you. If you are bottle feeding or like my bubs is; eating solids but it’s got to be pretty blended down, then I’m going to suggest a Tommee Tippee Travel Bottle Warmer.
This is possibly the best £11 I think I have ever spent (well £12 as I combine it with a small cool bag I got for a £1; together they are my ‘baby dinner on the go’ kit). It is essentially a flask/thermos with a long cup on top perfect for fitting a bottle or food pouch in. I imagine you could get a good just general flask at a much smaller price, but I love my bottle warmer. It keeps water hot all day, it heats up food/milk quickly and most restaurant’s/food places will top it up for you when you have used your water making it ideal for a full day out. Please don’t consider me cruel though, we were at the seaside, of course he had just a little fish and chips to sample too.
Babies don’t have self-preservation
Arran is our little water baby; he loves the stuff! So, it came as no surprise he loved the sea. But he has zero understanding of what is safe and as soon as he was released at the water’s edge, he shuffled full speed towards the incoming surf, squealing with delight as he went. It didn’t seem to matter how much water hit him in the face he was quite prepared to crawl to the Netherlands via the seabed of the North Sea. We moved him back every single time, but he did not let that deter him. Babies are quick little monkeys, quicker than you realise.
Babies do eat sand
We put Arran down on the beach, we gave him a bucket and spade. He pondered over the spade for a few seconds, marvelling at it in his hand. He then dug it into the sand, lifted it up and naturally shovelled that full load straight into his mouth.
Thing with babies, everything goes into their mouth. You can try to stop them, but it is how you will spend your entire day. After a few minutes Arran realised he didn’t like the taste of sand so much. From then on, he only seemed to get as much in his mouth as the rest of us, which I appreciate is a weird statement but it’s true; trip to the beach you get sand in your mouth.
So try not to stress about it too much, they’ll soon stop when they realise it is the nastiest thing to put in your mouth ever.
But if your child takes a liking to eating sand, just a heads up, the beach probably isn’t for you guys.
Babies get cold quick
As I said, Arran was ready to head out to the open sea but within less than 10 minutes his limbs were looking swollen and slightly blue coloured. Kicking and screaming we dragged him from painfully cold water and told him his voyages would have to wait for another (warmer) day.
The weather lady had promised temps in the low twenties, but it wasn’t until I was sat looking out at the North Sea, in a very small top, shivering slightly that I remembered; this is not the Bahamas! The English coast is always slightly cooler, and the sea is never hot. Babies really struggle to regulate their temperatures so a bit of a tip that even I’m going to remember in future, don’t just pack sun cream and hats; pack something warm for them to wear if you are planning to take them in the water. Thankfully I had a huge cardigan for Arran to wear, the self-sacrifice is never ending.
Babies take a shit when its least convenient
Arran fills his nappy exactly when there is no chance of changing it, this will usually be the most rancid bowel movement he can possibly produce. On this trip Arran decided to do this in the car, too far from the house to turn back, on a car journey with very limited service stations. He seemed very proud of himself as we all gagged and hung a little to closely to our open car windows. Bare it in mind, they do it on purpose.
If going on a long journey, choose a route with frequent stopping points and make sure you are equipped to deal with that nappy anywhere. The customers of the first McDonalds we came across definitely looked less interested in their breakfast after I ran through with a stinky baby held at arm’s length shouting ‘poo-splosion, stand clear!!!!’
Have I missed anything? What are your baby do’s and don’ts of a day at the seaside?
Outnumbered 