By Melissa Meehan
Travelling the world is a rite of passage for many Australians – but does that have to change once you have kids?
Nicole and Ryan Impey recently travelled to Japan for a family wedding, but this time the seasoned travellers took their 11 week old son Mawson with them.
Armed with information, Nicole who was breastfeeding their son, bought a modesty cover as to not offend.
“As long as you’ve got a cover it’s OK – but saying that I never saw another woman feeding in public,” she said.
Most shopping centres and even Disney had feeding rooms – but in more remote areas it wasn’t that easy to find somewhere to feed Mawson.
“Finding places to breastfeed was difficult because I didn’t know the area – here (in Australia) you know you can go to a café or shopping centre – but over there I had no idea where anything was,” she said.
“I had to feed him in random spots which was different.”
While feeding was a challenge, Nicole says travelling with a baby has its benefits.
That included interacting with the locals more than they would have without Mawson in tow.
“Everyone would stop, look at him and play with him,” she said.
“We have so many photos of Japanese women surrounding Mawson in the carrier with my husband because they were so smitten with him.”
Would they travel overseas with a baby again? Sure.
“You just need to be prepared that you can’t do as much as you did without a baby and that you need to plan your day around naps and feeding,” she said.
“This age is particularly good because I could put Mawson down and he wouldn’t go anywhere – I think if he was mobile it would present some different challenges.”
TIPS FOR TRAVELLING WITH A BABY:
* Be prepared to go with the flow
* Don’t expect to do as much as you would pre-baby
* Have days with nothing planned so that they can recover – babies need a break too
* Make sure you stay at baby-friendly facilities (some hotels in Japan had no room for a portacot)
* Be prepared for baby to be out of sorts, they probably won’t feed or sleep as well as they do at home
* Take one giant suitcase instead of two smaller ones – having to push or carry one is better than two, especially if you have a baby to carry around as well
* Buy nappies at your destination if you can. Nappies are heavy and take up a lot of space in luggage
* Don’t over pack – just because you have a baby doesn’t mean you need to take their whole wardrobe. Think smart
