Hawaii vacation--lots of questions!

[pumpkinpie]

We will be there for a week next month. I hope to find awesome advise here as usual.

1. How do you handle bedtime with a 4-hr time difference. Am I going to be awake at 3am and in bed by 4:30pm?! Yikes! I really had not thought about this part until after we booked the tickets.

2. It will be his first time swimming (never been to a pool also). What do 8 month olds wear? What about pee/poop containment. I am not sure I should be concerned about him getting cold or hot.

3. What are a two things I should never forget to pack?!

So excited yet freaking out about the time difference. DS gets really cranky that last hour before bedtime.

TIA!!!

[dutchgirl678]

We have gone to Hawaii a couple of times, once when DD was 13 months old and once when DD was 4 and DS was 1.5. They got over the time difference really quickly. They slept on the plane and we just tried to keep them up until their normal bedtime. They did fine. The only time it took them longer was when we came back from Europe and there was a 9-hour time difference.

We have the i-play reusable swim diapers. All swim diapers contain poop but not pee. Pee is sterile so it's not a big deal if it gets in the pool. Plus water is chlorinated anyway. Just make sure you don't put them on and then drive in the car to a beach because it will leak through.

Get some good sunscreen and a hat and uv-protective rash guard. Keep him out of the sun during the hottest part of the day.

Have fun! He will have a great time! He will love just floating in the water in your arms. You might take him to a pool a few times before your trip to get him used to it.

[redheadk]

I'd get him a rashguard and swim shorts/bottoms for the pool/ocean. It is warm but not hot in HI, especially this time of year, and I get a little chilled when I get out of the water, especially if we are sitting in the shade. For vacation, I would just use disposable swim diapers (tip: the sides are meant to come apart so you can tear the wet diaper off instead of trying to slide it down his legs). Swim diapers, both disposable and reusable, do NOT hold in pee, they only contain poo so plan accordingly.

Don't forget anything he needs for sleep!

Honestly, traveling to HI is easy. It's the US and you can get anything you need there. It's a little more expensive but not too crazy since you are only visiting.

Get the blue book.

[stealthmom]

Which island?  Just curious.

swim shirt, trunks and hat.  They actually make these little floaty things you can stick them in that are kind of cool.



make sure you call your airline and request a bassinette seat.

I don't remember having an issue with bedtimes.  I do remember letting him have his morning nap but then doing what we wanted the rest of the day.

[jr009j]

DD did great with the time change at 10.5 months. She took a little bit longer naps and woke up a little but earlier than she would have here but she didn't wake up at 4:30 after the first night. It helped that we didn't get to our hotel until 6:30 pm and then my ILs wanted to see her so she went to bed at 7:30 the day we got there. Just try to do bedtime at time you want from the first night there and be flexible on naps.

[pumpkinpie]

Thanks ladies!! We are going to the the Big Island. DH has a conference so we are just going to make a vacation out of it yay!!

[rootbeerfloat]

Big Island is my favorite to visit

[dbsk8dance]

1. depends on your kid. Be flexible and try to get out and walk in the sun as much as you can. Supposedly the body acclimates better when you walk in the sun.

2. swim diaper, rash guard had and sunscreen. Bring sunscreeen with you- preferably a sun BLOCK SPF 50 or higher. Apply regularly.

3. bring something that he recognises. pillowcase, lovey, paci, whatever. Something he knows well. go to KMark and get some sand toys and always bring a change of clothes to the beach or pool so he isn't in wet clothes longer than he needs to be. DS gets upset if he's in wet clothes.

Otherwise, be flexible and attentive to what he needs and enjoy! Big Island is beautiful!

[humanzee]

You've already got answers to your questions, so I thought I'd add that when we went to Kauai with my 8 month old, we rented everything baby related and it was delivered and set up in our condo when we arrived. We rented a full size crib, sound machine, pack and play, high chair, and toys. It made things so easy. We used kauaibabyrentals.com.. I know that their website lists contacts for the other islands too. We took the pack and play to the beach.. it was nice to have a place to put him where we didn't have to worry about him eating fistfulls of sand.

[pumpkinpie]

Jan 17, 2014 19:02:22 GMT -5 humanzee said:

You've already got answers to your questions, so I thought I'd add that when we went to Kauai with my 8 month old, we rented everything baby related and it was delivered and set up in our condo when we arrived. We rented a full size crib, sound machine, pack and play, high chair, and toys. It made things so easy. We used kauaibabyrentals.com.. I know that their website lists contacts for the other islands too. We took the pack and play to the beach.. it was nice to have a place to put him where we didn't have to worry about him eating fistfulls of sand.

This is great! Thanks! We were already debating on buying and bringing beach toys.

[Mrs.Syntax]

We took DD1 to the Big Island when she was 10 months old. We stayed just south of Kona in a condo. The night we arrived, she was so wired that she stayed up until 9 p.m. local time, and woke up at 7 a.m. local time. It was not a problem at all!

We stopped at Walmart in Kona after we checked into our condo and picked up diapers and baby food for the week. There's no sense in trying to pack all of that along. It's a little more expensive, but worth it.

I second using a baby equipment rental company. We were traveling with one baby and five adults, so there were plenty of hands to help drag our crap around the airport. If it's just you and DH, it would be nice to not have to deal with bringing a pack n play. A high chair also would have been really nice to have. We had to have someone hold DD on their lap to feed her, and again, since there were so many adults it worked out okay but it's something I wish we would have rented.

I brought along two reusable swim diapers and just rinsed them and hung to dry after each use. We didn't really swim much (she didn't like it) so I'm glad we didn't buy a pack of disposable swim diapers.

We also brought way too many toys. DD hardly played with them. At that age babies love non-toys so much that she would have been fine just playing with bowls and spoons from the condo's kitchen and the like.