Vacationing with a Crawling Toddler

[HipMama5]

Hi,

I just joined. What a wonderful community! I hope I'm posting in the right forum.

We are planning  a summer vacation. My son, who will be 16 months, might be still crawling. I don't know if its a good idea to go on vacation if he is still crawling. Should I wait until he starts walking? If I buy tickets to the resort ahead of time, we'll save some money (it's an all-inclusive in Mexico). So that's why I have to decide now... I just don't want him to crawl places and get sick, but I don't know if he'll be happy if we carry him more rather than let him explore on his own. Do you have any tips, or did you have a similar experience?

Waiting to hear from you :)

[Peony]

DS didn't walk until 18m. We took a 2 week beach vacation that summer when he was still crawling. I just let him crawl where it was safe to and then carried him around the rest of the time. It was a bit more of a PIA then with my other toddlers at that age because he did want down sometimes but we were surrounded my concrete and he had to stay up, and he got heavy to lug around.  On the other hand, I didn't have to worry about a toddler bolting off, no matter how fast he could crawl I could always still catch him! The trip went just fine. I did let him crawl around in airports and other places that weren't so clean but the tradeoffs were a toddler that got to burn off some energy so I was fine with it. Honestly, daily life at home that summer with an older non-walker was harder then the actually trip was. We couldn't do things like go to the river because he couldn't crawl around on the rocks, playgrounds were always interesting, but the beach with all the sand was awesome. 

[HipMama5]

Thanks Peony :)

I don't know what is PIA? Well you have to do what you have to do - even if crawling in the airport would make you cringe before. LOL Did he get sick after the trip?

I'm helping my ds to learn walking, and maybe it will happen soon!

[KikaKika]

Check out baby/toddler probiotics from health food store :)

PIA = pain in a** :) I think :)

Everyone told me that vacationing with a non-walking kid is so much easier and I agree!

Check out some supportive baby carriers - it would help :)

Have fun on your vacation!

[Peony]

He did get sick. He was not doing so great on our flights back home but that is because DD2 got croup right before we left and he caught the virus from her. 

[mamamolly1]

We vacationed with our boys last summer when they were 16 months.  One was walking but the other was still crawling.  They both had a great time and neither way really posed big challenges for us.  I'm glad we didn't wait until he was walking (started just before 18 months).

[crunchy_mommy]

The one thing to keep in mind is that if he's not crawling, he'll be a new walker -- and I found the first couple months of walking to be crazy, he had no concept of going the same direction as the rest of the family... I don't know that your DS would be more likely to get sick if he's crawling vs. walking though -- he'll probably want to touch everything and may still be tripping occasionally so either way he'll be on the ground a lot. And either way he may not want to be carried and may get into trouble. I love vacationing with my DS though & whether he was immobile, crawling, or walking, I'd go!!!!

Oh and my DS loves riding on my back in the Ergo -- I kept him on my front in a wrap until he was well over a year so the back riding is still somewhat novel & fun for him. He also likes riding in a wagon or push bike rather than a stroller, so if you have access to something like that at your destination, it's an option for walking-intensive parts of your trip.