Traveling to Jamaica with an infant.

Travelling with a newborn does not have to be stressful! Think of all those memories you will create with your little one? Sure, they are going to be too young to remember but you will never be too old to forget. So here are our tips on traveling to Jamaica with an infant.

Why did we decide to travel to Jamaica with an infant?

Jamaica was our first trip with Myrra when she was three months old. This trip was planned when I was 4 months pregnant with her! Our friends were getting married and we did not want to miss it. We love to travel and we really wanted to give it a try. We knew that traveling to Jamaica with an infant would teach us so much as new parents.

People though we were crazy. Some even said “What if something happens to her when you’re on the trip?” “She isn’t born still! What if she’s a difficult baby?”. Questions that I honestly felt were going to haunt me for the rest of my pregnancy. But ofcourse this was a challenge for me. How could I not be able to manage with a 3 month old? I had to try it to see if this could be our thing. I really wanted her to be okay. This would mean that we could do one of those things we love to do together, travel! We booked our tickets and I kept the trip on the back of my mind till she was here.

Prepping for our trip with an infant

Once Myrra was born, we soon realized that we would be absolutely fine. All she needed was milk and sleep and we could surely provide her with that. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit sceptical. What if something really did happen to her while we were there? I had spoken to my OBGYN during my pregnancy about this trip multiple times. She shared her positive experience of taking her son to Mexico when he was 3 months old.

Those with kids, encouraged us to travel! Rohan was very confident with our plan and we had looked up the closest hospital just incase we needed it. Our plan was to stay on the resort for the entire 7 days. Mostly because none of the day trips would let a newborn onboard. We were okay with that! While I was on mat leave and had had a chance to bond with Myrra, this was going to be Rohan’s time. He fondly remembers our travels to Jamaica as an infant as a time he got to bond with our infant.

Guys, trust me when I say this – travelling with a newborn is one of the easiest phases of their lives to travel. Let me break this down for you a bit!

First flight with an infant

I was always scared to be that girl on the plane whose baby cried non stop. Myrra was on our lap for the 5 hour flight and this made it easier to feed and entertain her. We had taken the Baby Banz headphone to help with landing and take off but she wouldn’t leave them on. All we did was feed her during landings and take off if she took the bottle. The rest of the time she slept. YES, she slept – cause that is what newborns do.

One thing I realized on this trip was that most people love babies and if the baby cries, they try to entertain them. Of course you will come across those that will give you an eye but this is your baby and you deserve to be on that plane just as much as everyone else there. If your baby cries, don’t be embarrassed and do what you think will help baby settle. If that means walking up and down the aisles or singing or whatever it is, do it.

Once we reached Jamaica, we had a 2-hour bus ride to Riu Ocho Rios and I had her in the carrier for the bus ride. Again, she slept for most of the ride or just looked out of the window taking in the beautiful views.

Resort

We stayed at the Riu in Ocho Rios. The views were outstanding, the property was gorgeous and the food was phenomenal. More importantly, it was extremely baby friendly and we were not in any way stuck with an infant. The downside was the outdated rooms that smelled of mold.

The first day it rained and our room was flooded. The second day we quickly got an upgrade to the main building with an oceanview room. THIS was life changing for us because we would be stuck in the room a lot more and it gave us an opportunity to enjoy the lovely beach – from our balcony.

Have you ever been to a tropical country and drank fresh coconut water with the flesh? Ask a gardener and they will gladly get you a coconut from the tree and cut it up for you while you watch. Every resort we have been to, we have asked the gardeners and no one has turned us down.

What we could have done differently

If we could have done anything different on this trip, it would have been to stay out of the room longer at night. We came back to the room by 7pm for her bedtime. During the day, we would let her nap in the stroller and on our later trips we realized that some of her best naps were on a beach chair with the fresh ocean breeze. I always advise people now to let the baby nap on the go because they are very capable of doing this. I would gladly take the blame for running into the room early at night and the assumption that Myrra always needed a bed to sleep on – the best part of travelling in the newborn phase is they sleep ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE. We learnt this quickly when traveling to Jamaica with an infant.

Things we learnt

• Travelling with babies under 6 months is quite simple – they sleep most of the time and all they need is milk!
• To pack lighter – we were cloth diapering and had decided to use disposables for the duration of our trip. I was really cynical and took 40 cloth diapers JUST IN CASE! We actually paid for an extra bag for her. This trip helped me realize, I did not need a lot of stuff I took.
• We could have stayed out later during the nights – On the last night, while sitting at the bar enjoying some local entertainment with blasting music, we realized she was peacefully sleeping in her bassinet – too bad the trip was over but we learnt something for next time.
• The first meal, we quickly realized that mealtimes would never be the same and we would now have to take turns to get food from the buffet unless we wanted to haul her stroller through the rush and line ups at the buffet.

Things we did

• Since this was our first trip, we stayed on the resort for the entire 7 days because most day trips would not allow newborns.
• We took her in the pool and she loved the water! Rohan and me love water so this was a relief for us. She even swam in the beach.
• If she was napping in her stroller, we parked her stroller under the tree and went into the pool and stayed right near the stroller so we could keep our eye on her every minute. She slept for hours sometimes and while got to enjoy the pool.
• We couldn’t use sunscreen but we put her in full sleeves to avoid sunburns and used a stroller cover to keep her shaded the entire time.
• We took our Uppababy Vista, which was honestly a lifesaver. Yes, it was bulky but it was comfortable for her and it allowed us to be out for a longer time because she would sleep in it. We took the bassinet attachment and the toddler seat – this was definitely an over pack! Myrra was never too fond of the carrier so this option was very very limited to us and we had to use the stroller everywhere.

Jamaica will always be special to us because we learnt how it was to travel with a baby. We learnt to be flexible and we learnt to stay on the resort. To be honest – the biggest reason I was okay with this is because we had been to Jamaica before and done numerous activities at the time, including: Dunns River waterfalls, luminous lagoon, Rick’s Cafe and a day at the Negril beaches.

Traveling to Jamaica with an infant taught us so many things. It carved our future for all those trips we were going to take with our kids. We learnt so much and I am so glad that we were able to do this trip. It was one of the best decisions we made. Since then, we have explored so many places around the world with our 2 girls. Click here to find out where we have gone!