**pjoann78***come in!

our very first house

Hi,

just wondering how did you do with the baby in Jamaica? Did they give you problems at check in? I am starting to panic! What did you bring (food, milk, water, juice, snacks, toys, sheets, clothes)? I am all over the place.

TIA

pjoann78

Glad I caught this message!  I only check every so often while I'm at work and things get to pages 2 & 3 pretty quick!  Where are you going?

We had no problems...  not sure if you mean check in at the airport or check in at the hotel...

Flight:  We did have to pay taxes for the flight on DD even though we took her as a lap child.  I guess this is standard for international flights.   The flights have been pretty empty (because of the economy) so we asked when we checked in if there were empty seats that DD could use.  We were able to get her a seat on both flights (we had a direct flight from DFW - MBJ and back) so we carried on her (convertible) car seat.  [If you're flying with a lap child, ALWAYS ask if there are empty seats.  We've been on about 12 flights and I think DD was able to get a seat on about 9 of them.]  We took DD to the gate in a very small stroller (that actually fit in the overhead compartment).  Her car seat was in a bag that had shoulder straps so DH could carry it like a backpack.

DD wasn't really snacking when we went so we just took bottles & food for that day in the diaper bag.  Also had a couple small toys, change of clothes, LOTS of diapers/wipes in the diaper bag. DD was getting over an ear & sinus infection so we had to carry on a bottle of amoxocillan in a soft-sided cooler (which we didn't claim when we went through customs in Montego Bay).

Airport in Montego Bay: No issues getting through customs/immigration in Montego Bay.  Although one person wanted to know why we had so much luggage (two big duffle bags, a bag with the car seat, the stuffed diaper bag, & a backpack) for a 4 day trip!  Traveling with a baby.. fun stuff!

Hotel: We stayed at the Beaches Negril (which is the family-friendly resort by Sandals).  They have a shuttle from the airport to the resort.  We just made our way to the Sandals/Beaches lounge and checked in there.  We got on the shuttle as soon as we could (sometimes they are pretty crowded) so we could get 3 seats near each other.  Installed the car seat in the shuttle bus and we were on our way.  Once we got to the resort, checkin there was a breeze (since they already knew we were on the shuttle).

As far as what we took for DD... we took the PnP for her to sleep in but she wasn't having it so we requested a crib for the 2nd day.  DD never had a problem with different water (and the resort had bottled water in our room) so we just took a can of formula and store-bought baby food (I usually make my own but I bought some for the trip).  We had a few more small toys, diapers & wipes for her in the checked bag.  I always take WAYYY more diapers than we need, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared.   We took about 5 bottles total (DD takes 4 or 5 a day) so I was washing them out once a day. We took plenty of clothes for her (mostly summer stuff, but some sweaters & an outfit for the plane ride home).  I think I had an outfit for each day and then 2 extras. Digital camera & a disposable underwater camera (DO NOT put this in your checked bag.. the speed is usally 800 on underwater camera film so it shoudn't go through the XRay machines... ask TSA to hand-check it instead of putting it on the belt).  Swimsuit, sunscreen, two of her hooded bath towels (one for the pool/ocean, one for her bath), her wash rags, baby wash, pool hat, inflateable/mesh pool float that folded up pretty small... I don't know what else!

Beaches has free child-care during the day (which we only took advantage of the last day while we were packing) and you can pay for a nanny to come to your room at night (which we did 2 nights so we could go to a nice dinner).  They also have highchairs in all the restaurants.  A lot of times, we just kept her in her stoller while we ate.

 Sorry this has gotten so long!