Holidays with children: What to pack in your toiletry bag

Recently my friend went on holiday for the first time since having a baby.

She told me that her and her husband spent the first three days of the holiday mourning the loss of holidays pre-children.

All parents will sympathise with this feeling.

Gone are the days of lounging by the pool with a good book and boozy late night dinners in beachside restaurants.

They are replaced by 24-hour surveillance of your child to check they don’t fall into the pool and hastily grabbed food in a family-friendly restaurant at circa 5pm then sitting in your hotel room trying to read your book by the light of an iPhone torch so you don’t wake up your sleeping child (PS: by this point it will still only be 7pm).

Even worse is the packing. Your capsule wardrobe will be replaced by a desperate struggle to remain within your baggage allowance weight whilst also having to transport a buggy, travel cot, baby bath, 4000 nappies and enough clothes for at least 4 outfit changes a day (baby, not you).

To make your life a little easier, here are our tips for the best multi-tasking products to pack in your toiletry bag to save those late night dashes to the foreign chemist searching for Calpol.

Which brings me to…

Calpol

Always take Calpol, you will not be able to rest easy without it and, inevitably, your child will end up with the sniffles or start teething just as you try to start a relaxing holiday.

You can buy handy, individual sachets instead of the bulky, full-size bottles which are great for travelling with.

Baby Wipes

This should go without saying. Once you have had a child, baby wipes become a non-negotiable stalwart of every bag you own.

On holiday they will come into their own even more.

As well as the usual uses, you will use them to wipe sand from a crying child’s eye, wipe sand from your sandwiches, wipe sand from your child’s feet before they put their shoes back on. I think you get the picture, they are great for wiping off sand!

A spray-on, high factor, children’s suncream

Once you have managed to negotiate with a toddler to wear sunscreen, you will have no problem getting a high-ranking job with the Diplomatic Service.

For whatever reason, children simply do not like to put on sunscreen.

I’ve found the aerosol sunscreens are the best. Simply sneak up behind them like a ninja and spray all over them.

It will be all over before they even know what has happened.

Solution for Scars

And, of course, no list of multi-tasking products would be complete with our own miracle cream.

As well as all the normal uses we recommend  – grazed knees, chickenpox, acne and minor burns – Solution for Scars is an essential for any holiday toiletry bag.

The unique green tea extracts help to soothe and reduce the itchiness from insect bites and it works wonders on sunburn too.

It’s initials are not SOS for nothing, you know!