Zoë Foster Blake wants you to travel with your baby (for very good reason)

Posted in Travel.
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Staying at home in those early months, trying to settle your very wee baby into some semblance of a routine? Zoë Foster Blake thinks – if you are able – tripping a little further afield is a better idea.

Zoë says

First, Zoë wanted you to be able to get your baby to sleep (and get some sleep yourself!) Then she wanted you to ease up on yourself, at least some of the time. Now the excellent and gently bossy-booted mum-of-two wants you to try travelling far from home with your baby!  When will it stop?!

‘How very dare she’, you may be exhaustedly asking? It’s all in the name of a MUCH nicer parenting experience, we promise. Calm your farm and listen up.

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Some say traveling with an infant is lunacy, but in my experience it’s a YES! And a vital rut breaker. Before we went to NZ/Sydney, I spent all day between my loungeroom and the baby’s room, trying to get her to sleep/resettle for 150% of the day, and I rarely left the house, because I'd decided she didn’t like the pram or the car, because she cried in them. Forgetting that for the first 12 weeks, babies cry ALWAYS, at EVERYTHING, including KISSES. Travel changed all that. She had to nap wherever and whenever, get used to the baby carrier, and suck up long trips in the carseat or hikes in the pram. She had to go to bed when it was still light outside and her brother was bellowing the words to 'You’re Welcome’ one metre away. And she DID! As long as I had my boobs, we were fine. She was happy and chilled. (Almost certainly cos her mum was more relaxed.) Now we’re home, and the pram/car/nap situation doesn't bother me. We just get on with shit. (Often literally.) This is why I’m enormously pro-travel. It bookmarks your life, (I wouldn’t remember her at 10 weeks-old, but now I always will, cos we were in Queenstown when she was 10 weeks-old), and provides inspiration, but it also rewires your perspective on daily life. Especially when your babies are young, and you need to remember there is a whole world beyond the living room.? (Added bonus: I’m out of my activewear rut. This is a biggie. Did you know they make DENIM pants now?) Note: that's the packed away Cocoonababy she's napping on there. No travel cot required. ?

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Baby Bon Voyage

Zoë, husband Hamish Blake and the pair’s kids, 3-year-old son Sonny and 3-month-old daughter Rudy, have just returned from a trip to New Zealand, and they’re keen for other families to try their own version of Baby Bon Voyage.

While it might seem like a slightly bonkers idea to travel with such a small kiddo, Zoë says that in actual fact, it’s the kind of sink-or-swim situation all parents should throw themselves in. Because swimming can happen, everyone!

“Some say traveling with an infant is lunacy, but in my experience it’s a YES! And a vital rut breaker.” Zoë posted to her Instagram account today.

“Before we went to NZ/Sydney, I spent all day between my loungeroom and the baby’s room, trying to get her to sleep/resettle for 150% of the day, and I rarely left the house, because I’d decided she didn’t like the pram or the car, because she cried in them. Forgetting that for the first 12 weeks, babies cry ALWAYS, at EVERYTHING, including KISSES. Travel changed all that,” Zoë wrote.

Removing the usual routine and surrounds, whilst still providing plenty of time, cuddles (and boob!) meant everyone simply slotted in – and had a lovely time – because they kind of had to.

“[Rudy] had to nap wherever and whenever, get used to the baby carrier, and suck up long trips in the carseat or hikes in the pram. She had to go to bed when it was still light outside and her brother was bellowing the words to ‘You’re Welcome’ one metre away. And she DID! As long as I had my boobs, we were fine. She was happy and chilled.”

Zoë says that now that they’re back home, she and Rudy are much more settled than before the trip: “We just get on with shit”.

“Rewires your perspective”

Zoë also noted that travelling is the kind of memory-making, perspective-sparking activity that has long-lasting rewards.

“I wouldn’t remember her at 10 weeks-old, but now I always will, cos we were in Queenstown when she was 10 weeks-old), and provides inspiration, but it also rewires your perspective on daily life. Especially when your babies are young, and you need to remember there is a whole world beyond the living room.”

We told you she knew what she was talking about, y’all!


Have you ever travelled with a tiny baby? What was your experience? Do you wish you were on holidays?! 

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