I have travelled a lot with my 2 girls since they were babies and I would say self catering is the better option. If you have an apartment then you have more space plus separate bedrooms and living spaces. With a hotel you are restricted to one room so when your baby goes to sleep at night you have nowhere else to sit and relax, with an apartment baby goes in the bedroom and you get to relax in the living room.

Self catering doesn't mean you have to actually cook or wash up! We always go SC and I never cook or wash up apart from maybe cooking something for the children or rinsing out the odd glass it is nice to have a fridge too for cold drinks, fruit etc.

I haven't been to Spain but I would think late May or early June would be good, maybe the evenings could be a bit cool in early May and the sea could be cold.

I have to agree with Kedi. We have been going abroad with my granddaughter since she was 10 weeks old - she's now 2.5 and has been abroad 6 times already! Self-catering would give you more freedom - and more room, which is always nice with a little one. Even during the afternoon, when the little one is having an afternoon nap, you can then sit on your balcony and watch the world go by while he gets his rest.

If you do want to go all inclusive, and I can understand why you may want to do that, have a search on the internet to see if any do family rooms. We had a short break in one in Turkey last year and the family room had a separate lounge with fridge, etc but the hotel was still all inclusive. That would be good for you.

June (earlier rather than later) would be a great time to go to Spain or Majorca - the evenings and the sea will both be a little warmer than in May. Somewhere such as the Alcudia Park Hotel offers a one-bedroom apartment on an all inclusive basis so something like this may be ideal. Do a search on Travel Republic so that you can check out who offers an apartment with AI.

Jak xx

thankyou for your replys, jak thats a good idea i will check that out. thanks

Another vote for self catering here too! There is more room in an apartment plus the fridge is always a must have for a small person (keeping milk and water chilled etc). Having separate space for putting the little one to sleep was always important for us. Also September is a nice time to go if you are not restricted to early in the year. When daughter was small, we always went away the first 2 weeks September. The pool and sea has had plenty of time to warm up over the main summer season, the evenings are still warm yet it isnt too hot for baby. For the last few years, we have been in June and it has been too hot (apart from this year when we had torrential rain 4 out of 7 days :yikes).

We have tried both self catering and AI and after this year's fiasco with AI would never consider it again. Self catering all the way!

The thing is with self catering you have to venture out looking for places to eat. I like staying All Inclusive and enjoy having a routine and a hotel based holiday hassle free.

ive always liked self catering before baby as we liked to try new places to eat, but its alot more tempting to go for AI now the euro is so poor to the pound and i went to alcudia june/july 2009 (AI) and the prices of meals where we looked (we stayed a bit out of the main town towards where all the boats are, is it the port?) and they seemed a bit dear, apart from a couple.

I'm inclined to agree with Danny whilst it can be fun to look for places to eat when you are an adult, it can be a right pain looking for somewhere to eat night after night for 14 nights with young children and can turn something that is a pleasure into a nightmare. especially if you try new resorts each year so dont know where the good/bad/cheap/expensive restaurants are.

You can waste huge amounts of money on the childrens food night after night, buying them a meal that just because it is presented differently to what they are used to at home they just wont eat. At least with a buffet if they don't like the way the pasta with sauce or chicken is presented/tastes they can go and choose something else. Its embarassing and costly in a restaurant explaining why two plates of food are untouched. Do you then buy another two meals at a cost of 20 Euros or leave the kids hungry ? Very difficult decison to make really.

Nice post doepsmc. I agree with what you said. I like having the option being All Inclusive. What we tend to do is on the day before we go home we will find a nice place to go out and eat so just because you choose AI dosent mean you have to feel trapped because your that board basis, but having a child AI is probably the most practical.

We tried self catering when our son was younger and found,as doepsmc said,that any time food was presented differently to how we did it at home,he wouldn't eat it.We then went AI and found that he could nearly always find something that he liked,we used to always take marmite,tuna and meat paste,3 of his favourite things and even if he just fancied a sandwich it was easy to sort him out.We would never let him take a lot of anything unless he had already tried it, knowing that he could go back to the buffet as many times as he wanted.

Hi Oscarben

I would like to say it gets easier as they get older but now my son is 15 he seems to want to eat enormous steaks all the time . Now in a restaurant before you know it he has put his order direct with the waiter and that's 20 or 25 Euros on the bill straight off, leaving me to decide if I should have a pizza or something to balance out the costs.

I did stick with SC for the first 3 or 4 years, plus went to the US a few times as the restaurant food seemed more to their tastes, but then gave in and did a few European AI holidays, when they were ,8,9,10,11 etc as it was just less stressful.

It's best to do AI before they turn 12 after that time you pay the adult rate for them, and somehow it then seems less of a good deal.

We took ours abroad from 3 months. Self catering was always the best option. Also make sure you take some shade for the little one. We would take a cheap golf umbrella with us which we could open on the beach etc to shade him. We would give it away on the day we came home.

Think you have to weigh up the difference in costs of AI, SC, or even half board , as a family with children we always went half board , tried AI a couple of times and for us it wasn't worth it , as to get your moneys worth (and not always value for money) you dont leave the grounds , a toddler of 13 months wont be eating or drinking all day and night , and depending on your own appetites do you really need food and drink all through the day and night , each to their own i know and we are not all the same , i would recommend may or september

I guess if you have fussy children who wont eat somehting because it doesn't look the same you may not want to pay extra for their food. Luckily we don't really have this problem with our little ones and they like choosing somewhere different each night. Everyone is different, even children

Going back to the original post the OP was asking about a baby who wont be eating that much and if she goes SC she could prepare the baby's food at home if she wants.

I actually think its quite a common problem for lots of parents.

I know one couple who described eating out in restaurants with children as 'just paying for chair rental' whilst they could eat their own meals of an evening.

My kids aren't particularly fussy and eat a wide range of food when at home, but then if kids are not used to things doussed in garlic or chilli, pizzas with more herbs on them than a herbacious border etc, they are bound to think they have been given something different to what thye are used to.

lots of good points made there, thankyou. i hadnt thought about it been different finding a place to eat now weve have little one or if they will have something that he will like/suitable. i surpose if we did sc i probably would make his meals myself some of the time, we tend to have breki and lunch in anyway, but its that i want a break from! cooking and cleaning! also Danny your right that if we went AL we would have the choice, but to be honest as much as i like to go out and try different places etc when im AL i do feel inclined to stay at the hotel to get our moneys worth! as sad as it may sound. but again we do eat out at least once though for a change of scene and go the beach a couple of hrs/for a walk etc, also try to get somewhere with lots going on and maybe on a beach (but not essential) and maybe more than 1 restraunt choice.

so it seems it is very individual and no right or wrong, just what suits. so i think were best just trying it out for ourselves and seeing what works best for us. i think this yr it will come down to cost, which will work out cheaper with having had (well would have had by time go away) a yr off on mat leave.

thankyou for your input, happy holidays!

Whatever you choose, I hope that you have a fab time. I wouldn't worry too much about the little one - in years of taking first my daughter and now granddaughter abroad at a very young age, they cope fantastically well. Just remember that wherever you holiday, kids live there all year round and survive LOL!!

Jak xx

We always go SC. Always do breakfast and lunch in the apartment, and go out for our evening meal. We first went when my son was 20 months and most nights would give him a meal in the apartment, just something simple like pasta or jacket potato with topping. We don't tend to eat til around 8/9 ish so we found if we gave him his meal around 5 or 6, we then would go out around 7, he'd walk a bit with us and then we put him in his pushchair with a drink of milk and by the time we'd decided where to eat he would often be asleep. If he wasn't sleeping we would just sit him in a highchair with us and give him just bits of our plate or just a starter or dessert for him to pick at. The restaurants didn't mind this at all. At least with SC you know you will be able to find something to suit, and having a fridge is a must for me.