Why You Don't Need A Babymoon

Why You Don't Need A Babymoon

So the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have reportedly jetted off to a £19,000 a week villa on a pre-parenthood holiday. Lucky them.

But if you're not so fortunate, then cheer yourself up with our nine reasons why you don't need a babymoon.

1. Unlike cash, you cannot 'bank' sleep.

So forking out to spend a fortnight resting prior to your baby's arrival is basically pointless. It'll be fun while it lasts but don't be fooled into thinking it will somehow ready you for sleepless nights. One night of feeding every half hour will instantly undo what you'll spend two weeks trying to accumulate. You can sleep when the kids leave home. (Hopefully. If you haven't utterly forgotten how by then.)

2. It's a total myth that parents need 'one last hurrah' before baby arrives.

Your own life doesn't end the moment you become a mother, and frankly you're better off spending what an exotic babymoon would cost on lots of little treats like meals out and babysitters, once the baby's born. THAT'S when you'll really need a little bit of TLC.

3. Pregnancy can be an emotional time.

Let's leave it at that. Holing up with your other half somewhere glamorous for a week or two might not necessarily be the idyllic experience you expect.

4. Our mums did just fine without.

Our mothers made do without babymoons and they coped with new parenthood just fine. Admittedly, in those days gin was known as 'mother's little helper' but think how many post-birth bottles of wine you could buy with the money you'd spend on a week in the sun.

4. Babymoons are the travel industry's way of trying to get their mitts on some of your mummy money.

At Parentdish we're always banging on about how you don't have to spend a fortune to raise a child or keep a baby happy, so why fall for the ruse that you 'need' an expensive holiday to boot?

5. You don't need to go away to enjoy time with your partner.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to take some time out with your partner to prepare for parenthood, but doing that at home can be lovelier and more intimate than schlepping your pregnant bod half way across the world.

Plus, getting used to finding fun ways of hanging out at home together can stand you in good stead for all those nights you're going to be curled up indoors with one ear glued to the baby monitor.

6. Do you want to give birth hundreds or thousands of miles from home?

There's always the risk that your babymoon could turn into your baby's arrival as it did for the Camerons, whose baby daughter was born while they were on holiday n Cornwall. So if you do book a babymoon, make sure it's somewhere you wouldn't mind being stranded for a few weeks. I hear Hawaii's lovely at this time of year.

7. It's a rubbish name.

If you really have to keep up with the Cambridges and just can't resist booking yourself a babymoon, then at least refrain from calling that so the rest of us don't feel inclined to seethe with jealousy. A holiday will suffice.

8. Precious time wastage.

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If you're idling away on a babymoon when are you going to get time to wallpaper the living room at 3am and fulfill all those other nesting instincts that are said to truly help you prepare for imminent motherhood?

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Maybe someone should open a dedicated babymoon hotel with half-furnished rooms so that soon-to-be mothers can nest while they babymoon. I'm off to write a business plan...

9. A babymoon should by definition be something you do after the baby's born.

You don't have a honeymoon before the wedding. So forget the marketing people's efforts to capitalise on our fears that we're somehow ill-prepared for parenthood without a round-the-world trip - just hunker down with your family and enjoy getting to know your new baby.

Now that's a babymoon worth investing in.

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