At the right property, the littlest travelers aren’t just tolerated, but welcome.
My baby’s marshmallow toes wiggle at the ting, ting, ting of the wind chime above her, the smell of aloe cucumber lotion filling the spa room.
Her baby’s reflexology appointment at the Four Seasons Punta Mita is beginning. She coos appreciatively at the next 15 minutes of stretches and head rubs. A stuffed animal axolotl, an Aztec symbol for transformation, keeps her company.
I realize it sounds ridiculous—a 7-month-old getting a spa treatment at the Four Seasons. But one restorative, whoa-where-am-I two-hour nap later, and I found myself rethinking why I ever hesitated to bring her on this trip.
You see, I was skeptical. I thought there was no way I could relax on a vacation with a baby, let alone in a five-star resort. There was just too much stuff to pack (The play mat! The pack and play! The purées!) And besides, what about the side-eye? The “what are you doing at this pristine paradise with that crying machine” looks?
I confess, I thought this vacation would be one I’d need two vacations to recover from. I thought babies would be out of place at a luxury resort. I thought I’d be forcing everyone around me to accept the fact that I’d decided to impose a baby on their vacations.
I was wrong.
The key is to book the right trip, specifically one with a dedicated baby program. Four Seasons’ new “Babies for All Seasons,” which we tried out, for example, was designed for ages 0 to 18 months, putting babies at the center of the experience rather than just an afterthought.
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“Most hotels stop at babysitting or a kids’ club,” John O’Sullivan, regional vice president and general manager of Four Seasons Punta Mita, told me. “But this is about creating an elevated experience for the youngest travelers and their parents.”
Their program goes way beyond. In addition to the baby wellness treatments, there’s also a chef-crafted purée menu of fresh local fruits and veggies like papaya, mango, and avocado. (Trust me, it’s impossible not to smile at a baby grabbing a handful of mashed avocado.) Rooms are stocked with coveted, name-brand baby gear like Stokke highchairs, Boppy pillows, and Diaper Genies that make life easy—maybe even easier than at home. Naturally, O’Sullivan says, the feedback has been warm.
Although Punta Mita is currently the only Four Seasons location to offer the Babies for All Seasons program, it’s not the only luxury hotel that’s joining the trend. You can find baby butlers at Rosewood hotels, a baby concierge at the Ritz-Carlton, and even postpartum suites at Waldorf Astoria.
Possibly the best part about these programs is that they challenge the notion that good moms and dads stay put after baby is born; they make it, as O’Sullivan says, “not only possible, but seamless” for parents to travel and even pamper themselves postpartum if they’re feeling up to it, with support systems in place that have simply never been an option at luxury resorts before.
Imagine a vacation where your beachfront casita opens straight onto the sand—perfect for dipping toes into the ocean and then rushing right back in to catch naptime or avoid a meltdown. When you get there, it’s already stocked with everything you need for the baby, down to the bathtub. Their name is spelled out in block letters in the crib. You could swear your baby smiles when they’re in there, so you use the nap break to frantically Google how to upgrade your own.
Imagine indulging in crispy duck at the first fancy dinner you’ve had in months, while your baby sets a record of how much sweet potato they can eat in a sitting. Everyone greets them like a VIP. The next night was rough, so you order room service that doesn’t just leave the food at your door but sets it up perfectly, with cutlery, fresh flowers in the center, and all. The only thing you have to do is put the baby in a highchair and eat your perfect Baja fish tacos. You could cry.
This is what Four Seasons Punta Mita’s Babies for All Seasons program is like.
I acknowledge there are just some frustrations you can’t avoid, no matter how good the baby program is. Your baby is still going to cry at dinner (mine did), and you will still get nap-trapped on a perfect sunny day (you bet I did). But programs like this make it as easy as humanly possible.
As for the side-eye, I needn’t have worried. We saw other babies dining at the early bird slot, 6 p.m., so I felt in good company. (Those babies seemed to enjoy wearing the purée menu, too.) I nodded to other parents pushing travel strollers with a look that said, “Good for you; thank you for validating my decision.”
Even guests without babies leaned in, smiling, to ask my daughter how she was doing. And besides, there were so many private places to dip out at the first sign of a meltdown, plus separate kid-free hang-outs like bars and an adults-only pool, that there was enough space for everyone to have peace and quiet.
By the time my daughter and I finished our yoga session the next morning, I started to believe it wasn’t just okay to bring my baby on vacation; maybe it was great. A pigeon pose here, a happy baby there, and a few knee-to-tummy reps and giggles in between were not just cute, according to our yoga instructor, Esteban, but actually aid in digestion. He did the same stretches for his son at home.
Does a baby really need spa treatments and yoga instructors? No. But sometimes you’re looking for a fun new adventure during wake windows. And everyone needs a little help (or a change of scenery) sometimes.
I’m under no delusion that this type of vacation is perfect. But I concluded it’s great for new parents like me who’ve figured out that if you’re going to be up at 3 am anyway, you might as well do it in paradise, where you can hear the waves lapping at the shore and you don’t have a pile of dishes waiting for you tomorrow.
