My wife and I are planning a stop over of 2 or 3 days in Saudi Arabia to perform Umra on the way to our next Pakistan trip in February next year :insha: .

As most of you know, we will have our little baby Ziyan with us who is almost 2 months old now, but will be around 7 months old at that time. So I'd like to read your tips and suggestions for that trip.

Or even better: Experiences of people having performed Umra together with their little ones.

My daughter was 2 when I went. But it wasn't too bad. Make sure you have another adult with you. The tawaf is not too bad but the sa'i part can get to be too long for some kids.

^^ Most probably the Khala and Khalu of my wife, who live in Jeddah, will be with us.

However we are thinking whether we should wait for one year when our son will be 1 1/2 years old. Or would it be easier to go this year when he can't run around?

umer .....we went with our two kids first time for umra .....the eldest was 3 n the younger was almost an year old.....!!
it was a very good experience overall .....specially when compared to next year ....when the youngest was in 'terrible two' stage

though i had the sling to carry him but he was really heavy for me to carry specially during sa'ee .....so once we had a wheel chair n both kids sat in it .....n all other times me n hubby took turns to do tawaaf n sa'ee etc.
oh and during the prayer time ....my kids were better off with their father ....coz in ladies section there are always many kids n they all love to cry in chorus .....my younger one used to start crying just to join all others ....

n congratulations for planninmg such a wonderful thing .....keep my kids in prayers if i may ask!

I'v performed Umra with a 5 month old, in the middle of August! So you can imagine the heat. She was no hassle at all, we carried her via those baby straps you get. She was asleep whilst we performed Tawaf. You can't really predict how active or not your child will be at seven months. I think as long as you have other people with you to take it in turns to assist, you should be ok.

I only have one tip, never leave your child lying down on the floor during Jumma namaz, people never watch where they are going and will trample all over the poor kid. This one lady stepped on our kid and she didnt even say sorry!

Oh and congrats on your son, did you post pictures?

afia: lolz, i remember that. kids wud all cry in chorus during azaan and when their mom wud start praying. ik saath siren bajta tha. what i have seen is that they would tie a string around the kids' ankle attached to their own ankle, so kids dont wander around or get lost.

umer, umrahs are very relaxing and okay. u can do things at ur own pace since there is no time limitation like during hajj. so it should be okay :-)

Thank you for your tips and suggestions.

Afia: Inshallah I'll pray for your kids as well there.
Miss_Mohabbat: Yes I posted the pics. Click here (Pics of my son Ziyan (first week of his life)) to see the thread.
suroor: That's why we're going for Umra now and are planning to perform Hajj in a few years time, Inshallah.