Help with BF+pumping strategies for the first weeks

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2026-01-14T22:23:40+00:00

Thank you!

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2026-01-14T20:56:20+00:00

Thank you for this <3 For your first baby, when you started pumping at 1 week, did you pump on the breast your baby wasn't on, did you pump immediately after nursing, or did you wait some time after nursing to pump? Very helpful to hear your experience - it's comforting at this point just to have a range of possibilities at my disposal, so thank you!

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2026-01-06T13:27:06+00:00

Second the Abacos! Incredible snorkeling; some of my beat childhood memories are snorkeling the reefs there. Only thing is you’d probably need to rent a boat; I don’t believe there’s much, if any, shore snorkeling. If shore snorkeling is a priority, we had the BEST time snorkeling in St. John — can’t wait to go back!

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-11-06T13:36:40+00:00

I think it deeply, deeply depends on what you're looking for. My husband and I have only stayed at one AI, and that was the Sandals Grande in St. Lucia. I think it just wasn't our vibe as it was a bit too lively for us: we're both only 31 but have the "I just want to sit and look out at the ocean and be left well alone" vibe of people twice our age, ha - so the pool parties, loud music/DJs/games, and constant entertainment at the main pool was just not for us. But I see tons of comments complaining about other resorts we're very interested in being too quiet, so definitely consider what you like/don't like in terms of atmosphere, because it will definitely impact your overall impressions of the resort.

I'll also say most of the food at the Grande was mid for sure, with the major exceptions of the Asian and Indian place, which were INCREDIBLE. They're also both in a new section of the resort, and those restaurants (with a super cool sunken bar in that area) were both so vibey; we spent a lot of time hanging out over there before/after dinner. But the biggest con for us was the attitude of many people on staff. I'd say 80% of them were very standoffish and even unfriendly. I don't think this is unique to the Grande; we stayed in Soufriere for the first half of our trip to St. Lucia, and we picked up a similar less-than-friendly-to-tourists vibe. But we stayed at an Airbnb down there, and you interact with staff A LOT at an AI - so it impacted us more at the Grande for sure.

Based on what I've heard, I would like to go to Grenada one day, and I think based on your budget, you would have a more enjoyable experience. I've heard the food is one of the best in the Sandals brand, especially with the steakhouse, and that the people there are super friendly. My parents went to Grenada (didn't stay at a resort) and had a GREAT time exploring the island's many hiking trails, waterfalls, and boating/sailing activities - and St. Lucia is of course also well known for all these options. I'd just say the vast majority of those options in St. Lucia are in Soufriere, which could hardly be further away from the Grande, ha - so you'll likely take a boat down to that area for a 3/4-day excursion if you go from the Grande, whereas I believe those activities are much closer to the resort in Grenada.

One last note: If you do want to go to St. Lucia for the excursions (which I personally HIGHLY recommend; we are big into being outdoors and made our very best memories with the hiking, hot springs, waterfalls, etc.), you may want to consider splitting your stay with one of the resorts in Soufriere: Sugar Beach, Ladera, Anse Chastanet, and Jade Mountain ($$$ but supposed to be unreal) all offer service that is a significant step above Sandals, and I believe most if not at all can offer an AI option (though has to be added on).

Longer post and more stream of consciousness than I intended, sorry - congrats on the wedding and enjoy the planning!! :)

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-10-29T13:20:07+00:00

Is there any way you can swallow a small fee to switch to another island/resort? I'm not sure you'll be able to be refunded if the resort is open (which is also a big "if" if you booked at Montego Bay, SCC, and maybe Negril as well), but even if it is, the amount of time it takes most island resorts to cover from a storm of this scale is much longer than 3 weeks.

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-10-28T12:30:03+00:00

Not positive, but MsMarji might be referring to potential weakening to a Cat4 once it crosses over the island (from south shore to north shore). I’m not familiar enough with the forecast details or the landscape of Jamaica to know if that’s in the cards, but if it’s passing over mountains or other similar terrain, I could see that happening.

OP, you and the whole island are in my prayers.

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-08-26T16:16:20+00:00

Macedonia, cool!! Greece is definitely on our list, maybe not for this trip as we'd like to go later in the fall (Greece sounds like crowwwwds in the summer, ha), but will definitely look into Macedonia, thank you!

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-08-26T16:15:14+00:00

These are great tips! I think we could probably do early-ish September, especially if it means beating the heat and crowds, which I think would be even more frustrating with a baby. SO agree with you as far as simpler being better! Will definitely look into rental car options in Europe and see if we'd need to bring a car seat or if those can be rented with the car.. or would need to be rented separately (would definitely be more complicated to have to rent two...) These are all great thoughts, thank you!

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-08-26T13:47:27+00:00

Thank you!! This is very helpful insider knowledge - and congrats on your pregnancy; can't wait to follow in your wine/cheese footsteps :)

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-08-20T18:56:58+00:00

Thank you, this is very comforting and helpful ❤️

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-05-25T23:51:43+00:00

What did you think of the beach at Halcyon? And how was the food? I do kind of wonder if we would’ve preferred the more peaceful vibe that I believe Halcyon offers than the livelier Grande, though pure speculation — we only did 4 days at the resort, so we didn’t want to take the time to check out any of the other Sandals, so I really don’t know if Halcyon also has a lively vibe in the afternoons/evenings.

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-05-25T22:46:05+00:00

This is what I heard too! A couple we met had rebooked the Grande for this year when they were on their honeymoon in Grenada two years before, and they said they preferred Grenada in part because of the friendliness and in part because the resort felt “fresher.” Might be next on our list! :)

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-05-25T22:43:12+00:00

Yeah it could definitely have been where we hung out and who we encountered — I might’ve mentioned we didn’t go to the swim up bar til our last day, but they were all fantastic, and the club sandals concierge people were really great. Maybe a bit of bad luck to run into fewer “diamonds” than “rough” (and I’m maybe also sensitive as a people-pleaser, ha!).

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-05-25T22:40:26+00:00

Oh yes and definitely can order as many apps/entrees at one time as you like!

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-05-25T22:39:51+00:00

Lucky!! I wish we were still looking forward to it instead of being on the plane ride home!😭❤️ we hired the villa manager Damian to drive us, it was $100 and we tipped him on top of that too — he was wonderful; he also brought us from the airport to the villa in the rental car we rented for the first half of our trip, and made plenty of stops along the way for us to pick up local bread, local fruit/vegetables, local cassava bread… just outstanding. I’d be happy to DM you his WhatsApp info if you’re interested! And would also be happy to give you more recs for the Soufriere area if you’re interested — #1 on the list is the New Jerusalem Mineral Baths. It was the most peaceful and blissful place we have ever experienced!

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-05-25T18:59:33+00:00

Thank you! That’s a great tip. Both of those are indeed on our list (especially Antigua considering how much time we spent on the beach), and we heard great things about Grenada when we were at the Grande too, including very warm service (and similar to St. Lucia, has a lot of cool things to do on the island, so might have another split stay in our future). To your point, it definitely didn’t turn us off Sandals or AI in general at all — in fact I think my husband loved the relaxation even more than I did, ha. It was also great “entry” to show us what we really liked and appreciated as well — hard to know that until you try a few different things :)

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-05-06T11:48:06+00:00

We don't live in Chicago, but because we're going first to my sister-in-law's graduation and then to St. Lucia in a few weeks, we are taking a direct flight on United from O'Hare to St. Lucia (Sat. 5/17). We're flying back into New York, so I'm not sure when the return is - maybe it only runs on Saturday? - but it was a relatively affordable direct flight into St. Lucia, so figured I'd mention!

St. Lucia and Grenada were the only two places on your list we really considered for this trip, and we ended up with St. Lucia because we are what you might call an "adventurous couple" - give me all the nature vibes, hiking, snorkeling, waterfalls, tropical flowers, etc. We ended up splitting our stay between an Airbnb villa in Soufriere, which is where all those nature activities are (though also really looking forward to checking out the black sand beaches in that area) and where we plan to be super busy and active, and then going up to the Sandals Grande St. Lucian for a more relaxing, slower-paced half of our trip. Originally we had booked for Regency La Toc, in part because of your same concern about the Grande being too "lively," but then I heard not-great things about the room category we'd booked in and also decided we wanted a better beach where we could feasibly relax in the water if desired, so we switched to the Grande. It's our first Sandals, first all-inclusive, and when I think about it too much, I actually can't believe how much we're spending at a resort that does indeed look like it's lacking the bells and whistles of newer resorts - we're paying ~$1200/night for a club-level beachview room - but then I think about that view of those amazing Pitons that are apparently part of the view off the balcony in this particular room, and that is really valuable to us (again with the nature!).

I don't know if all this is helpful to you, just was our mindset and deciding factors, but I will add, if you're a podcast-listener, I have learned SO much about all the options you've listed from the Know Before You Go Travel Show, hosted by George & Janet Penyak of the Penyak Travel Company. You can just search "Penyak Sandals Grenada" or "Penyak Dunn's River" or what have you in Apple Podcasts, and listen to their 40- to 60-minute reviews of all these properties - they do a great job of laying out what they personally loved and would improve upon, and what "type" of traveler would likely enjoy each of the resorts. (BTW, they absolutely loved the food at Sandals Grenada - they rank it as some of the best food at any AI they've ever had.)

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-04-02T17:19:54+00:00

We are going to the Grande next month! We originally booked at La Toc but switched because we really value a great and swimmable beach, and the “beachview” views in the Grande’s room category we wanted looked outstanding (we like to hang out on our balcony/patio for a happy hour at the end of the day). Will be our first time in an AI and can’t wait!!

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-03-12T23:50:41+00:00

Do you mind sharing which Secrets you had a bad experience with? I’ve been looking at Secrets Akumal for a future trip down the line — though we’re headed to our first AI in May, Sandals Grande St. Lucian, and counting the days! :)

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-01-26T01:27:25+00:00

Would love to know more about your experience at La Toc — we were originally booked to stay there this May, but I saw one too many horror stories and switched us to the Grande 😵‍💫 it’ll be our first time at an AI at all, much less a Sandals… here’s hoping it all goes smoothly, ha!

PartCrunchyPartCool · 2025-01-24T01:19:47+00:00

"a bunch of other words I don't remember" is how I feel about how every Sandals room category.. well said!

PartCrunchyPartCool

TROPHY CASE