The following are tips and suggestions from friends who have recently went on umrah. If you would like to add a tip/suggestion, please contact us.
- Carry babies in a sling or back pack instead of a stroller so your hands are free. If husband is willing to split the job, he carries and you nurse.
- Get a wheelchair for toddlers and small children while doing tawaf and sa’y.
- Wear a khimar on top if nursing because you can sit anywhere (even in the courtyard with men there) and nurse the baby under the khimar without modesty being sacrificed.
- Boost your immunity and that of the baby before you go so you can prevent sickness. If nursing any supplements you take will be going to the baby through the milk and its best to nurse the baby there to avoid having food poisoning or other food issues.
- Carry tons of healthy food to store in the hotel and little snacks to carry with you to the masajid in order to avoid trips back to the hotel or to restaurants to eat.
- Eat a hearty breakfast and take your supplements especially if nursing to give you the strength to face the day with baby. Green drink powder, sardine cans, nuts, energy bars, kefir (you can take grains along in a jar with you in the checked in baggage and then use the local Almarai milk there to make kefir), hibiscus tea bags, apple cider vinegar.
- Come up with a schedule that incorporates the sleep and eating needs of each family member especially the children so your energy can stay focused on ibadah.
- Go at the times especially the time slot after isha and before Fajr to avoid the crowds and after making umrah; find the time to take the baby to get the barakah from touching the kaaba or the salaams at the rawda.
- Taking turns if husband or a friend is willing helps to have alone time at the Kaaba or the Rawda as a mother. Husband/friend can either be sitting in the courtyard of the kaaba with the children while the mother makes tawaaf and then they switch. Or you could put the children to sleep in the hotel room and the husband takes a nap with them. Mother gets to have alone time at the haramain and returns to the room to switch at an agreed upon time.
- When doing sa’y imagine the rank of our mother Hajar whose perseverance and tawakkul Allah has honored by people living her struggle again and again until the end of times and the zamzam being a mubarak sign of her struggle. Ask Allah to make you a mother that He is pleased with.
Read our Tips From Friends.
