I have friends who are planning a trip to Las Vegas and are thinking of taking their one year old baby. This is partly a business trip, and mom and baby would very much like to go along for the ride.
Although I understand that Las Vegas has become very much a family oriented vacation spot, would they be restricted with a baby? And are there reliable babysitting services?
Any thoughts on this? or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Las Vegas is trying to phase out the "family friendly" strategy but there are still plenty of children abound. This will be very apparent to your friends when they check out taxi cab advertisments or try to walk down the strip with hundreds of vendors trying to push their porn on you. LV is a very transient town and I would never trust a stranger to watch a one year old. Hope this helps.

Las Vegas is actually becoming alot less family friendly. No one under the age of 21 is allowed on the casino floor (which normally covers most of the main floor). The town just isn't a place to take kids. Most of the kids we've seen there are very bored.

I am very serious when I ask this question, and I really do not mean any disrespect. Is it possible that parents actually use babysitting services? Personally I would never leave my child with a stranger. Better to take a sitter along I think.

As mentioned above, I would never leave a child esp. baby with a babsitting service in LV. I live 45 mins from the strip. Ever notice how many fugitives are arrested here? The person babysitting could very easily be a felon. Don't do it.

Thank you very much for the advice. I will certainly pass this along to my friends and I know they will appreciate the advice too. I've never been to Las Vegas myself, so really didn't know what to think.

No prob. Your friend will still enjoy bringing his spouse, there are lots of things to walk around and see and good dining, just ixnay on the babysitting thing.

Las Vegas tried the family marketing approach from around 1998-2001.
The consensus was it didn't bring in more $$$ for the casinos and that approach was abandoned.

LV is now clearly marketing itself as an adult-oriented vacation spot with the new slogan "Las Vegas: what happens here stays here".

I would never let a Las Vegas babysitting service look after a child of mine.

Agree that leaving a 1-yeaar old with a complete stranger froma service is not a very safe way to go - in Las Vegas or anywhere else. (This is not like a family resort where there is an approved and properly staffed nursery as part of the facility.) They should either bring a sitter with them, stay with the child or leave it at home with relatives.

Our take on babysitting services is that we have never left/would never leave our kid with a stranger in a private (like a hotel room) setting - have felt more comfortable in open "kids club" type situations - although that is no guarantee of safety, of course.

My advice is to use the same care you would selecting a sitter at home - would you leave your kid with an unknown stranger at home?

It is up to your friend whether or not the trip is worth is - but I think they should plan on hauling the kid everywhere with them. Agree with above posters - LV is not really family-oriented now (if it ever was) - we were there for one night with our teenagers this summer en route to UT/AZ.

ONce again, thanks to everyone for the advice. IT really doesn't sound like a very good idea to take the baby along.
HOpefully they can make arrangements at home for the little one.

Just to be fair...I'm sure I'll catch heck for this, but I understand that there are services here that offer professional babysitters. These folks have "sheriff's cards" and have to have a thorough background checks before being able to work. Does that make it okay to leave your child with one of these folks? I think that decision should be up to the parents.

The horrible things people mentioned could happen in any city. I especially like the one about how felons come here to hide and that they hire felons to be babysitters. C'mon, folks...get real. I also don't think the baby will be offended by the racy billboards or the handouts offering "escorts" givein out on the strip.

Now, having said that, you people pushing strollers through casinos drive me crazy. Leave the children at home, please.

Believe me, the background checks are not so thorough. When I first arrived in LV at the age of 20 I applied for a job with a nanny service. I was hired on the spot (yes I know I look normal and decent, but how many other people look that way that are molesters or worse?) I did get my sheriff's card but another job came through and I did not take it. My references were never checked. I have worked with people in the upscale boutiques in the Forum Shops that had warrants out for their arrest in other cities. I love living here but can admit that this town does attract undesirables and people running from the law.

I'm not sure what an "undesirable" is. I went to San Francisco and was accosted and panhandled on every corner I crossed...guess I can't go there again. I have run across plenty of unscrupulous people in Los Angeles...guess I better not go there either. I had my pocket picked in Madrid....guess those Spaniards are no good.

Where is this Mayberry you all live in? The population of Las Vegas does not have any more freaks, degenerates, or felons than any other city in the world. We are just regular folks who work hard...no more unscrupulous than anyone else.

But I digress. Leave the baby at home with grandma. Sorry 'gone' to have ruined your posting with my drivel.

I agree with what you're saying, and I also live here and my spouse does the job of 5 people. My comment is that Las Vegas attracts a lot of transients and many here today, gone tomorrow types. Yes, you find that in any big city too. But did you ever happen to notice how many of america's most wanted have either lived here, plotted here, or been arrested here (ie. the lowlife terrorists, the Ohio shooter, Timothy McVeigh etc).

There was an interresting article :
www.lvlife.com/oct1999/outsidein/story01.html regarding how there is a 6 degrees of separation element with Las Vegas and fugitives.

Sorry, Vegaslocal, but if you really believe that LV does NOT attract more unsavory types (and hide more unpublicized crime) than most any other city (per capita) then you're being fooled by the local politicians and ad marketers. Look beneath the surface. Then look around at other cities.

My Mayberry is actually even better! I live in the heart of an Amish Dairy community and I love it. Can you believe it - we don't even lock our doors when we go away.

But, I also love to travel and I would agree that although there is plenty of crime in Las Vegas it also truly exists anywhere that there is a larger population. The gambling, prostitution and alcohol consumption only adds fuel to that fire. It does not mean that there are not lots of honest hard working people living there too.

Just a quick update for all those kind folks who gave advice.
My friends took your advice and left the baby at home , and were so glad they did. The knew it was the right thing to do and they had a really good time ( and so did baby at home!).Thanks again.

Glad it worked out for them.

I'm happy for your freinds. The great thing about Fodors is that we can all give our opinion and in most cases not hurt anyones feelings!

I know that your friends have returned from their trip already but I travel a lot with my children (business and pleasure) and have had to use a sitting service in Las Vegas twice now. We used Grandma Dottie's Babysitting Serivce and were very happy with them. We had the same sitter both times (her name escapes me at the moment). While I do agree that Vegas is not a place for children (My dad payed for a family trip so we could all be together - he likes to gamble) and would not go back again with the kids. I researched the company, spoke to the owner many times (some of the other sitting services scared my just by the way they answered the phones) and I felt that getting a sitter a few nights was a lot better than dragging my kids around the strip at night. I know everyone is down on hotel sitters but I have had nothing but positive experiences everywhere I have travelled.