Baby Travel Tips: Part One
get those boarding passes ready for some
Baby Travel Tips
Just around two months postpartum, we decided to book our first trip. Brian and I love to travel; it’s one of our favorite things to do together, and we want to share our love for it with our newest addition. Cue the panic, traveling with a baby requires a few more logistics and planning. So I went down the wormhole, trying to find every little tip and thing that I could to make our trip as successful as possible. While we’re certainly novice parents, I would consider ourselves confident travelers, so I figured… how bad could it be? I think the key is to plan as much as you can but keep your expectations low. Worst case scenario, it’ll be a fabulous learning experience.
I’m considering this post “part one” of this series because I’m sure my learnings will evolve as the baby gets older. Conrad has eight flights under his belt now, which all went incredibly smoothly, so I want to share a few items and tips that made our experiences go well. In case you missed it, I previously shared five tips for traveling while pregnant, our favorite luggage, and our top travel tips.
a few must-have items
If there’s one holy grail item that I could not live without while traveling, it would be this inflatable nursing/feeding pillow. As soon as we sat down on the plane, I blew it up in less than thirty seconds, and it made a nice little spot for him to lie (which completely saved my arms from having to hold him the entire time). Unfortunately, Conrad couldn't care less about a pacifier, so as long as he was awake, I fed him on takeoff and landing to help with the pressure, and he did not make a peep. I have talked about these muslin burp cloths, pack more than you think you’ll need… They are super absorbent, and I feel like I have one in every corner/bag/crevice of the house. We also recently discovered these muslin bibs, and they are a win, double lined too, so they never bleed through.
One of the biggest tips I read was to baby-wear your child through security and boarding because you will have to take them out of the car seat/stroller. I’ve tried a few baby carriers, and I like this one the best for travel. After a little practice, it’s fairly easy to get on and off, even with the baby in your arms.
If you plan on traveling with milk, you can surpass the 3.4oz rule. I like this little cooler bag and brought along frozen milk, just in case, which ended up coming in handy during one of our car rides after the airport. It only got flagged 1/4 times through security, which required additional testing, but it was fairly quick. Give yourself some additional time to go through security, just in case! You’ll probably want to change the diaper before boarding, as well.
I need to dedicate another post to strollers/car seats because we’ve been testing out a few, but the Doona has made travel incredibly easy. At home, we use it as our car seat and for quick errands because I wouldn’t consider it a stroller, it’s more of a car seat on wheels. It does not have storage, which is worth noting, but its convenience for popping in and out of places makes it worth it. You can use it in the car without a base, which made Ubers/rental cars a breeze, too. Since we did not purchase the baby a seat, we gate-checked the car seat, and I purchased this bag last minute to protect it. We could use it throughout the airport, which was great, and we collapsed everything down a few minutes before boarding (which is when we’d change his diaper and put the car seat in the bag). You’ll want to be as hands-free as possible, so I’d highly suggest a backpack or crossbody sling bag. Another pro-tip is that you can stuff checked baby items with soft goods (think diapers, blankets, etc), which helps not take up precious space in the luggage. We checked this bouncer seat, toy bar, and travel case before we went through security and stuffed it with diapers. It was a pain to lug around, but having a safe space to put him in wasn’t his crib when we were in our hotel room was nice.
INFLATABLE PILLOW | WE ARE AMMA NURSING COVER
Upon arrival, this collapsible bottle rack and cleaner were very convenient to keep in the hotel bathroom. These wipes are a must for dropped toys and cleaning bottles on the go. It is a bit of a splurge, but we invested in this self-warming bottle system, and it has come in handy several times on the go. It’s very portable, holds a charge for a long time, and warms up the bottle perfectly within five minutes. I bought these pouches per the recommendation of my pal Kate over at Naptime Kitchen, and they come in handy for keeping all of the little things organized. I have one designated for diapers/wipes in my everyday diaper bag, too. One of the best items I can’t recommend enough to keep in your diaper bag is these disposable pads to make changing anywhere a breeze. They are a similar concept to “puppy pads,” but they’re a tad smaller and fit nicely on changing tables, and I like that I don’t have to put my reusable ones down in public places.
Conrad loves to sleep with sound, so this portable sound machine is great to use on the go and in the hotel rooms, just be sure to make sure you bring its charging port and wall plug so that you can keep it plugged in at night.
Conrad’s Favorite Toys
He’s a bit too young for everything in this travel activity sack, but I purchased it for my nieces for an upcoming trip, and I think it’ll come in handy. I also wanted to share a few of our favorite toys right now as we’ve entered the teething phase. He loves this little sound/music box, which sometimes assists with naps and our bedtime routine. This playmat is a real MVP, it’s a tad bulky, so we haven’t traveled with it, but if you are traveling by car, it may be worth bringing along. I have more of our finds saved to my Amazon Storefront lists titled “newborn favorites” and “baby items.”
Thanks for reading!
I hope this post was helpful, and I will be sure to update and/or share more of our findings and learnings as we travel to our next adventure. Be sure to check out my previous travel guides and trip recaps on the “travel” tab of the blog. I also have more things related to motherhood and pregnancy on my “motherhood” tab of the blog.
xx CMK