How to: Travel with a Baby
We officially have a one year old, and over the past year we have done multiple trips with and without our baby. Our family lives on the opposite side of the country from us so we have done the trip from California to New York more times than I can count as well as a trip to Mexico and let me tell you, we’ve really gotten this travel with a baby down.
First things first, having a schedule at home is so helpful for travel because you can plan your flight times / car drives around naps and feedings. For example, when Harper was an infant (her first flight was at 3 months old) she was eating and sleeping a ton and was still feeding to sleep SO we knew that planning a flight for either 7am or 10am was ideal so she could nap and sleep on me during the flight since that’s what time she would normally nap at home. The thing we noticed about the plane was that she wound up sleeping much longer than she would at home because the plane sound was basically a white noise machine and she could feel the movement of the plane as well rocking her back to sleep anytime she woke up.
At the super young age, she didn’t need a ton of toys to keep her occupied, just the boob or a bottle and being held in our arms.
For this first cross country trip, we packed a TON of stuff, some necessary and some we wound up cutting back on when we did our next trip. But here’s a list of what we packed and a photo of Mike carrying most of it haha.
BY THE WAY!!!! you can bring almost an unlimited amount of bags for carry ons when you have a baby with you, seriously anything goes. So don’t stress out about how many bags you have packed!
headphones for Harper on the flight to help with any ear pressure during takeoff and landing
travel stroller that folds up into a backpack for easy wear through the airport (since we had the body carrier we didn't need the stroller)
baby carrier makes it SO easy with a young baby
bubbacloud or dockatot for when you get to your destination
bag of pump and pump parts
comfy blanket for naps on the plane
diapers and wipes!!!
spare outfits incase of blowouts (they happen on flights more than you realize because of the air pressure!)
infant Tylenol incase of any un expected ear pain
as for a carseat, we had our friends drive us to the airport so we could use ours going that way and when we landed we had our parents install carseats in their cars so that when they picked us up from the airport it made our life super easy and then we could just use our travel stroller for the time spent at home
Next up, we did a weekend away, only a few hours from our house. You would think this would be easier but honestly we wound up packing even MORE and our much more dense baby gear because we were able to pack ‘just incase’ items in the car. This is kind of fun because you can really pack anything you think you might need but be smart about it because of course, the less you have to load and unload into the car (while somehow watching a baby) makes the travel much more enjoyable.
Some of the must haves we threw in the car for this trip were:
pack and play crib
bouncer seat to easily move baby around the house
our full stroller and carseat
toys and books
bathtub and soaps
As our baby girl has gotten older, some of the items have added / changed. She really wants to be on the move, talk to everybody and eat food all day long. SO she needs much more attention and preparation in that department. She also doesn’t go to sleep as easy as she used to. Now that she has more of a defined nap schedule, at only 2 naps a day, it takes a more energy to fill those wake windows! Here’s what I make sure to pack!:
snacks!!
water cup ( I added a fold up travel cup with a straw to save space to the above shopping list )
bottles ( pack extra so you don’t have to wash one over and over again, or if you lose any of the parts you are prepared! )
forumla / snack dispenser ( this is SO helpful on the plane or sitting waiting to board when you dont’ have a ton of space, it pours directly into your bottle )
download PREMIUM YOUTUBE so that you can download your favorite shows for baby like Ms. Rachel or Sesame Street to have ready to go on a long flight or car ride. You gotta do whatever you can!
get a suction case for the back of your phone or iPad so you can stick it to the screen in front of your seat otherwise you are stuck holding your phone the entire flight
Here’s a glimpse at what a day in the life of traveling with us looks like: