Traveling with Baby

We have taken several trips with Raley since she was born – we’ve traveled to Kentucky a few times, Disney World, Atlanta, and now Illinois. Our first trip out of town was a little overwhelming. I think we brought everything but the kitchen sink. I’d like to think I’ve gotten a little better at knowing what to pack and what to leave at home although there’s always something I bring that I didn’t end up needing and something I left at home that I wish I would have brought. So I thought I would make a separate page that will hopefully help others when deciding what to pack for an overnight trip with baby and also tips for keeping baby on schedule while traveling.

Packing for baby

*This list is for a 10 month old so you may need to modify this list for different ages. There may be things you use that we don’t and things I have on my list that you may not need

Just some of the things we brought. All of this fits in her duffle bag

– Diapers*

– Wipes (small travel pack)

– Bottles (we use Playtex drop-ins. Easy to clean on the go)

– Bottle liners

– Formula*

-Clothes!* – she has so many cute clothes it’s hard for

me to choose outfits.

– Sleepers*

– Shoes

-Bows (a girl’s got to accessorize!)

– Towel and washcloth for baths

-Travel size baby soap, lotion, and diaper cream

-Comb (girl’s got some wild hair)

– Bibs and burp cloths

– Blanket

-Sippy cup

-Snacks (she loves puffs and lil’ crunchies)

-Baby food and spoons

-Swimsuits

-Beach towel

-Swim diapers
-Sunscreen
-Sunhat
-Medicine bag (tylenol, teething tablets, gas drops)

-Pack-n-play for her to sleep in

-Pack-n-play sheet
(Our pack-n-play is kinda hard so we have a
padded fitted sheet to make it more comfy)

*A couple of other tips

– I try and pack 8-10 diapers per day that we will be gone

– If you are trying to pack light and are going somewhere where it is easy to pick up diapers once you get there you may want to go that route and only pack what you will need for the trip there

– If you are nursing/pumping be sure to bring your pump and plenty of storage bottles/bags.

– You may need to bring a cooler of already pumped milk ready to feed baby on the go (We had to do this a few times when I was still nursing)

– I try and average 1.5 outfits per day so I’ll have backup outfits if I need them. I always bring too many outfits but I’d rather be prepared

– Try and make sure baby wears something comfy for the ride. For our trip we hit the road so early I just left her in her sleeper instead of trying to change her

*We also had our diaper bag separate with all the normal things we keep in there – bottles, formula, snacks, diapers, wipes, bib, burp cloth, extra outfit, and some toys

One thing we had way too much of was TOYS! I brought a big sling bag full of toys because she gets bored easily and I knew it was going to be a 10 + hour car ride and I didn’t want her to get fussy. We definitely didn’t need that many toys. It also helped that there was at least 3 people in the car at a time so there was always someone in the backseat with her to help entertain her. But I would say bring a few favorite toys and books and bring a few unfamiliar toys to hold baby’s attention. You definitely don’t need your whole toy collection

Something I didn’t bring that I wish I had was a fluffier blanket for her to sleep with. It’s summer so I didn’t think she would need it. All I brought was a thin muslin blanket but it was cold in our room and she woke up crying a couple times because she was cold. Next time I will bring a fluffy blanket.

Schedule while traveling

Keeping baby on schedule is very difficult when traveling. We were on the road for a total of about 12 hours each way after all our stops. We left at 4 am going there and coming back so we just changed her diaper as quickly as we could and put her in her seat. It didn’t take long before she was sound asleep and slept for another 3 hours before we ever stopped for breakfast!

She slept alot of the time in the car so her feeding schedule was off. We tried to plan when we stopped and ate around when she was sleeping so she could get her naps in. She only got fussy around the last couple hours each way. And even then she wasn’t bad, she was just all napped out and getting bored so we had to work a little harder to entertain her. Other than that she was an angel! But I’ve learned that you really have to just read baby’s cues when traveling.

For example, on Sunday when we were at the pool I knew she would need a nap at some point. So we let her float around and play in the pool for a while. When she got tired of that we got out, dried off, fed her and she fell right to sleep. We took that opportunity to eat lunch in the shade at the tables under the umbrellas so she wouldn’t get too hot. I just held her while she slept and she got a pretty good nap in. When she woke up we played in the kiddie pool for a long time. She LOVED walking around the kiddie pool in her float. After that she was hungry and tired again so we fed her and she fell asleep again. She took a short little nap in the shade this time. When she woke up we could tell she didn’t get her nap out so we took that as a cue to go back to the house and get cleaned up and relax for a little bit. She never did go back to sleep but she had fun being inside and being able to crawl around and play with her toys.

Napping in the shade at the pool
(Believe it or not I sleep just like this sometimes!)

We’ve learned that in order to have a good time and be less stressed you have to listen to baby. Trips to the pool, the mall, the beach, whatever are not going to go exactly as planned when you have a little one but it will be much less stressful if you don’t try and force them to do things they don’t want to do. Remember BABY is in charge!

I hope that this post is helpful to some new moms out there. If you have any questions feel free to contact me

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