7 Essential Items You Need for Travel with Babies

I have a guest post today from the lovely Evelyn from Mommy Stroller. Traveling with babies and young kids is certainly a point of stress for many parents, so she is sharing some useful tips to help make these trips easier and more enjoyable. This is a wonderful traveling with baby checklist everyone should use for air and car travel with baby.

---

Traveling and exploring different states and countries can be considered one of the things I ALWAYS enjoy. It doesn’t matter where we’re going as a family, if it’s somewhere new, I’m always pumped. However, this was not always the case. In fact, I often had feelings of anxiety whenever I had to travel around with my kids. If you feel similar, know that you are not alone! Many parents find that traveling with their little ones suck up so much of their energy that they forget that they should actually be enjoying themselves!

For me, I believe these feelings come to the surface not only because it’s a lot of responsibility always to have to keep an eye out for my kids, but also, it can be daunting just having to plan what to bring and what not to bring.

Most parents are aware of the typical essential items – diapers, baby formula, changing pad – you need when traveling with kids. However, there are certain things that are not so obvious, or the importance of these items might be underestimated.

7 Essential Items You Need when You Travel with Your Little Ones

In today’s post, I will be sharing seven items that I think are KEY to making traveling with your kids much more convenient (and fun). Keep reading for your traveling with baby checklist.

Item 1: Lightweight stroller

Lightweight strollers, any stroller under 15 lbs, are definitely the type of stroller you want to get if you’ll be traveling. These strollers are designed for parents who are always on the go and for traveling purposes. They are often very easy to fold – many can be folded using just one hand. Lightweight strollers can also be for everyday use.

If you plan to bring along a car seat as well, be sure to check out some of the top-rated car seat stroller combos as they tend to be cheaper than if you were to buy the stroller and car seat separately.

Something worth mentioning is that even if you are traveling with two kids, there are some lightweight double strollers around. The lightest one I’ve seen is 16 lbs for a double stroller – pretty awesome!

Item 2: Baby Carrier

While I consider myself to be more of a stroller mom, baby carriers can be extremely useful for travels. I have found baby carriers to be especially useful when visiting museums. A good portion of museums have limitations on stroller use and some even restrict the use of strollers.

Item 3: Baby Sanitizer Wipes

Baby wipes are something I carry regardless of where I go, and not just traveling. But can you think of all the amazing things you could clean with baby wipes when you’re traveling?

Taking public transportation and need to clean the handles? Baby wipes!

Your kid just made a mess on the stroller snack tray? Baby wipes!

Baby wipes are just very handy! Also, you can never be too hygienic when it comes to protecting your kids from germs. After all, especially in public places, you never know who has been to a certain place and touched certain things before.

Item 4: Travel Crib

Regardless of whether you will be staying in a family home, in an Airbnb or a hotel, having a travel crib that your kid is familiar and comfortable with is a nice thing to have.

Why? Because some hotels and Airbnb places will not necessarily have a crib for your little one. On the same note, be sure to check if your family’s home has a crib you can use.

Another reason why I think travel cribs are so important relates to co-sleeping and bed-sharing. For those of you who are not familiar, co-sleeping refers to the practice of sleeping in the same room whereas bed-sharing refers to sleeping in the same bed with your infant or young child.

In short, it is just much safer to have your little one sleep in a separate crib than with you on your bed.

Item 5: Moisturizer

Eczema is one of those “annoying” things that I experienced growing up as a kid. Eczema is a non-contagious, inflammatory skin condition that is characterized by itching and once worsens, scaly rashes. Some of the contributing factors of eczema for me (yes I still get eczema from time to time) are dry skin and heat.

One of the best ways to combat eczema is to moisturize your skin areas that are prone to be affected by eczema.

Item 6: Sleep Cover for the Airline Bassinet

If you are flying to your travel destination, a sleep cover for airline bassinets will help your newborn sleep much better in an airplane, especially if it’s a long haul flight. These sleep covers help eliminate the external stimuli – noise and light – on the flight and helps your newborn experience deeper and longer sleep.

As a side note, some sleep covers, such as Fly Babee also work not only as a sleep cover but also as a sun cover for your stroller. Again, this will help in preventing eczema or rashes for your kids.

Item 7: Favorite Toys and Books

Not every kid will always be thrilled to go on a ride in a stroller and in times of boredom, it would be wise to let your child play with his/her favorite toys or even read his/her favorite series. One of the toys that always works with my kids is the Play-N-Go.

This trick has always worked for me in keeping my kids out of boredom. After all, we all know what happens when kids get bored! Mayhem!

Over to you, what are some essential, must-have items for your travels with your little ones?

 

 

Who’s the Writer?

Evelyn is the main person behind Mommy Stroller, which focuses on helping parents figure out which stroller they should get. Evelyn and her husband, Paul, decided to blog about strollers after the overwhelming feeling they experienced when trying to pick out their first stroller. Both of them enjoy spending time with family and friends, live music, and going on jogs with their kids (in a stroller).

You can also connect with the Mommy Stroller crew on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.