Traveling with an Infant

Something we have gotten asked often enough is how do we travel now that we have a baby? Is it harder? And I always say that you still can totally travel however often and wherever you want, it just takes a little extra planning and more stuff than you think you need.
After thinking about it for a couple days, I thought I’d make a list of advice and things you may want to bring with you to make your travels easier.
We just got back from a week of driving around Montana and Northern Idaho. It was so fun to see family and friends, but we probably clocked about 20 hours in the car total- between driving to our destinations and then around towns when we were there. Since Baby was born we have gone camping, flown to Florida and back, flown to Seattle, driven to Seattle, driven to our hometown and now up to MT, so I feel like we have a pretty good handle on what we need. Planes or cars- maybe some of this can help another mama get more prepared for traveling with babies.

Whether you’re camping or driving or flying somewhere with a baby, I’ve found its helpful to have these things:

If formula feeding: besides extra formula and bottles, we like to pack travel size dish soap and bottle brush. When you get to the destination just set up a bottle station right away to establish a little normalcy and organization. We bring a new tin of formula, three bottles, bottle brush and soap with us everywhere. I also keep a water bottle for formula in the diaper bag in case we are somewhere that doesn’t have a ready water source (such as the time we got stuck in the snow for 3 hours on our way back home this last trip).

Baby-jail: bring something where baby can safely be out of the way but still in sight. We bring a pack n’ play (for sleep and play) and a bumbo that also serves as a high chair when we travel. I recommend looking for a bumbo on EBay, surprisingly they were expensive on Amazon.
Diapers and Wipes: more than you think you need. Pack what looks good and then throw in ten more. (We also have a little fold-able foam 1X3 changing pad that we bring with us everywhere, and that has saved countless white sheets and couches from poops)

Clothes: I feel like I basically pack all of Baby’s clothes that she currently fits in- which was barely enough because she spit up and got food on almost every outfit I had brought. I did run out of pajamas for her. (Doing laundry would have helped. Ha.)
Toys: I try to grab a few toys that she is familiar with, and a couple that she hasn’t played with for a while so they are “new” and keep her busy a little longer- especially on a plane. Even though most people have been really understanding so far, it’s still hard to be the parents with the crying baby.

Schedule: Although it is easier said than done, try to keep the babes on their schedule. It will keep some semblance of normalcy and the transition to the new place will go a little easier, as well as the transition when you’re back at home. Keep nap time and bed times the same, it sure helped keep me sane during our travels!
Road trip tips: We have had  a lot of success of planning our departure time around Baby nap. Everything we can do is done when she wakes up in the morning, we do finishing touches and then by the time she is ready for her next nap we take off in the car and get a solid 2-2.5 hours of drive time before she needs to be fed or we need to stop.

Plane tips: during take off and landing ear pops, we have had success when baby either had a bottle or a pacifier in during those times. Landings were not her favorite but we’ve only had one major melt down out of our 10 flights thus far. During the plane ride itself make sure baby is not too hot or too cold; one time she was fighting a nap really hard for about 15 minutes before I thought to take off her jacket and then she relaxed and fell asleep right away. We also keep a couple different kinds of snacks on hand now too and rotate through them to keep her busy and interested.

In conclusion, these are some things we stick to when traveling with our almost 10 month old! But, please don’t think that all of our travels go perfectly or without hitches! We are still learning and getting better at it every time we go out! In fact, try as I might on this trip, Baby would not sleep in her pack n’ play at night she ended up with us every night we were gone (she moves around a lot in her sleep!) We forgot dish soap this latest time, and had to improvise when cleaning our bottles while at the hotel we stayed! Baby did keep to her bedtime really well, her naps were a little wonky, but her eating habits got really out of wack. She still pooped a few times every day so she got enough to eat, but I was still stressed! We had a great time and everyone survived, and there are always curve balls, something forgotten, blow-outs, and general life happenstances. What I want you to take away is this: Just because you have a baby now (or several), still travel, go out to restaurants, camp, backpack, and all the general things you did before baby. You can do it! You and baby will do great.

Your First Baby is the Experiment One

Good morning! I’m just going to take a few bullet points and talk about some “controversial” parenting tactics that are constantly being debated.

Number 1: Pacifiers. Are they a do or don’t? When we had Baby at the hospital they had a strict no pacifiers rule because I guess a baby at some point (and this is TRAGIC) had one in and asphyxiated. So those are not given to you if you birth at a hospital. However as soon as we came home, we stuck a pacifier in the little one’s mouth and she loved it, and we loved less crying honestly. My school of thought was that I didn’t mind pacifiers because it’s easier to take away a pacifier than a thumb (also, she never “found” her thumb anyway as a means of self soothing). My experience with thumbs is limited to the fact that my little sister sucked her thumb, and my parents had a heck of a time getting her to stop, and didn’t really succeed until she was four. Now I face the daunting task of transitioning my little girl out of having one for sleep. I think with our next kid I’m going to try not giving one and see how he or she does.

Number 2: When to Start Giving Solid Foods VS Exclusively Breastfeeding/Formula Until One Year (or longer)
I will say that a traditional pediatrician seems to push solid foods fairly soon. I’ve read all sorts of things regarding when babies are ready for some rice cereal or baby oatmeal- how many teeth they have is a sign that their digestive system is ready for more, when they start watching you eat/opening their mouth when you take a bite o food. I also recently learned that the push to start solid foods between 4-6 months is so that their risk of allergies to food in the future go down. (I’m aware that there are exceptions to every case of course and that genetics also play a role. And I will say if you suspect your child has an allergy go get a proper diagnosis from a doctor). Personally, Baby had her two bottom teeth by four months and was showing all other signs of being interested in food, so we started giving her baby cereal with every feeding and she loved it. At 9 months, she basically eats anything we eat- from scrambled eggs to chicken “soup” (just the chicken/onions/carrots) and of course, I’m still giving her a bottle before I feed her food. Now this is just what I chose to do with my kid, and I had no personal problem with it, but obviously other moms choose to breastfeed exclusively and that is awesome!

Number 3: Co-sleeping VS Independent Sleeping
Before she was born, my husband and I decided that we would not do long term co-sleeping. And I read a really great book that outlined how to get baby to sleep through the night by herself, without having to do some sort of ritual to get her to go to sleep- such as rocking/nursing/driving them to sleep. We are at the point where even if I wanted her to go to sleep with me, she won’t! Again, I’d read different pros and cons about co sleeping. We had her with us while she was still eating at night but by about 4 months she was sleeping in a bassinet that we kept by our bed at night. At nine months we have her in her crib in her room just down the hall from us. She goes to bed at 8 (currently waking up again at midnight because her teeth hurt, so we give her baby Tylenol and she goes back to sleep) and wakes up around 7:30-8:00. Some mamas say that they don’t need their babies to be so independent right away- and they don’t, but it was just our decision to keep our marriage bed to ourselves. It also is a huge stress reliefe that I’m not stuck putting her down for a nap or bedtime for more than 10 minutes, I swaddle, pacifier, kiss and hug and put her down and she just goes to sleep!

Number 4: Swaddling VS Not and Back Sleeping VS Tummy Sleeping

This one is a combo set I guess. I wouldn’t consider these subjects heatedly debated among mothers, but I’d just like to share my experience with these in general. I think every mom hears or reads that babies like being swaddled because it reminds them of being safe and cozy in the womb. They make awesome “auto” swaddlers that make it really easy for new parents to get the hang of tucking the babe into a blanket. Well, the trouble that I’ve run into is that now Baby has a hard time going to sleep when she isn’t swaddled, and sometimes she’ll just stand up and cry for eternity in her crib because she now can hoist herself up. In addition to that babies figure out how to bust out of the swaddle and the risk is then that they’ll end up covering their nose and mouth with the loose blanket and that’s not good. In order to avoid her busting out, loosing her pacifier or standing up, I’ve started leaving one arm out, flip flopping which arm so that she isn’t mainly dominate with one arm. So far the transition has been good, and since she has an arm out, she can put her pacifier back in by herself and roll over onto her tummy- which is now her favorite way to sleep. Speaking of tummy sleeping, “back is best” is the current mindset being proclaimed among the professionals these days. According to my lactation consultant from a few months ago, 15 years ago, tummy was best… and now it’s the opposite but I’ve read that when babies can roll over and that they start doing that to go to sleep, leave them. How exhausting would it be to continually be going in, waking up yourself and them to roll them back over onto their back? Just make sure that when they start doing that to go to sleep, there are no extra blankets or pillows for them to roll onto or get snuggled in too close.

Some questions for my readers:
What do you moms do to get your littles to go to sleep?
What has been your experience with solid foods or no? Any allergies?
What is your opinion about co-sleeping?

Thanks for reading!