Traveling with a Baby

So Tim already blogged about our cruise. But I thought I would write a quick post about traveling with Chase. A couple people asked us at the airport, and some friends asked us when we got back, if we had any tips for traveling with babies. So here are some things that we brought and couldn't live without, and some ideas we had that helped the trip go smoothly. They're not in any particular order :)

1) A hang-on-the-back-of-the-door shoe organizer- this was the single greatest thing we brought. In a hotel, or especially in a tiny cruise room, it is great to be able to hang it on the bathroom door and organize all your baby stuff, sunscreen, shower stuff, etc. It is so much easier to find everything and it also keeps it up out of the way. From now on I am keeping ours in our luggage and bringing it anytime we go anywhere.

2) Fisher-Price rainforest soother- If your child doesn't have one of these obviously you don't need it. But Chase usually goes to sleep to this, and so we brought it along. It was great because it helped him go to sleep much faster, and made his bed on the floor seem more like home.

3) Cheerios (the best distraction ever and something to tide him over until he can get a real meal)

4) Formula sticks-whoever invented these is amazing. They're basically pre-measured tubes of formula so all you have to do is bring a bottle of water, and when your baby gets hungry you empty the tube in, shake it up, and its ready. I think Enfamily makes them. They're great for vacation when you can't always nurse. I bring them to church too and always keep some in our diaper bag just in case

5) Stainstick (trust me, when you can't wash your kids clothes immediately, you are going to need this)

6) Sunglasses or goggles- "Does my child really need these considering I try to keep him out of the sun and no way am I going to dunk him in the water?" Yes your child needs these; if you take him in the pool inevitably old men who think they're still young (*cough tim*) are going to be doing cannonballs, and little kids are going to be splashing and kicking. Either one of these will keep splashes of water out of your kids eyes great. This is especially good for the ocean, since your child will likely scream bloody murder if he or she gets salt in her eyes (this is just a guess. we didn't take Chase in the ocean :) ) Also both of them are only like 2 or 3 bucks at Walmart, and yes, the child-sized swim goggles will fit a 6 month old if you crank them tight and put the nose-adjustment on the smallest setting :)

7) Huggies Little Swimmers Spray-On sunscreen- this stuff sprays on clear, smells good, and is SPF 50. It is super easy to put on too. I love this stuff. Chase didn't get burned at all on our cruise. Don't forget a sunscreen stick to use on their face.

8)A blow-up minipool- If you're going to be somewhere your baby can't swim in the pool that is. It keeps them cool and they have a blast playing in it. If you're going on a cruise you can ask for an icebucket and use the fresh water from the pool showers to fill it up. Then you can dump it down the drain on deck when you're done. It's better than taking your kid in the crowded salt water pool anyways :)

9) Disposable bibs- Usually we just use the plastic ones for Chase, but it is much easier on vacation to bring a disposable one you can just throw away and not worry about cleaning. They're 6 for $1 at Babies R Us, or they sell them in packs of 40 or so at Walmart for about $5. Keep some of these in your diaper bag too! I love these.

10)A small umbrella stroller- we have a medium-sized stroller and we didn't even bring that one. Cruise hallways are narrow, elevators are small, and lugging something heavy on vacation is never a good idea. They also usually have sunshades to keep your baby out of the sun. Another good idea we had was to safety pin a swaddling blanket to the top of the sunshade, and when he was tired and overstimulated from seeing new places or people, we just pulled the blanket over the stroller and made him a little tent. It makes it much easier for them to go to sleep. The one we got has a little bag that attatches to the back so you can keep toys, diapers, bottles, etc. there. You'll want that, or one with a basket underneath. We got ours from Babies R Us for about $20.

11) A large caribbeaner- you can use it to attatch toys to high-chairs strollers etc. We have those rings you can use to attath toys but they are too small to fit around most restauraunt high-chairs and you'll want something to keep baby entertained during dinner.

12) A dinky plug-in nightlight- hotels and cruiseship rooms are often very dark and if your baby's still waking up in the middle of the night to eat you might want to bring one of these so you don't have to turn on a bright light. It also helps you not trip over all your luggage...

13) A bulb syringe and saline drops- Another thing that you pack while highly doubting you'll ever use. I was so glad we brought ours; we had to use it every night and every morning or he wouldn't have been able to breathe or sleep at all. Although it seems really random, I think its a great idea even if your baby's not sick, because a lot of baby's will develop stuffy noses for a day or so after flying.

14) Lysol wipes- Trust me, you will want to anti-bac everything from restaurant high-chairs to rented car-seats to hotel porta cribs.... yuck. Another great thing to always keep in your diaper bag.

15) A bunch of cheap bottles and dishwashing wipes cut into small squares- If you won't have a dishwasher that is. Bring enough bottles so you only have to wash them once while onboard, and use the little wipes to clean them easily. You could also bring one of those samples of dishwashing soap that you sometimes get in the mail.

16) A portable DVD player/laptop and Signing Time/Winnie the Pooh/some other kids show- even if you don't normally let your kid watch tv, this is a great idea for keeping them entertained on the plane. You can turn the volume on really low, or usually they're content watching it without sound.

If you can, bring a change of clothes for you and your husband and the baby in your carry-on. If you're flying for awhile, inevitably you baby will spit-up or poop on one of you.

Also for the record, TSA and the airport WILL let you bring liquid baby food, and pumped milk/formula/water to make a bottle, through security. You just have to declare it before you go through. They're usually really nice about it too. And strollers do not count as luggage if you bring it to the gate, and have them gate-check it. Same goes for carseats, but only if you lug it to the gate. On most airlines you can bring your baby's carseat to the gate, even if you haven't bought him a ticket, and if there are empty seats they will let you set up his carseat and let him sit in a plane seat. (If not they'll just gate check it.) Although I think its just as easy to hold him on your lap personally.

When they call you up to get a tag for your gate-checked stroller ask if there are any empty rows. Usually there are and they will put you in a row to yourself which is great because you can pile all your extra baby stuff on the empty 3rd seat.

You might've heard you should give your baby a bottle as you take-off to keep his ears from popping, but twice Chase was asleep and another time he got hungry before we took off, and he never had any trouble with his ears. I think a binky would work just as well.

Is it hard traveling with a baby? Not really. As long as he's fairly easy-going. I'm sure its much harder traveling with a toddler. We had a great time on vacation and Chase had a blast on the cruise, although if we hadn't gone with my family, we probably wouldn't have gone just the 3 of us. Vacation will be much more relaxing if you have some baby-sitters on hand so you can do some fun things yourself and spend some time with your spouse. Baby will also love all the extra attention.

So this post is a little longer than I expected... Anyways, theres our advice. If you're traveling in the winter this list probably won't help much! Maybe I will write another one around Christmas for a 1-year old :)