what do you need to bring when you're traveling with your baby that's definitely a question that
I had before I ever traveled with mine I've been traveling mostly by myself for the last
10 years I even went a full year doing carry-on only before having a baby and so my biggest
question was how can I do this without having so much stuff that it's overwhelming so I just
took a trip recently with my family to Vermont we it was me my partner and our baby Felix and
we honestly did a really good job with the packing and all of it pretty much fit into
just one side of a large suitcase so I was really proud of that and I want to share with you today
what we brought and also importantly what we didn't bring first and foremost your diaper
bag I spent way too much time researching this there are so many different diaper bag options
out there seriously it took me like days almost a week to just narrow it down to find a diaper
bag backpack that was like functional that had all the pockets I wanted and that ended up being
convenient it just needed to be something that was easy to use I really didn't care about it
being cute I cared about it being functional so we ended up with the Jeep ultimate Freedom
it has a pocket on the side that you can put bottles into it's insulated so that's really
helpful I can fit two bottles into that side pocket there's also a wipes pocket and this was
really key because I don't want to be digging through trying to find my wipes when I'm just
trying to change my baby really quickly at the airport it has tons of space it's a really big
backpack we can easily clip it to our stroller and I just liked that I could fit everything in
there that we really needed so we brought lots of diapers I mean enough diapers to probably
last us like two full days just because if we got laid over something got canceled I didn't
want to have to buy some very expensive diapers that it probably wasn't going to be super stoked
about at the airport we also put an extra wipes pack in there we bring two glass bottles that
have water in them for his formula I also bring my wearable breast pumps these things honestly
they are an investment they are pricey but they have been so useful for me I've traveled with
out Felix before and I was able to pump on the go and that just made it really easy to go into the
bathroom stick them in real quick go back into the bathroom when I was done pour it into a bottle and
clean everything up in there they also make it possible for me to exclusively pump when we're
traveling with Felix I'm not able to breastfeed him so I do exclusively pump with him we also
combo feed with formula and so it's just really nice that this backpack has all of the pockets
that we need to store all this stuff required for that I also bring two extra outfits for him
in there just because you never know what could happen this diaper bag does have its own changing
mat but if your diaper bag doesn't have its own changing or not definitely bring one of those
because you don't want to just put your baby like raw on that changing table at the airport
gross I also have a portable washing system this is honestly the best like 19 I've ever spent that
sounds like I'm being ridiculous but seriously it has simplified cleaning on the go so much I
bring my own soap and a human gear container it's a silicone container and then I can just
bring that into the bathroom and clean up up all of the bottles and the pump parts and it's just
way easier and more sanitary than trying to do it in any other method I also bring some diaper bomb
with him in there I like the Earth Mama brand it's a nice size to fit in there it also has a
pocket for cell phones at the top and there's a whole bunch of internal pockets as well to stick
different things into the nice thing is a diaper bag doesn't count against your carry-on luggage at
least in the US for most airlines that I'm aware of so that was a big plus next what we brought
in our suitcase we brought enough extra diapers and wipes to last us the whole trip just because
it was a one week trip and we really didn't want to have to run out and get more as soon as we got
there but of course if you're trying to maximize space you can certainly buy them once you land we
brought ample burp cloths with us I also always bring a little waterproof blanket it's plastic
on one side and then cotton on the other side and that way just if we have him on any furniture any
bedding we don't have any accidents where we're in a situation where we've kind of just ruined
some furniture in the place that we're staying that would not be cool next the sleep stuff we
have this new at home it it is a godsend it will rock him to sleep it plays White Noise
for him and so we try to just recreate that as best we can when we're traveling we don't have
anything that can move him but what I like to do is put him in the magic Merlin sleep suit I don't
know how it works but it works really well for us when we're on the go and then we have a shusher
it's a small device that will run for maybe 20 30 minutes to help the baby get to sleep we
really like to use this because it's a lot of work sitting there shushing yourself and for whatever
reason that sounds just really lulls him to sleep and also a white noise machine that doubles as a
light it's a hatch restore I wish that it was a little bit more user-friendly I think that the
hatch that's meant for babies would actually be better I bought that one thinking oh it's it's
top of the line it's better but actually it's a little bit harder to use I always have to connect
to Wi-Fi to make it work which makes it a little bit clunky for travel and only one of us can log
in with it because it's meant to be a personalized thing so I don't know how the other one is I
assume it's a little bit more user friendly for parents and it's a lot cheaper as well so I would
probably buy that one but there have been many times where we were very glad to have white noise
machine because there were kids one place that we were staying we got put above a bar another place
that we were staying and Felix was able to sleep through all of that because we had the white noise
machine we also have a travel bassinet it folds so you can put more things in it we didn't need
to bring it for this trip because we were going to a place where a friend had a pack and play that we
could use but certainly we could have brought this and put it in the suitcase next we brought
ample clothes and hats for him obviously what you bring is heavily going to depend on where you're
going going but we wanted to make sure that his head was warm and always protected from the Sun
so definitely bring at least something like that so that if you want to be outside and enjoying
yourself when you're traveling which you probably do your baby will be protected from the Sun and
the cold clothing wise I always bring a little bit extra so that we don't have to do laundry
all the time especially since you don't know what the laundry facilities might be like where you're
going the nice thing about baby clothes is they're very small so we brought pretty much all the
clothes that we have for him during this age range which is about a week and a half's worth do not
forget the nail file as you know baby claws and I I really mean claws they are sharp they're like
kitten claws and so forgetting the nail file for a whole week can be really bad news we definitely
like to file his nails down as much as like once every other day so I was very glad to have
that nail file with us we have an electric one where you can change the heads out as they grow
so that's been really useful for us and I was sure to bring it when we traveled as well we
also brought his love every toys with us this play gym that we have for him gives me I think
hours back each day he loves looking at the contrast cards that came with it he loves
playing with the toys that hang from the top um the first time I really ever saw him like zero
in on something and try to bat at it was when he was playing with his play gym it's perfect
for tummy time there's a little mirror that he can look at himself in so we really love it at
home and we wanted to recreate it as best we could on the go so we also have the looker play
kit which is meant for babies up to about three months and so we have contrast cards in there
and a foldable he can look at those we also have a little contrast book that I put in our diaper bag
and bring with us we can even hang these little round contrast uh we call them contrast sausages
from his car seat handle it's made from organic cotton and wood and just I like having minimal
plastic minimal toxic chemicals around my baby as he's growing I also love how they're designed
for each step of his development so we bring the rattle the contrast cards and as much as we can
fit whenever we travel with him when it comes to the stroller or car seat you've got options
you can either bring it all the way through the airport with you and gate check it you can check
it as hold luggage that's what we did we risked it you can also bring it on the aircraft with you
if you buy your child their own seat so that you can just strap them into their car seat we chose
to check it so that there was one less thing we had to deal with I choose to wear my baby through
the airport and I will do that for as long as possible because it's so much easier to just put
him in strap him on and walk through the airport I've tried many different types of carriers and
wraps I used the Solly baby wrap on the way there and then I used an already pop on the way back
the biggest thing to me is weight distribution that is comfortable and both of them have that
and so those ones are the ones that I like Garrett actually really likes the Omni baby 360 so I would
try different ones on and see what works best for you the nice thing about wearing your baby through
the airport is you can't stroll them through the metal detector but you can wear them through the
metal detector so if your baby's asleep you don't have to wake them up to get through that part
of the airport process the last major thing is bathing and shower time what we tend to do when
we travel is leave all of his bath stuff at home except for his soap we use the Honest Company soap
and so we just bring enough with us that all of us can use it and we will bring him into the shower
with us we have to make sure to not have the temperature as hot as we would normally like and
and it's super slippery in there so obviously if you choose to do this be really careful but we
have found that that works really well for us as opposed to trying to cart all of his bath stuff
around with us and even at home we put his bathtub on a little ledge that we have in the shower or
actually it's quite a big ledge that we have in the shower it's very stable don't worry and we
bathe him that way so family shower time is kind of how we do it at home so we just repeat that on
the road but Garrett holds him and then I wash him and and rinse him and all of that stuff so
that's the way that we handle that and that is how we keep things as minimalist as we possibly can I
hope that helped you there is more baby content on this channel and certainly more coming soon
if you want to watch our trip to Vermont you can watch that here I will see you next week