Advice For Travel With Baby By Jesseca Ryan, Founder of Travel Breasy
Whether it’s your first time with baby, or maybe your first time with 2 little ones, we know it can be overwhelming. Traveling with our 2 littles went from a dreaded experience to one of our favorite things. Here’s how.
First Travel Experience
My very first travel experience as a new parent was a long road trip from San Jose, CA to Ojai, CA. Baby was 4 months and in total it took us about 7 hours with stops. We were prepared with bottles, toys, and songs. But it still was a stressful situation, mostly because I was nursing on a low milk supply, and having to stop every 2 hours, then the baby wasn’t satisfied with the milk supply, and it really just threw everything off. He hated being confined in the car seat and screamed in distress for long periods. We overpacked and lugging everything in & out of the car, hotel room, and back home, was stressful for Daddy, and not a relaxing experience at all! Overall this was a failure for us.
Second Travel Experience
Our 2nd experience was me flying solo with a baby. This went much, much better.
The baby was 6 months and in flight, we were able to nurse on demand (can’t do that in the car). The excitement of all the new things around us kept him stimulated. If at any time he was overwhelmed, I’d use a nursing cover (or swaddle) to help soothe him. I was mostly hands-free by checking bags and the car seat. I kept the stroller, baby carrier, and 1 backpack with me.
Fast forward and we now travel with both of our boys, ages 1 and 3.
One of the most important things we’ve learned to make travel fun, and not so stressful, is to pack wisely. This means leaving things behind, and using delivery services when possible.
Advice For Travel With Baby- Air Travel:
- A baby carrier will be great for newborn travel on a plane, just note that you cannot use them during take-off or landing, but it has been my most successful way to get baby asleep mid-flight.
- Ear pressure can be a challenge. Seek advice from your pediatrician. A key factor is to provide baby a bottle or pacifier during take-off and landing (like how an adult would chew food or gum to help ear pressure).
- Bring as minimal gear and luggage as possible. Rent gear while you welcome baby, so you can travel light. The more stuff you have to pack, load, and unload, the more stressful it becomes.
- Consider the Doona which easily converts from a car seat to a stroller.
- Prepare with 3 changes of clothes, and extra clothes for parents, in case baby has a spit up or blowout mid-travel.
- If you are traveling a long distance, consider breaking the flight into chunks with layovers. The downside is more take-off/landing, but the upside is giving everyone a chance to rest and relax.
- Consider buying a ticketed seat for your baby so you can use a car seat during the flight (the car seat will be labeled TSA-approved).
- If traveling internationally, you can request an in-flight bassinet via the airline. All major airlines have this info available on their site, search for travel with infants.
Advice For Travel With Baby- by Car or Non-Plane:
- Plan ahead. Map out an itinerary that allows for frequent stops, every 2-3 hours.
- Use soothing music while baby is awake and be prepared with bottles and milk.
- Pack light, but bring multiple changes of clothes for the journey.
- Make sure you plan a stop after the baby’s milk, they will need to be burped after each feed to minimize discomfort while in their car seat.
- Don’t forget the snacks and wholesome food for parents, we need to nourish ourselves so we can stay calm for the baby.
- Try to reserve some space on a seat or in the rear storage, so you can easily change baby in your vehicle between stops.
Are you welcoming your baby in Oregon? We’d love to hear!
Happy travels 🩵
Jesseca is a mom of 2 and entrepreneur. She founded Travel Breasy out of her passion for helping other families feel less overwhelmed in navigating the baby gear world, whether for travel or at home. Travel Breasy provides a concierge service for baby gear rentals in Oregon. TravelBreasy.com