10 Baby Travel Must Haves I Can’t Live Without

Traveling with a baby is a whole new world! Long gone are the days of spontaneously packing a small carryon bag and hopping on a plane to your next destination.

Traveling with babies involves more planning and preparation… and more stuff… lots of stuff. Don’t let that stop you from continuing to take trips once you become parents! I promise the reward once you realize you can do both (travel AND start a family) makes it all worth it.

In this post, I will show you how I prepared for travel with a baby… starting with my top 10 baby travel must haves!

1. BABY CARRIER | 2. TRAVEL STROLLER | 3. PORTABLE WHITE NOISE MACHINE | 4. PACK AND PLAY | 5. BABY MONITOR |
6. NIGHT LIGHT | 7. BOTTLE DRYING RACK | 8. PORTABLE HIGH CHAIR | 9. PACKING CUBES | 10. PORTABLE BOTTLE WARMER

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Before we took our first international trip with our baby, I was overwhelmed and confused on where to start. I combed through a lot of travel blogs on Pinterest to find all the best tips and tricks that would make our life easier while traveling abroad with our new baby.

Luckily, a lot of items that we put on our baby registry came in handy and were perfect for our upcoming trip! My focus shifted towards finding products that were portable or more compact. For example, our stroller we have at home is amazing and such a smooth ride! However, we wanted something more compact and lightweight for traveling.

I started researching every travel baby product on the market and looked at hundreds of reviews. After doing the background digging and comparison of products, I am happy to report back that we loved the baby travel products I found!

I am excited to share my 10 Baby Travel Must Haves I Can’t Live Without. Hopefully this saves you some time preparing for your upcoming trip, and you can find a helpful travel product, too!

1. Baby Carrier – Baby carriers are a must have travel item for me! Carriers allow you to tote around your baby while keeping your hands free, allow baby to snuggle in close for naps on the go, and are a great option for when you are exploring areas that a stroller wouldn’t be best suited (ie hiking, cobblestone roads, stairs, narrow doorways, etc).

Baby Wrap versus Baby Carrier -I am split – I do have two favorite types of baby carriers for travel and love them each for different reasons! Baby wraps + Baby Carriers.

My Solly Baby Wrap is a cloth wrap that is soft, lightweight, and breathable. I love this one for the plane, because I can comfortably wear the baby wrap for the duration of the flight. When I wanted to, I easily put her back in the wrap to take some laps up and down the aisle when she got fussy. Wearing her in the wrap so she was snuggled in close to me also helped get her down for naps on the longer flight. Another benefit to the baby wrap is that it rolls up so small, and it can easily fit into the diaper bag or other carryon.

We also pack our Ergobaby Embrace Carrier. This carrier is more ideal for my husband and I to take turns while we are exploring. As cute as he would look in my Solly Baby Wrap, the Ergobaby is obviously more my husband’s style. Baby carriers are great and I love that they have more structure to them. The Ergobaby has the option to allow baby to face in or out as we explored. She loved facing outwards and getting to take in all the new sights!

When we arrived to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, we realized we underestimated the cobblestone roads we heard about! Our travel stroller was not the most suitable option because of the bumpy roads. I am so glad I had packed both wrap and carrier for the trip. I am so thankful for how convenient and comfortable they are, since we ended up wearing baby around everywhere we went for the next 5 days!

*My tutorial on how to put on the Solly Baby Wrap is linked here*

2. Travel Stroller – I absolutely love our stroller when we are at home, but it isn’t our most ideal stroller for traveling! When you are toting luggage, or packing things into a rental car or taxi the bigger stroller just takes up a tad too much room.

I wanted something more compact and lightweight when we went on our first international flight with our baby. I did a lot of research and compared many travel strollers on the market.

What really sold me on our travel stroller is that I wanted something that was also compatible with our Uppababy Mesa infant car seat. We wanted to attach the car seat to the travel stroller while cruising through the airport and potentially while on our trip. I was having a hard time finding a travel stroller was compatible or had adapters made for the Mesa car seat… until I came across the Mountain Buggy Nano v3 Stroller.

It checked all my boxes:
-Universal car seat adapters that can easily attach any infant car seat.
-Lightweight: weighs 13 lbs
-Compact: folds down to fit in an overhead compartment on plane (22x19x9 in)
-Multiple recline angles: Option to lay flat, perfect for naps on the go!
-Carrying case with shoulder strap or handle option

*Tip: Make sure to practice opening and closing your travel stroller before you head to the airport!

3. Portable White Noise Machine – Our girl loves her white noise machine at home. Even though she does a pretty decent job sleeping in most places, having a white noise machine on the go is great to block out background noise for naps and bedtime while traveling! We love our portable white noise machine- it can clip right onto a car seat, stroller, baby carrier, etc.

4. Travel Bassinet / Pack and Play– While you’re traveling, sleep can be tough to maintain (for adults or babies am i right?). Being in a new environment, possibly adjusting to a time change, and being out past their normal bedtime can all throw a wrench in their normal sleep routine. It is helpful to create a comfortable and safe sleeping environment for them on the go. Hopefully this will help baby sleep well… so you can sleep well too!

Depending on their age and size, you will want to pack a travel bassinet or pack and play. We used this travel bassinet until Nora was about 6 months old. It is easy to assemble and take apart + has a carrying bag with a shoulder strap.

Once she got a bit bigger and more mobile, she graduated to our Pack and Play. It is also easy to assemble and fold up, easy to clean, comes with a carrying case with a strap, and is relatively lightweight. The pack and play also comes in handy because it gives her a safe padded area to play with her toys.

Side note: Don’t forget to bring sheets for your pack and play or bassinet! I like to use our favorite muslin swaddle blankets and tuck them under the mattress like a fitted sheet.

Wanting to bring one less item with you? If planning to stay in a hotel or air bnb, you can always call ahead and/or message your host to see if they have a pack and play, crib, or bassinet available for use.

5. Travel Baby Monitor– Our favorite baby monitor when we are on the go is the HelloBaby Monitor. It does not depend on wifi, has a 3.2″ display screen, and the camera has the option to remotely pan, tilt, or zoom so you can adjust to see baby. It alerts you if baby is crying, has two way audio, and also can read the temperature of the room. Super easy to set up, you just plug in and play. We added on the mounting attachment for this monitor so we can easily attach to side of pack and play, bassinet, or any other surface. The best for travel!

6. Night Light– This little night light is perfect for travel. It is rechargeable, and does not have to be plugged into a wall. You can dim it with the touch of your hand. You never know what the lighting situation is going to be when traveling. So great to have for middle of the night feeds and diaper changes.

7. Bottle Drying Rack– Being on vacation doesn’t mean the dishes get put on pause! Make sure you pack a bottle drying rack for washing bottles on the go. It’s nice to have a designated place for everything to dry and stay organized. This kit comes with a bottle brush.

Don’t forget to bring some bottle soap… Dapple has a travel sized bottle and dish soap perfect for life on the go.

For sterilizing on the go, these Dr Brown’s Microwave Steam Sterilizer bags are perfect, and take up little space in a suitcase or diaper bag.

8. Portable High Chair – We live for our Inglesina Fast Chair High Chair. We got two from our baby registry + my husband and I each keep one in our cars. We use ours for eating out at restaurants if we don’t want to use the provided high chairs or if one is not available. We also love using ours to send with baby when the grandparents are babysitting!

This portable high chair is great for once baby is sitting up independently. It can hold infants and toddlers up to 37 lbs. It attaches onto any table up to 3.5″ thick.

I like that baby feels included at the table, and that it gets her in nice and close so she can reach her food/snacks. We love using these disposable placemats and keep a few stocked in her diaper bag for when we are on the go!

9. Packing Cubes – Shout out to my sis in law for showing me these- it has completely changed how I pack for trips. I’m telling you… game changer! Packing cubes are amazing and keep all the baby stuff organized in our suitcase.

There are so many tiny items that can easily can misplaced or lost, so I love being able to stay organized and know where everything is! Also, these are great to help separate dirty from clean clothes. This pack comes with a set of 8, in varying sizes! Definitely a baby travel must have.

10. Portable Bottle Warmer – Easy to use, rechargeable, and compact. This bottle warmer has adapters for different bottles. You just attach the milk to the bottle warmer and turn it on. The milk warms up via a hot plate inside the warmer. In a few minutes, your bottle will be the perfect temp for your baby to eat while you are on the go. Easy to clean with Dapple Bottle and Breast Pump Wipes. This is nice to have so you don’t have to go searching for a way to warm up milk while on the go.

Having babies shouldn’t be a reason to stop your travel bug. It does require more preparation and gear! But bringing them along to explore the world is so rewarding + worth it.

Hopefully some of my recommendations can help prepare you to travel with your little one! Find products that make your life easier when you are on the go, so you will be more comfortable to continue your travel filled life, too!

Safe travels, mamas!

xo,
Jasmine