15 Tips for Traveling with Infants and Toddlers

I consider myself an expert travel mom because I’ve been traveling with my daughter since she was 4 months old. Our family has traveled to North America, the Caribbean, and Asia all before my daughter was 3 years old. Below I’ll provide 15 tips for traveling with infants and toddlers.

Our philosophy in regards to traveling with small children is: if we are traveling there, our children will go with us as well. So here are 15 Tips for Traveling with Infants and Toddlers

15 Tips on traveling with Infants and toddlers:

For international travel, babies need passports. Make copies of your passports, social security cards and driver’s license as well as your children’s passport, birth certificate. Keep a photo copy on your person, a copy on your smart phone, and a copy in the cloud. This is in case your documents are stolen, these copies will allow you to go to your embassy and retain travel documents.
Travel Light. We prefer to use backpacks for our clothing as opposed to suitcases. For a family of 3, we travel with 2 backpacks, 2 personal bags and/or a baby carrier. My husband carries his bag pack on his back and camera bag in front. I carry my bag pack on my back and baby bag on the side. Using backpacks allows our hands to be free to feed our child, or push the stroller. A roller suitcase can be a burden when traveling overseas and one needs to walk down a cobblestone road to a bus stop to travel from one city to the next.
We travel with a light stroller (GB Pockit stroller) which folds so small it can fit under an aircraft seat or in the overhead compartment (see above photo). Be prepared to board first, so break down/fold your stroller while in line at gate.
Use a baby carrier to keep your infant nestled close to you, as this reduces risk of them crying.
Baby bag essential item: A Changing kit: pampers, wipes, hand sanitizer and portable changing table for going to the bathroom in flight
Pack fluids, snacks and a few fruits so your little one can snack on the go.
Pack a bottle and/or a sippy cup. For breastfeeding babies, feed them before your flight. This can pacify your little one and put them to sleep. Breast feeding in flight helps relieve air pressure, especially during take-off and landing.
Another breastfeeding tip: bring a manual breast pump to pump into a bottle and have your little one feed that way as well. Then store the pumped breastmilk in a cooling section of the baby bag.
Pack extra clothing and diapers in your carry-on because accidents do happen!
In keeping with the idea of traveling light, pack your little ones favorite blanket/toy that he/she associates with sleep. This encourages them to fall also in flight. We also bring her tablet for in flight video/ activities.
Medical essentials: mini First Aid Kit, Tylenol or Motrin in case of fever, and any of your little ones prescribed meds.
When traveling with an infant, pack a portable infant sleeper to be used on the plane if there is an extra seat available (or you paid for an additional seat). The sleeper also comes in handy when at the hotel to ensure comfortable, safe sleep.
For toddlers, contact your hotel or Air BnB ahead of time and ask/ request crib be placed in the room if you don’t want him/her co-sleeping
Renting a car? Call ahead and ask/request car seat base.
You don’t need to bring a baby bath tub. Bathing your little one in a sink works just fine.

BONUS Tip: Engage child in as much experiences as possible, one of our goals of traveling with our child is for her personal growth. Experiences aid in personal growth.