It can be an absolute hassle bringing everything you need for your little one, so we wanted to go through the baby travel gear that worked for us.
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Noise-canceling baby headphones
Whether you intend to or not, you might end up somewhere incredibly noisy. I’m not just talking about rock concerts (hopefully you don’t bring your babies there) but it could be a variety of other places with loud music or motors (weddings, boat tours, someone excessively honking during rush hour traffic). In our case, we took our little one on a seaplane before he turned two. If you’ve been on a seaplane, you’d instantly know there’s practically no sound insulation from the propellor blades. Having the headphones was essential for a comfortable ride.
But beyond that, we brought them with us everywhere. They’re small enough to fit into our baby carrier and there are no cords or batteries to worry about. And, indeed, having them on us at all times made it easy to pop them on his ears if he showed any discomfort from loud noise. Sometimes you just don’t know when they’ll be needed. And we found the best baby travel gear is the one that easily tags along in your bags and always at the ready.
Car seat travel cart or trolley
When it comes to bringing your car seat onto an airplane, there’s pretty much three approaches. You can either check your car seat in before your flight (it’s free to do so), gate check it before your flight, or you bring it onto the plane. If you have a car seat that attaches to a stroller, you’re all set for easy travel. But what if you don’t?
It’s an absolute pain having to cart a car seat around. I mean, just look at what we tried by strapping it on like a backpack.
So rather than hurting your back, maybe it’s time you considered carting it around behind you? While the big-name companies all have their own proprietary cart (such as the Britax one linked above), you don’t need to be fancy. There are generic versions out there that work just as well (and might not be as much of a uni-tasker) such as the second link above. Your back will love you for it. This is the one baby travel gear on this list that we didn’t directly try but we saw its effectiveness pretty clearly and wished we had it for ourselves.
Blankets for privacy while feeding
We found it necessary to feed our babies on both takeoff and landing. That’s the time when it’s most likely to have that sensation in our ears that makes them pop. It can be a very uncomfortable time for babies who don’t yet know how to release the pressure in their ears. Feeding during this time naturally helps babies release that pressure to the point where they might not notice what’s going on.
While there are times when we have no choice but to feed without privacy, sometimes it’s nice to have it. We developed a bit of a three-person team: I help hold the blanket in place, Jenn feeds, and the baby drinks. Collectively, we’ve done such a good job that many people have come up to us complimenting on how they didn’t even know a baby was on board. While many blankets could work for this purpose, we found the aden + anais blankets to be incredibly reliable and not heavy enough to distract the baby.
Travel bottle drying system
When you’re with a hungry baby, you’re going to end up with baby bottles to clean. The task is simple enough at home, but what about when you’re on the road? We didn’t want to bring our home system with us–that’s too much to bring–so instead we had a travel version. This OXO-branded drying rack had everything we needed to make our journey easier. It offered a clean place to dry not only the baby bottles but also the breast pump.
You’ll want to pair this with your favorite dish cleaner soap (Jenn preferred the Babyganics brand). But be mindful of liquid limits on planes if you don’t have free checked bags. It’s only good baby travel gear if you’re able to actually bring it on your flight, after all.
Inflatable duck bath
Sometimes when we arrived at a hotel, we weren’t sure if our room was going to have a tub or a shower. If we get a tub, it’s a little easier just to bathe our babies in normal bath when we take a bath. But if we get a shower? Some modest concern over accidentally dropping the baby after lathering up the soap. So we hedged our bets and brought along an inflatable bath.
We used this duck inflatable bath that offered some extra amusement for the kids as they used it. It’s pretty good–just lacking a place for some extra neck support for the youngest of kids, but we didn’t travel much at that age. We like inflatable items because it’s easy to fit them into our luggage when we’re done with them.
Shaded pool floatie
Speaking of inflatables, when we went to a pool with our babies, we brought along a fun pool toy for them. This SwimWays floatie worked pretty well for us, we had no issues with safety, and it came with some built-in shade to boot. If we were sure our hotel had a zero-entry pool, we wouldn’t have brought this along. But most hotels didn’t have a zero-entry pool so having this made sure our little ones could hang out with us in the water.
Mirror for car travel
Not all of our travel ended up requiring flights. Thus, our baby travel gear extends to the car. We didn’t care for any activity tables that attached to the car seat. We also don’t believe in constant screen time for babies. Rather, the most entertaining (and comforting) thing our babies needed was a simple mirror. Our kids could see us from the mirror to ensure we didn’t hide from them. And we could look back to see if they are awake or fell asleep. It’s simple but quite effective.
Bonus: Do you actually need a travel crib?
You’ll probably notice one big item missing from our list of baby travel gear (well, two if you count a stroller, which I assume you already have). We don’t recommend a travel crib for your adventures. We had one (the Graco travel crib) and it certainly wasn’t bad — we used it a lot — but we never took it with us. It’s a hassle bringing along a travel crib. You’re already bringing a mountain of things with you; I really don’t know how you’re going to have the hands to carry a crib.
Instead, we found many hotels (especially in foreign countries) proactively offered a crib for us. I did note in the reservation that we are traveling with a little one and that was the only tip to the hotels. If you need one guaranteed, you could generally also reach out to hotels in advance to request. We have never been charged for one. Sometimes it’s a simple pack and play and sometimes it’s a real crib.
If the hotel didn’t provide one, we instead just had our kids co-sleep in bed with us. Maybe it’s asking for trouble when you get back home and the kids expect to always co-sleep. But it’s a battle we would prefer to have over needing to figure out how to lug around an extra bed.
What baby travel gear do you like to use?
Suggested reading:
- The Travel Gadgets That Make Our Travel Easy
- The Best Options for Airport Lounges for Families
- How to Travel with Kids
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