I mentioned recently our plans to travel by plane with minimagpie a few times this summer. Since that post, I’ve dug a little deeper into planning for travel with a wee one, and have come up with the packing checklist below. I’ve also read a number of blog posts with practical tips about traveling with minis. If you guys follow the blogger Love Taza — beautiful mother to three adorable children, and shown below! — you probably already know this, but she has some great guides to traveling with and packing for children, like this one. She makes this clear, but of course, everyone has different perspectives on what gear is essential/not, so I’ve followed some of her guidelines and omitted others.
My MiniMagpie Travel Packing Checklist…
+Travel bassinet ($35). I’ve gone into detail on this purchase previously, but think it will give us flexibility to visit with friends / leave mini with her grandparents or aunt and uncle. My mom actually has a crib in her house (where we’ll be spending most of the time on our next two trips), so I figure this is all we need for now. In the future/if we end up traveling elsewhere quite a bit, I have the Nuna Sena travel crib ($299) in mind. It’s gotten great reviews, including by my good friend W., who actually had her baby sleep in it for the first few months of her life. I have also been impressed with the Nuna Pipa infant carseat we have so am pretty partial to the brand. Also highly reviewed and in contention: the BabyBjorn travel crib ($249) and the Lotus Travel Crib ($198).
+Diapers + wipes. We already had a box of diapers shipped to my parents’ via Prime. I’ll keep some for travel day; wipes will be stored in my OXO travel wipes dispenser ($7).
+Gathre changing mat ($20). I absolutely love these mats and have several in our home. They fold up into a tiny square, are super easy to wipe clean, and look a little more sophisticated than your average Skip Hop changing mat. I also have one their cute limited edition floral print ones.
+Nuna Pipa carseat ($299). We’ll gate-check it in one of these bags ($25).
+Baby Trends Universal Carseat Carrier ($35). Our biggest debate was whether or not to bring our Bugaboo stroller base, which our carseat can clip into with an adapter. We were worried that the stroller would be mishandled at gate check, and didn’t know if we wanted to spend the nearly $200 to get the Bugaboo travel bag to ensure that–if damage did happen–Bugaboo would cover it. But I was concerned about schlepping through O’Hare (large airport) without a stroller (the carseat alone, even though it’s among the lightest in its class, is super bulky and heavy!), especially when mini hasn’t spent that much time in a carrier and has gone through habits of hating the KTan and then loving it. There were lots of different opinions on this from you lovely readers (check out the comments!), but my friend W. emailed me and suggested another option I’d not yet considered: one of these inexpensive universal carseat carriers, which works with the Nuna Pipa, can collapse into a pretty small shape, and is affordable. It’s the perfect compromise, in my mind. We now have the ability to use a stroller if we need it, but don’t need to fret about our stroller’s destruction. Will keep you posted on how it goes!
+Baby KTan ($49).
+Boon TRIP travel drying rack ($15), a couple bottles (she tends to favor these Philips Avent ones), and a baggie full of her formula (we use and love this highly reviewed Dutch brand, Hipp — and we are really impressed with the customer service at OrganicStart, the company we order it through. Free two-day shipping! Great communication! An easy to use website! Discounts for ordering in bulk! A loyalty program!) I also just snagged this highly reviewed formula dispenser ($5), which seems like it will come in handy.
+My breast pump + accoutrements (barf).
+A few swaddles, bibs, and burp cloths.
+Her wubbanub ($14). (Can you believe we as adults use these phrases? Wubbanubs and boppies and bumbos? AHHH.) Wubbanubs are a parent favorite because the little stuffed animal at the end tends to hold the pacifier in place / could be tucked into a drool bib or swaddle to prevent it from falling out all the time. I also have a pack of these because I was totally grossed out by the thought of a pacifier floating around in my bag, touching my keys and wallet and stuff and then going into her mouth! (Also useful for quickly wiping down a bottle nipple if it falls or touches a seat or something. Am I being germaphobic?) At any rate, I’ve read you should nurse/bottlefeed/pacify the babe during take off and landing to help their little ears, so this was a no-brainer.
+Babyganics facial wipes ($14 for bundle of 6 travel packages). I am never without a package of these. So handy for everything–wiping her mouth or nose or hands or anything she might touch.
+Travel blanket ($49). I love this Aden + Anais blanket because it’s thick enough to double as a quilt/mat type thing to lay out for her on the ground at someone’s house. I also just snagged her this ADORABLE popsicle print one from Monica + Andy that I kind of am dying over.
+Sleep Sheep On the Go ($27). I’m not totally convinced mini needs this–mini sleeps pretty much anywhere, often without it–but I am curious to see how she will react when she’s in a totally new environment without her usual sleeping surfaces–her bassinet, her crib, her 4Moms Rocker, her boppy. (As an aside, we’ve been putting her in her crib for naps more and more these days to get her used to the idea, once she’s ready to graduate from her bassinet. Going pretty well so far.) My thought was that the sleep sheep might be a little familiar sound/appearance in a new sleeping arrangement. Am I being too precious?
+Mini Kanken. We’ll pack this flat in our suitcase, but since we will be leaving mini with her grandparents or my sister for an afternoon or two to attend a wedding, I figure it will be helpful to have a little bag of her gear to leave with her. Any old collapsible bag would do, of course — something like a Baggu would be ideal for this purpose, come to think of it.
+Travel Mustela kit ($15). I’ll need to bathe her at least twice on both trips, so there’s this. I am obsessed with the Mustela body lotion for babies. It smells fantastic and really hydrates. We use Noodle and Boo shampoo/body wash at the moment at home (and love it), but I’m assuming I’ll love Mustela’s shampoo/body wash, too.
I’m going to try to pack light on the clothing but this has never been my strong suit and she’ll be meeting so many people that I am kind of dying to have the opportunity to dress her in her best every day.
What am I missing? What am I overpacking? Any other practical tips, mamacitas?
-Change of clothes in your carry on for the inevitable blow-out or spit-up that happens during takeoff.
-nursing cover for nursing on the flight–if you decide to do that.
-Carry-on or purse or diaper bag that is a backpack–hands are pricesless! (see photo of Taza above)
-Warm clothes for baby for airplane–even a little hat since she’s tiny. Airplanes are COLD.
-You’ve got this, it’s fun! The more kids travel, the more they like to travel
These are GREAT practical tips!! Thanks so much for chiming in. Now on the hunt for a suitably chic backpack. I actually had my eye on one of those Fawn Design ones awhile back…