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I don’t consider myself a seasoned mommy traveler, but flying with BB now that my infant son is two (2), three (3), and four (4) months old, I have found a few items that to me are absolutely essential when being so far away from home. Every child’s needs are different, so I hope that this post can inspire you to find some that work for your BB!
- The Doona Infant Car Seat – Mr. Savemycents originally raised his eyebrows HARD when he saw the price tag. However, he became a quick convert when he saw this seat in action. In seconds, it converts from a compact stroller to a car seat. It is much more easily maneuverable in tight spaces (you can tilt the handlebar into a vertical position to save space). And it’s super cute to boot. I wish there were versions of this for babies beyond 35 pounds / 31 inches, but for now, it is truly a saving grace for cutting down on travel bulk. As we move from one to another car, we did not bring the latch base. I did add the rain cover later on.
- J.L. Childress Ultimate Backpack Padded Car Seat Travel Bag – for these months, we always gate check the car seat and then wear BB on the plane. To ensure that the car seat does not get banged up too much and tossed around we got this large travel bag. You have to remove the sun canopy on the Doona to make it fit into the bag, it takes a bit of maneuvering, but it is not impossible to do. Plus, you can toss whatever you want inside a car seat bag – extra diapers, supplies! What we do is bring this bag in a canvas bag (that then converts into my diaper bag on the plane) because it is a bit awkward to carry.
- Puppy Pads. Yes I have a boy. He shoots pee sometimes. Also just think of how grimy children’s changing tables are on planes. And many restrooms that I go to do not even have changing tables. While these pads are bulky, they really help create a clean surface for BB to lie on for all his diaper changing needs. For ones that I use inside a home I tend to reuse them until soiled. So I try to make a good estimate as to how many I need and hope that I brought enough. BB once even finished a very liquid poo session on a puppy pad in a posh restroom, and I’m glad the pad caught it all so I did not need to mop it!
- Halo Muslin Sleepsack Swaddle – this I think is a very personal preference because goodness knows your child might want a different swaddle. After trying multiple options, BB finally accepted this swaddle. I like it also because I can adjust the tightness, it velcros quickly, and eventually when I transition BB out of a swaddle, I can tuck the wings underneath his arms and it becomes essentially a sleeping bag. I found packing baby blankets to be extremely bulky, so this saves me space.
- Purea LED night light – I love anything charged by USB, and this one is one of them. Using a few simple gestures (patting it turns it on, placing my finger over an indicator changes the light color, and it also has a timer), allows me to see during overnight feeding and diaper changing sessions, without waking up Mr. Savemycents with a bright room light
- Portable white noise machine by Slaouwo, USB chargeable – another USB charged device! This one literally fits inside the palm of my hand. However, the noise it creates is very powerful. BB sleeps very well with white noise. One time he woke up on a bus ride (the bus stalled for about half an hour), and by tucking this into his stroller and then throwing a muslin blanket on top, we were able to get him to go back to sleep and stop crying.
- Medela Harmony Manual Breast Pump – Mine was gifted to me by a friend and it has been a huge life saver. I originally traveled with my full Pump in Style Medela Pump to California and it was so heavy. Dealing with the tubes and flanges made me not want to pump altogether. This pump gets out milk even more quickly than an electric pump, to the point where I now question why I even got electric pumps in the first place! While it is a bit awkwardly shaped, I have gotten up to 5.5 oz from a pumping session. I cannot recommend this enough.
- Unitek USB C SD Card reader – My Nikon D700 DSLR camera is 10 years old at this point so it does not transmit images over wifi or bluetooth. After writing my photography friend Nicole Chan (who is brilliant), I was able to find this reader. It hooks up to my Samsung Galaxy phone and I can then copy over JPEG files and edit on the phone. I did not get this in time for part 1 of the trip, but am excited to use this for part 2 to live blog beautifully shot images! Because at the end of the day, some photos are just better taken with a DSLR
- Veken packing cubes – it does not have to be this brand exactly, but I’m really happy I finally cracked and bought packing cubes. I used to just roll my clothes and cram them into grocery plastic bags and then stuff them into my luggage. Similar to the concept of a packing cube, but the bags break easily and it’s still hard to remember what I packed in what. These packing cubes can hold a lot (and most of my and BB’s clothes don’t need to be folded nicely anyway) and helps conserve space in my luggage
Enjoy this? Follow along live with me on Instagram as we travel the world for 85 days through March 2020! Our next leg is going to be Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, and greater Los Angeles.
