22 tips for traveling with a baby or toddler

Things do change when you start traveling with a baby or toddler (of age group 6 months – 3 years). You have to plan meticulously and think ahead. You have to select the best countries for family travel. In fact, many wonder how to travel with baby and toddler. And many find it difficult, thus postponing their travel plans. But, there are tips for traveling with baby and toddler, which if followed, will make your travel with infant a breeze. We learnt these slowly, some through our own experiences, some through other experts in the area. Here goes our list of tips for tips for traveling with baby or toddler :
tips for traveling with baby or toddler

Start with road trips & weekend getaways

Choose shortest possible means of communication

  • Another of the great tips for traveling with baby or toddler. If it’s a farther destination, prefer flights than trains if possible. However, when you are traveling international in flights and changing timezones, do know in advance how to deal with jet lag in babies and kids.
  • Yet another useful of the tips for traveling with baby or toddler: You should try to reach ahead for checking in and other formalities. As, that will give you and the baby adequate time to rest, relax and nurse if required, before on boarding. We do prefer to reach early and check-in. Then, when baby wakes up, we get plenty of time to get her freshened up and fed before the flight.

Stock up on baby food and snacks

  • A very important of the tips for traveling with baby or toddler is that if the baby is formula fed, keep a good stock of the formula. (we do keep some extra). Since, just in case you don’t find it at your destination – babies have a great sense of taste and they might not like an alternative to the formula they are used to.
  • If the child is between age group 1-2 years, carry some ready to eat organic food that you can mix with hot water and feed on the fly, anywhere, anytime. At 2+, you can give them a portion of anything healthy that you choose for yourself, as long as you are sure of the hygiene.
  • You would easily get fruits, curd, bread etc. at your destination. Buy some fresh stock when you reach, cut pieces of fruits and pack in tiny boxes when you head out to a day long trip. Carry some ready to eat small portions of curd and use it as a dip or feed it directly. When we went to Goa with our daughter, she was recovering from a stomach flu. On her ped’s suggestion, we stocked up lots of packaged curd & buttermilk. We bought bananas on reaching Goa. The resort had bread in breakfast and rice available in lunch & dinner time, it made for her perfect BRAT diet.
  • Also, carry a hot water thermos with you and keep it replenished all the time, it would help prepare formula, ready to eat food or even wash the tupperware.
tips for traveling with baby and toddler
The little one enjoying pizza with pigeons during our Europe trip

Keep the diaper bag & changing set handy all the time

  • Keep adequate supply of diapers, wet wipes, rash creams and other toiletries that the baby uses on a regular basis. So, you need not carry your whole luggage to the public washroom while traveling or baby care unit each time you have to wash and clean the baby.
  • Yet another of the tips for traveling with baby or toddler. Whenever on the drive, keep 1-2 set of changing dresses ready for your child, accessible in diaper bag. This time we went to Mysore, we kept 2 extra set of dress for her in our backpack. By the time we reached back home from the tour, she had ended up wearing all the dresses. As she spoilt one after the other.

Don’t forget the vitamins and medicines

  • Most important of the tips for traveling with baby or toddler : pack all the essential medicines for the baby , even if it’s a very short trip. Also keep your pediatric’s number handy and couple of recent prescriptions with you. And travel tension free.

Choose kid friendly stay options

tips for traveling with baby and toddler
Enjoying the snow in Manali
  • An obvious yet not to be missed of the tips for traveling with baby or toddler. Say no no to tree houses, jungle lodges etc. until they are properly equipped with mosquito repellants, and treated free of germs and insects. Keep a herbal mosquito repellant cream with you. For beach destinations, keep herbal sunscreen for the baby.
  • Make sure basic amenities like electric kettle are present in the room. If not, ask the hotel if they would be able to provide for adequate supply of hot water for the baby’s needs. Also ask for the facility to wash baby milk bottles or dishes. It’s great if they can let you in the kitchen to do the same. Some resorts and hotels might as well let you cook special meals for your baby or do the same as per your instructions, its a great relief to find such places. You can as well choose a homestay with equipped kitchen. We chose a homestay on our trip to Shimla. The host actually allowed us to use his kitchen and prepare special meals for our baby. Now we feel we would prefer a homestay when we travel with her next.
  • If your child is 18 months or more, look for places of stay that have adequate space for him or her to explore the grounds. A big lawn, a children’s play area or a small zoo or pet corner in the hotel premises would add to their excitement. This was our reason to choose Beleza by the beach in Goa where they had a lawn, a children’t play area, private access to beach and a toddler’s swimming pool – all under their premises.

Plan ahead

2 weeks Europe trip that we pulled with our little one with lots of planning

Be flexible

  • It looks lucrative to go for guided tours or readymade packaged tours. You already have so much on your hands with the baby’s huge packing list and other everyday things. It would be great if someone else took care of the travel arrangements. Yes, you can go for one, but ensure that it is flexible. Don’t go for a travel package that is too hectic. When we went to Kodaikanal, we could have easily covered the whole place in max 2 days. But we had a baby with us so we rather chose to stay for 3 days and take things slow and it did help.

Let them be

Another important of the tips for traveling with baby or toddler is to let them be! Kids do understand the needs of their body (perhaps better than we do). A journey is a change for them as much as it is for us. Don’t expect them to immediately fall into a routine or follow the same eating, sleeping and playing patterns that they are used to at home. They might eat less when they are traveling long distances – it happens with us too. We kept feeding our little one on one day trip until she threw up at night because her stomach couldn’t digest as usual 🙁 The journey had slowed down the digestion. We regretted not being able to read the signs.

Having a photo suite in Tulip Gardens of Keukenhof

Pack efficiently

Choose the destination wisely

  • Stay at a place which has considerable lawn space for your toddler to stroll. Head to a beach destination where the climate is not too hot, they would love to dig into the sand even if left to do so all through the day. Both our elder one and 6 months old one thoroughly enjoyed the climate and beaches on our 7 days trip to Andaman.
  • Don’t choose extreme destinations. We put our Leh & Laddakh trip on hold, because it is at so much altitude, it might be difficult for baby to breathe in the lack of oxygen. Similarly, at this stage, we don’t consider destinations too remote so that medical facilities or other amenities that the kid would need are way too far. Avoid extreme climatic conditions.

tips for traveling with baby and toddler

Choose kid friendly sites

  • Another useful of the tips for traveling with baby and toddler : When making a note of what grounds you want to cover, do prefer your kid’s choice. Now, possibilities of parks and ethical animal interactions tops our list. In fact, we went to Mysore (~3 hrs drive from Bangalore) so that our kid would enjoy into the Mysore zoo. Spend more time in places where you see them enjoying. It can be as simple as a small open field or the beach.
Babies this age are normally happy as long as they are surrounded by people they know and they get what they want. Until they are really uncomfortable – the weather doesn’t suit or the food is a complete disaster, they would welcome and enjoy their trip…so get ready for your next journey with your little one…exposing them to the whole new world out there…

Summary of tips for traveling with baby or toddler

  1. Start with destinations that are not too far off and don’t require too long a journey
  2. Start with shorter duration trip, preferably 2-3 days
  3. Prefer road trips to start with, they provide lots of flexibility
  4. Choose shortest possible means of communication
  5. For flights, reach early, check-in early and settle down before the flight
  6. Carry hot water thermos for the really little ones
  7. For formula fed babies, keep a stock of the formula
  8. Pack some ready to eat organic food, or their favorite snacks with you
  9. Choose healthy options like packaged curd, fresh fruits etc. for the baby
  10. Keep a ready to use diaper bag
  11. Keep a few sets of changing cloths for the baby readily available
  12. Don’t forget to pack all their essential medicines
  13. Don’t get over-adventurous on the stay options, primarily look for hygiene
  14. Prefer an accommodation with kid’s friendliness like play area, small zoo or pet animals etc.
  15. Check for the availability of basic amenities in the room you book
  16. Pack their favorite toys – one or two
  17. Be flexible with your itinerary and keep at least 30% buffer
  18. Give them time to fall into their routine
  19. Use travel organizers to pack small essentials of your baby like pairs of socks, caps, scarves etc.
  20. Choose kids friendly travel destination
  21. Don’t choose extreme destinations like high mountain peaks that would lack oxygen
  22. Choose kid’s friendly sites to see at your destination like a zoo, beach, farms that have farm animals etc.

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tips for traveling with baby and toddler | How to travel with Infant | Where to travel with kids | Kid friendly travel tips | How to deal with Jet lag in kids

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