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Packing to go away with a child can be tough.  How do you choose what to bring and what to leave behind? When you take an inventory of the things you use every day it can seem like every item is a must have – the tub, the play mat, the swing, high chair, exercauser, toys – you need them all, RIGHT?! If you are creative and resourceful you will find that you can ditch a lot of these must have items, both while you’re away and potentially at home as well! Here are some of our favorite ways to get away with traveling with less.

Bathing
Infant tubs are bulky especially since it's only used for a couple of minutes every day or two! Here are some ideas that will help you figure out how to bathe that squirmy worm when you aren't at home: 
  • If there is a bathtub available, consider laying down a towel in the bottom of the tub and putting your baby on their back in a couple inches of water. If they can get past the water being in their ears it can be a lot of fun for them to splash around, have water poured on them etc. My daughter bathed like this from about 3 and a half months, first laying down and then eventually sitting up. Practice at home to get them used to it! 
  • Get in the bathtub or shower with them! You can hold them on their back with your legs underneath them or sit them in front of you.  We got in the bathtub with our baby early on, in preparation for our trip to Greece (anticipating that we would be doing lots of swimming, I wanted her to be comfortable moving around in the water). If you are going to be in the tub or shower with the baby, it's easier if your partner is able to take the slippery wet baby from you when you’re done and give you a chance to dry off.
  • Bring a blowup tub. Something like this is lightweight and doesn't take up very much space. As a bonus – it doubles as a mini pool for baby to splash around in so you don’t have to be holding them all the time!
  • Laundry basket: Another option to contain a baby who maybe isn’t super confident in their sitting skills yet. Sit the laundry basket in the bottom of the tub and fill ‘er up! Check out another great use for the laundry basket in the feeding section below 😉
Eating
Unfortunately, not every restaurant, food court, or friend’s house will have a high chair available for you to use and it can be super inconvenient to try and enjoy your meal with a baby on your lap.  Here’s a few ideas of what you can use
  • Fabric high chair: Another compact, lightweight item to throw in your luggage. These strap to any regular chair and allow your baby to sit at the table with you.  One of the downsides is for smaller babies it can be tough for them to reach the table but it is fantastic for older babies and toddlers! Check out the picture below of our 10 month old enjoying a snack in her fabric high chair in Hawaii.
  • Portable high chair: we use the Guzzie and Guss Perch as our primary high chair at home and noticed that our friends at @wereoutofhere have brought it on their around the world trip (spoiler alert: they have dubbed it the relationship saver)! It can hold a child up to 37 lbs, folds flat, and comes with a carry bag. It’s obviously heavier than a fabric chair but it also brings your baby to table height and can be attached to almost any table! Check out the picture below of their little guy in his perch high chair, enjoying a meal in Vietnam!! 
  • Laundry basket: our friends at @babycantravel taught us this awesome hack for eating in your hotel room. The laundry basket helped them contain their super active 14 month old in Japan! Talk about creative!   Check out the picture of their little guy below enjoying his meal in his makeshift high chair.
  • On the floor: this is usually our go to if we are at our hotel/vacation rental.  I will either use a wipe to clean off an area of hardwood floor and place food on the floor or fix a plate and closely supervise my food/plate throwing baby if the area is carpeted. Our daughter is super independent and prefers to pick up her own food but if you have a more easy going baby you could just spoon/finger feed them to avoid having to put the food down on any surface.  This works best if your baby isn’t super active yet.
Sleeping
In a dream world you book a vacation rental with multiple rooms so everyone has their own sleeping space. In the real world you cram into a tiny hotel room, because it’s more economical, and hope that everyone has a good (who are we kidding, mediocre) sleep.  Here are some tricks to making sure everyone is well rested:
  • Put the pack and play as far away from your bed as possible – think in the entry way or in a corner - and use a sheet to block their view: it’s always easier for baby to fall asleep and stay asleep if they can’t see you.  Our friend @thatgirlkricketts always travels with binder clips and they can be a lifesaver in this situation.  
  • Using a white noise machine will mean that you can go on with your evening without worrying that every little noise will wake the baby. You can pack a small travel white noise machine like this one or you can download a white noise app on your phone. 
  • Baby Monitor.  I’ve never brought a monitor with me traveling. I’ve relied instead on just listening in for her cries and staying within earshot. Typically we are close by once they are asleep, either on a balcony, in the living room of our vacation rental. If you feel like you will need a baby monitor there are some great apps that allow you to use two of your devices (phone(s), tablet(s) etc.) as a monitor. Cloud and Dormi are two with the best reviews but both have a small cost associated with the download.  Check out some other options if you’re looking for something free.  
  • No pack and play? If your accommodations can’t guarantee a pack and play you can bring a collapsible travel crib like the kidco pea pod.  Check out whether there are baby equipment rental places in your destination. There are companies like GoBaby that are popping up in lots of major cities around the US and internationally. You can also purchase an inexpensive pack and play when you get to your destination and donate it at the end of your stay. This could end up being cheaper than paying the checked luggage fee, but inconvenient if you are arriving at your location late at night or if you don’t have transportation to get to and from a store. 
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​Playing
When we went to Greece, our daughter was almost 3 months old and I felt like I was just getting into a groove at home and  I started feeling anxious about how I would survive without the conveniences that I had become accustomed to. The good news is that babies are flexible and anything new is bound to interest them. New environments in and of themselves are exciting and interesting to them! Here are some ideas of ways to keep your little one contained and entertained.
  • Use the pack and play as a place to keep your little one contained. Fill it with a few books/toys or things you find around the hotel room or in your luggage.
  • If your little one is new to sitting, place pillows from the bed around them the same way you do with the nursing pillow and give them some practice sitting up
  • If you are at a friend’s house or vacation rental get creative – things like Tupperware containers, face cloths, and silicone or wooden cooking utensils are fun for little hands to explore (and make noise with!). Almost anything goes, just make sure there are no sharp edges or small pieces that could break off, and always supervise your little one while they play.
Traveling can be stimulating in other ways for your little one. Taking them to the park, art galleries, museums, and the beach are all ways for them to explore their surroundings and interact with different objects, textures, and sounds. Ultimately, the best way to play is to chat, make faces and interact with each other. 
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Transportation
Stroller, car seat adapter, car seat, base, carrier, wrap – it can be a lot of equipment to pack just to cart your baby around.  Here are some ideas to minimize how much you have to bring:
  • Consider just bringing your carrier. When we did a 3 day girls trip to New York City we flew carry on and since I was traveling alone I could only carry so much. For that reason, I only brought our structured carrier.  By the end of the three days we had walked more than 50 km and my back was pretty sore but it was definitely easier than having to worry about managing the stroller alone, on public transit, or in addition to my other pieces of luggage. Babywearing allows you to be hands free and takes up much less space than a stroller
  • If you can manage to take public transit or cabs at your destination then you might not need your car seat at all.  Not everyone is comfortable with this arrangement but in many countries the law exempts taxis from requiring car seats. On our trip, we strapped our little ones into our carriers and then put the lap belts around us. We tried to rely on public transit or walking as much as possible and only used cabs as a last resort. If this makes you uncomfortable there are other options like uber family or taxi services that provide a car seat. 
  • If you know you will be traveling a lot, whether it’s weekends away visiting family or longer vacations, consider a stroller that has multi functions. One of the reasons we love both our bumbleride indie and mountain buggy nano strollers is that they don’t require car seat adapters for most car seats and they recline partially (in the case of the nano) or fully flat (in the case of the indie) meaning they can be used almost from birth.  To accommodate our little one in the nano, which doesn’t recline fully, we added a small head support pillow when she was under 6 months so that she could sleep more comfortably.
 
What other creative solutions have you used while traveling? Is there anything we missed?