Planning a trip with a newborn? Vacation is such a fun-filled exciting time for families. Adding a newborn baby to the mix may create a lot of change and surprises to your usual vacation plan.
Are you just starting to plan a trip with a newborn or perhaps looks for tips on what to pack for an infant for vacation? If so, this is the right post for you!
*This post may contain affiliate links. This means that I may receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you purchase something by following a link on this page. Read the full disclosure here.
Reflecting on Our First Trip with a Newborn
On the way home from our first trip with our newborn I kept thinking about what a great experience it had been, both for her and us. Considering that we had barely left the house with her, except for doctors appointments and short trips to the supermarket, I was kind of nervous about what to expect when I planned the trip.
I wondered if we would regret going, if she would be fussy or not sleep or cry constantly as a result of being out of her usual environment. But guess what?! She did very well, and we enjoyed the little getaway as well! I don’t think this was luck or chance at all. I think that the preparation I took to ensure she had everything she needed went a long way and kept her comfortable.
Where We Went on Our Trip with Our Newborn
We live on the beautiful picturesque island of St. Lucia in the Eastern Caribbean. I am lucky to be surrounded by beaches, mountains and rainforest, but as lucky as I am to live here, I don’t always get to enjoy it.
Work and life sometimes keep you so busy that you literally have to plan to enjoy your surroundings. Being pregnant also made travelling after a certain stage even more difficult.
On this trip, we travelled to the other side of the island, about a hour away from our home in Castries to one of my favourite places, the beautiful town of Soufriere. We went mainly to get out of the city and consequently the house, where I feel like we have been cooped up for so long.
If you’re pregnant and are researching in advance, or have recently had a baby, I am sure you can relate. Being pregnant and having a baby can be a joyous experience, but it certainly changes your day-to-day routine quite a bit. You can no longer just hop in your vehicle and head out whenever you want without some sort of preparation or forethought. Now, leaving the house takes planning, preparation and a whole bunch of baby necessities stuffed into a baby bag or your purse.
Planning and Preparation for Our Trip with a Newborn
At this point in our planning, my background as a therapist kicked in and I started to think about the wheel of control. To summarize briefly, the wheel of control describes an activity I enjoy doing with clients where you draw a circle on a sheet of paper. You then put things inside of the circle that you can control, and outside the circle you list things that you can’t control.
The activity is meant to help ground you and highlight what is within your reach or your control, and consequently, what is beyond it that you should try not to worry so much about.
So, I gave some thought to what I could control about the trip and I came up with two key things:
1. Where we stay
2. What I pack
Beyond that, I realized that everything else was mainly up to chance (for example: time, weather, feelings, sleep, etc.)
So, with that in mind, I began to focus on those two aspects, that I could control. If you’re interested in finding out more about where we stayed on our trip, check out this post on our first vacation rental here.
Preparation is the Key to Success for a Trip with a Newborn
In this post, I want to share with you how I prepared and what I packed to make it a successful trip. I have put together a list of items that helped to turn this experience into an awesome trip to remember!
The items I brought weren’t specific to my child or family. They are common baby items that I’m sure most of you or have an use everyday, or for expecting moms they may be on your registry. However, I think it’s important to highlight how essential they were on this trip.
If you haven’t created your registry yet, click here to get started for free, using Amazon’s Baby Registry.
The Packing Process
I decided to start where I usually do, before every trip that I take. With a packing list. Preparation is key, especially when you have a baby, so I figured making a list would help me to stay organized and keep me from forgetting anything important.
I listed everything I typically use in a day for baby including clothing, diapering supplies, feeding supplies, play gear, sleep supplies, emergency supplies and bathing essentials. Then I thought of other items specific to travel I should add. Then I reviewed the list and crossed off things I figured I wouldn’t need. When I was done I had a fairly good list of everything I thought I needed.
In hindsight I definitely over packed (LOL) but it made me feel a lot more confident and comfortable knowing I had the things that would make her safe, happy and well taken care of. I’m not going to share my entire packing list here, but I will share the items that made a difference and really stood out as essential, and I’ll tell you why!
In case you’re an expecting Mom or just haven’t purchased some of these items, but want to, I’ve included the products that we use for you to check out!
Travel Essentials for your First Trip with a Newborn!
1. A SLEEP SPACE:
Pack-n-Play or Travel Bassinet
Let’s face it, sleep is of vital importance to both you and baby. Although I’m sure you haven’t been getting as much sleep since your baby was born, it is still fundamental to both of you.
If your baby doesn’t sleep well, neither will you. Worse than that, they will be cranky and irritable which will likely put a damper on every other aspect of your trip.
We stayed in a villa with a large bed, and then a hotel room with a king size bed. It would have been easy for us to share the bed with baby, but we wanted her to have some sort of normalcy on the trip and be as comfortable as she is at home. She normally sleeps in her bassinet at night, but naps in her pack-n-play during the day.
Because she was already comfortable with sleeping in her pack-n-play, we brought it along for her to sleep in. Let me tell you, I was so happy we did! We were able to pretty much replicate baby’s normal sleep schedule and routine, and feel comfortable knowing that she had a safe spot to sleep. My husband and I sleep better because we had the beds to ourselves!
You can check out some of my sleep related posts below:
Sleep Regressions!
Creating a Sleep Routine that Works!
2. COOLING ON THE GO:
Cooler Bag
Whether you breastfeed or give your baby formula, a cooler bag can come in handy for when you don’t have access to a refrigerator or are on the road for longer drives.
My daughter drinks breastmilk only, so I pump milk for her during the day and night. To read more about my breastmilk and pumping journey, check out this post.
A cooler bag with an ice pack inside helped me to store the pumped milk and her bottles when we were leaving the villa for the day. It helped to put my mind at ease knowing that her milk would be chilled and safe from contamination while we were on our short outings away from our vacation homes.
3. EXTRA PARTS and FEEDING ESSENTIALS:
Extra Feeding Parts (Pump Parts, Bottles, Nipples Etc.)
On a trip, anything can happen. Whether you’re driving or flying, trust that the unexpected could occur at any point. That’s why it’s helpful to carry along a few extras of your feeding essentials.
Whether they get lost, break or just fall on the floor, and you’re unable to sanitize, you don’t want to be caught without a few spare nipples, bottles or pump parts when you have a hungry newborn baby.
For example, if you’re a pumping mama you know how vital a pumping schedule is. I pump at least 3-4 times per day, and am often washing or grabbing clean pump parts. At home, this is easy, but when you’re on the go or away from your home, it may be more difficult.
I made sure to walk with 3 sets of pump parts, as well as a few extra nipples and bottles. This way I never had to worry about washing quickly or something happening to them. This made my trip with a newborn much less stressful! Don’t forget to pack essentials for cleaning and sterilizing on the go as well!
4. BABY CARRIER
Baby wrap or carrier
A car seat is great for carrying your baby, but no one wants to be lugging around that heavy thing when you’re not in the car, on your vacation.
Important to remember as well, is that travelling is a new experience for your baby, and they may be more clingy or attached to you than normal. So it is a good idea to keep them extra close!
That’s why your baby wrap or baby carrier are so important. It allows you to hold baby safely and snuggly on you (or whoever you’re travelling with), while keeping your hands free for whatever you’re doing. This will allow you to enjoy more activities and getting around both quicker and easier.
I absolutely love wearing my baby, and have done so since she was about a week old. I find the wraps really easy to use, after the initial struggle to figure out how to tie them. Now it’s almost second nature.
My daughter loved being in her Acrabos baby wrap as we walked around and toured the town. She actually fell asleep within a few minutes most of the time (lol) and I felt more confident knowing that she was close and happy.
Keeping her close also made me feel better about having her out and about, as weren’t ready to expose her to many people. This is a polite way of keeping people at a safe distance, compared to other options where others may have easier access to approach.
My husband opted to bring the baby carrier as well, which he prefers to wear, and tucked her into it as well. I highly recommend this model, it can be used right into toddlerhood.
5. COMFORTING SOUNDS FOR SLEEP and SOOTHING:
Portable sound machine
Let’s get back to the importance of sleep! My daughter uses a sound machine at home and I swear she sometimes yawns as soon as I turn it on. It helps babies to sleep soundly as it replicates the white noise or womb sounds they heard while they were in your tummy.
There are so many new strange sounds when you’re away from home (especially in the caribbean…think crickets) that can keep you from having a sound sleep. Or, it could be that where you’re staying is so quiet that any little noise wakes your baby. Either way, a sound machine can help replicate the comfortable environment of your home, on the go.
The great thing about our Fisher Price sound machine is that it plays lullabies, nature sounds and other tunes, so it was great to use in the car to for some soothing and fun music as well.
6. SNACK SUPPLIES FOR MOM:
Snack bag for mom
New moms are hungry, even if we rarely remember to eat. While you navigate your postpartum period, it is important that you take good care of your body! Check out this post for extra tips about getting through your postpartum period.
If you breastfeed, this tip might resonate even more with you! I’m sure you know all about the hunger that strikes often. I constantly need snacks around in additional to my nutritious meals in order to keep me feeling full, and to maintain my breast milk supply. By the way, if you want to learn more about establishing an awesome breast milk supply, check out this post.
So, one of my definite must haves on my packing list was a snack bag filled with healthy snacks for me. I’m sure you know how important it is to avoid eating certain things while breastfeeding, both to maintain your supply and to avoid a fussy or gassy baby, so being prepared is a must. While you’re away you may not have access to your usual staples, so bringing them along is a better idea.
That’s why I went stocked with items that I know I enjoy and were good for my supply. I packed things like nuts, dried fruit, individual packs of oatmeal, granola bars, and a little junk food for good measure (I was on vacation after all lol).
7. STORAGE and PACKING ESSENTIALS:
Storage bags for clothes
Packing cubes are such a great way to keep things organized, both for you and baby. Babies have a lot of little items, that can easily get lost in a big suitcase or bag. A great way to group like things together and organize your essentials in a way that is easy to find is to use packing cubes.
Another trick that I learned when I first started packing my daughter’s baby bag, was to store her outfits in storage bags (like ziploc brand bags). It keeps the items organized and clean. Even more important, they are great for when you’ve used the items and want to place them back in the baby bag but you don’t want them mixing with any of the other clean clothes. Think about how useful they would be if your baby has a blowout!
I found both of these storage options particularly useful while we were on our trip with a newborn. I was using a big duffle bag for baby, and it made it easy to keep her stuff separate, and then to replace her dirty clothes in that bag but have it separate from all of her other clean stuff.
8. CONVENIENT CARRYING ESSENTIALS:
Small tote or clutch bag
As we’re on the topic of bags, another helpful thing that I was happy I brought along on our trip with our newborn were a few small tote bags and clutch bags.
These small bags were so convenient for carrying just a few of baby’s necessities plus some of my own when I didn’t want to have to walk around with that big duffle bag or her entire baby bag.
For example, when we went to dinner at the resort, I wanted to bring along a burp cloth, a couple diapers and a small pack of wipes, and an extra blanket. I didn’t need an entire baby bag for this, so instead I used a cute little clutch bag instead. For mom, I added my lip gloss and debit card.
I did the same when we went for a little walk around the resort, or went to hang out under a big umbrella by the pool at our villa. So, consider bringing along some small tote bags or clutches for this purpose to save you from lugging around big cumbersome bags on your little trip.
9. PORTABLE SEATING:
Rocker, Bouncer or Portable Swing
My goal is not to have you bring your entire house, but for us it was important to bring items that made my daughter feel more at home and comfortable. She loved her swing and bouncer, so we figured we would bring one for her to enjoy herself during down time in the room.
What we found was that it was even more of a lifesaver for us! It was great to have somewhere to put her when she was in a good mood and wanted to just do her thing (cooing, staring, etc. lol) It freed up our hands as well to do other things.
We mainly used her bouncer for her to sit in while we were having breakfast or hanging out in the porch in the evening. She enjoyed having her little space, and we saved our arms. This bouncer can break down easily, so it was lightweight and easy to carry.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it, my list of the important essentials that made my first road trip with a newborn a great experience! I hope you find this list helpful!
You may be planning a similar trip with a newborn or an even bigger vacation. Wherever you’re headed, remember that preparation is key and the more you plan and prepare, the greater chance that you will feel prepared.
Interested in other posts about packing and travel? Check out some of these:
I Would Love to Hear From You!
I would love to hear about how your own first trip with baby went. Feel free to leave a comment or share your experience below.
This post will be so helpful to new moms! I’ll be sharing it with my mom friends.
This is a great post, thank you for sharing! It definitely seems like preparation is key to helping the trip with a newborn to be less stressful. Also, that view from your villa! Worth the stress!
I carried the less possible items and never had a problem. Thanks!