9 Tips on Traveling With a Baby

SHORTS: Zara, sold out  //  WHITE SMOCKED CROP TOP: ASTR  //  WOVEN BELT:  Asos  //  BABY WATERMELON ROMPER: Lola and The Boys  //  YELLOW BABY BOW: Mini Prep Boutique

Hi friends – it’s been a while!! If you follow me on instagram, you might have noticed I’ve been traveling a lot lately. In the month of June I booked myself for FOUR trips, only having 2 or 3 days in between some of them, so it was really hard to keep up with posting content on social, much less the blog. But I’m getting back in the groove and I’m SO excited because I have loads of new content to share with you, from details on my travel experiences to mamahood and some house updates too. To start, I’m combining a little of both with some tips and tricks I picked up from our first-ever travel experience with Everly. From what to pack and what to expect and what not to do, I’m rounding up the things I learned while flying and traveling with an 8 month old during our girl’s trip to beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. Click through to my 9 tips on traveling with a baby.

So a little back story on this trip…Cole and I are both very fortunate to have both sides of our family live near us in the DFW area, so we never had to travel with Everly for the holidays or for her to meet and visit with extended family. The reason for this impromptu trip was actually for a collaboration with an amazing baby gear company called Born Free. Rather than just send their products to our home to test them, they wanted us to show how great their baby gear was for mama’s on-the-go, and what better way to show that than a long weekend in Charleston, South Carolina during the High Water Music Festival?! I’m not gonna lie – I was really nervous to travel with Everly for the first time. She was 8 months at the time and we’d hardly ever left the DFW area, much less traveled on a plane. But I am SO glad we did – the experience ended up being so incredible and I came back with lots of information on best practices when traveling with a baby. So here it goes!!

1 – Pick a Place That’s Baby Travel-Friendly

So if you have a choice on where to travel with baby for the first time, definitely pick a location that’s baby-friendly. Charleston was selected for us in this case (and the people at Born Free who chose also happened to be baby experts) and Tiffany and I kept saying how perfect the city and season was for baby/family travel. We went on this trip back in early April, so the weather was just perfect for being outside and there is so much to see and do outside in Charleston. The High Water Music Festival was also perfect for bringing a baby to because it’s a very relaxed, family-oriented environment (and SO clean too!!)

2  – Bring Help and Think Positive

So the absolute key to a successful travel experience with baby is to think positive and bring along someone to help who is also in that same mindset. Originally, we’d planned for Cole to go along with us, but he was honestly totally panicking about traveling with a baby for the first time and thinking/saying it was going to be disastrous (which naturally was making me nervous too!). So when I offered for my sister Tiffany to take his place instead, he gladly obliged and I’m so glad it worked out that way!! It’s so true that your baby feeds off your energy, and even though we had some major setbacks in our travel experience (like being stuck at DFW for 8+ hours), we remained positive and Everly did SO great y’all!! She didn’t cry on the plane or in the airport once. Keep reading to find out why.

3 – Pack a Stroller That’s Lightweight and Versatile

When it comes to traveling, the stroller you bring becomes super important. We know this because we ended up spending 8+ hours in the DFW airport (long story y’all) and the Born Free Liva Stroller was a LIFE-SAVER. Not only is it extremely lightweight and easy to expand + fold (I can do it with one arm while holding Evie in the other!), but Evie is always so comfortable in it. It has a little strap in the back that makes it easy to push the seat up for when baby is awake and active or push it back with they’re napping, and as you can see from the above photos, Evie enjoyed doing both in the Liva as we walked around DFW four hours on end.

4 – Have Your Baby Drink Milk on Takeoff and Landing

This was a tip I’d read in one of the 1,000’s of baby articles I’ve read on my various apps and one that my sister knew about as well. Have a bottle ready to go for when the plane takes off and lands (and try not to feed the baby right before so they won’t get too full and refuse the bottle!) Drinking the milk at takeoff and landing helps the baby’s ears from hurting due to the pressure (and I have no idea why but this worked wonders for us both at takeoff and landing!)

Another helpful hint – if your baby is a Dockatot sleeper, definitely carry it on the plane. We did this on our flight back and as you can see from the above photo, it was a great success!!

5 – Book a Rental Car (But Bring Your Own Carseat!!)

This is another thing that first time mama’s might not think about. You pretty much have to book a rental car if you’re traveling anywhere except like NYC (I hear their Ubers offer carseats!) We rented a full-size SUV which had plenty of room for Everly’s gear and our suitcases, but what we totally did wrong was renting a carseat rather than bringing our own. The first carseat they gave us didn’t even have anchors (someone had taken them off!) and the second one was just honestly not the best quality and made me more nervous than I should have been when driving around a city I’d never traveled before. We will definitely always check our own carseats from now on!

6 – Book an Air B&B

Once again, this was something I probably wouldn’t have thought of had this trip not been expertly planned by the Born Free team, but when traveling with a baby, Air B&B’s are definitely the way to go! Not gonna lie, I usually prefer a hotel when I’m traveling solo or with Cole, but having the air B&B made it so nice when traveling with an 8 month old. We had plenty of room for all of her baby things and Everly had the space to crawl around and play with her toys too. Also, having a full kitchen always comes in handy when you have a baby and/or you’re pumping or breastfeeding so you can freeze and store your milk!

7 – Be Prepared to Improvise

One of the things the Air B&B didn’t have was a bath, so we ended up just making due with the sink (which Everly clearly loved!!) The whole experience did teach me to improvise when traveling with baby. Don’t make any concrete plans and keep your timing loose and

8 – Your Baby Carrier Will be your New BFF

If you haven’t introduced yourself and your baby to a baby carrier, definitely do so before heading off on your first trip. Sometimes baby is ready to get out of the stroller and Everly always LOVES being carried in her Wima Baby Carrier by Born Free. It’s also nice for when you want to be hands-free and stroller-free (also great for dancing at concerts with baby, just sayin’).

9 – Make Memories and Have Fun!!

As I said in my second tip – the true key to a successful travel experience with your baby is to try not to stress and just have fun!! Tiffany, Everly and I had such an incredible time in Charleston and created memories that will last a lifetime. It made me feel so much more comfortable about traveling with a little one and I look forward to lots more travel and experience with my sweet Evie girl by my side.

 

Fair-well xx,