Are you a new parent, excited for adventures as a family with your little one? Or maybe you’ve done some traveling with your baby and are looking for ways to make travel easier? In this post, I’m going to share the top five items that will streamline the way you travel with an infant.
We owned and used every item on this list, and can attest first-hand to each products ability to transform traveling with a baby! And yes, they are Amazon Affiliate links, and should you choose to buy something we get a teeny-tiny commission, but it has zero effect on the price you pay (and I love these products so much, I would promote them anyway!).
Enjoy the journey with your little ones, and I hope these products can improve the way you travel with an infant like they did for our family :-)
Baby Bjorn Travel Crib Light and Travel Bassinet
The Baby Bjorn Travel Crib Light was a game-changer for us. We initially bought a Pack N’ Play; and then immediately returned it. It was neither light nor portable. This disappointment and frustration started me on a journey to find the most lightweight and portable baby gear on the market.
When traveling with brand-new-fresh-out-of-the-package infants, you’ll can travel with just a small portable bassinet. All you really need is something small to keep your baby safe while they slumber.
But after just a few short months, you’re going to need something bigger. Enter the Baby Bjorn Travel Crib Light. It takes about 30 seconds to set up, weighs only 11 pounds, and comes in its own carrying case that’s tough enough to be checked as an individual piece of luggage, yet small enough to fit inside a large suitcase. It’s great for ages 3 months all the way up to 3 years.
It's made of mesh and has tall walls to keep your little cherub comfortable and safe, and has a removable bottom pad that you can wash. The legs click into position when open and fold up easily when it’s time to move on.
We owned two Baby Bjorn Travel Crib Lights when our girls were babies, and traveled to 20 countries with them. We never had to worry about renting a crib or wondering what the condition was of one provided by our accommodation. We knew we always had a safe little sleeping haven for our girls no matter where in the world our travels took us.
Diaper Backpack
You know what’s helpful for taking care of babies and kids? Arms. Don’t fill your arms up with bags; leave them free so you can take care of your kiddos. While tempting as it may be to get some cute shoulder sling bag, it’s totally impractical if you plan on doing any travel further than your local beach. It’ll constantly fall off your arm, and if it’s a tote, every time it slides off it’ll tip over, spilling the contents of your diaper bag all over the floor.
View this Waterproof Backpack on Amazon
Prior to being a parent, I always pictured a “diaper bag” being something that looked like a bag you would put towels in to go to the beach; it didn’t close and you wore it slung over your arm. Luckily, one of my good friends set me straight when I was pregnant with our first daughter and told me the most practical option was to get a diaper backpack. She ended up getting us one for our baby shower and we used it for years for both our girls.
Get a waterproof diaper backpack that you can wear, and have your arms free to tend to your kids or push a stroller.
Lobster or Fabric highchair
Before having kids, I never gave a second glance to restaurant high chairs. After having kids, I realized that most of them were not, in fact, meant for a baby, unless your baby was three feet tall and 40 pounds. When they’re really small, you can always do the upside-down high chair trick or use a sling and set the car seat in it, but that only works for so long; eventually they want to be at the table and be part of the action.
The lobster came and solved all dining dilemmas! Its small and portable and folds up (it fits in a diaper bag easily), it clamps safely onto (almost) any table to keep your mini close to the table, and even has little shoulder straps for when they go through the trying-to-stand-up-constantly phase.
The fabric high-chair takes portability to a whole new level. Now, the fabric chair doesn’t keep them at table-height like the lobster does, but it will keep them safely secured to just about any chair so you can feed them easily while away from home.
View this Portable Fabric High Chair on Amazon
Baby Bjorn carrier
Circling back to the benefits of a diaper backpack, using a carrier while traveling frees up your hands. Some of you may already have and use a carrier, they’re great for things like grocery shopping. As it turns out, they’re also invaluable when traveling.
View the Baby Bjorn Baby Carrier on Amazon
If you just have one mini, then it allows you to easily carry bags, or if you have several munchkins, it lets you tend to the other kids while keeping your smallest one safe and secure. We “wore” both our girls before they could walk, only opting for the stroller once they got bigger.
Using a Baby Bjorn Carrier while traveling gives you the freedom to safely carry your most precious cargo, while also leaving your hands free to tote bags and strollers.
GB Pockit Stroller
Speaking of strollers, once they are a little too heavy to consistently tote around in a front carrier, the GB Pockit is the perfect next step for travel.
In my quest to find a super small stroller, I stumbled on to the (then new) GB Pockit; it was as if someone had answered all my travel gear dreams. The stroller is similar to a regular umbroller in size, but it folds down small; like insanely I-can’t-believe-it small.
View the GB Pocket Stroller on Amazon
It folds down small enough to put in a carry-on backpack, or to easily store in an overhead compartment on an airplane. While I’ll admit, there’s a bit of a learning curve to collapsing it (we had to watch a few videos to learn to do it quickly and smoothly) once you get it figured out it’ll be one of the coolest baby gear items you own.