Bringing Along Baby

Last week I saw some pictures from a former student of mine who took her baby on vacation to Washington D.C. I love it when parents take their young children on the road because it starts to expand baby’s horizons, even though they’re small. Successful travel with young kids takes planning and attention to detail, but the benefits for everyone are worth all the time and trouble. Here’s how we always planned for vacation with our young children.

1.  Research. The most important strategy for any vacation is research and preplanning, especially for a location to which you’ve never traveled before. Read, read, read! Whether you use the Internet or actual paper guidebooks, find out everything you can about the destination, lodgings, and mode of travel (especially if you’re flying). This helps you know what to expect and limits the number of surprises you’ll encounter along the way.

Do your research so that you'll know what to
expect on a vacation with baby.

2.  Simplify baby’s routine.  Take inventory of all the daily things you do with baby in terms of feeding, sleeping, and moving around town. For traveling, you’ll want to be able to move quickly and with minimal amounts of baggage, so think about how you can simplify that routine and make it more portable by cutting down on gear and supplies. Take a test run at home to make sure your new simplified strategies will work and that baby can adapt to them.

3.  Take it to the road. Whether you’re flying or driving, be sure that baby is used to extended amounts of time in the car. Go on some longer day trips around the local area to condition baby to extra car time.

4.  Sightsee around the local area. Be sure that baby is well conditioned to sightseeing at home. Think about the upcoming vacation activities and then try to mimic some of those experiences in the local area. It could be zoos, swimming pools, amusement parks, museums...we have plenty of those types of places here in Ohio, so use them as your “test run” experiences before heading out on your real vacation.

5.  Switch off. Depending on the type of vacation you’re planning, parents may need to switch off. For example, when our girls were babies, we went to the beach. When it was naptime, one of us took baby back to the condo, while the other one stayed at the beach. Then the next day, we switched responsibilities so that the other parent got to enjoy the beach. We had this planned before we even left on vacation, and it worked out well. This is also a great strategy for amusement parks. One parent hangs with the little one while the other parent rides bigger rides, and then switch.

Figure out how to travel light with  baby in tow.

6.  Travel light. Minimize the amount of gear that is needed overall. Think of what you can buy on the road as you go. Unless you’re traveling to remote corners of the world, you’ll be able to buy diapers, formula, baby food, sunscreen, and more. Start out with a basic supply and then restock as needed. In the past, we also rented equipment. When we stayed at the beach for an entire week, we rented a high chair and a pack & play that were delivered to our condo before we even arrived. It was very convenient and saved us the hassle of dragging everything with us.

A familiar destination can make traveling with baby
much easier.

7.  Keep it familiar. Plan the type of trip that you’re comfortable with. I have some friends who took their baby camping and hiking. This worked well for them because they were already experienced with wilderness vacations. We easily took our girls to the beach because we’d been plenty of times before and we knew what to expect. You’ll have an easier time if you take baby on the type of vacation that’s already in your comfort zone.

Babies learn so much in their first year of life; it’s worth it to take them on vacation. They start to build a “visual dictionary” of sights and sounds. As they grow, all of these experiences give them a background that helps them to understand the world. If you’ve been hesitating to travel with your little one, don’t be afraid. Pack your bags and hit the road. In the years to come, baby will thank you for it!

**Many thanks to Amanda S. (the aforementioned former student) for contributing pictures for this post!