Tips for travel with infant

We will be travelling to california for a relative's wedding when our DS will be about 5-6 months -- I need any and all advice since I've never done this before
Some questions I thought of:

How many bottles do you travel with? How do you wash them when you are out?
What do you carry on the plane with you? What do you check-in with your luggage?
Do you need to bring your own car seat or do the rental car places offer you an option to rent a car seat?
Any tips would be greatly appreciated!! We will be flying and renting a car and driving. Thank you!!

Re: Tips for travel with infant

I'd bring the carseat. We are traveling next month and renting a car and I'm brining the carseat with us.

I had a bottle for take off and landing and dd slept the whole time during the flight so I got lucky. She was 9 months at the time. I was traveling by myself with her so I didn't know what to expect.

I washed the bottle out once I landed and went into the bathroom to change dd and just rinse the bottles.

I suggest gate checking the stroller (and carseat if ds will be sitting on your lap)

Re: Tips for travel with infant

You can order from Diapers.com and have it shipped to the place that you are staying, that way you don't have to pack diapers, wipes, formula, etc. Makes packing much easier!

Also, most rental places do not have infant carseats. So I would bring yours.

Re: Tips for travel with infant

We are in florida with dd now who is just shy of 3 months. On the plane we brought 3 botlles and enough formula to fill all 3. Diapers, wipes, change of clothes, normal diaper bag stuff and we also brought her boppy which was key. It helped us when we hels her and fed her and the plane wasn't full so we had an empty seat inbetween me and dh so at one point se layed the boppy ther and let her nap in it. We gate checked her infant car seat and snap and go which was great because then we had it the whole time in the airport and as soon as we got off the plane. We packed about 10 bottles (2days worth) and picked up formula, diapers and wipes at a local kmart or walmart once we got her so we didn't need to pack all of that either. It was actually a lot easier than I imagined. If you have any specific questions just fm me

Re: Tips for travel with infant

First off, if your airline offers curbside check in, spend the couple of dollars and do it- totally worth it to not lug everything inside and then wait on line. I would suggest bringing your carseat and a snap and go and check them at the gate. That's what we used when DS was 3 months and again at 6 months. I would bring your powdered fomula and atleast 4 empty bottles. You can ask the flight attendent for bottled water. At that age they will sleep most of the time. It's actually easier then flying with them when they're older and don't want to be contained.

Re: Tips for travel with infant

I brought a stocked diaper bad including food, diapers, 2 or 3 changes of clothes, some toys.

We brought our car seat-if you are still using the infant seat, use it with the stroller attachment and check it at the gate if you didn't buy a seat.

I packed extra diapers and wipes in the luggage.

As for bottles-the kids we on formula so I brought that plus empty bottles and bought water after we got through security. I rinsed them at the airport and washed them at the hotel.

Re: Tips for travel with infant

I bought those microwaveable sterilizer bags and use them whenever I travel to sterilize DS' bottles and also my breast pump parts. I rinse them out in the sink and then toss them in the bag with 2oz of water and zap for a couple minutes. They're great! Really inexpensive too. I bought the Dr. Brown's ones (Medela makes them too) and there are 5 bags in one box. Each bag gets 20 uses.

Re: Tips for travel with infant

I nursed when they were that little so no advice on the bottles. i always had 10 diapers in my diaper bag and a big package of wipes. Also, a change of clothes for me and baby.
If you didn't buy baby a seat, I recommend gate checking the snap and go with the infant car seat. Never borrow one, you have no idea what kind of condition it will be in. When you check in, if the plane isn't full, you can get an extra seat for the baby then. If you bought a seat, just use the seat belt with the seat, you can't install the base on the plane.
In mu suitcase would be all the other stuff I needed for the vacation. As much as possible, I would buy diapers and baby food, etc) at my destination. No need to weigh your suitcase down with that stuff.

Re: Tips for travel with infant

Thank you so much everyone! That was so helpful!!! I'm much less overwhelmed now! I'm sure I will post additional questions as I start packing! Thanks again!

Re: Tips for travel with infant

And here is my next question already -- any restrictions for carry on luggage that I should be aware of? Are wipes and diaper cream ok to take on board? Anything else? Thanks!

Re: Tips for travel with infant

When we travelled I would pack a day's worth of bottles (usually 6) in my carry on. I sometimes brought a bottle brush and a small thing of dishwashing liquid and I would wash the bottles in the sink. If it was a short flight (like FL) then I would just rinse out the bottles and wash them when we got to our destination.

We packed a days worth of formula and diapers and some toys in our carry on. Extra diapers and formula we would either pack in the suitcase or buy it once we got to our destination.

We always bring our own car seats. I always buy seats for my girls and strap them into the car seat on the plane.

We gate check our stroller. If you are going to have him on your lap then I would still gate check a car seat to use one you get to CA. You can rent them from the car rental agencies but I'd rather use my own.

Re: Tips for travel with infant