How to Sensibly Pack for an International Trip with Toddlers and Infants

Often times new parents avoid travel, especially international travel, due to the long flights, time zone changes/jetlag and amount of STUFF that children require. While you can’t change how long flight times are (and they only seem to get longer with more and more delays!) and you can’t really control how well your kids will handle jetlag/time zone changes, you can manage how much stuff to bring! While it may seem crazy, the Sensible Traveler recently completed a 2.5 week trip throughout Central Europe with two little ones and only relied on carry on baggage. You can do it and the Sensible Traveler will tell you how below.

Top 10 Things to Consider When Packing for Infants and Toddlers:

1. Limit your bags
   • While airlines have different rules for how many bags each passenger gets to take, most airlines will still allow paying passengers to bring at least one carry-on without additional bag fees. Therefore, you should try to avoid using any bags that are too big to be carried onto the plane. While this may seem impossible, it’s possible if you adhere to the following!
2. Find lodging with cribs/pac ‘n plays/travel cots
   • Only book lodging with cribs or pac ‘n plays. While there are many things you should consider when Picking the Perfect Lodging When Traveling with Kids, ensuring your lodging already has a bed for your infants immediately eliminates the need to bring any type of bed as a piece of luggage.
     • Airbnb has a filter to only show results that come with cribs/ pac ‘n plays/ travel cots that allows only search results.
     • If you do get free check luggage with your ticket, consider purchasing a travel bassinet which can easily fit in a suitcase as opposed to lugging a full pac ‘n play or travel cot as a separate piece of luggage.
3. Diapers
   • Only pack enough diapers for 2-3 days. When you get to your location you can stock up with more diapers.
4. Formula
   • If you use baby formula, this is something that the Sensible Traveler has always prioritized bringing from home sense babies can be particular about this. It’s very difficult to find the same formula in a different international location due to local regulations. When packing, split the cans of formula between the various carry-on bags to disperse the weight.
5. Plan your lodging to include washers/dryers at certain stays.
   • While you don’t need a washer/dryer at every lodging stay, you’ll want to make sure you have access to washers and dryers on occasion since you’ll be traveling with less clothes. Many Airbnbs come with washer and dryers and it’s not uncommon for hotels to provide washing services (although this is usually pricy!).
6. Check your carseat and stroller
   • The Sensible Traveler always debates whether or not to bring strollers and carseats BUT you can check them for free generally on all airplanes so price should not be a deterring factor.
     • To cut down on lugging a carseat through the airport consider renting one with your rental car.
     • In the US, consider purchasing a rider safety vest for toddlers instead of lugging a carseat as they can be packed and carried much easier than a normal carseat.
     • Consider whether or not a stroller will be useful on your trip. Rolling an umbrella stroller around cobblestone streets in Europe or mountains in New Zealand isn’t the easiest thing and a baby carrier may be the better option.
7. Sound machine
   • You can avoid bringing a separate sound machine and rely on your phone to play white noise if your kids need that for sleeping. You don’t even need to download an app on the Iphone to do this if you follow these easy steps.
     • You still may want to consider bringing a separate sound machine as you may not want to put your phone out of commission for the entire evening when it has to be playing white noise all night!
8. Night Light
   • It’s useful to bring a nightlight but many outlet converters have a nightlight built in which will allow you to avoid bringing a separate nightlight, requiring a converter to plug in the nightlight!
9. Bottles
   • If you’re feeding your baby formula it can be very difficult to keep bottles cold on long haul flights. Instead of making bottles ahead of time, only add the formula powder to the bottle and then add the liquid at a later time when the baby is ready to be fed! This avoids any unnecessary leaking of bottles and eliminates the need for keeping the bottles cool.
     • If you’re flying on a long haul flight, make sure you have enough bottles or the tools (e.g. soap, scruber, etc.) to clean your bottles on the plane or in the airport.
10. Medical
    • It’s a good idea to prioritize bringing medicines that your kids may need such as infant Tylenol or kids Motrin. While other countries will certainly have similar items, you don’t want to be in a position where you can’t provide relief to your sick kid until you get to the pharmacy.