@kvruns we are bringing wipes (I prefer the Kirkland ones and you can't by a single pack just a giant box) and we have already ordered a box of diapers there so they should be waiting for us! Im bringing a small Vaseline (since we will need some for the plane anyway)
is the rest just clothes? Or is it baby gear stuff? I'm pretty good at packing light and always try to coordinate outfits for minimal shoes, etc. Then again I'm pretty low maintenance so it is easy for me whereas I know others are more fashionable and need more stuff!
@kvruns mostly just clothes and shoes etc ! I'm trying so hard to pack light but I'm SO bad at it! I can't even manage to cut shoes down from 5 (flats for dressy outfits, toms for casual, sneakers for walking, flip flops for when it's warm / going to the pool and hunters for the rain). And I don't even know what to wear flying yet! Wouldn't mind but I am far from fashionable.
@kvruns mostly just clothes and shoes etc ! I'm trying so hard to pack light but I'm SO bad at it! I can't even manage to cut shoes down from 5 (flats for dressy outfits, toms for casual, sneakers for walking, flip flops for when it's warm / going to the pool and hunters for the rain). And I don't even know what to wear flying yet! Wouldn't mind but I am far from fashionable.
STUCK:
I usually wear my bulkiest shoes on the plane though I don't think I'd be doing the Hunters for that so I'd go for sneakers since I like comfy footwear for airports or the Toms even though they don't take up much room. Do you have to have the Hunters? I usually roll my clothes which feels like it takes up less space too though I don't know if that is true. Although my last 2 trips also had washer/dryer access which was very helpful for packing.
I am so excited; we just booked our tickets to see my family in England for Christmas. They haven't met A yet and my cousin is due in august with a little girl. It's a long flight but the airline we picked has a cot for her to sleep in for the overnight flight. Yay for seeing family!
@kvruns I could probably go without the hunters but it's supposed to rain basically the whole time we're there so I'm thinking it may be smart. maybe I try to go without and hope I don't step in any puddles in my toms? Can you tell I'm a chronic over packer?
I'm still incredibly excited. It's funny because I don't think of myself as having a big family because it's only my very small paternal family here but I told one cousin I had booked the tickets and I immediately got 6 text messages from different cousins, all asking for details. So crazy.
@kvruns my dad is from New York, he's half Spanish and half Puerto Rican. My mom is from England, she came here when she was 22. My parents broke up when I was pretty young and since my mom had to work and her cousin (who is really more like a sister) is a teacher and had summers off, my parents sent me to England for summers. I'm still really close with my cousins. My mom has something like 15 first cousins, almost all of them have kids and lived in a 20 mile radius of each other.
We are finally home from our trip to the Keys! Home sweet home! Even M seemed relieved to be back; he didn't stop smiling from when we walked in the door to when he went down.
Some things I've learned that I figured I'd share:
1.) It may take LO 1-3 nights to get used to his new surroundings. Expect terrible sleep and if LO does great then lucky you! But M definitely didn't like his new digs and it showed.
2.) White noise, white noise, white noise. Vacations are noisy and I don't know what we would have done without the noise machine I brought.
3.) Schedule your flights during nap time but not if it means landing during rush hour traffic. It took us an hour and twenty minutes to get home when it should have only taken 30 minutes. Not awesome when baby is exhausted from a very busy day.
4.) Over pack. Honestly, I was worried I packed too much stuff but I'm glad I did. I actually think I hit it right on.
Update: you can bring a baby bottle warmer on a cruise ship. It worked so well. I also brought about 8 frozen bags of breast milk, by day 4 they had all melted, but it worked perfectly.
It was a full 7 night cruise. LO did great. We brought her whole car seat stroller combo and it was a great choice. We had to store it in our room. Norwegian also provided us a pack n play. I bought and brought a pack n play fitted quilt, but the steward set it up and used clean sheets tucked into the mat. I put it under mom wins, but she started sleeping through the night. Instead of her 1am, 3am and 6am wake times. I also carried her on me a lot and she did really well in a high chair.
I'm traveling across the country in a week alone with E. When I booked the trip, I was only worried about what to do when I need to pee - but now that I'm a week out and haven't started packing yet, my anxiety is ramping up! Not just about the travel, but also about seeing my family and worry about trying to keep a balance between giving E new experiences with new people and keeping her from getting overwhelmed. We're going for a party for my dad's 60th birthday so there will be a lot of people exposure.
And jumping back to travel - she has so much energy, how am I going to keep her contained for 8 hours? Two of them are a layover so I figured I'll bring a blanket for plane warmth and floor play during the layover, but will that be enough?
@lajoliedreamer I brought probably 5 or 6 toys, only taking out a couple at a time so it's a "new" experience. I also brought some food for the layover (he loves eating). And we walked the airport a lot so he could people watch like a creep. He also enjoyed watching a bit of tv.
My biggest worry for plane travel is helping them pop their ears on the ascent and descent. Bring a bottle and feed for the 10 minutes so it helps them pop her ears. Or if you're out of milk help her suck on her pacifier.
@lajoliedreamer Definitely bring a blanket for floor play. I did this and it helps so much for them to be able to get all the wiggles out between flights. Also, keep a positive outlook on it and try not to be too nervous because I swear they can tell when you're anxious and feed off of that.
@lajoliedreamer Yes to the blanket for floor time during layover! Also bring a few toys like @kristah2 said. Keep in mind other passengers so maybe try for toys that don't make too much noise, maybe a book or two as well. Also bottles/food are always good distractors. Do you babywear? For me that made getting through the airport and on/off the plane super easy. Also helps to keep my LO from being too overstimulated. She tends to fall asleep in the baby carrier.
good luck with the travels @lajoliedreamer , let us know how your travel goes. We are going to travel across the US in August and I am a little nervous about it. I can either book a direct flight or a flight with lay over. Did you choose to have 2 lay overs on purpose or did you have to ? I could not decide which would be easier. I flew with L 11 hours when she was 2 months old but it was so easy then. Also, do you know if we can get a baby bassinet in domestic flights ? it helped a lot with our international flights.
good luck with the travels @lajoliedreamer , let us know how your travel goes. We are going to travel across the US in August and I am a little nervous about it. I can either book a direct flight or a flight with lay over. Did you choose to have 2 lay overs on purpose or did you have to ? I could not decide which would be easier. I flew with L 11 hours when she was 2 months old but it was so easy then. Also, do you know if we can get a baby bassinet in domestic flights ? it helped a lot with our international flights.
That is our debate if we end up going to CA. I'd prefer direct to get it over with, although it would put us in the non-optimal airport. H thinks layover is better so it breaks it up. Would probably end up with layover only because it gets to the better airport.
I definitely see the benefit of a layover to give baby (and mommy) a break. But personally I prefer direct. We all know the worst part of flying is take off and landing and I was so worried about M's ears that I decided it was best to do as little ear popping as possible. We ended up doing a stopover on the way there and direct on the way back.
I definitely see the benefit of a layover to give baby (and mommy) a break. But personally I prefer direct. We all know the worst part of flying is take off and landing and I was so worried about M's ears that I decided it was best to do as little ear popping as possible. We ended up doing a stopover on the way there and direct on the way back.
This. We got situated, ears popped and we were done! Admittedly we walked up and down the aisles and played back with the flight attendants every so often until a nap came on.
good luck with the travels @lajoliedreamer , let us know how your travel goes. We are going to travel across the US in August and I am a little nervous about it. I can either book a direct flight or a flight with lay over. Did you choose to have 2 lay overs on purpose or did you have to ? I could not decide which would be easier. I flew with L 11 hours when she was 2 months old but it was so easy then. Also, do you know if we can get a baby bassinet in domestic flights ? it helped a lot with our international flights.
It's actually one layover, for two hours (I worded it weird). But there are no direct flights where I'm going so I had no other choice. I think I would have chosen a direct flight if I could have because of the ear popping thing.
No idea about the bassinets, but I'm going to guess it's probably a no. But it never hurts to ask!
I booked my flight to San Francisco and debated about a layover or not. I didn't think about the ears but more about the 'what if she sleeps just as we are landing and she'll wake up if I need to carry all of our crap ànd a sleeping baby' So 11 hours it is. Ordered a bassinet, but technically she's already too tall. But sometimes they let one use it if she's not to heavy. Im considering buying a Jetskids bedbox, not that she has her own seat, but kastbtime KLM moved another passenger so I had an extra seat and then this would be awesome!
Im worried about her having special formula and not having the same brand in the US. So need to pack enough of that.
Any tips of brand of diapers? And what about ready to eat babyfood? I'm staying at a friend, so will be able to cook, but it's always nice to have 'in case' babyfood ready
@tvh1982 What brand of formula is it? We may have it. You can always have a box shipped to your hotel too.
We're a Huggies diapers house but honestly, I think they're all basically the same. If you had a boy I'd say stay away from Pampers because they produce lint that gets caught in M's circumcision but since you don't have to deal with all that stuff you should be fine with whatever you buy.
@tvh1982 We use Huggies for my girl. But honestly Pampers, Huggies, Up & Up (target brand) are all good in my opinion. Luvs is ok, they just don't hold as much.
ETA what are you doing about a car seat? I know the US ones are different from overseas.
@tvh1982 What brand of formula is it? We may have it. You can always have a box shipped to your hotel too.
We're a Huggies diapers house but honestly, I think they're all basically the same. If you had a boy I'd say stay away from Pampers because they produce lint that gets caught in M's circumcision but since you don't have to deal with all that stuff you should be fine with whatever you buy.
I know @tvh1982 has a girl, but is this actually a thing? I thought it was just LO and his sweaty man parts! I clean that out every single night. Ugh. The more you know...
@tvh1982 We are big Gerber's (food) and Pampers (diapers) over here. Our baby food also come sin stages os Stage 1 is all liquid, one concentrated food, and in the smallest container. Stage 2 is a larger container and some will mix foods. Stage 3 include the chunks and is usually a combination of food.
On the Pampers, I noticed with Pampers Swaddlers if he was in it all night and therefore soaked, there would be the lint stuff stuck. But it wasn't a normal occurrence for regular diaper changes.I do not have that problem with Pampers Baby Dry and I think they feel just fine.
@jsmai did you see Honest has 50% off bundles right now? It might just be for first timers but I bet you could create another account or have a family member do it for the discount.
@m6agua European car seats are generally taxi compliant. When my cousins came for my wedding, they just strapped the car seat in to the taxi. When we were looking at car seats, I wanted one with a European safety system (aka the strap method) because they're taxi compliant. The car seat lady said in many cases, they're actually more secure than the American base system.
@tvh1982 We use pampers swaddlers or pampers dry, depending which one is cheaper on amazon when i need them. My friend said that they used the bassinet even when her son was 9 months old, i am not sure what the weight limit for those bassinets though. Are you taking your regular car seat with you while traveling or buying a cheaper/lighter one ? We have britax bsafe car seat, it is very heavy but can be attached to our stroller. But i kept reading how the carseats can be defected if you check in your car seat. The other option would be to rent a carseat with the rental car i guess . I am wondering what you ladies think about it.
@zoefer I personally would not rent one from a rental car agency. I worked at one for about 5 years. They aren't super clean, not a lot of people rent them but you really have no clue how they used them. I know where I worked the car seats were not checked over that often so who knows what the shape of it was and I think if I remember right some would be expired and we didn't really know until a customer requested one and we saw it was expired. Basically the carseats sat stacked up out at the "garage" where they washed the cars.
@zoefer I joined 2 car seat facebook groups (Car Seats for the Littles & Carseat safety). The CPSTs are always recommending the Cosco Scenera NEXT for those looking for something affordable but still safe. It says its certified for airplanes.
@zoefer that car seat is often available for under $40 from Target - I almost bought it for my parents for like $35 but didn't and now I'm kicking myself and waiting for another good sale.
Thank you for all the tips! Im planning on bringing my car seat as it's a maxi cosi for newborns to 12 months and just straps in a car. It could be clicked into a car to if one had the isofix. Just looking for a prampack. I have one, but it's soft. A little worried about the car seat and how they handle it. Also not sure on which stroller. I have a light one, but it wasn't a cheap one. I also have a cheap one, which is actually aloud as carry-on, but then she won't be able to lay proper. So much to find out!
@SandNStarsNJ Yeah, I change M's diaper every 10 minutes because home boy hates to be wet and pees constantly and with the Pampers I noticed a lot of lint caught under the skin. So annoying! My SIL said the same thing when I mentioned it to her and she has two boys. I switched to Huggies and have had zero issues since.
Re: Travel
Wouldn't mind but I am far from fashionable.
Can you tell I'm a chronic over packer?
@RhodaMorgenstern sounds like it's going to be a great trip!!
Some things I've learned that I figured I'd share:
1.) It may take LO 1-3 nights to get used to his new surroundings. Expect terrible sleep and if LO does great then lucky you! But M definitely didn't like his new digs and it showed.
2.) White noise, white noise, white noise. Vacations are noisy and I don't know what we would have done without the noise machine I brought.
3.) Schedule your flights during nap time but not if it means landing during rush hour traffic. It took us an hour and twenty minutes to get home when it should have only taken 30 minutes. Not awesome when baby is exhausted from a very busy day.
4.) Over pack. Honestly, I was worried I packed too much stuff but I'm glad I did. I actually think I hit it right on.
Good luck and safe travels!
And jumping back to travel - she has so much energy, how am I going to keep her contained for 8 hours? Two of them are a layover so I figured I'll bring a blanket for plane warmth and floor play during the layover, but will that be enough?
I also brought some food for the layover (he loves eating). And we walked the airport a lot so he could people watch like a creep.
He also enjoyed watching a bit of tv.
PP have all said good ideas too.
- BFP: 3/10/16 — Baby Girl born 11/20/16
TTC#2 April 2019Also, do you know if we can get a baby bassinet in domestic flights ? it helped a lot with our international flights.
We ended up doing a stopover on the way there and direct on the way back.
Welcomed baby girl: 06.10.14
Second pregnancy EDD: 06.16.16 MC: 10.29.15
Welcomed baby boy: 11.25.16
No idea about the bassinets, but I'm going to guess it's probably a no. But it never hurts to ask!
I didn't think about the ears but more about the 'what if she sleeps just as we are landing and she'll wake up if I need to carry all of our crap ànd a sleeping baby'
So 11 hours it is.
Ordered a bassinet, but technically she's already too tall. But sometimes they let one use it if she's not to heavy.
Im considering buying a Jetskids bedbox, not that she has her own seat, but kastbtime KLM moved another passenger so I had an extra seat and then this would be awesome!
Im worried about her having special formula and not having the same brand in the US. So need to pack enough of that.
Any tips of brand of diapers?
And what about ready to eat babyfood? I'm staying at a friend, so will be able to cook, but it's always nice to have 'in case' babyfood ready
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We're a Huggies diapers house but honestly, I think they're all basically the same. If you had a boy I'd say stay away from Pampers because they produce lint that gets caught in M's circumcision but since you don't have to deal with all that stuff you should be fine with whatever you buy.
ETA what are you doing about a car seat? I know the US ones are different from overseas.
- BFP: 3/10/16 — Baby Girl born 11/20/16
TTC#2 April 2019@tvh1982 We are big Gerber's (food) and Pampers (diapers) over here. Our baby food also come sin stages os Stage 1 is all liquid, one concentrated food, and in the smallest container. Stage 2 is a larger container and some will mix foods. Stage 3 include the chunks and is usually a combination of food.
Welcomed baby girl: 06.10.14
Second pregnancy EDD: 06.16.16 MC: 10.29.15
Welcomed baby boy: 11.25.16
@jsmai did you see Honest has 50% off bundles right now? It might just be for first timers but I bet you could create another account or have a family member do it for the discount.
- BFP: 3/10/16 — Baby Girl born 11/20/16
TTC#2 April 2019My friend said that they used the bassinet even when her son was 9 months old, i am not sure what the weight limit for those bassinets though.
Are you taking your regular car seat with you while traveling or buying a cheaper/lighter one ? We have britax bsafe car seat, it is very heavy but can be attached to our stroller. But i kept reading how the carseats can be defected if you check in your car seat. The other option would be to rent a carseat with the rental car i guess . I am wondering what you ladies think about it.
- BFP: 3/10/16 — Baby Girl born 11/20/16
TTC#2 April 2019https://www.amazon.com/Evenflo-Tribute-Convertible-Seat-Saturn/dp/B006PB2B6O/?tag=baby-travel-gear-20&th=1
- BFP: 3/10/16 — Baby Girl born 11/20/16
TTC#2 April 2019Im planning on bringing my car seat as it's a maxi cosi for newborns to 12 months and just straps in a car.
It could be clicked into a car to if one had the isofix.
Just looking for a prampack. I have one, but it's soft. A little worried about the car seat and how they handle it.
Also not sure on which stroller. I have a light one, but it wasn't a cheap one. I also have a cheap one, which is actually aloud as carry-on, but then she won't be able to lay proper.
So much to find out!
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