Product Spotlight: Travel Accessories

m6agua

Each week we'll spotlight a new category of product. Feel free to comment on threads like these throughout your time at the board, not just when they're in their week in the spotlight, if you discover something new OR are new to the board. This week it's.... Travel Accessories!

FTMs are encouraged to ask questions & STM/+s encouraged to share their knowledge based on experience. You can use any or all the prompts relevant to you below to share info in an easy-to-read format. Pictures/screen grabs, if put in spoilers, are welcome!

For all....
What products do you recommend/are interested in for travel?
Any products necessary for plane vs car travel or any other type of travel?
Anything else?

To view the upcoming PSS schedule, see here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XX4aUSPsDbdyEEK5HIzMzwH2ztOVOnNCehSgMAc5w6U/edit?usp=sharing
Next up: Teething Accessories

queenklau

We did (IMHO) lots of traveling with our DD1. Since she was 4 months we have traveled domestically and internationally, also several hours in the car (most was 12 hours in one day). I’ve split up the car and plane travel here. Apologies in advance because I am not sure what qualifies as an accessory, most of the travel items I found useful may already fall into other categories discussed in other product spotlights.

car travel:
This really depends on the age. If they are really young, you want to make sure that you have a comfortable car seat so that the long ride is enjoyable and they can sleep long stretches. I would always bring my carrier to get her out of the carseat position whenever we would do a pit stop. For sleeping on the road the pack and play was a life saver and I used it for over 2 years. Once they are older and start getting bored, you want to bring lots of snacks/food pouches, books, toys. Muslin blankets were great to have around to cover their legs/as a sun shade or for them to stretch out wherever you go. Sun glasses and hats, winter gear as applicable for each season. 

These sunglasses are the best!

https://pacifierkids.com/products/babyopticalssunglasses-blackbyfctry?variant=18267509700&currency=USD&_vsrefdom=googleads&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4NTxBRDxARIsAHyp6gCCHylVktBQiNtgKcQcRbCwwh6s0_EezkznKr6GGVbL5EiE_woBZWsaAtnPEALw_wcB

Plane:
The carrier (I have the Lile baby 6 positions) here is essential if you have a lap infant, so that you can rest your arms. We didn’t use the car seat on the plane unless we traveled internationally or she was older than 2 (make sure you have a narrow car seat). Again, in this case lost of snacks, books, toys, especially things like Cheerios, so that it takes them focus to pick each piece and eat.  I buy her a new toy or coloring book and I don’t show her until the plane, the novelty wears off but it gives me at least 30 min or so. I am usually a no screen mom but I am prepared as a last resort on the plane to have her play with some kiddie app. She likes Elmo Calls or any app that lets them draw or play music. We gate checked the car seat and stroller. When we traveled with the car seat we bought a back-pack for it.

https://www.amazon.com/Childress-Ultimate-Backpack-Padded-Travel/dp/B0009RNXNA

In general toddlers are a bit more difficult travelers than infants, in our experience. 

m6agua

PLANE: We traveled by plane (3 flights with 2 layovers--each way) when DD was 5/6 months old. We decided to do the lap seat but brought our frame stroller and carseat for gate checking. We bought and used the red gate check bags for them which worked out great. The carrier (also a Lillebaby) was clutch for the flight though. I wore her through the airport/security and we used the frame stroller/carseat to carry all of our other stuff. I don't for sure remember, but I think we both got our normal carry-ons and then I still was also able to bring the Boppy and the diaper bag. We went for a wedding so we also had a garment bag that they were able to hang for us. I called the airline and I went to my local airport with those items to verify before hand. Since we formula fed, ready to feed formula was great for the airport days. We skipped bringing the carseat base and just did a baseless install in the rental car. Since we went to a city with stores and were staying at our friends parents house for most of the trip we just brought what we needed for travel and bought more formula, a cheaper pack n play, diapers, etc while we were there. We left the PNP there at our friends parents house (gave it to them) for any future use. +1 for the muslin blankets being great for all situations.

CAR: Shortly after our airplane trip we did a weekend trip to Chicago to see some friends. This was about a 3-4 hour drive with a 6 month old. We stayed at their AirBNB with them. Brought the Boppy, PnP, Lillebaby carrier, and our Graco Breaze umbrella stroller. Most of the time we parked and the walked around everywhere all day. It was nice to have the larger basket in the stroller for extra stuff. Once again muslin blankets were great!

When they are younger they don't need as much to entertain them so we only brought a few toys on our trips (rattles, books, plush things). They tend to find things that are not toys entertaining, like a plastic cup on the plane. I just remembered a portable sound machine was important too!

Rental car company car seat options:
I worked for one of the major rental company brands for 5 years in college. I highly recommend NOT renting a carseat. If you do not bring your own, I would go buy a cheap one and then donate or something. At my office, a lot of us were younger with no kids (especially the people who service the cars and clean the carseats). We also had very little training with the car seats, I didn't know to look for when the expired. I had no clue what the straps did (there were some extra straps laying around, I think for tethering), they were cheap models, you have no clue what the last person who rented it did with it, they were probably cleaned/washed inappropriately. All in all I just do not believe that the seats maintained the manufacturer requirements and could possibly not be safe.

We didn't do much long travel since then, mostly weekend trips to the family lake house which is less than an hour away. However we did go to an indoor water park just before DD turned 3 with another family. That was about a 2.5-3 hour drive turned into 3-4 hours. We needed more stops than when she was younger since we were potty training. For this trip we brought the PnP again, but also her pillow, blanket, a couple stuffed animals and books, and a couple toys. We also brought her potty seat, portable sound machine, and our audio monitors. One of the places we stayed at had an outdoor fire pit, so we put the girls to bed and went and sat around the fire for a while.

Overall when you are traveling go with the flow, most likely you are doing things outside of your normal routine and realize that the LO will probably not stick to the routine either. For us the baby carrier was the most important item when she was young because I could always guarantee a nap while wearing her if we were out and about.

catem07

So this is less product spotlight and more just general advice. 

We first flew with DD when she was 2 months old to go to a wedding in California. Didn't buy her a seat but our flight was under-booked so they gave one to us! It was awesome. This is the number one reason why I gate check our car seat--you want to have it in case they have room to give you a seat. Always ask if they expect the flight to be full when you're at the gate. Sometimes they'll even try to ask someone traveling solo to move. For us, once kids have to have their own seat we always bring our own car seat (cosco scenera next) because my daughter doesn't hate car seats and knows what to do in them. Plus we need them at our destination anyway. 

Some car seat evangelists are very anti-gate checking car seats, but I do it with infant seats when we don't buy a seat. For the first year you definitely don't have to buy a seat, they're pretty easy to hold. 1-2 can be a gamble, but we aren't made of $$ so the only time we bought a seat when it wasn't required was when we took DD on a red-eye. 

We also used the leash backpack in the airport at 15 months. No shame in that game. 

I'm also a no-screen mom except for train/plane travel. Get an old iphone or ipod and load it with some stuff kids will like. 

Also CHECK EVERYTHING YOU CAN. We pack in one large suitcase instead of two small ones to save $$ on checked bag fees. The only things we carry through the airport are backpacks, stroller, car seat, and diaper bag.

I don't recommend umbrella strollers for travel because the two-handed push is annoying. 

Baby Monitor 3g is a good monitor app for traveling. You need to put a phone/ipad/ipod touch (connected to the internet) near baby and then you can check in on your phone. I also use the white noise app. 

For car travel, my daughter is a good car sleeper so we try to time travel to coincide with naps or bedtime sleep.  

sunshinesea22

@queenklau @m6agua@catem07 Excellent travel tips! Thank you

We go to the Jersey shore a lot during the summertime and I would like to get a UV blocking baby beach tent. Does anyone have one they love?

edit tags

catem07

@sunshinesea22 I'm from Jersey and love the shore! We go to Cape May... Whatever tent you get, make sure you get better weights than just the stakes. Stakes + sand + wind are not great. I'd recommend bringing gallon ziplocs and making sand weights to put in the inside corners. You can also get UV blankets which are nice and lightweight. Another thing we've done at the beach is buy a cheap shower curtain liner, dig a hole, put the liner in, and put some water in it for baby to splash in under the umbrella. This would be more of a 1yo activity obv. Lastly, be careful about feeling like shade is enough. My daughter got sunburned on her face under an umbrella at 3 months because of the sun reflecting off the sand I felt horrible. 

sunshinesea22

@catem07 Thank you! I’m planning on UV hats and clothing too. Some may judge me, but I want to go to the beach for at least a little while this summer before my maternity leave is over. We love Cape May (especially the winery)! But our beach is closer to AC, so Cape May is a day trip for fun activities.