What you really need when travelling with a baby or toddler

Even the most experienced travellers will be able to tell you that as soon as you put a baby or toddler in the mix its a different story altogether and if your not well prepared things can go south rather quickly, but it really doesn’t need to be that way. We have done a lot of different holidays and adventures with out son, each with there own challenges, from camping to festivals, rural and city breaks to trips to Europe, it's all been a learning curve and have learnt a few things a long the way. Myself and three other top parenting bloggers recently did a hangout with Argos all about our must have products when travelling and I thought I would share my other top tips when it comes to hitting the road with a baby or toddler.


The first rule of thumb is you want to keep luggage to a minimum and only take with you what you really need. Everything needs to have a purpose and should only be taken if it's genuinely going to make your life easier and your travels less stressful.

Of course very young babies have different needs to that of a toddler but somethings are always the same, such a nappies, wipes, changes of clothes etc but besides those basic needs you want to focus on these five things – sleep, mobility, safety, entertainment and food. These will all depend on what kind of holiday you are taking, how long you will be in transit and where you are staying so take these all into account when putting together your packing list.

1. Sleep – yes of course everyone is more relaxed on holiday but at the end of the day you still want to stick to some kind of routine and it will only make your child more grumpy and difficult if they lack a good nights sleep. I highly recommend packing black-out curtains, you can get super light ones that pack down to a very small size, you won't regret it. Another top tip is to make sure you bring you child’s favourite snuggly toy with them as this provides a homely comfort especially if it's there first time away from home. Also always make your hotel aware you are bringing a baby as more often than not they will provide a cot.

2. Mobility – this can be a tricky one, we have gone away for a week before with no pram and no sling and after 2-3 hours of carrying our toddler everywhere you realise perhaps it was shortsighted not to have taken something so we invested in a very lightweight stroller. Another option which we also use and our son loves is his ride-on trunki, I cannot say how much he loves it and how easy it is to now move between terminals or train platforms at places like London Paddington and the extra bonus of it containing all of his clothes is perfect. Items like this with multi-purpose functionality are exactly what you need when travelling

We used a reigns a lot while Mr A was finding his feet

3. Safety – if your child is walking than a pair of reigns is a must in a new place, this allows them their independence in a safe and secure way. Make sure you don't leave the house without packing some kind of first aid kit, this does not need to be big but a few plasters, liquid painkillers and antiseptic cream should not be left at home, things like ear ache tend to pop up on holidays so be well prepared.


4. Entertainment – this should not be overlooked, a bored baby or toddler will only mean trouble so packing a few lightweight essentials will mean a long train, car or flight won't seem so daunting and you don't need to fork out tons of money for the latest tablet, we don't have one and have done lots of very long trips. Our must have fun pack contains stickers, one to two toddler magazines, a very small pack of crayons and a mini colouring book as well as one or two small toys such as cars or dinosaurs. Even young children and toddlers grasp simple games such as eye spy and watching the world go by outside the window

We always make sure to pack a dinosaur or two

5. Food – when travelling you really don't want your baby or toddler to get hungry as it will only end in tears. Making sure you have healthy snacks on you at all times as well as water or milk is incredibly important. Not only will it save you a lot of money as train and petrol stations as well as airports are incredibly expensive but young children can also get dehydrated very quickly so you need to stay on top of things. When it comes to Baby Feeding you need to make sure you can safely sterilise the bottles and Argos stock a Tommy Single bottle steriliser which does not take up too much space.

At the end of the day I stand by the motto that Travel is the best education and its something that I was very lucky to do from a very young age and it's something I want to pass onto my own son and as long as you pack sensibly and practically you will be okay. I hope that this has been useful and make sure you check out the video myself and three other top parenting bloggers did for Argos on what to pack when travelling with babies and toddlers

Linking up with Travel Tuesday

This post is in collaboration with Argos, our Britmums Live sponsor, words and thoughts 100% our own