Traveling with a baby can be a lot of work, and this has never rung truer than when a pair of new parents find themselves struggling through a crowded airport or grasping for infant-appropriate entertainment on a congested freeway. Now that we are on our 3rd baby, we understand this all too well. Here are a few ways to keep your sanity while traveling to your holiday destination, no matter how you choose to travel:
Always carry baby’s essentials in a tote or diaper bag. If you are flying, do not check this bag. Instead, keep it with you at all times so if your luggage happens to get lost, you still have the things you need to maintain your little one’s health and comfort, as well as your own! This also makes it easy to know where everything you may need will be at a relative or friends home instantly.
Bring along some special items from home. Babies thrive off of the familiar, so don’t forget that special paci or blanket when traveling away from home. It will make all the difference when your baby is feeling over stimulated from all the attention from friends and relatives. Early on, we wanted our kids to be attached to a specefic blanket for this very purpose. It works like a charm! My son even smells his blanket and is comforted.
Try to keep a schedule. This one is SO hard! Babies don’t understand special occasions, so bring a positive bonus day into their world, rather than a chaotic negative. By keeping up baby’s usual napping and feeding schedule as much as possible, you are providing them with the security they need to get through an unpredictable day. This is such a hard thing to do when many family members just want quality baby time and don’t understand that your baby will be much more pleasant to spend time with if the schedule is stuck to. We have often found ourselves finding a quiet location to escape to with our kids just to give them a breather. You don’t realize they need it, until you do it.
Know when enough is enough. Celebrating baby’s first holidays with plenty of photos and videos is all good fun, but be sure to know your infant’s boundaries. Babies can only handle so much, even if the paparazzi is composed of grandma, grandpa and other well-meaning relatives.
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