10 Baby Carry-On Essentials
What To Pack
10 Baby Carry-On Essentials
DO: Download my handy checklist at the end of this post!
DON’T: Forget these 10 essential items!
If you are traveling with a baby soon and have started stressing about what to pack in their carry-on (ie. Diaper Bag), this is the post for you! When we were pregnant with our baby Graham, we knew that giving up on traveling was not an option, and I knew that I wanted to make our first trip go seamlessly so that we wouldn’t give up on adventures with him. We recently took our first trip as a family of three to Englewood, Florida, and all-in-all, things went smoothly! After this trip, I found there were some absolutely must-haves (besides the obvious diaper, binky, etc.) that are essential for your baby carry-on.
Below you will find:
10 essential travel items for traveling with a baby
My personal uses and recommendations for each item
Travel tips and hacks I’ve learned on the road
A FREE Downloadable Complete Packing Checklist for your baby!
*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Need a Full Packing List?
10 Essential Items
Have you ever gotten stuck on a runway when the air isn’t pumping quite yet? Add a baby, and one you may have to nurse under a cover & cue the overheating experience that I had on our first flight with Graham. Luckily, we take this thing with us everywhere! It not only works well on the plane, but if you’re out to eat, on a hike/walk, etc. It fits nicely when placed vertically in the big pocket of our diaper bag.
2. Inflatable Feeding Pillow- This is something I’m adding to my list after not bringing it! Whether you breastfeed or bottle feed, you will want to feed during take-off & landing to help with the cabin pressure in your little one’s ears. If your baby is anything like mine, he’ll fall asleep in your arms after eating in probably the most uncomfortable position for you! And believe me, on a plane, you don’t want to wake a sleeping baby! So for my next trip I will be bringing this! Bonus, it deflates and folds up nicely to fit in one of your small pockets.
3. Nursing Cover- When I first had Graham, I tried to buy cute nursing tops-which I quickly found, didn’t really exist. I also found that I absolutely hated having to be stuck in a room nursing him when everyone else was having fun! To add on to this, usually, the only place you can get privacy if not in your home is a bathroom (yuck!). So, I found that this cover is super easy to throw on over whatever you’re wearing and baby can eat! If you don’t breastfeed, it doubles as a car seat cover to keep people at bay when you don’t want them getting close to your baby out in public! Bonus Use: This doubles as a blanket on the plane if it’s cool so you don’t have to also pack a blanket!
4. Cooler with Milk
A fed baby is a happy baby! Whatever way you choose to feed, we find that it is absolutely necessary to have plenty of milk. First of all, the most important thing while traveling through security is to know the rules for transporting milk. Here is the information for traveling with kids (and milk) on the TSA website! We supplement breast milk with formula and this is our system: Cooler with Ice Pack-this fits four, 5 oz. bottles. We keep three of the bottles filled with the amount of breast milk we usually use in each bottle, and then carry pre-mixed Similac 2 oz. bottles to add into the milk when he’s ready to drink! We fill the 4th bottle with 5 full oz. of breast milk so that we have some to mix bottles when we arrive, or for in a pinch! We love the Medela Storage Bottles because we can cap them, but also just put the nipple right on for a quick feed!
*Check us out on Instagram @theduhlsdo for stories about feeding on the go!
For more baby travel tips, follow us on Instagram @theduhlsdo!
5. Sound Machine- Graham loves sleeping with white noise and although this is something you’ll want to use with discretion on the plane out of respect for your neighbors, you can definitely use in transit-at the airport, in the car ride, etc. We love our Yogasleep Hushh Sound Machine-the battery life is awesome and it clips to the bag, stroller, carseat easily.
6. Baby Monitor- No, you won’t need this on the plane. But we’ve pretty much learned that as soon as we reach our destination, Graham is ready for a good nap. You don’t want to dig through all your baggage to find this if you need it in a pinch. This VTech Monitor gets our stamp of approval because it is extremely easy to set up (no wifi, no accounts, just plug in & hit ‘on’), it has an extreme range 1000 yards!!!, and the battery life is great! When traveling, we like to keep it simple, and this does the trick.
7. Baby Blowout Essentials-
We learned really quickly that if we’re traveling, Graham is going to have a blowout. I think he gets a kick out of seeing us in panic mode and along with his explosion always comes a lot of deep belly laughs (from him, not us!) But, to help with this, if you have a system in place, it isn’t so bad. In the same compartment you keep your diapers & wipes, pack a small/medium ziplock bag with the following in it: an extra ziplock-for wipes & diaper in case you aren’t near a trash can, or the seatbelt sign is on, and an extra onesie or change of clothes. When you clean up the babe, you have a bag to put all the messy clothes and the extra ziplock filled if needed! This is your reminder to also pack plenty of diapers (our rule of thumb is 1 per hour + 2 extra diapers), wipes, a changing pad and hand sanitizer!
8. Binky Clip Holder-Any parent knows to pack plenty of binkys, but we didn’t start using these until recent and don’t know what we did without them (the answer is: lost a lot of binkys)
9. Breast Pump- I’ve tried this two ways, my regular pump and my Willow Hands Free Pump. I will always travel with my Willow now! It is so easy to pop on and if you get the containers, they just pour right into the bottle! These are great for car rides, airplanes and on the go in general! I can’t tell you how awesome it has been to have two hands free because of these, and when traveling, you can use all the hands you have…now only if we had more than two!
BONUS ITEM: Another great item I always throw in the carry-on is my Medela Manual Pump! This one pumps right into the Medela Storage Bottles I mentioned above, and you can usually get a few ounces quickly with no frills. I especially like this for hiking!
10. Positive Attitude
My last item isn’t really an item at all, but an open mind! Of course, things are not going to go perfectly when you travel, throw in a baby and there are many many obstacles—but if at the end of the day you can laugh about it, your trip is going to be a whole lot better! Traveling with kids isn’t always going to be easy, but it’s always going to be worth it!
This is Graham at the end of his first flight (and past bedtime mind you!)
BONUS ITEM: Wondering what diaper bag works well for travel? We love our Ruvalino Diaper Bag!
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I hope these items and tips for traveling with a little one will ease your mind & help you get on your way! We are only just beginning our adventures with Graham and know that packing smart will help us get to our destination and ready to explore! For more tips about traveling as a family, be on the lookout for future Duhls & Don’ts!
What should the Duhls Do next?
Want to travel with your baby but don’t know where to start? We can help you plan the perfect family trip. Check out our Curated Itineraries!
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