Baby Travel Essentials — The Wandry Way

We just got back from an amazing family vacation and found some baby items that have now become essential as we travel and road trip this summer!

To give you an idea of our voyage, we had 2 full days of 12-13 hours of travel….
I know what you’re thinking, we were so nervous too, but our 8 month old did great!
This vacation gave us so much confidence in our future travels.

We had 5 flights in the span of 7 days, 3 different sleeping locations, and many many MANY contact naps.
We were exhausted, but we would do it again!

Here are some of the essentials we took on this trip, and don’t worry, we will update our list as our baby grows and as we need more accomodations for him. Let us know if you would like a more in-depth look at our packing list, how we kept our routines similar to home, and how we were able to have fun with baby, but ensure he was rested.
All of these items were purchased on Amazon (paid link).

1. Slumberpod $174.99

JUST BUY IT! It is as amazing as everyone told us!
It is 100% pitch black, the material is soft and sturdy, and it is easy assembly. I set it up myself whenever we used it, like a tent, but easier!
We love that there is a spot for a camera and a fan if needed.
Our baby slept great, we kept his routine similar to the one at home and he settled in with no problems. We set it up in the corner of our hotel room with our Hatch Sound Machine going.
Cons: the hotel we stayed at was VERY HOT, even after they checked our AC. The Slumberpod did get a little stuffy, but we ensured to open the little vents located on either sides of the Slumberpod and we turned on a little fan we brought with us inside of the “fan compartment” and this helped A LOT.

2. Travel Bottle Drying Rack and Brush $20.99

Our baby drinks formula every couple of hours and we knew we needed a travel size drying rack and brush! We used this at our family’s house, hotel, airport, and airplane!
Easy to set up, everything dries quickly, and the little bottle of soap I took fit perfectly inside of the box.

3. Munchkin 98 Digital Bottle Warmer (Plug-in) $39.99
This bottle warmer was excellent! Compact and easy to use.
We purchased the one that comes with the MAM Adapter, which was $10 more, but the original comes with 4 adapters which fit Dr. Brown's Original, Avent, Medela, and Tommee Tippee bottles. We liked that this warmer kept the milk warm for 30 minutes, so we could start it as we got into our hotel room. It took about 6-9 minutes to heat up 5-9 oz of formula. The device has a Digital Temperature Display and it ensured our formula was warm for baby every feeding.

4. Snack Tray $9.99
We knew we would need a good amount of snacks for baby on our travel days and we wanted something sturdy, but compact. We were able to take quite a few snacks in this little tray!
Our baby eats real food 1-2 times during the day and we knew it would be a little tricky when we were flying, so having different snacks to choose from was great!
Con: The lid snaps on and there are no hinges, so the lid either has to be off or on. This got a little annoying on the plane as we had to ensure it wasn’t going to fall or open.

5. Packing Cubes: Mossio $16.99 and Veken $25.99
We needed to ensure our baggage was packed in an efficient way so that we could find things quickly and so that we could have enough room for all of the baby things!
These packing cubes were great! I bought the Mossio ones for baby and I and the Veken for my husband, but I wish I would have bought two sets of the Veken! They were bigger and sturdier. But for $10 less, the Mossio ones were great for mine and baby’s clothes… and the print is adorable.

6. Suction Cup Spinner Toys $12.97
These are the best invention in the world!
This was an amazing find from my sister-in-law and I ended up purchasing a set!
She let baby borrow these little toys on the airplane and he loved it. He didn’t care for the new toys we bought him, but played with these for the whole flight!
I didn’t find that they were noisy or distracting to the other passengers, we suctioned them to the window and the front of the seat/tray table.

7. Travel Bottles for Toiletries $11.99
We bought these bottles for baby toiletries: his lotion, shampoo, body wash, and we used one for dish soap to use alongside the travel size drying rack and bottle brush.
These did not leak at all, even with all of the flying.
Con: It is impossible to control how much product comes out! Meaning, when you squeeze, the amount of product that comes out is about the size of a quarter. This was slightly annoying because we tend to use less product when bathing baby or when washing bottles. Wasn’t a big deal, but can be wasteful.