Traveling With A 3 Month Old

Well, first San Fran, then Sonoma Wine Country. Hours in the car with bottle feedings, diaper changes, bottle cleaning and entertainment. Oh yeah, and then there are the hotel stays. Here is how I balanced it all... and still had a good time!

I brought along a thermos so I could keep some hot water handy for sudden bottle feedings. Since Lily is still in a stage where you never know when (or how much) she is going to eat, it was important to make sure I could feed her at any time. I started by adding a little hot water to the bottle, then added bottled to cool it down for immediate drinking. I kept a small can of formula in her bag for portability. I sat in the back with her while we cruised along the California highways and fed her.

A diaper changing pad made stopping for grown up pee breaks (or coffee) easy to make them diaper breaks for Lily, and also a chance to get her out of her car seat. I put the pad on the backseat and took care of business. Not ideal, but it works!

Since I flew from Seattle to Sacramento, it wasn’t possible to bring very many bottles with me. I already had to spend money on diapers and formula, and I was not going to buy bottles I would not be able to bring home with me, so on our Target run shortly after arriving in Sacramento, I also bought a bottle cleaner that holds it’s own dish soap! I packed this in a baggie and was able to clean my bottles in the hotel. I brought two large baggies in addition to the one the bottle cleaner was in, one for clean bottles and one for dirty.

You may be thinking "where did she sleep?" and I have an answer! Most nicer establishments offer a crib for your room, check the hotels website for details. We didn’t have to go through this trouble because we bought the Eddie Bauer folding travel bed and it was awesome! It’s a temporary solution because it will only work for infants but it was not a large investment running about $30 (Target). The portable bed comes with a mobile bar which proved to be invaluable! With it’s long design I was able to place it through the headrests in the back seat, added linking toys and viola! I had a toy bar to maintain her attention in the car!

I was lucky enough to have received a stroller frame (Graco $60 Babies ’R Us) at my baby shower which is so lightweight and portable I was able to take it on the plane and fit it in the car. This made getting around town (or airport, hotel, or vineyard) so much easier and was worth the extra room it took.

La Dolce Vita (the sweet life) can be found travelling with a baby, even a high maintenance one like mine! Now, we have to see how the flight home goes....