For This House
Every Season. Every Space. All for Him.
Every Season. Every Space. All for Him.
When my oldest son was just ten months old we took a two-month trip to Central America—and it was amazing! It sounded a little daunting since he was our first child and we still weren’t sure what to expect with each new stage, but we came away so happy that we took the leap of faith and made the trip happen.
Traveling with kids shouldn’t be scary or daunting. You’re just doing life together in a new place!
Choosing a destination for traveling with kiddos is hard, but we specifically chose Costa Rica for its known English awareness, general safety, and first-world medical care (which we thankfully didn’t need!).
What also made matters easier was that we traveled the country with some family who spoke Spanish fluently enough to get around the smaller towns easily. Costa Rica is a Spanish-speaking country with some English speakers in the main cities and hot spot destinations, but it is less common here than in Mexico. So having access to Spanish knowledge helped.
Honestly though, if you travel with kids, find someone or a couple to travel with you just to balance out your kid-to-adult ratio. Even traveling with our one infant son this was the best decision ever so my husband and I could still sneak in a walk or a dinner date here and there throughout the trip.
Now, I just want to acknowledge that this article is made for anyone traveling anywhere with an infant that wants to pack light—you don’t have to be an international adventure seeker.
Being a type-A, plan ahead, always have a backup plan kind of person, I did plenty of research on what to bring to make this trip with a 10-month-old as smooth as possible. Some of the things truly were essential, and others were hardly touched.
After doing the trip myself, here are the things I will bring again for traveling this summer with my second baby:
I tried out a lot of different carriers in the first few months with my first baby (thank you, Marketplace!) so I was really happy with the one we stuck with.
We used a Lillebaby All-Seasons carrier that is useful in so many ways. In the airport I could carry baby on my front, facing out so I could sit down with him easily and he could see the sights. When he napped we could face him inward for cuddles. When we hiked or walked the beach he could be on our backs for better ergonomics.
This carrier does come with a nice lumbar support piece which we used, but the detachable sun cover for baby’s head tips the scales. The zip-down mesh piece works well for a bit more airflow to keep baby cool, while still having the luxury of a structured carrier that’s more comfortable for an adult. Carrying a 10-month-old gets heavy!
We took a Phil & Ted’s Travel Crib because of its compact size. This crib was the lightest and most compact for packing into our backpacking bags. (Yep! We fit all our stuff into two large overnight backpacks, including the crib!)
This crib is set up in 5 minutes or less each time. It is not a pop-up crib, which is something you have to be okay with when you’re going as compact as possible. It had mesh sides with a mesh cover for the top which was useful in the mosquito and bug-populated areas we stayed.
Some other things we did to create this “sleeping oasis” for our son in every place we stayed was to simply make the bed look and feel the same wherever we were. Same sheet, same lovey or stuffed animal, same soother, same blanket. This way wherever the bed was, he could sleep. That might not work for every kid, but admittedly by the 10-month mark our little guy was a pretty amicable sleeper.
Okay now it’s probably a common sense thing to bring a set of baby cutlery and a bib, but these specific things for mealtime helped me keep the packing light and have all the things I needed.
First, we took some actual collapsible bowls and cups (just one of each) for mixing up baby oatmeal or baby food in. They pack flat, so we always had one when needed.
Second, we took some simple Ziplock containers for throwing little bits of leftovers in. Since our baby was eating solids, but only in small amounts, these containers were clutch to have along and didn’t take up unnecessary space when not in use since they stack as well.
Being in a hot and sunny destination, we wanted to make sure our little guy was well hydrated in addition to still nursing him, so we used this soft Oxo Sippy Cup as his first trainer to get some water into him when needed. Of course, it doubled as a toy. 😉
The most useful thing we brought for wrangling a 10-month-old into eating some solids with us was this nifty little cloth high chair that straps onto literally any chair with a back on it that you can find. This reduced the workload of two people to feed the child, to just one (You know, because otherwise, one person has to BE the high chair.)
These Mushie Stacking Cups were essential. They’re fun in all places. Stack them, scoop with them, run water through them, build sand castles with them, slide around learning to crawl with them… the adventures were seemingly endless for our son. I definitely recommend this as a toy for the low packing space and number of uses.
Having some baby books was fun for play and for our nap and bedtime routine. These Tuffy Books are great because they’re super lightweight, washable and good for teething, too.
While I’m obviously a fan of the Mushie brand, I’d forego their little ball toy for the classic bright-colored baby ball for this kind of trip. It can fold in half to pack easily, and was more fun to bounce and roll around each place we stayed and even in the sand and water.
While we were in Costa Rica we also picked up a cheap pool floatie for the pools in a few of the places we stayed. But beyond that, the kitchen bowls and utensils made great toys when he got bored of these.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shoutout to this amazing local company based in Langley, BC called Honeysuckle Swimwear. We got the full body suit in the 6-12 month size and it was what our little guy lived in on beach days. This “Turtely Cute” suit with a white sun hat was a vibe. <3 (Bonus for nursing moms, they sell great swimwear with zippers to make beach days with babe easier! 🙂 I love mine!)
A few other small things I found to be essential to make our travel by rental car around the country more enjoyable…
Wherever your summer travels take you, I hope you are able to gear up ahead of time with whatever you need to keep you in the moment with your littles.
These moments and memories are precious, so let’s make them last by focusing on the people and not the things we’re missing.
Lord, wherever the road leads us, I pray that you will go ahead of us and prepare the way.
Give us patience with each other as we all travel together, and provide safety and health along the way.
Help us to glorify you in all we do, no matter who is or isn’t watching. Please allow us to greet others with kindness wherever we go.
Amen.
Check out Katie’s tips for traveling with littles, and encouragement for the journey.
Lauren is a founder of For This House. She is passionate about living authentically for Christ both personally and professionally. Lauren lives in British Columbia with her family of boys. She enjoys nature walks, quality time with family, and catching up with friends over cold brew (or sometimes a little tequila).