It's summer, and for many of us, that means it's also vacation season. There's nothing like a good vacay to blow the cobwebs away and de-stress from the day to day grind. However, when you have a baby in tow, that wonderful vacation you've been dreaming of can become more of a nightmare, UNLESS you take steps to travel smart.
When you're traveling with a baby on board, traveling light goes out of the window. If you want to keep baby, safe, calm and happy, not only are you going to need a good car seat, but you'll need to bring along bottles and formula or milk, which means bringing along a cool box too, fun toys to keep them entertained, spare clothes, a portable 'changing station' and diaper pail to avoid the unnecessary mess of dirty diapers while traveling. The reviews of the best diaper pails can help you in buying the right one. You should be able to find much of what you need at Bubbalove online baby shop, and you should remember not to pack this stuff with your main luggage, or you'll have a nightmare trying to find it when it's needed.
The second you reach your vacation destination, you should start unpacking, at least the stuff you need for your baby. Leave the baby in the crib or playpen (you should bring a playpen if there won't be one at your hotel) and set about unpacking changing mats, clothes, toys and toiletries, so that you all feel settled in and you know where everything is so you can stay organized throughout your trip.
Find a corner of your hotel room/suite/bathroom and set it up as a changing station with diapers, wipes, and a changing pad and diaper bags, so you're prepared when baby's first pop of the vacation happens, and you don't have to run around trying to find a diaper, clearing a space to change him.
It's also a good idea to set up a playpen and fill it with toys, a sleeping pad, blankets, and books so that you have a safe place for baby to play while you get ready for dinner or have a rest after all that sightseeing.
A lot of babies find it hard to sleep in unfamiliar places so it might be worth looking at a map of your destination and plotting out a few long walks, which you can take at times when you want the baby to sleep. She's much more likely to do so out in her stroller in the fresh air, after all.
If you have a fussy baby or you're worried your baby will find it hard to sleep on vacation, consider booking a connecting room, apartment or suite where you can have separate rooms, that way you won't disturb your child and they'll find it easier to get off to sleep.
I know when you're on vacation, you might want to switch things up a little, but if you don't want to be dealing with a cranky baby, you really should stick as closely as possible to your normal routine for sleeping/waking and eating as possible.