Traveling with a Baby 101

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Before I even started to pack for our week long trip away from home, I scoured websites and message boards, searching for the best advice when traveling with a baby and the best I found was on a blog. So I am here to pass on some of that advice and other things I have taken away from the experience. Overall, Logan did so well. He hardly cried and was content just rolling around in his stroller or crawling on the floor (more on this later). My worst fears of him taking the plane down with his ear-piercing cries did not come true and I will say that yes, I would do it again. Just give me a good month to recover from the complete exhaustion I am still experiencing.

• Packing. I pride myself on how good of a packer I am and I know I earned those qualities from my dad. I know how to pack quickly, efficiently, and easily so everything that I want or need to take, fits. HOWEVER, as much know how I thought I had about packing had no affect on my packing for not just two of us, but three of us and one of those being a baby. So the best advice I got from a message board was If it doesn't fit in the diaper bag, don't bring it OR check it instead. By the time I received this advice, I had already backed one bag too many. I stopped and looked over what I had packed and was able to condense everything into either our main bag or the diaper bag. So while we were in the airport, I only had Logan, the car seat, stroller and a diaper bag to worry about. I put my important documents in a clutch which fit perfectly in the diaper bag and packed a purse for later.
• Food. Babies eat and if you are not nursing, you need food. I discovered Happy Baby food which is in a pouch. You can twist the cap off and either let baby suck the food out (Logan's preference) or squeeze it out onto a spoon. He loved it and once I realized Logan could suck it out, the mess was not nearly as bad. When it came to formula, I bought the Similac premixed formula. You have to have a nipple that fits it or take a bottle with you to pour it into. I happened to have the playtex skinny nipples and they fit great.
• Security. This goes along with the food, kinda. Security is a bitch. Let's face it, they have to assume that even mommas with cute babies are packing something dangerous and you will get the third degree so BE PATIENT. Go through the family/medical side of security. The xray machine is bigger for car seats and strollers and they seem to be a lot more patient with you as well. Our first time through, there were a million people and I felt very flustered. I had to get Logan out of his car seat, break down the stroller, take my shoes off, and get everything into its own bin all while B is trying to do the same thing for himself and his carryons. I did not pull out the liquids I had for Logan and I am sure I would have saved myself a good 10 minutes if I had. Once they pulled us aside, I had to open a bottle of formula and the hand sanitizer. They checked it with a little tab thing for vapors and gave it back to me. All was fine, but then I had to use the milk up within the next two hours. Good thing Logan was hungry once we got to our gate. On the way home, I remember to be more prepared and put all the liquids in their own bin and the TSA folks were a lot more accomodating with us. I did not have to open anything and worry about it not getting used.
• Airplane safety. If you are not purchasing a seat for you wee one, then take the car seat with you to the gate, just in case there is an empty seat. I did not score any luck with this until our first flight home. Honestly, I would have just prefered to have him on my lap. It did not seem to make any difference to him whether or not he was in the seat or on my lap. He fell asleep in both places. I did have my hands free, but was without reading material due to not expecting to have that break. Don't let other people touch your baby. Everyone will ooh and aah over him, and that's fine, but there are some people who have no sense of a bubble and want to touch their faces and hands. This is the best way to go home with a cold. We kept our distance from the touchy people. HOWEVER, the one thing I was not so worried about was him crawling around on the floor. I know that might sound gross, but no blanket is big enough to keep him in one place. Logan is a crawling machine and he needed to get that energy out betwee flights. I just followed him around and made sure he didn't get stepped on.
• Traveling items. Things I could not have traveled without: an extra paci, paci wipes, diapers, new and interesting toys that did not make noise, the food, a snuggly blankie, and of course, my husband.
  

I am sure there are things I left out. But these were some things to note. Let me know if this comes in handy for anyone else!

Go Go Go!

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This little man is quite the mover. He has been trying to crawl now for a month and over the last week, he has gotten pretty good at it! I took this video on Thursday and even since then, he has improved. It is a whole new world now that Logan is crawling around. I get next to nothing done while he is awake as I am on the floor playing with him and following him around. He loves getting into our DVD shelf and messing with the spider plant. We moved it outside so he can't choke on anything. He has a knack for getting stuck under the coffee table and wants Buttes ball more than any other toy he has. I'm hoping all this extra walking around will help me lose 10 more pounds. I have lost all the baby weight, but would like to slim down a bit more.

So, now that Logan is crawling and moving around, I thought it would be a great time to share our baby proofing tricks. We did a HUGE proof session last weekend and so far, all is good!

1. You can't baby proof everything. I kept thinking about how I was going to attach bumpers to the sides of the coffee table and some shelving but the truth is, you can't. I have resolved to just keep a close eye on Logan and be okay with a few bonks. Let's face it: Logan is a boy and is going to get bonked and bruised quite a bit as he gets older and tougher. There are no horribly sharp edges which would be cause for concern in cracking a head open. So I kept this in mind while we were going over everything.
2. Shampoo your carpets BEFORE they really get going. We did this last Sunday and it took 8 hours to do all 800 square feet of our apartment due to naps and such, but it was well worth it, especially since we have dogs. I have also been brushing them more often AND vacuuming just about every other day to keep the carpets as hair-free as possible.
3. Plug the outlets. This is a no-brainer. We had 12 plugs so I was able to get the six most accessible outlets plugged up.
4. Wash the walls. This might sounds silly, but since Logan touches everything, it had been over a year since the walls had been washed and who knows what kind of germs were looming. I am not a germ-a-phobe, but while the carpets were getting cleaned, so were the walls.
5. Hide and tie up cords. We don't have a desk for the computer so we hid the cord behind the end table in the living room and we keep it on the table when not in use OR rolled up in a drawer. Either way, the cord is hidden and out of reach. Logan is like a moth to a flame when it comes to cords. While at Children's on Monday, he just wanted to grab all the light cords, the stethoscopes, etc.
6. Keep clutter at bay. This is one of our BIGGEST weaknesses around here. We are so bad about leaving things out on the tables and floor that we now have to literally be bossy with each other to keep it cleaned up. Logan is thisclose to pulling himself up on the furniture.
7. Don't sweat the small stuff. Like I said, I am not a huge germ-a-phobe, but I do like to keep things clean. So it does not bother me when he plays with my keys, our shoes, or the straps on the diaper bag or purses.
8. Let him explore! Once all the important stuff is taken care of, just follow him around and let him explore his new world. We are all for Logan leaning and checking out new things, especially at home. He is easily bored and when there are rainy, gloomy days like yesterday, we have to keep him entertained somehow. So I will pull all of our hats off the shelf and let him check them out. It's an easy, fun cheep way to keep him interested.

Hope this helps! And I hope you all have a great weekend!!

Mommy Like

>April 30, 2010

I always enjoyed posts from other new mommies where they listed their super faves and least likes when it comes to baby gear. My list is short since I was given so much in the way of hand-me-downs. I have a cabinet full of clothes until Logan turns one! And over the last few days I have started to transition some 0-3 month clothing out and 3-6 month stuff in. It is soooooo bitter-sweet to see things that he used to swim in now barely fitting his chunky thighs! For whatever reason, moving out his newborn clothes was not this monumental in my book. I nearly teared up yesterday!

Moving on, here are some of my super faves:

Playtex VentAire bottles. Only recently has this become a super fave as Logan is no longer being breastfed (TEAR!). He is on formula with a mix of breast milk that I am still pumping twice a day. The bottle does not leak, it is easy to hold, I don’t have to give it an extra tilt to get the last swing into the nipple since it has that handy bend in it already. Logan is less gassy, burps better, and eats faster (this due to a better flow in the nipple). I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Exersaucer. Honestly, I don’t think which kind you have matters, as long as you have one. We have the Evenflo Triple Fun Learning Center and I.LOVE.IT! The first step is a play mat with a piece from the saucer that attaches to hang over the mat. We were putting Logan on the mat the first week he came home and while it took him a few weeks to actually focus on the animals and even longer (like in the last few weeks) to start reaching for the objects and smiling at what he’s playing with. Yesterday, I sat him in the saucer with a blanket to support him (he has next to total head control, but cannot sit up yet) and he loveeeees sitting in his seat like a big boy, batting at the toys that make music and lights! I love it! The third step is for when he is pulling himself up and walking around things.

Boppy. I know some moms are not a fan of this U-shaped pillow, but was given one and had no choice but to try it out and I love it. I brought it with me to the hospital and used it as soon as we could hold Logan in the NICU. Before my milk came in and I was super engorged, it helped support Logan in my lap and kept his weight off the sensitive area. Now, I can use it to help sit him up. I think our boppy days are coming to an end soon as he is getting bigger so I could see how that might be the down side in that you may not use it for very long but who knows.

Swing! Again, any swing will do. We have a Graco Infant Soother (not the one pictured). I am not in love with it. It takes EIGHT D Batteries which is a fortune in this household! The seat vibrates which I think Logan could have lived without and now, the batteries are dead in it and he seems to not know the difference. The swinging mechanism is iffy. Sometimes the swing swings great at the speed we set it to, and other times it seem as though the batteries are dying. Again, after two months, a little frustrating. Also, Logan really only uses it to sleep in it. I am not sure that he likes it as much as he used to. I have tried to put him in happy as a clam and he starts to fuss so we will see where this goes.

Breathable bumper. I know it might be awhile before we see a real use in this, but I still think this is the way to go. When I was pregnant, I looked at crib sets and they are so delicious with their cute patterns and themes. It made me sick! I wanted the frog theme and the baseball theme and the puppy dog theme. But after further research and assessment in what you get with a crib set and what you actually end up using, I decided to just buy my pieces separately. The bumper that comes with a set is not necessarily safe. SIDS experts steer clear of it. I did not care about the crib skirt or curtains. I wanted the sets to come with extra sheets! But no, they don’t.

My Least Likes: (no links. why would I link you up with something I don’t like?)

Advent Bottles. They leak!!!!!!!! Geeezzz! Just about every time I tipped it to feed my fussing, wriggling baby it dribbled milk all over my hand and his shirt! UGH…least fave baby thing so far.

Graco stroller. I don’t know which one we have as it was a hand me down and is a few years old. It may as well have been made with steel as the thing weighs more than the weight I gained while prego. I live in a 3rd floor apartment people! This thing is sooo not handy at all!

Gerber Onesies. The sizing is WAYYYYY off!! 0-3 may as well be for a premie. Logan has yet to fit in one in the size intended.

Changing table. I don’t have one. I think it is a waste of money which is why I bought a tall white dresser off of craigslist for $10 and use the top of it as the changing station. This way when Logan is older, he already has a dresser which we will continue to use and we will not have to find extra storage space for a changing table. It is the perfect height, it was cheep, and fits a changing pad perfectly. B installed a few shelves above the dresser for all the changing necessities like wipes, lotions, and meds.

That is about it. There are very few things I dislike which I have been surprised by. Most baby things are great and some are so-so but useful nonetheless. I hoped this helped if you are expecting! Any questions, shoot them my way! :)