Baby Road Trip Essentials: Everything You’ll Need

Are you going on a baby road trip?
No, it’s not a tiny drive down the block, it’s your classic road trip, but with a baby on board!

Road trips are fun, right?
Going on a baby road trip may sound a bit daunting, but never fear.

With these baby road trip essentials, you will be ready for anything your child will throw at you!
Or throw up on you…

This post may contain affiliate links, I will only ever promote products I trust. Read my full disclosure here.

Our Baby Road Trip

Before having our son, our road trips included last-minute packing, loud sing-alongs, and very few pit stops.
All of this, of course, changed now that we have our bundle of baby boy joy!

Gone are the days of just packing a few outfits and snacks for the drive to Nebraska.
We now have a lot more preparation to do!
After all, we are talking about a tiny human here!
A tiny human with many many needs…

This past weekend my husband and I headed to Nebraska to see some family, it’s about a 4-hour trip one way.

We are actually going on an even longer road trip in a couple of weeks that’s about 6.5 hours.
We thought this jaunt to Nebraska would be perfect practice for our newest roadie!

So what did we bring on this baby road trip of ours?

Essentials

Diapers.

You obviously need diapers, but you actually need extra diapers!
A good rule-of-thumb is however many diapers your baby usually goes through plus a diaper for every hour of travel.

You really cannot have enough diapers, trust me on this one.

Everyone has their own favorite brands of diapers, some work well for some and some work better for others.
I personally prefer the Honest Company when it comes to diapers.

My son does not have any adverse effects or anything like that, but he has had his fair share of blowouts with every other type we have tried.

I find that the Honest diapers run a little small, well, actually my son’s thighs run a little big ?, so we size up from the suggested, but they are by far the best diapers we have encountered!
And they ship free to our door, bonus!

You can get $30 off your first bundle below!

Grocery Bags/Gallon Sized Bags

I seriously do not go anywhere without a few gallon-sized zipper bags. I use them for EVERYTHING!

Dirty diaper? Gallon bag!

Spit up mess on several now very dirty burp rags? Gallon bag!

Blowout all over baby’s clothes because you accidentally brought the wrong diapers? Gallon Bag!

Do you have pumping parts, cutlery, or whatever that needs to stay sanitary? Gallon bag!– You catch my drift.

Another handy thing to have is a stash of plastic grocery sacks.
It’s great to reuse them and they are so helpful for easy clean up at rest stops!

Antibacterial Wipes and Hand Sanitizer

These kinda go without saying. Both road trips and babies can be unpredictable!
Stay healthy and clean by bringing plenty of hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes.

You never know if you will have to make an emergency diaper change on the side of the road.
And ditches do not typically have clean running water… Be prepared.

Wipes like these are great for spills of all kinds.
These wipes are great for use around baby.

I once spilled a bottle of breast-milk on our rubber floorboards!
That would have smelled great if I couldn’t get it cleaned right away- We have a black SUV and it is currently summer! (Yikes)

But luckily I had antibacterial wipes!

*Make sure you do not use harsh wipes directly on your children or anything they have direct contact with. These wipes are great for cleaning spills on your car interior, not on your little ones!
Have baby wipes on hand for those kinds of messes.*

Cooler

A cooler is an absolute must if you are breastfeeding!
I personally exclusively pump, so I really can’t go anywhere without a cooler.
I use this one for all of my travel needs!

But, even if you are directly breastfeeding I would recommend bringing some extra milk, a hand pump, and a bottle or two.
Like I said before, life is unpredictable and you want to be especially prepared when you are away from home.

If your little one has started on solids- keep perishables cold too!
And maybe a yummy snack or iced coffee for Mama 😉

Coolers are also great for teethers!
Being able to pull out a cold teething toy is perfect when you have an irritable teething babe in the car!

Soft Toys

Keeping Baby busy is of the utmost importance!
Toys hanging, toys in baby’s lap, extra toys: have them all!

When we began our road trip, we pretty much expected Bug to sleep most of the way.
He is a pretty good sleeper, likes the car, so what could go wrong?

The road trip was apparently just too exciting. Our little boy did NOT feel like sleeping.
Thankfully we had toys to keep him pretty occupied throughout most of the trip!

*Safety Note: Make sure your baby’s toys are car safe! So what does that mean?
Car seats have several rules and regulations they must go through to be considered safe.
Car seat accessories and toys not sold directly with the car seat are not regulated!*

So if you have a one-pound hard toy hanging from an infant carrier, and you get into an accident going 60 miles per hour, that toy will hit your child with 60 lbs of force!

Before giving your child any toy in the car, make sure it will not hurt them in the case of an accident.
Stick to lightweight, soft toys.

Infantino makes some great car seat toy options like this one! 

Pack ‘n Play

We LOOOOVE our Pack ‘n Play!

They fold up nicely!
Portability up the wazoo!
Easy to wipe off! (Yes!)
Babies play in them, babies sleep in them!

I could go on, but you get it!
Pack ‘n plays are a must!

Bonus points if you actively use your pack ‘n play at home and away.
New environments can be difficult for little ones.
If they are already accustomed to their pack ‘n play, they will feel more at home when sleeping.

The best baby road trip essentials are the ones that help you get more sleep!

Window Shades

Odds are if you are going on a road trip with your baby you are going to be doing at least some of it during the daytime.

I love the sun! It brings warmth, lights our way, and keeps our beautiful planet beautiful.
I do not love everything about the sun, however.

Baby sunburns.
Grumpy babies resulting from the sun getting in their face.
Two things I do not like about the sun.

These two things can easily be avoided with window shades!

There are all types of car window shades.
From traditional, pull-down, stretchy, and even personalized window shades!

Whatever your car window shade preference, just make sure they are on your baby road trip packing list!

These are our favorite because you don’t have to deal with the suction cups and you can still put the windows down!

Rear Facing Mirror

Who wants to hear their child upset, but not be able to see what is going on?
No one!

Mirrors are perfect for being able to check on your little Bambino!

My husband likes to drive on our road trips and I like to be in charge of the snacks.
That’s just how we roll.

After having our son I didn’t really want to spend all of our road trips managing snacks from the back seat.
With our rear-facing baby mirror, I can easily turn around to see how my baby is doing!

Our mirror allows me to see his face as well allowing him to see mine! (Which to a baby is pretty exciting stuff!)
I can even use it to finagle his binky back into his mouth if need be. Win-win.

An Old Towel

I’m going to be brief on this one:
Messes happen, spills happen.

Can be used for clean up and protection!
Lay an old towel or two down on exposed seats to prevent the messes from actually getting onto your upholstery!

It is a whole lot easier to wash an old towel when you get home (Or just throwing it away depending on the situation) than it is to deal with a car mess.

A Map

Everyone loves to use GPS! It’s convenient, its in your phone now, and it even keeps you up to date on traffic!

But what would happen if you were in an unfamiliar place, and you lost your signal?
Would you be able to find your way?

Do you want to take that risk?
No! Have a paper map in the car for back up!
Safety is baby road trip priority #1!

 

A Plan

Second baby road trip priority is convenience!

Is your baby on a schedule?
If not and your baby is past the newborn stage, I would highly recommend getting on one!

Sign up for my email list HERE to know when I post “Baby Schedules By Age”!

Just like you plan for your baby’s day at home when you go out somewhere, you will want to plan your baby’s day on your baby road trip as well.

Coming from someone who has done both the: “Just keep going and we will stop when he gets upset” and the: “Plan ahead each break, by time and location”
The latter was without question the better option.

If your baby is anything like mine, once he is grumpy… he is GRUMPY.
Staying ahead of his needs and planning for him to take breaks as well, worked so much better than waiting for him to get upset.

That being said, don’t stick too closely to your plan, allow some flexibility!
Scout buffer stops at locations before and after your planned stops just in case!
Now you can feel secure in knowing you know the nearest gas stations and rest stops, without feeling like you have a deadline.

Bonus points if you map out those gas stations and rest stops on your physical map you now have in the car! 😉

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Have you gotten everything packed up?
Have a second look over your list and your things, and remember to just have fun!

Trips are often more stressful than they should be.
As long as you are together and baby is taken care of, you will be fine!
Make some great memories and have a fantastic road trip with your baby!