Taking a trip or a holiday with baby needn’t be a logistical nightmare. As long as you’re geared up for most eventualities you can all relax and have a great time.
Our incredibly useful Travel Tips below, come from a mum who tops the list of top baby product designers! Fiona Woodhead has been a designer in the baby products industry for 7 years and is the brainchild behind many innovative ideas from the Samsonite Nursery Collection, Koo-di and PurFlo - designed by a mum for mums! Fiona is Mum to 2 year old Max and has another baby on the way. Her mission is to design products to make parenting and particularly travelling with babies easier. We hope that Fiona's Top Ten Travel Tips will help you.Fiona's Practical Travel Tips1. Sun protection is a must even in the UK as it has been proved that a sun tan is not a 'health benefit' but an indication that skin has been damaged by ultra violet radiation causing the second known common cancer in the UK. Consequently, sun cream is absolutely essential for your bag (however expensive!!) Alternatively, if using a pushchair, a good sun cover is essential - preferably one that covers the whole pushchair as parasols can be fiddly to keep moving around to ensure that baby isn't exposed to the sun. (Actually, you can buy an effective sun cover for less than many known brand sun protection creams - which can help to limit your summer expenses! Please see my product tips below!!
2. It's great to have a sturdy changing bag with comfortable straps and lots of pockets for easy access to all your trip's essentials: nappies, juice or water, wipes, snack and a change of clothes. However, don’t make it too heavy if you are going to be carrying it around all day.
3. When out and about, even if you don’t want to lug a heavy changing bag around with you all the time, always ensure you have a changing mat, spare nappy and some wipes in your handbag so you can change baby even on a street corner if needed.
4 Also, always keep a supply of nappies and wipes in your car so that even if you are popping out to the park and your child does an unexpected poop you can nip back to the car for a change.
5. If travelling with breast milk, formula milk or fresh foods such as yoghurt it is essential to keep these cool and at a safe temperature, especially in the boot of the car, as bacteria soon multiplies when food gets warm.
6. Always keep a jar or two of baby food with you so if you are unable to get to a restaurant, baby won’t go hungry (even if you do!)
7 If you are travelling with a very young baby, take a supply of sterilising tablets so you can sterilise bottles in your hotel room.
8. As you will be sharing your hotel room with your child, it is worth investing in a travel cot with black out blinds incorporated to ensure you don’t disturb baby’s sleep when turning lights on and off. If travelling abroad it is also worth considering a travel cot with built in mosquito nets to protect baby's delicate skin from bites.
9. If you’re spending time on the beach, pop some baby powder into your bag – it’s great for drying baby’s skin and getting sand out of all of those awkward little places! It is also worth taking a light weight travel cot or canopy so that baby can sleep or play fully protected from harmful sun rays.
10 For older toddlers, keep a pack of crayons and some paper to hand. You can create hours of fun doodling or folding paper when you need to keep little ones amused.
While Samsonite, Koo-di and PurFlo have numerous fantastic products to make life much easier for all mums, here are a few of Fiona's favourites:
 Samsonite Sun & Sleep Travel Bubble Cot: "This product is so versatile - incredibly light-weight (easy to carry around) and includes black out blinds for a peaceful night's sleep, plus a built in mosquito net and offers 93% protection from harmful UVA and UVB rays. I have used one since Max was born and personally wouldn't travel without it."
Koo-di Pack it! Sun & Sleep Shade: "What I love about this product is that you really don't have to worry about whether you are going to need it or not! It is so compact in its tiny bag I just take it along with me all of the time. It fits almost any make or model of pushchair and blocks out the majority of harmful rays. Also, parasols used to drive me insane - constantly repositioning it to ensure Max didn't have an arm or leg sticking out into the sun. This covers him up completely."
Koo-di b.box: "I feel a bit of a traitor recommending this product (it's not one of mine and I would hate people to choose it instead of the changing bags I have lovingly designed!) However, it is such a fantastic idea. It's a small compact box, small enough to fit into your everyday handbag, and contains everything you need for an emergency nappy change, i.e. changing mat, nappy, wipes and cream. I always keep one in the car for emergencies."
The Koo-di Fridge-To-Go: "This is a brand new product and I can see I will have to keep a close eye on it as hubby has already commented on how great it would be for his sandwiches!! It looks like an ordinary cool bag - but doesn't use cool blocks which gradually melt making everything soggy. This actually refrigerates- even from room temperature (so lukewarm milk will be chilled without having to put into the fridge first). I'm planning to breast feed my next baby, so this will be great to transport breast milk - although I'm already using it to keep snacks and drinks for Max fresh when we go out."
Fiona Woodhead
June 2010 |
Canvas Holidays 2012
