Mid-Week Mom Chat: Traveling w a baby!

And my baby can be around tons of sick kids and airplanes full of people coughing and grab food off the floor and eat it although she's not eating food, she's still only eating milk, but and not stress about it. Like, No, I'm the one who goes on an airplane and my kid gets around people sneezing, and she shows up around a sick kid and I call my pediutrition crying because I am spazzing, going to worst case scenarios and freaking out. And I hate that I am that way because it

creates so much anxiety in me. Um, But I am. And I will tell you every step forward I have taken with Sonny, like this first travel experience, that's so much anxiety about what to pack for her, getting her how are we going to travel through the airport. How we're gonna sit in the plane? Is she going to cry the whole time? Or her ear is gonna hurt? Do I have all the things that she needs so she doesn't lose it? And if she does lose it,

will I'd be able to calm her down? And um, what if she has a blowout a poop blow out? Oh wait, she did. She pooped through her entire onesie, biggest poop explosion she's ever had at the airport. It was funny though, you know, it's great, had a change of clothes, awesome, Everything's fine, you know what, It was all fine because what I've realized is the more you

can just do things. Oh and then also like I've been on the strict schedule because she's been sleeping through the night, and all of a sudden, now we're gonna beach traveling in airplanes and cars and different time frames and she can't get her naps in and what if she doesn't get her full nap and what she isn't going to is she gonna stop sleeping in the night. Is she going to be crying all the time? Is it going to be a disaster? All that stuff. Control, control, control,

control is what I'm screaming. I need control, I need control. I need control. Give me control. But you can't have control all the time if you're going to get involved in life. So that's where we are getting involved in life. We had the first three months where I feel like we kind of post it up, hit hit away in

the house. Started creeping out slowly around a month two and you know, getting more in the car, going places every now and then, but still trying to stay very strict on the map, on the nap schedule, not really going too many places. Wanted her to be home for her bedtime at seven thirty, get a bath every night. Um. But when you're traveling and going to see family and going on planes and going to do whatever you need

to do. And obviously even if you have other kids, like I just have one kid, so I can keep her on a schedule pretty much, But if you have other kids, you can't keep your kids on schedule because they've got practices, they gotta go to, they gotta pick them up from school, they have all sorts of things that are happening in their lives. And what are you gonna do leave your baby at home? While you go

get your kids from school. No, you're gonna throw your baby in the car and they're gonna come with you. And that's just the way it's gonna be, and they're gonna figure out how to adjust. So anyway, this was such a good trip for me. Michael and Sonny did amazing. They were perfect. I was a wreck the whole time. Uh well, for the beginning of it, and then by the end of it, I had totally relaxed. So I made a list of everything that Sunny needs to travel.

And I know you'll all are going to ask me for this list, So I am going to post this up on the Instant Stories right now and I'm going to put it on my um highlight reel under Sunny. So if you want to find this travel list, it will be on my highlight reel under Sunny. Okay, so you are gonna probably all send me messages, where's the list, where's the list? That's where it is all my highlight reel under Sunny. So I put here's what I traveled with, and honestly, I feel like I kind of nailed it

with packing for her. You have to have some sort of certificate that shows who they are. So we had our vaccine report and then we packed our stroller and our car seat, and we packed our base also because we knew we're gonna be driving in the car a lot, and with the stroller system that we have, we have the upper baby. You don't have to have a base. You can just attach the car seat without the base, but we don't want to do that since we're gonna

be in the car so much. We packed the base and we checked the base, and then we put her in her car seat, and then we put that in the rolling stroller part and we push that through um the airport, and then we took the car seat out. We got to the plane and we gate checked the stroller park like the rolling part, and we just carried the car seat on. And if the plane is not full, which we were playing Southwest, we just put the car seat in the in the seat next to You have

to put it by the aisle. I didn't know that you gotta put me in by the window. You gotta put the car seat by the window. But the plan is not full, then just put your baby in the car seat and put it by the window. And I promise you nobody is going to want to sit by you anyway. And so if there's an open seat, just put your baby's car seat there, because who wants to sit by If you have an option to sit anywhere other than next to baby, you're going to So people

aren't going to sit there anyway. So I did not feel bad having an extra seat when the plane wasn't full. Um. So that's what we did. So we get checked our stroller and just carried the car seat on and it was great. And then we we check checked the base and we got a baggage claim and that was great. Um. And then I packed her monitor her sound machine. I am religious about putting her outlet her foot which monitors her breathing and heart rate. Oh that's just a little

super obsessive mommy thing that I do. You don't have to have an outlet. They are kind of pricey. They're like almost four dollars, I think, But to me, that was one of the greatest purchases and gifts that I have gotten because it gives me peace of mind. I can look at it her her breathing and her um heart rate on my phone. And there is also this green base light that when it's green she's breathing well, everything is normal, and if it if something goes wrong,

a big red alarm goes off. And so it just gives me a peace of mind to be able to go to sleep because I have such a hard time sleeping. I would have such a hard time sleeping if I didn't know that there was something that would wake me up if something went wrong with her breathing. And obviously it's a machine, and not everything is, but it gives me a lot of piece of mine. So we packed the monitor, the sound machine, the outlet, the pack and play um, and then I didn't pack her play mat.

I just packed a blanket and then I packed her She has this little elephant that sings a little song and lights up that's on the play mat, so I packed that, and then I packed this mirror that she likes to look at, and I packed a few toys and I didn't actually pack the full play matt, but it worked fine. I just laid a blanket down and put off her little toys around and it's great. We're great for play mat. I packed swaddle burt cloths, onesies, um,

like I said, blankets, a towel for bath. Although we didn't give her but one bath in five days because it was just too hard to give her a bath. Um, but like baths, soap, lotion, brush, if you want to brush your baby's hair, but me, you don't really need to. Then I packed my pump, my pump bra um which I use Simple Wishes. A lot of you guys asked which pump bra I use. I use Simple Wishes. I

packed my milk bottles and caps I packed. I think I packed four and I think I packed five bottles, and I think that was the right amount for me, about five bottles UM. And then I packed my pump parts. I packed one bag of frozen milk because I wasn't sure how my supply was going to hold up, and it held up great. And then I brought a full bottle with me for the plane. And then I packed um a bottle warmer and then a sponge washer to wash all the bottles off, and then bottle soap, and

then diapers and wipes, and it was great. That was everything we needed. What I carried on on the plane was her stroller and then my obviously my baby bag, which had an extra change of an extra onesie for her. It had diapers, it has her PASSI, it has a few little teething toys in there, um wipes, it has um I have this, so gott I have it. I have a like a a waterproof wet bag or something. I don't know what exactly what it's called, but it's like it zips up and you can put anything wet

in there and it won't leak out. And I'm so glad I did because she had a blowout poop explosion at the airport and her clothes were drenched. If you look at my instagram you can see it completely drenched and poop and it was hilarious, and I went I had to go changer in the changing station, which I also have a changing pad, like one of those portable ones that you can lay out on top of stuff and you can change your baby anywhere. It's like it

folds up and you can travel with it. And I'm so glad I did, because the changing station in the bathroom was disgusting and there was like white, flaky, crusty stuff all over. It made me throw up. But what

do you do? You have no options? So I laid down the changing pad and then I changed her blowout onesie, and then I um put the changing pad and the onesie in the wet bag when I was done with it, and zipped it up, so it was like all that gross, disgusting, pooping contaminated pad was now zipped up in this wet bags that didn't have to get on all the other

clean stuff. And then I packed a blanket in my carry, like a little um barefoot dreams blanket in my baby bag, because in case she got cold, or I could put it over her um car seat when we're sleeping in the car if she needs a little darkness to make

it a little dark. And then I had a portable sound machine, just like a little portable sound machine that is battery operated, that I tied onto her car seat and actually leave that on her car seat all the time, and that helps calmer down and helps her to go to sleep. So I had that as well, and that is pretty much all that we packed. Oh and I have one of those um it's like a car seat cover.

It's you put it over your car seat. I don't know what it's called, and it like it fits perfectly over your car seat and it kind of makes it just like a turtle shell. Covers the baby and it just makes it like a little cocoon in there, and I put that over there so it protects her from germs in the airport, I mean more than not having it. And it also keeps the light out. So that was what I packed, and I felt like it was great.

I carried on a full bottle, so I fed her right before we went, and she had a full meal right before we got on the plane, and then I fed her. I think I fed her at the airport and on the plane. And a tip that I learned was Sonny amazingly doesn't have sensitive ears like her ears did not get stopped up, and she didn't like cry, because that's why babies cry is because the pressure taking off and landing really hurts her ears. Sonny's didn't, and

so I'm so thankful for that. But a tip is breastfeed or bottle feed your baby during takeoff and landing because that keeps their mouth moving and pops their ears for them. And so we did do that the first flight and she was fine, and then I didn't do it coming landing because she was asleep in my arms and I just didn't want to wake her up, and she slept right through it. And then the flight home, we didn't even I didn't put a bottle in her mouth,

and we took off and she was fine. And I didn't put a bottle in her mouth and we landed and she was fine. But that is a tip that a bunch of my mom friends have told me, So if your baby has sensitive ears, definitely breastfeed or bottle feed takeoff and landing. So then we got in the car and we got off our luggage and Sunny ended up just like napping where she could and it was fine.

She did fine in the car. She might have gotten a little fussy, like trying to get comfortable in her car seat because she has not really been in a car seat that much because she hasn't crazy o c D mom that doesn't leave the house. Um, but she did great. And what I realized I had some big revelations on this trip is that babies can't We'll get if they're hungry, they're gonna let you know and they're gonna eat. And if they're tired, they're going to close

their eyes and they're going to take a nap. And so she got her naps whenever she could in the car, or if we were home at my sister and brother in law's house, I put her in the in her little pack and play and she'd take a nap there. But like I just didn't stress out about it too much. The only thing that I made sure I did do was she eats five bottles a day of six ounces. I breastfeed her in the morning. So a bunch of

you guys asked if I'm still breastfeeding. I am breastfeeding one time, and I breastfeed in the morning at seven when she wakes up, I will breastfeed her until she doesn't want a breastfeed, which is normally like ten minutes. She'll breastfeed and then I top her off with a bottle, and so she'll normally take like three or four ounces after she finishes breastfeeding so high. That lets me know that she's getting about three ounces breastfeeding, and so then

the rest she'll get on the bottle. So the only thing that was important to me when we were traveling was that she got her five bottles of six ounces, because that is how your baby grows, That is how your baby stays not fussy, that is how your baby sleeps through the night. Is getting all of their milk that they need well, in my opinion, getting all all their milk that they need. So I just gauged everything off of her five bottles. I was like, Okay, we're

gonna try to get the naps when we could. I tried to get that first nap if I could, because her first nap is two hours long, so she ends

up sleeping five hours a day. If she's on a schedule, she'll wake up at seven, have a bottle, go back to sleep around eight thirty, and then she'll normally sleep like two hours, and then she'll wake up again and have another bottle, and then she'll go down to sleep for two more hours, usually from like one thirty to three thirty, and then she'll wake up and then we'll have another bottle, and then she'll take a quick little nap, maybe around like forty five, a quick little forty five

minute or hour nap, and then she'll have another bottle, and then I'll give her bath and get her ready for bed, and then she'll have one more bottle around like six thirty before she goes to sleep between seven

and seven thirty. So my goal was every day just make sure she gets those five bottles around the same time that she normally would beginning them whether or not we've had our good naps, and then I would try to get that first big morning nap in, which was like two hour hours, try to get that one, and then the rest of them. I just let her grab

naps wherever we could. One of them, I was at my mother in law's house and I just had to hold her for forty five minutes in my arms because we were hanging out talking on the couch and that's where she napped. Another one was in a car when we're driving to go see another family for him. Another one was, uh, just usually they're in the car or on an airplane, Like she grabbed a quick one on the airplane when we were flying because it was an

hour flight. So it's just like I just let go of the control of the naps and let her try to nap where she could. And I realized that like she normally naps five hours a day, two naps or two hours each and then she has a quick hour nap or forty five minute nap in afternoon, So if I could get hers close to napping five hours a day. However, she got those That was also how I viewed it. I was like, Okay, however she needs to get these

five hours. Great, If she only gets four hours today, that's fine, we'll go to bed a little bit earlier. Like I just didn't stress out too much about it. So that's how I viewed it. Five bottles a day of six sounds. I made sure she got those all day, and then if I could get that big morning nap, I went. I was super happy about that. If I couldn't, then I just realized that if she could get us close to sleeping five hours, however she had to get it in the day, then that's just how it's gonna be.

And you know what, Sunny was a champ. She was great. She did amazing. I had so much control issues and so much stress. But finally, by like day three, and thankfully we're with our family, Michael's brother and his wife and their five kids, and they're so laid back because I mean, they have five kids. Come on, they're not stressed. You can't be super stressed and o c D when you have five kids, because life is happening at that point.

And so it was really good for me to just be thrown into the mix of life, traveling all the things, letting go of control and realizing how resilient Sunny is. She was on the airplane around six people coughing. She was fine. My sister in law had two kids who are actually getting over being having cold. Of course, was freaking out about that. They were fine. We just kept Sunny at a healthy distance away from the kids. But it's like, really, can you So I was freaking out.

Called my pediatrician like, oh my gosh, she's gonna be on an airplane. My nieces and nephews are coming off a cold, Like I'm freaking out. What do we do? What do we do? And he's like, calm down so many women in the nicest way, he was like helping ease my pain. He's the best. He's the greatest pediatrician

ever episode. Thankful for him. Um. He was like, so many women at Sunny's at the point in Sunny's life are working a friend of job where they can't work from home, and so they have to take their kids to daycare and the kids are exposed to everything at daycare and he's like, it's honestly, it's good for their immunity to start building up and being exposed to germs. It's not a bad thing. Every kid is going to get sick. It's gonna be fine, Like, just don't worry.

And so that was great to me to realize that it's good for kids to be around germs. It's good to build the immune system. Every kid is going to be sick. I don't have to go to this worst case scenario that everything is just going to be like, it's not going to be as dramatic as I make it.

I just like, you hear about everything that happens on the news, you know, like you see on social media and you see on the news, and you hear all these terrible things that can go wrong, and so when they're all in your head and you're an O, C D worried mother, you can't help but just like think about everything that could possibly happen, but you just can't stress about it. I mean, you have to be responsible, but then you have to let it go, you know. And so that is what I learned on this trip.

I learned that kids are resilient and that it is really great to get out in the world and to just not worry, not swept the small stuff like work as hard as you can to keep them on the schedule, give them the food that they need, but then just let the rest flow. Okay, you guys, I'm I took a quick break. I don't know that. I just put it on pause and I went and picked up Sunny. So if you hear a little baby scream, um, it's

Sunny because she's joining me now. So here are some questions that you guys have asked me about traveling with a baby. So I'm just gonna run through some of them. Like you know, I might have already answered some of these just by rambling, but I'll just hit him up again briefly so I can make sure I cover all your questions. Yeah, Sunny, you've got something to say. Okay, what does it must have while packing a bag for a baby? Um, I read you off my list, so

I honestly think all of them. Your bottles, your pump, your pack and play, UM, your sound machine pretty much. I feel like every diaper's pretty much everything that I listened in that UM I read off earlier. I think you need but for the airplane, change of clothes for sure, for your baby diapers, extra breast milk or formula, whatever you're using um wipes toys to distract them. Um or must passy um. Okay, do you nurse some public baby three month old refuses a bottle, I get nervous to feed,

even with a covered girl. You rock that nursing in public. Sonny takes a bottle better. And like I said earlier, I only breastfeed her in the mornings now just because that's what works for us. But if I was breastfeeding Sunny, I would for sure nurse in public. Actually, for one of the airplane rides, she wouldn't take the bottle and she was crying a little bit, and so I busted out my boob in the middle of the airplane and

tried a breastfeed her. She didn't want it, but I offered it to her with no shame in that game. When your baby is hungry and needs to feed, you bust your boobs out, And if somebody has a problem with it, I am sorry. I am one of those people that is like, you can just go off by yourself because nobody got time for that. You're feeding your child. That is the most beautiful thing you can do for your child, and if people have a problem with it,

then move along. I literally have no um. I understand like in the past, maybe women it wasn't quite as open, or we weren't in a time where women were women felt like they had to be more put I don't know, perfect or things you couldn't show the truth about being a mother you had to like I don't. I don't even know what I'm trying to say. But like this day and age, I feel like we were in such a beautiful time because we get to fully embrace all that is being a mom and we don't have to

put on a front that everything is perfect. We don't have to act like relieve it to beaver um just like the strand of pearls and a petticoat on, Like we can show ourselves and our friends and our and and live in this world and really be authentic. And breast eating is beautiful And if people have a problem with it, just I just can't handle it. I cannot

handle it. So breastfeed in public. If you feel more comfortable putting a cover on, put her cover on, but do not go hide yourself to feature child and stress yourself out even more. Just do it right there in public. If you need to go to a little corner or something you feel more comfortable having a little more privacy to do that. But yes, do not even have shame in that. I put my boob out right in the middle of the plane, didn't even care. Um, did you pump and dump if I had any extra or did

you fly back with milk? Great question, And you can fly with all the breast milk that you can carry on. I had so much extra milk traveling back, and you know that's liquid gold. I just put it all a little three ounce containers. I think you can put like three point five ounce containers and carry those on. I carried on like six of them, so I just carried them all. They carried them all on. They put them through like a little screening tests, Like they don't take

the lids off or anything. They just put them in like a machine to test to make sure there's no like bombs or something in it. But I carried like six bottles on and it was great. So do not dump that stuff. Keep it, keep it, keep it, keep it, kid, keep it. Um, what did you do to help equalize

the pressure in her ears? Um? Like I told you do the breastfeeding, either breastfeed or bottle your baby when you're taking off the landing for the pressure, and apparently that helps Sonny was I was lucky and Sunny didn't have that. But that is definitely, um what all my friends hey to do. So that is my suggestion. Is traveling with a baby better or worse than you thought?

It would be better? Way better. I was really stressed out and I thought it was just going to be a disaster, and I was so nervous, and I had all these I just went through all the what IF's, what can happen? Is she gonna lose her mind? And you know what, she did great. It was so much better. I just was prepared, like I packed all my packed

everything she needed. Um. I tried to keep her on her schedule as much as I could, but let her take her naps where else where she could grab them and she did awesome, and just always set enough milk with me and fed her. I kept her on her feeding schedule pretty much like I said before, a feder of the five bottles throughout the day on the same kind of schedule. But it was fine. It went great.

It was so much better than I thought. How do you minimize packing with a baby, and how do you keep, do you keep them on your schedule or do you wing it? Um? I I don't know if you can truly minimize packing, because you kind of need all this stuff, Like you need the sound machine, you need UM, your packing play you need all their onesies, you need all your bottles, you need your pump, you need UM the stroller,

you need the car seat UM you need. I think you could leave your drying rack at home, like that little grass pad thing that a lot of us used to dry, and you could just dry with paper towels, like let them air drown paper towels. UM. I think you could probably leave your play man at home like I did, and just bring um a little toys and use a blanket. But overall, I feel like I pretty much packed a big bag and I put everything of

hers in it, and I needed everything I packed. I was glad that I packed everything because I felt way more comfortable being prepared and knowing that I had everything she needed, as opposed to feeling like, oh my gosh, now I'm stressed out because I don't have what she needs. So I liked being prepared, and I just decided to pack a big bag and put everything in it. And like I said, I'll put that list up on my UM highlight reel under sunny so you can see what

I packed. UM and then keeping the baby on the schedule. Like I said before, I tried if I could get her naps to fall, um, if I could get that big two hour nap when at home at my cousin, my sister in law and brother in law's house. I would try to get her that first big two hour nap, then try to wing the rest of them. But when on the travel days, she would just sleep where she

could get them. Sometimes it would be like forty five minutes here and there, and I would try to just make sure her naps added up to like five hours in the day or four or five hours. But the thing is, if your baby's exhausted, they're going to go to sleep, They're gonna fall asleep. So I realized it actually did not mess up her schedule for sleeping through the night like I thought. That's what I was worried about, was that she wasn't going to sleep through the night.

And she slept through the night right and it went great, and she did she traveled great, and so overall, I just think do the best you can stay on the schedule as best as you can. UM. Just make sure you get your feedings, do your feedings, UM whenever, like however much you feed your baby, make sure you stick with that. But then just grab the naps when you can and let her, let her rock, and then I'll end with this one was the biggest challenge for me.

The biggest challenge is myself, which is usually how it goes in my life. I had to get over my fear of everything, the fear of her getting sick, fear of her missing her naps, fear of her not sleeping in the night, fear of her being fussy, fear of her being unhappy, fear of and just being a ship show, which it was. She should her pants at the airport like crazy. Just fear I had, fear of everything that could go wrong, was just running through my head over

and over again. And I think realizing that she is so much more adaptable than I thought she was, that she is so much um more resilient than I thought she was. That I don't have to have everything perfect, and if it's not on a perfect schedule, and if everything if she's not in a perfectly sterilized environment, and all the things. If everything is not perfect, she's still going to be a happy baby. She's still gonna be

rocking and rolling, and she doesn't know any different. And I don't have to stress out about it like I thought I did, because I thought, if it's not all put together, if everything is not perfect, I don't stand the schedule, it's all gonna fall apart, and it just it just doesn't. Babies are resilient and they rock. And I think the biggest lesson I learned on this trip was that I don't have to be so stressed out

and I can let go of control. Yes, keep your baby on a schedule as best you can when you're at home, and there's no reason not to be on a schedule. But if you need to get involved with life and do stuff and get out there and get her off her schedule, then it's okay. It's gonna be fine. And that was a big eye opening thing for me, is that it's going to be fine, and that's Sunny is so much more resilient than I am, Like she rocked this thing. I was one of those a stress bucket,

but she was great, and so that was great. So I hope this podcast helped. I hope I answered your questions. I don't like always when I get into these, I have no idea what I've even said, So I hope this was helpful. Um, overall, I would just say, prepare yourself. Pack what you pack, everything that you think you need. Um pack a good carry on bag with milk, diapers, changing changing pad, extra clothes, toys, passy your car seat, all of the stuff that you need to carry on

and then just let it rock. And if your baby cries on the plane, your baby cries on the plane, if someone has a problem with it. The same thing with like breastfeeding in public, we don't have time for those kind of people because that's not life. We're in real life here. Okay, we are doing the best we can. We are loving our children, we are trying to do our jobs, support our families, do all the things we needed you and you're bringing your baby. Your baby's coming along.

Your baby is a part of your life. And so if your baby cries on a plane, or if you need a breastfeed in public and someone has a problem with it, then you just we just have to not even acknowledge those people, because, like I said, we don't have time for that. We're we're living our lives and doing the best we can, and we are honestly super women women mama's. We are crushing it. And I think I'm so proud of all of us, so proud that

we're all sticking together. And I love having these mom chats and I, oh, yes, ma'am study and I love sharing information. I love all y'all's questions, and I'm gonna always just try to answer as honestly as I personally can. I, of course I don't know anything. I'm learning this on the go, So I love that we can be in this community together. And um, I hope, I hope this helped. I hope your travel experiences go well and happy happy holidays. Much love to you all,