Through our travels with babies and toddlers, we have come across some awesome baby travel gear and some not so great travel gear for babies. We have written many reviews on this site to help you find the best baby travel gear for your situation.

In this article, I hope to bring it all together to be your “one stop shop” for finding all the baby travel accessories you need to make your trip a success! If your kids are older, read our guide to the best toddler and kid travel gear.

Baby travel essentials

No matter where you are going on your trip, the travel essentials for babies all revolve around three things – eating, getting around and sleeping.

Best baby travel gear for sleeping

S loves lying down in the travel crib

Travel cribs and toddler travel beds

The easiest way to ensure your baby has a safe and comfortable place to sleep is by taking your own travel crib. We initially relied on hotel cribs when we started travelling but this was a mistake. They were often in terrible condition (like with no mattress!), too small or just not safe. We have been much happier since we switched to our own travel crib.

We particularly recommend the KidCo Peapod. We like the pop out design as it means that it takes up the minimal space possible in our luggage. The kids also like playing in their “tent”. Also highly recommended is the BABYBJORN Travel Crib Light.

If your baby is a bit older and doesn’t need a crib anymore, a toddler travel bed like the Shrunks Indoor Toddler Travel Bed is a great option.

Our full guide to travel cribs is here and our full guide to toddler travel beds is here.

Best travel items for baby for getting around

Exploring the Philippines courtesy of the my beloved Ergo

I think deciding what to take to transport your baby can be one of the toughest parts of working out what baby travel equipment you need. The stroller versus carrier decision can be tough!

Strollers and carriers

We personally like taking both. They both have their uses – I think a carrier is far better whenever you can get away with it. However, if you have a heavier baby then it can be hard work – we know! Plus, you might have more success getting your baby to stay asleep in a stroller. I know I appreciated having the baby asleep in the stroller and then having relative freedom compared to when they are strapped to me.

You can read more about my thoughts about the best travel strollers and best baby carriers.

We particularly love the Ergo carrier and our new Ergobaby Adapt which is perfect from birth. The other infant travel gear item that can cause headaches is infant car seats and booster seats for older children. There are some great travel options available – you can read more about them here.

For a stroller, we are in love with our Mountain Buggy Nano which has a crazy compact fold and an included travel bag. We can carry it over our shoulder which frees up our hands for our kids and other luggage. Read more about it here.

Best baby travel items for eating

Travel high chairs

For eating there are a few things you will want to think about. If your baby is eating solids then you will want to think about taking a travel high chair. Our favorite is the First Years On-The-Go Booster Seat. It is very easy to use and does not take up much space at all.

You can read all our travel high chair reviews here. If you want a bigger high chair option for home, look here. Many places do not have high chairs and we found this a stress free way of eating out with our kids.

Other eating accessories

Another item we have found to be invaluable is a wipeable bib. It helps keep bub (or toddler) clean and is easy to clean for the next use.

We have also travelled with disposable bibs which is easy for short trips, but for a longer trip, it’s hard to beat the wipeable alternative.

If your baby is drinking from a bottle, you are also going to have to consider some other baby travel products – primarily bottle sterilizers and bottle warmers. You can read our full guides to buying the best bottle sterilizers and bottle warmers.

Of course if your baby is drinking formula, you will also have formula and bottles on your travel essentials for baby list. I recommend taking the same formula you use at home (even though it’s painful to carry if you are going away for any length of time) unless you are travelling within the same country and are sure you can buy it at your destination.

We always just took our usual bottles as well as a baby bottle brush to clean them and a formula dispenser for when we were out and about.

Other travel essentials for baby

Another item you might want to consider is a backpack diaper bag. This can be a great way to keep everything together and a backpack is much easier to take travelling than the more traditional diaper bags you might use at home. This site is a great resource for working out the best backpack diaper bag.

A travel playpen is also handy. You can find some options here.

In addition to all of the above you won’t want to forget baby travel supplies of nappies/diapers and wipes. As much as I was a cloth nappy addict at home, on the road, it was disposables all the way. It is usually easy to find disposable nappies most places.

The only exception is if you have a super huge toddler. I had problems finding nappies for my 20kg two year old in Asia, so you have a bigger kid, you might want to consider taking as many as you can from home.

Hopefully, you have found this article about the best travel gear for baby helpful. I’d love to know in the comments if you have any essential baby travel items that you would like to recommend. What do you think are the best baby travel products?

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