The most daunting part of travelling the world with young children is how to manage with all the stuff they need – I see questions so frequently on so many social media sites! What about care seats? What’s the best stroller? What will they eat? What about the flight? Adjusting to parenthood is hard enough so it makes sense that the thought of jetting off around the world with a baby and/or toddler would fill many with so much dread that they don’t bother.
We have always travelled with our children. We took our daughter to Koh Samui for her first Christmas when she was 5 months old and my son when on his first plane at 6 weeks! When we told friends and family we were heading off to South East Asia for 3 months, the main question we got back was ‘are you taking the kids?’! And yes, of course we took them, age 6 months and 3 years 9 months at the time we left! If my parents took me, aged 2, and my four week old brother to Nepal in 1986, I was pretty certain we could manage! Read on for some advice on things you could buy to make life a bit easier!
Little legs, even the best little legs, are not going to manage to walk for miles each day, especially if you are in a hot humid climate so the first challenge we researched was ‘transportation’. We wouldn’t have been without our Ergobaby 360 carrier. Baby wearing is super helpful especially for airports, getting on and off the plane, and when you just need your hands free! The best thing about the ergobaby we found for our adventure back in 2019 was that we could carry both children in it (not simultaneous before your mind boggles) – I would carry Nyle on my front, facing outwards if he wanted a look around, or inwards if it was nap times, and I could manage a good 20-30 minutes with Alicia in it on my back even as a pretty solid 4 year old. Both would even fall asleep in it which when they were resisting nap time was an added bonus, and transferring them to a bed or cot was pretty easy as we would just unclip and let them lie on the carrier wherever they were so no significant movement to wake them up. I could even get a poncho over us both when needed!
The great pushchair debate! We spent a lot of time debating this one, whether to bother or not and I am glad we did. We knew that carrying both kids at the same time wasn’t an option, and we also wanted to take a baby car seat for Nyle so we needed a pushchair that the infant carrier could clip onto. We also knew we didn’t want two pushchairs and for Alicia it was more just to rest legs every now and again. After much research we found ‘The Caboose’. This was perfect for what we needed. Now, negatives first – it is large and it is not light. It’s not like a pocket that folds down into the cabin bag hold. But everything else suited us very well. Both kids were happy in it, there was a bench for Alicia on the back and she could sit forwards or backwards, and a table tray for Nyle in his reclining front seat with harness – great for nibbles on the go. There are various accessories you can buy too – we opted for the second removable seat so that Alicia could flake out if she wanted – this turns the bench into a proper reclining seat. We also went for the stroller organiser which when on the handlebars and meant we had everything handy. And of course the raincover!
Our next area of research was feeding Nyle. He wasn’t breastfed and so we needed to think about bottle feeding! Firstly baby formula – is available everywhere. We selected Aptimal for this food from birth so we knew that we could get that globally. However, we quickly realised that sometimes you had to settle for something else and he was fine. There was only one place we very nearly ran out and stopped at about 20 supermarkets before finding some (Nusa Lebongan, Bali) but everywhere else was fine. It was expensive in Singapore mind!
Next question was sterlisation – and here was our genius move! We took a foldable washing up bowl with us which sat flat in the bottom of a case, but meant we could sterilise wherever we were and it held 4 or 5 bottles at a time. We used steri-tabs and boiled or bottled water as a precaution and again, no health issues at all. For day feeds we took a flask of boiling water and a couple of bottles with cooled boiled water and would make the bottles up as we went along, using the hot to sterilise the powder and then the cooled to make it the right temp. The powder we used a powder storage container for which was long and thin for easy packing. We used to carry it all in a small cool bag which hung on the pram for easy access.
Sleeping-wise we weren’t certain we were always going to get a cot, especially when staying in serviced apartments so we opted to carry one with us. This LittleLife travel cot folding up into a bag, can be built in around 5 minutes, and is fully zippable which means it double as a play area, and also keeps insects and mozzies out! Nyle slept pretty well in it when we did need to use it, and we strapped it to the bottom of a bag when travelling around a bit like a sleeping bag can do.
The beach mat you can see in these photos is just fabulous – it’s huge and all folds down into a small bag about 6 inches square. It can be washed in the washing machine, dries super quickly and provided a really big area on the beach for a rolling/near crawling Nyle – and 4 years later it is still going strong and will be coming with us again.
Ever since we set off on our travels in 2019, we have put the kids in Karrimor sandals, mainly because they are really good value for money, are adjustable and you can get them in teeny tiny size 4!. The way they held up for Alicia over 3 months in Asia was amazing and she never moaned once in them despite being the only shoe she had with her. Although we did have to get another pair brought out as they did start to smell after 2 months, hardly surprising really.
Car seats are always quite a debate as well. When the kids were babies we always took their baby car seat with us, but as they turn into toddlers it can be quite the decision. Hiring car seats is expensive so on short trips where we aren’t travelling around we take our car seat and check it in alongside the pushchair. We have also discovered these amazing Trunki car seats which double up as a backpack for the kids and we used them from age 3. They are heavy so don’t expect your 3 year old to be carrying it around the airport, but they hang onto a pram or an older child or adult can use it as a rucksack. The storage space is pretty decent in them too!
