Packing Checked Luggage for Babies and Toddlers

Packing Part 2: Checked Luggage

Mostly, the kid's checked luggage is the same old stuff we check for ourselves: clothes, spare shoes, that kind of thing.

Clothes

1. Regular clothes. I usually set her clothes up as entire outfits and fold the pieces together; her clothes are small enough that I can get away with that, and it helps ensure that she can dress herself out of the luggage. One outfit a day and some spares.
2. Spare shoes. She must have two pairs of shoes. It's just too sad if you pee on your only shoes, and shoe-shopping in random places is often hair-raising.
3. Special clothes. If she has special outfits (we're going to a wedding, say), I make sure they're packed separately and out of sight where she's not going to try to insist on wearing them every day.
4. A mesh laundry bag. Useful even when it's just adults, but with a kid the clothes are dirtier and there are more of them.

Things for going outside when we get there

1. A hat. Maybe two.
2. A jacket or two depending on the weather options.
3. Sunglasses.
4. Sunscreen.
5. Insect repellent.
6. A bag for carrying things; our carry-on bag is larger and a different shape than the bag we prefer for walking around town, which is a messenger style bag. (A Crumpler, actually, from a hometown company of Paul's and screaming red yellow and blue, although Timbuktu are just as nice and from our current hometown.)

Bath stuff

1. Baby shampoo.
2. A set of Ikea stacking cups. These are a good toy and a good bath toy, but most importantly, they give us a way to pour water over her head. I've done this with a hotel-supplied water glass, and it scares me to bits. Otherwise we end up scavenging plastic cups from somewhere and it's just one more thing to think about. We never remember until her hair is covered in shampoo. You could just pack one of those random plastic cups you get with kids meals when you eat out.
3. A folding stepstool. It's bulky and we always come within 30 seconds of forgetting it, but it means Opal can wash her own hands. Everybody is happier when she can pee without requiring adult assistance.

Sleeping stuff

1. Her bed. We used to use an Amby baby hammock (at home and when traveling; it uses up one piece of your baggage allowance and ensures that your luggage will be searched, but it's very nice to be guaranteed to have the baby's own familiar bed wherever you go). When she got to big for that, we switched to a toddler air mattress. It takes up space, but it's familiar for her and you don't have to worry about what a hotel (or your childless friends) can provide. We're thinking about switching to a Peapod Plus for the enclosure; it's probably a better choice for kids who're used to cribs.
2. Covers. We usually carry a sheet to wrap around it and give her the same fleece blanket we carried on the airplane; if she needs more covers, they're easy enough to come by.
3. A stuffed animal. This one is larger than the small ones she carries on the airplane. But not irreplaceable. Luggage gets lost. If your kid has an irreplaceable lovey, put a leash on it and carry it with you!
4. Bedtime books. The books we carry on the airplane are meant to take up as much time as possible. That's great on the airplane, but Opal is entitled to two books at bedtime too, and trying to use the airplane books means doing parts of them, and/or only doing one book, leading to arguing at the worst possible moments. So in the luggage is a small stash of books more suitable for bedtime. We are guaranteed to buy more as we go, so it's only a small stash.

Amusements

We don't start out with many of these. Possibly an inflatable ball. Maybe one toy with more pieces than I'm willing to take on the airplane. Some extra crayons. But almost all the amusements will be on the airplane for when I'm most likely to be desperate. If I absolutely have to amuse her in a hotel room, I'm probably going to break out the books and DVDs. If we're not in the hotel room, we'll carry a small subset of the stuff we had on the airplane, and the world will provide plenty of other things to amuse her.

Diapering things

We don't carry these any more, but when Opal was in diapers, this is what we packed.

1. Enough diapers to last us until we could buy more. For most destinations, this is one day's worth.
2. Another changing pad. In fact, two; one to carry around, and a simple rubberized pad for laying on the floor and changing her where we were staying. Why pack a changing pad when we brought one on the airplane? Look, all this apparent organization is just compensation for our fundamental disorganization, which means that at best we go out with the wrong bag a lot, and at worst we accidentally leave a changing pad in an airport. Not that the would happen more than once. Well, twice.
3. More plastic bags. We still carry these, just not as many. Ziplock bags make a livable substitute for a sealable diaper pail.
4. As many swim diapers as we thought we would need. We don't use that many and trying to find specialty items in foreign countries isn't worth it to me.
5. Diaper cream, although somehow we always ended up buying more anyway.