Baby Travel Kit

As you may have noticed, we've done quite a bit of travel these last few months and as a result, quite a few people have asked me about the kit we travel with for Baby Arabian Notes, so here's the answer...

Our very first trip out for a walk when baby was only a few days old!

I love my Maclaren Techno XT, and not just for travel - it's the only pushchair we use, and we plan to do so for as long as we can! It's lightweight so is great for travel, not to mention lugging in and out of the car at home too! It's the only lightweight pushchair with a flatbed so it's suitable from birth, and great when baby needs to nap en-route!

It also has a huuuge three part sun shade, as well as the normal hood and the reflector part as pictured in the rain image below, and a third part also unzips which covers the baby almost completely (except for legs)! It also comes with a foot muff for cold weather (which we haven't used but will be great if we go back to the UK in winter) and a rain cover too. I didn't anticipate that we'd ever use that but I was very glad of it walking back to our hotel while on holiday in Berlin when we were caught in a shower!

We may not have had raincoats, but at least baby was kept warm and dry in Berlin! (six months old).

The Maclaren Techno XT is available in the UAE at Mothercare.

Whilst you can borrow a cot for no extra charge at most hotels, we prefer to take our own. It's one less thing to worry about - we always know it's safe and our frequent use of it means baby has a familiar sleeping environment in otherwise unfamiliar surroundings which is one source of comfort. I absolutely love our Phil and Ted's travel cot and it has been on every trip with us. It's lightweight at around only 3.5kg and packs up small enough to even fit in an overhead locker on the plane if you like (though we always bung it in the suitcase).

It may look basic but baby sleeps soundly in it and always seems comfy enough! The mattress and base is curved to keep it raised above the floor and it's simple to put together - or as my husband said, at least it is after the first time you do it! I have to admit we had a bit of a tussle trying to work it out at first but it is quite straightforward. The Phil and Ted's Traveller is available in the UAE online or in store at DB Babies.

Depending on our destination, sometimes we don't even use the pushchair. In Singapore for example, we took baby everywhere in the baby carrier as we felt it was much easier to negotiate the streets and public transport of a busy city without getting in the way, dodging obstacles or looking for lifts and easy access points.

Ready to head out for the day. Baby at 7 months old.

In fact, on our recent trip to Japan we even left the pushchair at home altogether. It's just much easier with the baby carrier and we're lucky that baby will happily sleep whilst strapped to us (thought not usually at the airport - there's far too much excitement there to sleep it would seem). We started out with the Baby Bjorn Miracle Mesh carrier when baby was tiny, which we loved, but once he started to get bigger it just wasn't practical for anything more than wandering around the house. We found his little legs hanging down got in the way when we were moving around and going up stairs etc, so it was clear it wasn't going to work for the city breaks we had planned. Our carrier of choice is now the Manduca, which has been brilliant. It keeps baby's little legs out of the way (and in a much healthier postural position according to physiotherapists) and it's light and very comfortable to wear. Plus it's super easy to strap on and can be converted so baby sits on your side or on your back for when they get much bigger - in fact it's suitable for kids up to the age of four so the guidelines tell us! We bought our Manduca at Mamis in Al Seef Village Mall in the sale (they're much cheaper overseas otherwise).

Baby Arabian Notes waiting for the train at the station in in Japan, 8 months old.

Travelling with a little one can also sometimes pose a problem for sterilisation... unless the hotel has a steriliser they can lend you (some do!), it takes up a lot of space to cart a microwave steriliser around with you when there's already so much other paraphernalia to haul with you! I came across these Avent Microwave steriliser bags online and they're perfect for the job and take up no space at all! There's five bags in a pack and each bag can be used 20 times before it needs to be replaced, and they come with the instructions in lots of different languages so wherever you travel you should find a language the locals understand (except Japan, there's no Japanese). Each bag holds two bottles but you can pretty easily squeeze a soother or other small items in too.

Final things to add are the travel bags we bought on amazon for our pushchair and car seat - we use the Diono pushchair bag which is so large there's plenty of room to add nappies or any extras you can't, or don't want to fit into your suitcase. The only downside is that there's no way to lock the bag, but other than that it's kept our pushchair dry, clean and protected so far! We also use the JL Childress car seat bag which I like because it has side padding, and I'm always nervous about having to put the car seat in the hold. But to be honest, if we can possibly travel without the car seat at all and either hire one at destination or just take public transport instead then that's always preferable.

And that's it, those are my personal baby travel kit favourites! What do you think? I'd love to hear what yours are too! :)