How to pack light when traveling with a toddler

How to pack light when traveling with a toddler

Our family has been on the road for over 6 months now, and we’ve still never checked a bag. We travel with two larger backpacks, a stroller, and a diaper backpack, fitting all our belongings in without too much effort.

This didn’t happen by accident: it required thoughtful planning, a few mishaps, and many lessons learned along the way. Great products also make all the difference. Traveling with a baby or toddler, even on the best days, is exhausting, but we hope these tips can take some of the edge off.

Choose the luggage first, and the items second

Make the decision up front on how you’re going to travel. Do you want to check? Carry on? If you choose the luggage first and commit, it’s easier to say “no” to excess items.

Organize your packing list into “bring” vs “borrow” vs “buy”

Whenever we pack, we consider what we need to bring and what we may be able to get upon arrival. Diapers and wipes almost always fall into the “buy” category, and we’ve gone this whole trip borrowing or renting carseats and pack-n-plays.

set of baby clothes

Cut back on baby outfits

I know, it may seem crazy that we’re saying to cut back on the baby clothes 🙈 But we truly believe that one of the greatest benefits of First Peak is that our clothes can be washed in the sink and dry by morning, fighting odor and bacteria the whole time. We travel with 2 First Peak long-sleeves and 3 short-sleeves for our son (and he’s usually wearing on of those on the plane). 

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