Cloth diapers in China (and elsewhere)

I've mentioned previously that we use cloth diapers at home. We started when Littles was about 15 months old, so over 3.5 years ago. But for quite a while, we used disposables while traveling. This was mostly for reasons of cost and convenience: Coin-operated laundry can be expensive, and who wants to spend their vacation lugging dirty diapers to and from a hotel laundry room or laundromat?

For the same reason, we didn't use hybrid diapers like gDiapers or Flips (disposable inserts can run twice the price of disposable diapers, and you still have to wash covers) or even "green" disposables like 7th Generation or Earth's Best (pricier than regular disposables). We were literally going through a handful of packs of disposable diapers a year; I didn't feel the least bit guilty if they were -- gasp! -- Pampers.

But for the last year or so, we've used cloth exclusively on all of our trips. It's turned out to be really, really easy. Even going all the way to China!

How we make it work...

Packing: We used mostly pocket diapers (BumGenius) at first. They worked fine, but starting with our trip to Panama, I got some Best Bottoms covers and made some inserts. Since Best Bottoms allow you to reuse the shell and just swap out the dirty insert, they take up less space than pocket diapers. This is four diaper changes with Best Bottoms (on the left, a shell with an insert + 3 additional inserts) and BumGenius pockets (on the right):

I generally bring about 15-20 diapers total, which is more than enough to wash every two days. Most of the diapers go in our checked bags. They do take up some space, but we're still generally able to fit everything we need for all of us in two large checked bags.

In transit: I put about 4-5 diapers, some cloth wipes, and a small wetbag into the diaper bag, which gets carried on. I also bring a large prefold diaper, which can be used as a washable changing pad.

For China, because the trip was so much longer, we brought an extra rollaboard with more stuff to keep the kids amused. That gave us plenty of space for additional diapers as well. I packed a large wetbag, rather than the usual small one, to ensure there was plenty of space for dirty diapers.

At our destination: As I've mentioned in previous posts, we've stayed in vacation rentals with washers/dryers for most of our recent trips. Even if we used disposable diapers, we'd really need to do this: It's just not feasible to pack enough clothes for four (soon to be five) people to wear for a week or more inside a reasonable amount of luggage. Having laundry facilities allows us to bring about 4-5 changes of clothes per person and wash clothes every couple of days (since the kids normally go through multiple changes of clothes per day...)

But obviously, this also helps facilitate cloth diapering. I bring detergent from home, to ensure that I have something that's cloth diaper compatible. Dirty diapers go in a large zippered hanging wetbag (ours are made by Planet Wise) until laundry day. Then I wash just like I do at home. Easy.

In China, we didn't have any luck finding vacation rentals, so we ended up staying in a "service apartment." This was a hotel designed for long-term stays, so among other wonderful benefits (like multiple rooms and a kitchenette), it had a washer/dryer in each unit.

On daytrips: When we're out and about, we do exactly what we do on daytrips at home: We bring enough diaper changes for however long we plan to be out, along with a small wetbag for dirty diapers. Since it's not always easy to find a good spot for changing diapers when you're on the go, I'll often prepare the diapers with some extra inserts for more absorbency. That way, it's not a problem if we end up having to go longer than usual between diaper changes.

Any problems? The biggest problem I've run into is that the diapers often start to get stinky by the end of each trip, likely due to not quite having the wash routine right with unfamiliar water and washers. I just wash the diapers with a little bit of bleach when we get home, and that takes care of the stinkies.

In China, one challenge was that the washer/dryer (it was all one machine) was labeled entirely in Chinese :) Cloth diapers generally require an initial rinse, then a normal wash cycle with an extra rinse, then into the dryer. Well, I couldn't figure out how to do just a rinse, so I ended up having to do two full wash cycles for each load. And the wash cycles were really long (like 2-3 hours), so it usually took the better part of a day to get the diapers washed. A bit of a pain, but with the washer/dryer being right there in the unit, it worked out fine: I often started a load in the morning, then started the second wash cycle when we returned to the apartment for naptime.

Is it worth it? Absolutely. A lot of people think that traveling with cloth is a hassle, but we really haven't found it to be any different from using cloth at home.

Oh, and in China, disposable diapers ran as much as $40 for a jumbo pack (about 35-40 diapers, depending on size). Ouch. When we saw that, we were very happy that we brought cloth :)

Packing list: Camping

Here's what we brought, or should have brought, to our Memorial Day camping trip. I should mention that we were tent camping near a river in 100-degree weather, so those facts drive some of our gear choices :)

Tent
We have a Coleman 8-person Instant Tent.

Our campsite is pretty dusty, so the tent gets dusty too, within about an hour of arrival. Some of the other families brought a carpet or mat for feet wiping, or a Dustbuster to vacuum out the dust. Brilliant.

Air mattress and sheets for adults and older kids
Preferably not white sheets. It's pretty gross to see what comes off your body while you're sleeping. Don't ask me how I know.

Pack-n-play or other spot for sleeping for younger kids
Noob slept in a Peapod Plus on this trip. (We actually forgot our Peapod, and had to buy the Peapod Plus on the way down. I'll save that story for another post.)

Air conditioner, fan, or other cooling device
Hard-core campers will laugh at this one, but when it's over 100 degrees in your tent when your 1-year-old (or your 4-month-old, last year!) is trying to go down for his afternoon nap, you really need something to keep him cool.

Bumbo for babies
We don't use the Bumbo a ton at home, but last year, it was really nice having a spot to put Noob that was at least slightly elevated from all the dirt and dust at the campsite. I also saw a family this year that brought their Bumbo down to the river for their infant to sit in. (This goes without saying, but a Bumbo is no substitute for adult supervision in water.)

Noob keeping cool in the Bumbo, May 2010 (4 months old)

Clothing
It gets filthy, so avoid white/light stuff that you really love.

Swimming stuff
Bathing suits, hats, sunglasses, towels, water shoes (I just brought flip flops this year and those did not work well!)

Sunscreen

Clothesline and clothespins
Our tent actually has multiple clotheslines built in, which is handy. But clothespins are still needed to keep stuff from ending up all over the campsite!

Any required medications. Maybe vitamins to keep the weekend from being a complete nutritional waste? Maybe.

Toiletries
Toothbrush and toothpaste. (A mom can dream, right?) Shampoo and soap.

If I ever find an amazing deal on liquid hand soap, I'll stock up and put it in the bathroom at the campsite, because they never have soap and it's a pain to wash the kids' hands back in the "kitchen" at our campsite. (It is in a steep, slippery area that I'd rather the kids avoid whenever possible.) To that end...

...antibacterial hand wipes. Better than nothing.

Diapers (regular and swim) for the non potty trained
This was our third year camping but our first year doing cloth diapers the entire time. We're planning to use cloth diapers on our upcoming trips as well, so I'll probably do a post in September or October about traveling with cloth. For now, I'll just say that it worked out well. The one minor challenge was that the nearest toilet for poop disposal was a bit of a walk from our campsite.

Little potty for the recently potty trained
This was a new addition to our camping gear this year -- we didn't think to bring it last year, even though Littles was potty trained at the time. It worked out really well, not having to run to the campsite bathroom every time she had to go.

Food
On this trip, we always split cooking and cleanup among the families attending. This year, everyone just brought the food to make the meal that they signed up for, which worked much better than trying to coordinate a giant shopping list for all the meals (as we've done in the past).

We also bring snacks for the kids, in case they get hungry between meals or don't like what's being served. Stuff that does well in the heat is best, e.g. cereal bars, crackers, instant oatmeal. We also bring yogurt and fruit in a cooler.

Tip #1: Don't leave bananas in a car in 100 degree weather.

Tip #2: If you have raw meat in a non-vacuum-sealed container in a cooler, put it in a Ziploc bag or something, to avoid raw meat juice all over your lovely fruit.

Don't ask me how I know.

Water
Lots of it. No-spill water bottles for the kids, too. We have the straw cups with their names on them and that was perfect, since it was easy to tell whose was whose.

Booster seat for younger kids
At Littles' age, she is fine without any sort of special chair for eating, but our Fisher Price Healthy Care booster seat definitely came in handy for Noob. Bonus: I could easily hose it down after every meal. It doesn't usually get that good of a cleaning after meals at home, so it was the one item that came home cleaner than it was at the beginning of the trip :)

Baby carrier for younger kids
Last year, Noob pretty much lived in my lovely lightweight solarveil mei tai carrier:

I forgot it this year, and kicked myself constantly for that. It would have been so nice to be able to contain Noob (so I wouldn't have to worry about him wandering off from the campsite) while leaving my hands free. He probably won't need it next year, but I'll bring it just in case!

Toys
Obviously, nothing irreplaceable or non-washable. We brought a backpack full of random toys for both kids, and honestly, they got played with just enough to get completely filthy. Not worth it at all. We usually bring books, too, and they never get read. The only toys that really get played with are sand toys (shovels, buckets, etc.), water toys (water squirters, dolls that can go in water, etc.), and bubble machines!

That's all I can think of for now, but I reserve the right to come back and edit this post as I think of things over the coming year :)

Sleeping arrangements on the road

Noob sleeping in a hotel-provided crib, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (9 months old)

Ahhhh, sleep. An ongoing challenge for most parents of small children, even at home. Throw traveling into the mix, and nighttime (and naptime!) can become a downright disaster.

When traveling, there is only so much you can do about jetlag, missed naptimes/bedtimes, overactivity leading to overtiredness, and other kid-sleep-busters. But at least you can try to plan an environment that is as conducive to good sleep as possible.

Where to stay?
When traveling, we try to find places to stay that have multiple rooms, so that Hubby and I can stay up in one room while the kids sleep in another room. We've stayed in 1- or 2-bedroom suites at a variety of Residence Inns for this reason. We've also found places like the Douglas Fir Resort during our visit to Banff National Park, where we had a lovely condo with a separate bedroom. We put Littles to sleep in the bedroom and then hung out in the living room until we were ready for bed. As a bonus, many of these places also have a kitchenette, so we can cook meals at "home," rather than having to drag the kids out to eat at restaurants every night.

If we can't find a reasonably-priced suite-style hotel at our destination, we can make it work in a regular hotel room, too. It often means falling asleep when the kids do, but when you're on vacation, having an excuse to go to sleep early isn't always a bad thing :)

What to sleep in?
That depends on age. We have an Eddie Bauer infant travel bed that we've used with both kids up until about 6 months of age. I love it and I've been so sad when they've each outgrown it. It is lightweight, it folds up very small, and it provides easy access to a floppy newborn. Just be aware that the sides are relatively low, so it won't contain a crawling baby.

So, with mobile kids, we usually request a crib from the hotel. Hotel cribs get a bad rap, but in many many hotel nights, we've never had a bad/unsafe one. I do try to remember to bring a sheet from home, as some hotels will simply wrap a full-size sheet around the crib mattress, which isn't very safe for young infants.

I should also note that most hotels have provided a pack-n-play style crib, not a "normal" crib like the one you see in the picture at the top of this post. I don't think pack-n-plays can be fully sanitized, but honestly, it doesn't bother me, and we've never had a problem with it. If you're a germophobe, you might want to call ahead to see if your hotel does use pack-n-plays, and plan alternate arrangements if they do.

On occasion, we've stayed at hotels that don't provide cribs at all (such as the Old Faithful Lodge Cabins in Yellowstone National Park), or we've taken trips where we stay with family or friends who don't have cribs. For the Yellowstone trip, we actually lugged our own pack-n-play from home. I don't recommend that when flying :) Pack-n-plays are huge and bulky and generally a pain to fly with. (They're not too bad when driving, though. As I've previously noted, we usually do bring it on road trips.)

In fact, with airline baggage fees being what they are these days, you might find it is no more expensive to purchase a cheap pack-n-play at your destination and leave it there. That saves you the hassle of lugging the pack-n-play around, and if you're visiting someone who you might visit again in the future, you can leave the pack-n-play with them so that you have it for your next visit.

Of course, if you travel frequently like we do, spending $50 multiple times per year to fly with a pack-n-play or purchase a new one at your destination just isn't feasible. So we now have a Kidco Peapod, which is fabulous! It's a little pop-up tent that folds up small enough to fit easily in a suitcase.

 
Noob in the Peapod (with a few other accessories :), camping on the Guadalupe River near New Braunfels, Texas (4 months old). Here, he was using the Peapod as a playpen, but he also slept in it for naps/nighttime on this trip.

Besides its size, another huge advantage that it has over a pack-n-play is that the child can be zipped inside. So if you have a child who can climb out of a pack-n-play, the Peapod is a great option to keep him/her contained. In fact, Littles used the Peapod daily at her sitter's house once she started climbing out of her pack-n-play (at 19 months old).

We have the Peapod P101 model, and Littles fit in it until about 2.5 years of age, although it was definitely a tight fit towards the end. If you have a larger child or just want to get more use out of it, you might look into the Peapod Plus, which is a little bigger.

Littles now sleeps in the "big bed" when we stay in hotels. We make sure to get a room that either has two beds or one bed plus a pull-out couch. I will say, getting her to actually sleep in the big bed is usually a challenge. Too bad our suitcases are usually jam-packed with the stuff we need for all of us, or I would seriously consider getting a Peapod Plus for her to use...

Littles sleeping (at least in theory) in a "big bed," Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (3.5 years old). This was taken at about midnight, when we thought she had been asleep for hours -- wrong! She had been getting out of bed and goofing off all night long.

Top kid travel gear: Cosco Scenera car seat

Littles snoozing in the Scenera at Flagg Ranch, Yellowstone National Park (15 months old)

This post is part of a series on top kid travel gear.

Funny, we actually did not purchase our Cosco Scenera car seat with the intention of using it while traveling. We bought it when Littles was about 1 year old to leave with her sitter/nanny, so that she could drive Littles during the day while she watched her. We chose it because it is cheap (about $40 at Walmart) and gets great safety ratings.

But as it turns out, it's a perfect travel seat as well. It is lightweight, so it is easy to drag around the airport. It is narrow, so it fits easily in airline seats. It comes with its own handy bag for travel. And since it's cheap, I never worry about it getting lost or damaged while in transit. If that does happen, it will be no big deal to just buy a new one!

The Scenera does rear-facing from 5-35 lbs and forward-facing from 22-40 lbs. Littles still fits easily into the seat at 3.5 years old.

Downsides? There are a few:

1. The straps get twisted and stuck much more easily than on the more-expensive Britax seats that we use in our own cars. It's a bit of a pain, which is why we don't use the Scenera as our everyday seat.
2. The Scenera is less padded, although Littles has never complained about it.
3. We've found that it requires some sort of leveler (such as a rolled-up towel or a pool noodle) when installed rear-facing in most cars. We have yet to get organized enough to carry a pool noodle with us when we travel, so we usually end up rolling up a sweatshirt or coat to get from the airport to the hotel, then borrowing a hotel towel to get the seat at the right level for the rest of the trip.
4. While it is compatible with our older version of the GoGo Kidz Travelmate, it doesn't attach as securely as the Britax seats do. It's also not at all compatible with the newer Travelmate quick release strap.

Due to that last point, I think we'll end up traveling with the smaller of our two Britax seats (a Roundabout) on our future trips, now that we have the Travelmate quick release strap. But I sure will miss traveling with the Scenera. Having an extra seat for travel is a bit of a luxury, but it's really nice to not have to hassle with reinstalling the car seat when you arrive back home late at night and have two tired kiddos on your hands!

Top kid travel gear: GoGo Kidz Travelmate

This post is part of a series on top kid travel gear.

As I've written previously, we prefer to gate-check our car seats, even when we don't bring them onboard the plane, to minimize the risk of any damage issues. Unfortunately, car seats are pretty bulky and heavy, making them a royal pain to lug around the airport.

Enter the GoGo Kidz Travelmate. It's a set of wheels that attaches to a convertible car seat, allowing you to wheel the car seat around the airport. So easy!

I first bought the Travelmate back when Littles was 11 months old. We were in the process of moving from California to Texas, and had a month where Littles and I were still living in California, but Hubby had already moved to Texas. During that month, I had two trips back-to-back that I had to take alone with Littles. For the first trip, I stuck her car seat inside our full-size stroller so that I could wheel it around the airport. That worked OK, but when we got on the parking shuttle, I had to pull the car seat out of the stroller, fold up the stroller, and put the stroller and car seat on to the parking shuttle. Then I had to reverse the process upon arriving at the airport. Repeat the process and then reverse the process when clearing security. And so on. Did I mention I was also trying to keep track of a newly walking Littles through all this, not to mention all our other bags?

So, on our way to the airport for the second trip, I stopped by Babies R Us and picked up a Travelmate. It provided the same mobility as the stroller, but was much faster to set up/break down (just raise/lower the telescoping handle) and less bulky overall.

A couple of tips and quirks regarding the Travelmate:

• We have the older version (UNIQR). The Travelmate attaches to the car seat by means of two thumbscrews.
• There is a newer version as well (QRKIDZ), which offers a quick-release strap with a buckle, in place of the thumbscrews. GoGo Babyz sells the quick release strap separately, so we recently got one. I'll update my review of the Travelmate after we've had the chance to travel with it!
• We have used both a Britax Roundabout and a Cosco Scenera with the Travelmate. The Roundabout attaches more securely than the Scenera does -- so it does work a little better with certain car seats. (Note: The Scenera is only compatible with the UNIQR version.)
• The car seat + Travelmate does not fit through the x-ray machines at most airports. We ask TSA to hand-scan the whole thing, to avoid removing the Travelmate from the car seat, because with the UNIQR version, it takes some time to take it off and put it on. TSA is usually happy to comply with the hand scan request.
• You can install the car seat + Travelmate directly into the airline seat. The orange wheels have quick releases on them, so you can quickly remove them when installing the seat and then replace them at the end of the flight. (Do not install the car seat + Travelmate in the car, as the Travelmate is not crash-tested.)
• Once Littles got bigger, we found that it was better to remove the Travelmate from the car seat onboard the plane, because when it was attached, it put her a little bit closer to the seat in front of her for kicking purposes! Not good!
• I wouldn't recommend using the Travelmate as a full-time stroller at your destination. For starters, it would mean removing and then reinstalling your car seat every time you wanted to use the "stroller." Also, I just don't feel like the Travelmate is sturdy enough to take the abuse that a stroller takes. It would certainly work in a pinch, but I wouldn't plan on walking for hours with your kid in it.
• Along the same lines, I should point out that we don't typically travel with a stroller at all. We use a baby carrier (such as our Ergo) for kid-hauling duties at our destination. If we did actually need a stroller, I think we would ditch the Travelmate, and just wheel the car seat around the airport using the stroller, like we did in our pre-Travelmate days. Then we'd have it to use at our destination. But since we don't need the stroller, we're able to travel a lot lighter by relying on the Travelmate and Ergo instead.

Bottom line? We never, ever, ever fly without our Travelmate. I think it's a great investment for any family that flies frequently, especially if one parent needs to travel alone with the kid(s). That said, at $90 new, I don't usually recommend it to families that don't fly frequently, especially if they're planning to bring a stroller anyway. If you're only flying once or twice a year (or every few years!), you can probably put up with just dragging the car seat around for that trip.

Top kid travel gear: Ergo baby carrier

Over the years, we've found -- and continue to find! -- plenty of gear that makes traveling with kids infinitely easier. Top travel gear, for sure.

One item that tops this list is our Ergo baby carrier. Really, the Ergo isn't just travel gear; it is possibly our most-used piece of baby gear in our three and a half years as parents. Well, the crib has probably gotten more use, but the Ergo is a close second.

We purchased it when Littles was 3 months old. (If you want to use the Ergo with a newborn, you can purchase an optional infant insert, but I found it easier with both kids to use an alternative carrier, such as a Moby Wrap, until they were big enough for the Ergo on its own.) Here she is during her first trip with the Ergo, October 2007 (3.5 months old), in Playa del Carmen, outside of Cancun, Mexico:

We still use it with her today. This was taken on our trip to Colorado last October, 3 years almost to the day after the picture above:

Why are baby carriers so great for traveling? They allow you to safely contain your baby (or toddler, or preschooler...) while keeping your hands free. So you can tote luggage around the airport or grab a quick bite to eat without having to shuffle your baby from hip to hip, or chase after your toddler.

They're a lot smaller than a stroller, so you can travel light. They also go where strollers can't. Such as down -- and up! -- all 328 steps at Uncle Tom's Trail, on the south rim of the Yellowstone River (September 2008, 15 months old):

Or on the beach in Newport Beach, California (April 2008, 10 months old):

Or through the amazing Ancestral Pueblo ruins at Bandelier National Monument (January 2009, 19 months old):

We love to get out and be active during our travels, so the ability to go anywhere our feet can take us is really important.

A baby carrier can also work as a nice spot for a nap :) This was on the same visit to Bandelier National Monument:

I've even used it to "rock" Littles to sleep at night when we're on the road and don't have access to our usual glider!

We love our Ergo, but there are tons of other great baby carriers out there. Here's Noob on our trip to Colorado last October (8 months old) in a mei tai from Wallypop:

I have friends who have used various Beco carriers, Babyhawks, etc. and swear by them as much as we swear by the Ergo. They all share a variety of features that make for a good baby carrier (for traveling or for around town!):

• The ability to wear your child on both your front and your back. I like having my kids on the front when they are small, but around 15-20 lbs, they start getting pretty heavy to wear on the front. That's when it's handy to be able to pop them onto your back.
• A high weight limit. Even at age 3, it's still very handy being able to carry Littles. The Ergo has been tested up to 90 lbs! I think our backs will give out before the Ergo does :)
• Straps that distribute the weight across your hips as well as your shoulders/back. If you're going to be wearing your baby for hours while wandering the airport, hiking, etc., you want even weight distribution! (Many popular carriers, such as the original Baby Bjorn, put all the weight on your shoulders/back.)
• No bulky metal frame. We (gasp!) forgot the Ergo on a trip to Banff National Park just before Littles' second birthday and ended up renting a metal-framed backpack for hiking. We found that it was no more comfortable than the Ergo, and a whole lot bulkier. When traveling with kids, we look to cut down on bulk whenever possible!
• Something that Hubby won't mind using, either. I actually have a couple of different baby carriers that I use in addition to the Ergo, such as the mei tai pictured above, but Hubby says they're too "girly" :). He doesn't mind the Ergo, though, so it's nice being able to switch off!
• Easy to adjust for different shapes/sizes, if you do plan to switch off kid-toting duties with a spouse or other traveling partner.
• Something that is comfortable for sleeping in. You can see in the picture above of Littles sleeping in the Ergo that it comes with a "sleeping hood," which keeps the baby's head from flopping around as she sleeps. This is especially important when your baby is on your back, since you can't just hold his/her head steady yourself!

Baby carriers seem expensive at first -- I paid over $100 for our Ergo -- but a good one is well worth it, especially for frequent travelers!

Updated pictures!

July 2011: Noob (almost 18 months old) in the Wallypop mei tai on the beach in Panama.

January 2012: Noob (just shy of 2 years old) in the Ergo at the Forbidden City in Beijing. Noob was in the Ergo a lot on this trip. We took public transportation just about everywhere, and the Ergo was way more convenient than a stroller on a crowded subway. Noob is a mama's boy and insisted that I be the one to carry him most of the time, and it was still quite comfortable, even though he was approaching 30 lbs and I was 3 months pregnant!

January 2012: Littles (4.5 years old) in the Ergo on the Great Wall of China. Hey, she got tired, and carrying her in the Ergo was way more comfortable than carrying her in our arms! This is another place where strollers simply cannot go...

Road trip gear

As you may have gathered from my previous posts, most of our travels with tots involve flying. But we do take the occasional road trip. This past weekend, we went to visit Hubby's best friend, who is about a 4-hour drive away.

Driving is so much easier than flying because you don't have to jam everything into a suitcase. We have a whole set of baby gear that we use when flying (which I'll get around to reviewing here eventually) -- for that stuff, we look for things that are as compact as possible. When driving, we don't have to place such a premium on small size, so we bring along a different set of gear that is less compact but more functional.

Eating: We don't bring anything for Littles. She does fine in a regular seat for a few days. For Noob, we bring a Fisher Price Healthy Care booster seat. This is one of our all-time favorite pieces of baby gear. It's only about $25 and it's super easy to clean (a very important feature of any high chair!). We use it daily with both kids at home -- Noob still uses the harness and the tray, while we've removed the harness for Littles and push her up to the kitchen table instead of using the tray.

So it's a great seat in general, but as a bonus, it also folds up for travel. It's a little big to fit in a suitcase for plane trips (although we have done that in the past!), but it's just perfect for eating out around town and for road trips.

Sleeping: Noob sleeps in a pack-n-play. It is way too bulky for plane travel, but works well for road trips. Ours is a very basic Graco model. It cost about $35 on clearance at Babies R Us.

When visiting Hubby's best friend, Littles has typically slept in bed with me. (I sleep in his friend's son's twin bed, while Hubby sleeps on the couch in the living room.) But for this trip, we decided to bring along the nap mat that she uses at preschool. It worked out well! I sewed this myself (details are on my sewing blog), but you can also buy similar nap mats.

Playing: For road trips, we have room for plenty of toys! We usually bring a pretty wide variety for both kids. Hubby's friend also has kids of her own -- they're a little bit older, but Littles, in particular, loves following them around and playing with all of their toys. That means we don't have to worry too much about what we pack for her.

One absolute essential piece of gear for Littles is the DVD player. She'll happily watch DVDs for the entire drive. Noob doesn't do DVDs yet, so he's a lot harder to entertain on long drives. He's not a real fan of the car seat for extended periods of time. On this trip, I found myself counting the days till he's old enough to watch DVDs, too... :)

To car seat or not to car seat

Littles snoozing in her infant seat + Snap-n-Go during a layover in Atlanta (3 months old)

Another key decision point that we make on each of our trips is around car seats. Specifically, should we bring a car seat with us? If yes, should we check it with our bags, gate check it, or bring it onboard?

The answer to the first question has always been straightforward for us: Yes! We have brought a car seat on every single one of our trips. Most of the time, we rent a car on the other end and do a significant amount of driving. Rental car companies do rent car seats, but it's usually expensive (around $10/day), they are not guaranteed to have an appropriate seat when you arrive, and the seat may be in very poor condition. It's much less stressful for us to bring our own.

Once we're at the airport, we do different things with the car seats depending on the situation. Our general rule is that car seats do not get checked with luggage. Reason being, if the car seat gets lost or damaged, we would be stuck in a strange airport with no way to transport our kid. And that would suck. (We do sometimes check it on the way home, since this is less of a concern.)

This means that we've needed an easy way to get the seat to the gate. Car seats are fairly bulky and heavy, so wheels are the way to go:

• Littles was in her infant seat until 10 months of age. In this phase, we traveled with a Snap-n-Go stroller frame. This made it easy to navigate the airport with the car seat.
  


• When she moved out of the infant seat, we initially brought our travel system stroller (Graco Metrolite) and simply stuck her convertible seat in the main part of the stroller. This was much easier than attempting to carry the car seat around the airport. It was not sturdy enough to place Littles in the car seat while we wheeled it around, but we usually had her in a baby carrier anyway. (We use an Ergo.)
  


• After a few trips with this setup, we realized that we were almost never using the stroller anywhere besides the airport. So we started leaving the stroller at home, and purchased a GoGo Kidz Travelmate to attach to the car seat.

Once at the gate, we gate-checked the seat if Littles did not have a seat. But as I explained in a previous post, we opted to purchase a seat for her on every trip past 10 months of age. So when she did have a seat, we brought the car seat onboard. We found that she did really well sitting in it, probably because she was used to it from the car.

Around her second birthday, she discovered the joy of kicking the seat in front of her. Unfortunately, the car seat put her in the perfect position to do just that. She was also starting to do activities that required the use of the tray table, like color, play with Playdoh, and watch DVDs, and her car seat did not allow the tray table to fold out fully. So her last trip in the car seat was at 27 months. These days, she sits directly in the airline seat, which gives her full use of the tray table and prevents seat-kicking.

When Noob came along, he was also in the infant seat until about 10 months of age, so we pulled out the Snap-n-Go again for use with his seat. We continued to use the Travelmate for Littles' seat.

We haven't traveled yet with Noob in a convertible seat, but we plan to put him in Littles' old convertible seat, using the Travelmate. For Littles, we recently purchased a Safety First Go Hybrid Booster seat. It is super lightweight (less than 10 lbs) and folds into a small bag for travel. I think it will be a lot easier to deal with than a second convertible seat on a Travelmate! I'll be sure to post a review of it after we do travel with it for the first time.

Updated July 2011: We now travel with Noob in a convertible seat (Britax Roundabout) on the Travelmate, and Littles in a Go Hybrid booster seat. That combination is very easy to transport! Here is a link to my review of the Go Hybrid Booster.

Tips for traveling with a lap child

I talked about the lap child vs. purchased seat decision in my last post. If you do decide to fly with a lap child, a few important notes:

• Domestically, lap children fly free, but this is not always true internationally! When we flew to Mexico with Littles as a lap child, we had to pay a fee of about $20 each way. I've heard that for longer international flights, the fee can run $100 or more, so it's worth a call to your airline to confirm. That way, you can budget appropriately.
  
• Children do not generally need ID to fly, but lap children are an exception. Some airlines ask for proof of age for a child who looks like s/he might be older than 2. Other airlines require proof of age for all lap children. If your airline asks for proof of age and you cannot produce it, you'll need to either buy a seat for your child (at the ridiculously expensive last-minute ticket price) or leave him/her behind... so it's a good idea to bring it, just in case! A vaccination record serves as proof of age, and is easier to replace if lost than a birth certificate or passport.
  
• This is probably obvious, but when flying internationally, everyone needs a passport. Lap children included.
  
• A lap child does not receive a separate boarding pass. Instead, s/he must be added ("plus infant") on the boarding pass of one of the other people traveling. If you're checking in online or at an automated kiosk, there is usually a question that asks something like, "Are you traveling with an infant?" Be sure to answer yes! If you're checking in with an agent, ask them to add your lap child to your boarding pass if they don't prompt you to do it. Once you receive your boarding pass, make sure that you can see some sort of "plus infant" designation. Trust me, it is no fun to get all the way to the front of the TSA line... and then get sent back to the check-in counter because your lap child wasn't added to your boarding pass.
  
• Even if you chose not to purchase a seat for your infant, ask the gate agent whether there are any empty seats on the plane. If there are, you might be able to snag them for free! I always bring the car seat all the way to the gate (rather than checking it under the plane), even if I didn't purchase a seat for my infant, just in case there is an empty seat available

Lap child vs. purchased seat for an infant

In my first few posts, I'll cover a couple of crucial decision points that come up over and over when traveling with our kids.

One of the biggest ones, at least during the first two years? Whether to purchase a seat for an infant.

Most (all?) airlines do not require children under age 2 to sit in their own seat -- but, of course, if you want to buy a seat for an under-2-year-old, they will happily take your money! When I was pregnant with Littles, I was adamant that we'd always buy a seat for her. In the event of a plane crash or even just severe turbulence, it's undeniably safer for small children to be in their own seat, strapped into an appropriate restraint device (such as a car seat).

Hubby said that that was crazy. In the event of a plane crash... well, a car seat probably isn't going to do a whole lot of good. And obviously, it's a lot more expensive to purchase an extra seat every time you fly, in the off chance that you happen to be in a plane crash.

As with so many parenting-related decisions, we've moved from two extremes to a position of compromise.

With Littles, up till about 6 months of age, we generally did not purchase a seat for her. She spent a lot of time in my lap nursing anyway, and was reasonably content to cuddle with Hubby or me when she wasn't eating, so there was less of a need for her to have her own seat.

She started crawling around 6 months of age. Past that point, traveling with her as a lap child was miserable. We flew with her right when she was first starting to crawl, and then didn't fly again until she was 10 months old. It was just a short hop from San Francisco to Los Angeles (about 1 hour), so we figured she didn't need her own seat. Big mistake. All she wanted to do was get down and crawl, and restraining her was very difficult. That was the last time she flew as a lap child.

Noob didn't fly at all until he was nearly 6 months old. But once we started flying with him, we quickly determined that he, too, needed his own seat. Even though he wasn't mobile at that point, he has never been the type of child to drift off in our arms: From his earliest days, he's always liked his space while falling asleep. So he had a hard time settling down to sleep in our arms, which meant we had a cranky, overtired baby to deal with -- no fun, especially on an airplane! He got his own seat starting at 9 months of age, and everyone was much happier.

I think the decision to buy an extra seat depends a lot on the child. I've seen friends whose kids are perfectly happy hanging out in their laps. Frankly, I'm amazed by them! But that type of child will probably do quite well as a lap child, even into the toddler years.

And, well, it's not always financially feasible to purchase an additional seat for an under-2-year-old. You can certainly survive a flight with a lap child, even if said child is one of my wiggly kids.

But I wouldn't automatically dismiss the idea of purchasing an additional seat. I think it's worth seriously considering in the following circumstances in particular:

• With an older baby or toddler, especially if they're wiggly like mine!
• For an overnight (red-eye) flight. I can't imagine having to hold even the most placid of babies while trying to sleep myself.
• When one parent is traveling alone. Even if the baby ends up in your lap the entire time, it's nice to guarantee that you won't have strangers on either side of you, and have some extra room to spread out.
• For longer flights. Obviously, it's easier to survive a 1-hour flight with an unhappy lap child vs. a 10-hour flight.
• If safety is your primary concern. There is great information on lap child safety (or lack thereof) here and here.

Hopefully that gives you some things to think about when deciding whether or not to purchase a seat for your infant!

Littles and me on the ground at SFO -- August 2007 (6 weeks old)