When to Start Travelling with Littles
“i’m curious how soon you started traveling again once any of yours were born?,” is what someone recently asked me. The answer: six weeks, two months and five months.
But when is the right time to start? Whenever is the best for YOU and YOUR family!
When you’re in a moms travel group it sometimes seems like a competition:
“1 year..”
“8 months…”
“8 hours…”
“8 seconds!!!”
But there is truly no perfect time. Do not feel bad if you’re not able to start within the first six weeks or even first sixteen years of your child’s life. Every family is different and has different circumstances. Do not pressure yourself to do it before you’re ready just to have a humble brag and instagram photo.
Pregnancy and Travel Planning
Often in my moms travel group when the question arrises on when to start, I never recommend planning a big trip if you’re currently pregnant because of the big unknowns:
-Birth: Unexpected incidents to momma or bubba during the birth. I wanted a water birth the first two times and ended up with forceps and then induced a month early. Babies are unpredictable.
-Every baby is different. Brett did not enjoy our travels with our first because she was a baby that needed to be held 24/7, and the memories he has of traveling with her that first year, are mostly of being sleep deprived. Now our second child would sleep anywhere, anytime, and just chilled out observing his surroundings, so he was easy to take on a trip.
At three and under the memories are mostly for you, so make sure you will be enjoying it also, instead of simply going through the movements.
-Healing time! This is so important! Whether the birth experience was for one hour or one week, c-section or natural birth, the largest trauma to your body is unseen, so often not thought of, that you have a huge wound on the inside that needs to heal. So very often women think they’re feeling good, but travel involves a physical effort, so make sure to give your body time to heal!
Easiest Times to Travel – The First 3.5 Years
As all of our children are three and under I can only tell you about the ages that have overall been the easiest so far. Some of these I didn’t know until after that age had passed. The problem with these things is you don’t realise what was easy until you’re on to the next phase or the next baby!
Birth to Before Crawling-Easiest(ish)
We took our first big road trip at six weeks because Pipette needed a passport and we thought we’d make a whole family trip out of it. I was still bloated and exhausted, and Pipette did not sleep very much.
If you have a breastfed baby this phase is even easier because bubba just wants cuddles and boob and sleeps the whole time. Most of the time. At least 2 out of 3 for us.
Crawling to Unstable Walking (Around 6 months to a bit over 1 year)- Difficult
I find this age difficult because baby starts to get wiggly when they figure out they can move around, so you need to keep a closer eye on them. When you also have a crawler or unstable walker, romantic ideas such as being a breezy boho earth mama in Bali = behind the scenes baby getting dirty and falling over on tiled floors, while wiggling and slipping out of your sweaty arms in the humidity.
Babes in Bali. Hunter just started walking, and fell off this step many times.
Walking and Beyond – Get Ready to Run!!!
When baby can walk, that’s when things take off. Literally. Get your running shoes on, because once they figure out how to walk without falling down, running comes shortly after. You may get them to wear their own cute little travel backpack, but also prepare to grab that backpack off the ground while trying to catch your child down a grassy knoll or through an airplane!
Have you travelled with littles or will be planning to in the future??? Let us know!!
Until next time!
xoxo Alexis and the tiny roamers