For the plane trip, our daughter was three months and we had one day’s worth of diapers with us, all of our AIOs and pocket diapers). We packed her diaper bag liked we would pack for a long day out, and then packed extra diapers in my suitcase. Her clothes are so little that the diapers taking up space was not a big deal. What was more of a big deal was the carseat! My sister didn’t have one, so we had to bring ours, a bucket seat with base at the time. Our first flight ran a bit late, so our connection was tighter than it was supposed to be. The flight attendants were awesome in letting us (seated in the back) off the plane first! Looking back, strategizing about the fastest way to get to the next gate seems kind of funny, and I’m sure I looked ridiculous with that carseat over my shoulder running through the airport! Dad and baby hurried ahead to check in while I waited for our gate checked carseat.
We changed her in airport bathrooms, in a quiet spot near the ticket counter, in the airplane bathroom (that fold down thing is way too tiny!), and on our laps on the airplane. The diapers were never the problem. The problem was someone spelled my name wrong on my boarding pass and the security guy sent us back to get a new one (I should have checked before leaving the counter, I know, I know). I learned that security will make you take off your perfectly wrapped Moby holding your sleeping baby, leaving you on the other side of the metal detector holding your now unhappy awake baby with no hands to grab your stuff and now crumpled Moby after its trip through the x-ray machine as you scramble to get to your gate.
For the car trip, she was five months and we had about two days’ worth of diapers. Packing was much less strategic for this trip. We took our big wet bag for the diaper pail and put all the clean diapers in that and put it in the car. Again, the diapers were easy. It was keeping baby entertained when she wasn’t sleeping that was difficult. We planned on stopping a bunch for changing and feeding breaks, and things went smoother with me sitting next to baby to give her the dropped toy or pacifier she wanted.
While it may sound intimidating, traveling with cloth diapers really isn’t that hard. The diapers are not the hard part at all. What I really like about using cloth diapers while traveling is that you don’t have to hunt down a trash can when you are done with the diaper change. The pack in, pack out aspect appeals to me. This is rather convenient when you can’t make it to the airplane bathroom due to turbulence or not enough time left in the flight, or you are at some random highway off ramp.
Bio: Melissa is Mom to one little girl and she enjoys talking about baby gear. She is also the fiber artist at RainyDayArt.
7 comments:
I'm surprised you had to take off your Moby! Maybe it was the wrap part of it, maybe it's new rules. I travled with our then 4 month old in the Ergo and just walked right thru (last year). I do have ot agree though, diapering was the easy part...it was everything else that was the challenge.
We are traveling this weekend to my grandparent's house a little over an hour away and staying the weekend. Our first overnight away didn't go well with cloth diapers. Thanks for the encouragement to try it again :)
Ah, good thing you posted about the moby wrap. That is something I would have done too. really silly they make you x-ray the thing.
I completely agree! We've done train and car trips with our fluff and the diapers were the easy part. We've even done a full week in a hotel with cloth, utilizing a local laundromat for midweek laundry (including diapers). I had a horrendous time on our first train trip with the baby, but none of the problems were due to the dipes (funnily enough, most were due to his ginormous carseat we checked).
FYI, I just traveled with baby in the moby... Security at the airport let me leave it on but I would need to be patted down. I'd much rather have tsa feel me up the have to take it off and put it back on :) they had to feel under the fabric but I just held onto baby while they did but it didn't really loosen the wrap. :)
So glad to read this! we're planning a trip in Nov with our daughter. And I knew we would get through it with cloth diapers, I wasn't quite sure how well it would work. Especially since we're planning on staying in a hotel. We'll just have to figure something out! :)
I love this post! You are exactly right. I have traveled extensively with my kids, but before starting with cloth. I have been a little anxious about this summer's trip because of the new addition of cloth. But you are right. That's not what is going to complicate the trip.
I remember how outraged I was when security made me take off the moby with sleeping infant, especially because I had just gotten him to sleep. And then traveling alone with 2-yo and 6-month old through Zurich airport. Had baby in a backpack and 2yo in stroller...lots of stairs in that airport! I almost died when I had to go through security a second time. I can't remember where or when
I changed the diapers.... Good thin they were both healthy at the time!
Thanks - my anxiety about the upcoming trip has evaporated!
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