Unfortunately we can’t all live the suite life when we stay at a hotel with a baby. We’ve done quite a few week-long stays in tiny hotel rooms with Wyatt (now 16 months old), and a bunch of weekends as well. Hotel living is not the easiest when your roommate is a baby, but it can be done! So if you’re stuck in a studio room with your little one, or are just unsure about what staying in a hotel with a baby will look like, here are a few tips.
The Room
When you check in, ask if there are any handicapped accessible rooms available, they are much larger, especially the bathrooms (see the sleep section for why that’s important.) I’m not encouraging anyone to take an accessible room from someone who is handicapped, but there are often a lot of them open and if you have a late enough check-in, most hotels are happy to give you a larger room. Every hotel probably has a different policy around this, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
Check to make sure your hotel has cribs available (before you go) and mini-fridges. Most do, but I’ve been noticing a lot of hotels are getting rid of mini-fridges, but those are important for storing pumped or regular milk, for your infant or toddler, and any other refrigeratable snacks (yogurt pouches, cheese sticks, etc.)
Rearrange furniture to create a space for the baby and move any breakables or hazards out of the way. Our most recent hotel had a few chairs and a coffee table, we scooted things out of the way to make a play space for Wyatt, and the coffee table had sharp corners, so we didn’t want that in the middle of the room. Remember that hotels aren’t baby proofed, so keep an eye out around sockets and certain furniture! If your baby is into sockets, it doesn’t hurt to throw a few plug protectors in your bag.
Feeding
Bring any feeding gear that you normally use at home. Bottles, pump, milk storage bags, pumping bra, sippy cup, water bottle, stainless steel bottle (to keep milk cold when you’re on the go all day), formula packets, silicone plate, bibs, children forks + spoons, whatever is currently in rotation.
I pack a travel size of dish soap that just refill at home when I need to. When we were using bottles and pumping gear, I’d also bring our bottle brush, but now I just use the hotel washcloths as a rag to clean any feeding gear.
If you pump and are staying at a hotel and your baby isn’t drinking the milk then (or your baby isn’t with you), make sure you keep the milk in the back of the mini fridge where it will stay cold. If you’re flying or driving home, I used to like to bring this mini cooler for my bags of milk that I would pack with ice from the hotel in zip blocks to keep it cold during the flight or drive. (Remember, you can bring breast milk in your carry on- and you can always refresh the ice at the airport.) When we were traveling home from Hawaii and Wyatt was 3 months old, I had been pumping so I had some milk in storage. Our flight home was a redeye and we had to check out of our room much earlier, so I asked the front desk to keep my milk in their fridge while they held our bags until we actually left for the airport. I had brought some large zip blocks that I labeled with my name, number, room number, and date so they wouldn’t get thrown out! The resort was happy to do it and I didn’t have to throw out any milk!
Bathing
When Wyatt was an infant, we’d bring his infant tub that folded down super flat, was so light and super easy to travel with. We’d pop it into the hotel sink for bath time. Once he got too big for that, we didn’t bring any tub. When he was still an infant we’d often just shower or take a bath with him at the hotel since he didn’t really have anywhere to lay like he did in our tub insert at home. Once Wyatt cared about bath toys, we’d make sure a few of the general toys we brought could be tossed in the water as well.
We don’t bring his soft washcloths or towels. They have plenty at the hotel, and Wyatt’s skin was never super sensitive, but if you’re traveling with a newborn or infant that is sensitive to detergents or certain fabrics, then bringing those items might be something to consider.
Bring a travel size of your baby’s soap, and if they’re one or older, their toothbrush and toothpaste.
Sleeping
Sleeping space. We always try to find a big enough nook of our hotel room for Wyatt to sleep in, and judge away, but sometimes that’s the closet or bathroom. Seriously those accessible bathrooms are huge and instead of lights out at 7pm for all of us, if we have Wyatt sleep in there, we can have a more normal evening. (Pro-Tip: We just get ready for bed when Wyatt does and then most hotels have bathrooms in their lobbies you can use instead of bothering the baby.) When Wyatt was an infant, we’d put his DockATot in hotel bathtubs for the 45 minutes at a time he’d sleep not being next to us (I don’t know how safe this is, so I’m not necessarily recommending it, but he couldn’t move yet so it seemed ok.) If there isn’t a good spot to put our baby that’s a little separate from the rest of the room and we put him down at his usual bedtime (7pm), you can usually find Tim and I on our laptops or watching Netflix in the bed, each with an Airpod in so the smaller screen and noise doesn’t wake Wyatt up.
Gear. Think about all of the items you use during your nighttime and nap time routine. Pack a book or a few, a sound machine (we just bring our normal one and don’t bother with a travel size, it’s small and light enough), swaddle or sleep suit, DockATot (life saver for us at hotels when Wyatt used one for the first few months, the infant size fits in a large suitcase, and we used it at home so it kept his sleeping space consistent when we traveled). Your hotel should have cribs, but double check. And if you’re in an airbnb you might need to bring your own travel crib or pack ‘n play.
Schedule. I’m always more flexible with Wyatt’s sleep schedule when we’re traveling. Sometimes it makes more sense to keep him up a little later with us, or to do more naps on-the-go. When we’re in a hotel we’re either on vacation or traveling with Tim for work, so depending on the situation, throwing a strict schedule out in favor or being able to be flexible with dinner or wake-up times makes more sense. However, we know that most babies operate well on schedules, so I try not to stray too far from the norm. Time changes also play into this- and for the most part I try to just adjust Wyatt right away to the new time zone. Be on the lookout for a post about Sleep While Traveling with a Baby for more on this.
Other Gear
Bring a play mat, toys and books. When Wyatt was an infant, we would bring this travel play gym with us on trips. It folds up nice in a large suitcase, and is a perfect space for baby to hang in in the hotel so someone doesn’t have to be holding and occupying them all the time. Now that Wyatt’s a toddler, we bring our Gathre Mat and throw some toys on it. We also use the Gathre when we feed him meals in the room, we put his plate on there and it’s easy to clean after.
Buy things when you get there! If I’m gone for a long enough time, I just buy diapers and wipes when I get there (obviously packing enough in case I can’t get to a Walgreens or Target right away). Same with milk and snacks. Unless you’re going somewhere remote, you can pretty much get most of your disposable supplies when you arrive.
Again, plug protectors if sockets are an issue for you little one.
If you don’t have access to laundry, or just don’t plan on doing any, bring a lot of extras of all clothing (especially during infancy!)
Last Tip: Get out of the room! You will both go crazy if you try to spend a lot of time cooped up, also you’re probably on vacation so go out and explore!
What do you think?