We recently took our 5 month old baby son to Europe. Specifically, Belgium and The Netherlands. My wife and I have traveled to Europe several times before, however, never with our new infant son.
There is no need to freak out about such a trip. We planned the entire 9 day trip within 1 week and left the following week.
How we packed
I took a 26″ TravelPro Roller and my wife used a 26″ Timberland Roller. I carried on my back a Timberland backpack and my wife used a Backpack Pro Diaper Bag.
Here is what you need.
Diapers – At least 4 days worth. This is easy to pack. We basically stuffed the diaper bag with everything we could as well as a little more in my bag.
Burp Clothes – We brought a good amount. Opted not to do laundry there.
Pack for the weather – Just know the what the weather is going to be like overthere.
Passports – Obviously. You need an infant passport too. We got ours expedited within 4-5 days. That was a major stress event, because the passport office sent us all of our stuff back rejecting it (we had 3 days left to leave mind you). We ended up re-sending everything back again (this became expensive) and had to retake photos (that went unused). So try to plan this part ahead of schedule.
Here are a list of passport expediters who can handle getting your infant passport to you overnight, before you leave for your trip.
Aside from a passport and diapers you will need to bring a carrier. If you want to carry your kid the whole time in say a Baby Bjorn, thats fine and in some respects its easier to be really mobile (ie trains). However, its going to be tough to carry that weight the whole time. My son weighs 20 pounds. We bought the Combi Soho Sport Stroller because it was light enough to carry with a backpack and a roller.
This stroller is not ideal for serious cobblestone (2 inch square variety). We opted not to use it in Brugge, Belgium and carried our son there instead. However, in Amsterdam it was not a problem to use the stroller because the streets and sidewalks use larger stones. I would not recommend this stroller for Prague either. However, there are plenty of places in Europe where the Combi will shine. You can see from the photos it folds nearly flat which was another big plus for when I had to store it on the trains. You can also manuever this stroller with one hand and because of its small width/footprint its easy to navigate through tight spots.
Feeding – I have no advice for bottle feeding as my wife breast feeds. When our son wanted to eat it was pretty easy to calm him down. ie on the crowded train.
Good attitude – You need to have a good attitude when traveling with your infant to Europe. It can easily be a stressful situation, but prepare yourself for some bumps like airport transfers, train transfers, getting to the hotel, going out to eat, etc. Once you prepare yourself for all those things, you will have a great time and really enjoy taking pictures with your kid. Remember, not everyone does this because its perceived as more of a hassle, however, time waits for nobody and you will have memories to last a lifetime.
December 14, 2005
![17.10.2010-644[1]](http://www.babytalkers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/17.10.2010-6441-50x50.jpg "17.10.2010-644[1]")
