THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. WHEN YOU CLICK ON THESE LINKS WE RECEIVE COMPENSATION, AT NO EXPENSE TO YOU, THAT HELPS THIS BLOG RUN. ALL OPINIONS ARE OUR OWN.

Whether you are traveling for the first time or the tenth time with your new baby, there is always a bit of anxiety. What if they are unhappy? What if they get sick? What if I forget something that they need? Frequent travelers probably know their packing list by heart and can pack their bags and be out the door in a couple of hours. When you are traveling with a baby, there is a lot more preparation that is needed. You need to be organized and seemingly ready for any situation. You also have the added struggle of needing to bring extra stuff for your little one but fewer hands to carry it. This packing list has the exact essentials you need for your trip to the Caribbean with your baby and additional things you might not have thought of that will help for your particular circumstance.

If you mention to anyone that you’re flying with a baby, they will likely remark on how much stuff you’ll need to pack with you. And while it is true that babies need a lot of stuff for how little they are, that doesn’t mean you can’t travel relatively light. For a week-long trip, we got everything the three of us needed into 1 suitcase, a camera bag, and a diaper bag. The only difference with the baby is we needed to use a larger sized suitcase rather than a carry-on sized one that we’d normally share. The great thing about going to the Caribbean is your (and possibly the baby’s) clothes will take up less space compared to if you were visiting a cold-weathered destination.

Like almost everything concerning parenting, this is not a one size fits all list. All babies are different and all parents are different. I have included what I consider the essentials, but also many optional things for each category that might apply to your child. Use this list as a starting point and remove anything that you won’t need. There is no use in carrying around extra baby gear that you know you won’t find value in.

Clothing

A good guideline for clothing is to bring 1.5 outfits per day. This may change if your baby has frequent blowouts or you can do laundry on your trip. We love using Airbnbs (use this link for $30 off your first booking) as you can find affordable accommodations with a washer and dryer. Even if doing laundry on your vacation used to sound miserable, it is very useful when traveling with a baby.

Onesies
Pants/Shorts
If your baby is under 6 months, you may consider bringing long-sleeved onesies and long pants to reduce their sun exposure.
Socks
Sun hat
Sleepers/PJs

Optional Additions

Drool bibs
Shoes

Feeding

This section will change significantly depending on the age of the baby and whether they are breast or formula-fed. If your baby is not yet eating solids and exclusively breastfed, you likely don’t actually need to bring anything.

3-4 Burp Cloths

Optional Additions

Bottles, nipples, sippy cups
Breast Pump
Formula

Tip: If your baby is formula-fed and is less picky about the brand they use, you might be able to find it at the local stores where you are traveling to.

Powdered Formula Dispenser to pre-measure your formula
Microwavable sterilizer bags
Cooler bag for premixed formula or pumped milk and reusable ice packs
Snack Catcher
Puree pouches or baby food
Lightweight feeding set
Silicone Bibs
Nursing cover
Portable high chair harness
Bottle brush and portable drying rack
Nipple shields, nipple ointment
Boppy Breast Feeding Pillow

Play

4-5 Baby toys

Consider bringing several hanging toys to hang from their car seat if you are going to be driving a lot or using the car seat in the plane.

Travel Play mat
1-2 Books

We brought a soft crinkly book, which is one of her favorite toys and a hard board book to read to her at nighttime to maintain our nighttime routine while on the go.

Health

A couple of small bottles of hand sanitizer
Baby Wash
Baby Lotion

Optional Additions

Sunscreen (check with your doctor if your baby is under 6 months)

Sleep

You can likely borrow the main necessity you need for baby’s sleep: the crib. The rest of the items you need depend on what your baby uses to sleep at home. To ensure you have great sleep while traveling, bring anything your baby associates with sleep so the change in location isn’t as jarring.

Optional Additions

White Noise Machine (either a portable or larger one)
Pacifiers
Portable Crib
Pack n Play Sheets

If you are going to be borrowing a pack n play at your hotel or Airbnb, you may want to bring your own sheets so the smell is one your baby is used to and so you know that they are clean. Also, not all Airbnbs or hotels, we’ve found, may supply adequately-sized sheets.

Swaddles (either velcro or muslin)
SlumberPod

If your baby needs blackout conditions to sleep or you are sharing a hotel room and want to go to bed later than the baby.

Baby monitor (preferably one that doesn’t require wifi)

Beach Items

Optional Additions

Beach toys

Diapering

Wet Bag for soiled diapers and clothing (keeps in the smell until you can find an acceptable trash can to dump the diapers)
2-3 days worth of diapers
Tip: If you want, just bring enough diapers for the day you are traveling and the first day there. You can then buy what additional you need.
Travel pack of wipes
Diaper Changing Pad

Optional Additions

Diaper Rash Cream

Note: Diaper rashes are more common in hotter and humid climates, so even if your baby hasn’t gotten a diaper rash yet, they might while you are traveling.

Diaper Cream applicator

Out & About

Car Seat

You can check the car seat at the counter in a car seat bag (which you can stuff with additional diapers and wipes in the empty space), use it at the airport and then gate check it, or use it on the plane if you buy a seat for your baby.

We recommend bringing your own car seat rather than renting one at your destination. Renting a carseat with your rental car is expensive. You also can’t be guaranteed that the car seat is clean or hasn’t been in an accident. On most airlines car seats and strollers fly free. If you are not planning on being in a car, you can skip bringing the car seat.

Optional Additions

Collapsible stroller
Carrier

This is great to use in the airport, on the beach, or in other crowded places while you are traveling. Using a carrier often can be quite hot as you are sharing body heat. You can get a breathable one to make it more comfortable for both of you. You can also get a lightweight wrap that takes up less space.

How to pack

What to Put in the Diaper Bag for the FLight

Flying can be stressful at the best of times, but a baby can far exacerbate that stress. To make things go as smoothly as possible, make sure your diaper bag is filled with everything you need and is well organized. Our first flights with our baby went so much easier than I could have ever imagined.

In our diaper bag we packed:

A blanket in case she needed to play on the floor of the airport or if it was cold on the plane
A separate smaller pouch with diapers and wipes so we didn’t have to bring the whole diaper bag to the small airplane bathroom
A change of clothes for the baby in case of a blowout and a change of clothes for us in case of spit-up
Burp cloth and drool bibs
Sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer
Changing mat
Pacifiers
2-3 Baby toys
Portable sound machine

If you have any older baby, using formula, or exclusively pumping, you will also need to pack the baby’s food. Breast milk, formula, and juice are allowed through security in whatever quantity you need. It does not need to be in 3 oz bottles or fit within a plastic bag. Tell the security agent before putting your carry-on bag through the machine. They will likely need to test every single bottle that you bring. You can request that the bottles not be opened but that will likely result in you getting a very thorough pat-down. You need to have a child with you to bring formula through security.

You will also need the baby’s birth certificate easily accessible to show at check-in (applicable to most but not all airlines).

What to put in the checked luggage

When we traveled before baby, we often only brought carry on bags on our trips. That meant we didn’t have to wait for our bags when we landed and our luggage was in smaller suitcases which made it easier to ride public transit in our destination. With a baby, having a checked bag seems to be the better option. You can pack all of your liquids in the bag to avoid getting them out at security while wrangling a tiny baby. Additionally, if you are traveling with more than one adult, one person can manage the larger checked bag and the other can manage the baby. Two smaller bags ends up being less convenient than one larger bag.

We checked the car seat at the counter and managed to fit all the diapers and wipes we needed for the trip within the car seat bag – which costs nothing for most airlines. This saved us space in our actual luggage and meant we didn’t have to buy them at our destination. We packed enough for her to use 10 diapers a day, when she typically uses 6-7.

If you don’t already use packing cubes, traveling with a baby is the time to do it. Baby clothes are so small and can easily get lost if you just fold them all in the suitcase without any good division. I organized the clothes into outfits (shirt/pants/sock combos) and folded them together within the packing cube. I used a separate packing cube for her other essentials (play mat, pack n play sheets, burp cloths, swaddles, etc).