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Traveling with A Baby to NYC

Traveling with a Baby to NYC

A couple of weeks ago we took Izzy on her first road trip!  My sister had a 30th birthday celebration and we could not miss it.  The only problem was she lives in NYC (Brooklyn to be exact).  However, this didn’t stop us because I was determined to go and celebrate with her.  Thankfully, my husband had the weekend off (this is rare when you are a medical resident typically working 80+ hours a week).  We made a list, packed everything up, and drove to NYC on one of the busiest weekends of the year.

Taking a baby road trip, traveling with a baby

Baby Items Needed for the Trip

    • Cloub B App – I’m sure you have seen the cute stuffed animals that play mother’s heartbeats or ocean waves to sooth babies to sleep.  We wanted to reduce the number of items we brought with us (traveling with a baby means a lot of luggage) so we decided to download this Cloud B App.  I LOVE IT!  You can pick from a number of sounds or record your own and then select how long you would like to play the sound.  The app is only $1.99 and totally worth it.  We played it all night long.
    • Pack n Play Crib – We were surprised and grateful that our hotel room had a bathroom large enough to put the pack n play in it AND still use the toilet!  One lesson learned – if the floor is tile put a blanket underneath the pack n play.  She got really cold at night and I didn’t realize why she was crying until I went into the bathroom and felt how cold the tile floor was!  Since the pack n play is low to the ground she could feel the cold floor.  After I put towels down on the floor she slept peacefully the rest of the night!
    • A Baby Carrier – We have the Ergobaby carrier and Izzy has loved it since day one.  It makes carrying a baby around the city so much easier.  Can you imagine a stroller in Times Square!?  Check out my other baby essentials
    • Baby Hearing Protectors – This is an item we did not bring but wished we would have!  We went to an amazing church service at Brooklyn Tabernacle 🙂  The only problem (and it was a small problem) was the loud music.  It is heavenly when the choir sings, but it was a little loud for a sleeping baby.  When I was outside with Izzy in the hallway one of the ushers told me about these amazing baby earmuffs that protect the baby’s hearing!

Lessons learned 

    • Be flexible!  This is key with a small baby.  Getting out of the door will always take longer and that is okay.  I also learned this lesson when our baby girl refused to take the bottles I brought and I had to dump out perfectly good breast milk.  Breastfeeding in public has always made me feel self-conscious, but I did it and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  
    • Learn to sing!  When we were stuck in traffic trying to go through the Holland Tunnel Izzy started to get a little antsy.  We decided to start singing to her and to our amazement she stopped fussing and started laughing.  Maybe she was laughing because I was so off pitch?  But either way she stopped crying 🙂
    • It’s okay to ask for help!  We never would have been able to make this trip without the help from my parents.  They were so patient with us and helped us deal with the stress of taking a 4 month old through Times Square (on the bright side Izzy was captivated by all the flashing lights).
baby road trip, celebrating birthday in NYC with a baby, traveling with a baby

Have you ever traveled with a baby to NYC?  What did you learn on your baby’s first road trip?

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2 Comments

  1. thanks for linking up with us at our thursday blog hop! we live in michigan but my husband is from jersey and we have traveled many times into the city with little ones. we’ve got pictures of all three of our kids from when they were infants, under the rockefeller tree at christmas time! it’s fun, but i think the most important thing to go with is a sense of adventure and relaxed attitude. if you are stressed and worried about how it may go, your baby will sense that and things will go bad. be prepared to change plans, go with the flow, take a break, etc. when traveling with toddlers, be prepared to use public restrooms and don’t think about how gross it is. take hand sanitizer, etc. haha i agree that the carrier is the way to go. a stroller can be a pain in the crowds. we’ve also been to brooklyn tab many times and love it! every baby responds to noise differently…. i think the ear protectors are a great idea though!

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