How to travel anywhere with your formula fed baby - 7 Essential tips for formula feeding on-the-go
Traveling with your formula fed baby can be tricky. Even day trips seem to require a mammoth level of organization.
Working out how many bottles you’ll need, and then sterilizing them. Researching cafes or restaurants where you might be able to grab some hot water to make them. Pre-measuring out powder – and then packing some extra, just in case.
And that’s before we even get to how you make sure you’re not stuck in traffic or miles away from the nearest water source when it’s feeding time.
It’s enough to make you want to stay at home until your baby’s weaned. But since you don’t want to do that, here’s how you can make formula feeding on the go easier.
1. Use ready-to-feed formula
By far the easiest way to feed formula on the go is with a ready-to-feed formula. Rather than having to make up a bottle using powder and boiled water, you simply need to open and pour it into your sterilized bottle.
And ready-to-feed formulas are just as wholesome as powdered formulas. HiPP Ready-to-Feed includes all the same nutrition as powdered formula – including HiPP’s signature pre and probiotics.
The catch is that ready-to-feed is usually significantly more expensive than powdered formula. And if you have to carry a lot of it, it’s going to be pretty bulky and heavy. Maybe not a problem if you’re driving, but it could take up a huge chunk of your airline baggage allowance.
Depending on the age of your baby, you might also find you waste some unless you’re near a refrigerator. Ready-to-feed bottles are usually 200ml – the perfect size for a 5 month old, but too much for most newborns to drink in one feed.
Ready-to-feed is ideal for day trips, and while you’re in transit. But if you’re away more than a night, you’ll probably need to find a way to use powdered formula too.
2. Use a cooler
A good quality cooler packed with ice will keep a bottle of made-up formula safely cool for at least a few hours. While we usually recommend making each bottle up fresh, you can make them a little way in advance if you can keep them refrigerator cold.
This will give you a fair bit of flexibility when traveling – you could use a couple of cooled bottles first, and then switch to ready-to-feed once your ice begins to melt. You can also use a cooler to keep half-used bottles of ready-to-feed formula in.
How long formula can be safely kept in a cooler depends on the type of cooler you use (plus the outside air temperature). A coolbag will only give you 2 or 3 hours, especially if it’s in a hot car trunk. But an electric cooler with plenty of ice packs will be almost as effective as a fridge.
3. Get a travel bottle warmer
If your baby doesn’t mind chilly milk, you might not need one. But for those of us with babies who’ll get upset (read: scream the airport waiting room down) if their milk is too cold, travel bottle warmers are essential.
Some plug into a USB, so they can be charged up using your power bank or in the car. Others are low-tech, needing just hot water to bring your baby’s milk to scream-free temperature.
4. Use a flask
Flasks are perfect for carrying pre-boiled water to make up bottles with and will keep them warm. And depending on your baby’s appetite, you should be able to carry 2 or 3 bottles worth in 1 flask.
Plus, you won’t be reliant on finding a place willing to boil you some water when you need a feed. Which makes the prospect of slinging your baby onto your back and heading out for a hike, or spending the day at an off-the-beaten-track beach far more manageable.
5. Use sterilizing tablets
At home, steam sterilizers are usually the easiest way to sterilize bottles. But they’re usually totally impractical to take away from home with you.
Sterilizing tablets – which turn cold water into sterilizing fluid – are the answer. Non bulky, simple to use, and just as safe.
6. Be prepared to relax your routine
When you’ve spent weeks getting your baby into the perfect feeding routine, it can feel risky to change it. But if you’re traveling, you might not have much choice. Especially if you’re moving across timezones – because which timezone do you give your 3pm feed in?
You’ll probably also find that your baby ends up sleeping at times when they wouldn’t usually, in the backs of cars and airport lounges, which throws out feeding and everything else.
It’s impossible to do anything much about this – your routine is disrupted. And yes, you might end up with a baby that’s a little crankier than usual. Or you might luck out. Either way, it’s almost certainly worth it.
7. Ask for help
Luckily, babies are cute. Which means most people are pretty happy to help parents who need it.
There aren’t many restaurants that won’t help you out with hot water. Cabin crew will usually heat a bottle. Hotels will often be able to find container for sterilizing.
And anywhere you go, there’s often no shortage of people happy to play peek-a-boo with your hungry baby while you get their bottle ready.
Want to stock up on formula for your next trip? Check out HiPP Ready-to-feed here. Or take this 2 minute quiz to get your personal recommendation for premium organic formula.