Flying somewhere warm with a baby: pack for three climates

On the day you fly, your baby can go from a plane cabin to a hot street to an air-⁠conditioned bedroom within a few hours, and each one calls for a different outfit.

The cabin is often warm and stuffy while the plane boards and waits on the runway, then cooler later in the flight, when the vent above your seat blows on you both. Pick clothes that open easily, because a diaper change on a plane happens in a lavatory the size of a closet, on a fold-⁠down table if there is one. Snaps down the front or a zip beat buttons at the back. On a night flight, a sleepsuit with feet replaces pants and socks, and a two-⁠way zip opens from the bottom for a change.

Keep the travel layers and a change of clothes or two at the top of your carry-⁠on bag, beside the diapers. Checked luggage can be delayed, and baggage halls take time. Pack a spare shirt for yourself in that same bag, too. When a baby spits up or leaks during descent, it usually ends up on your shoulder.

Pack more milk and food than the flight needs, because delays and runway waits happen. Breast milk, formula, baby food and the water to mix formula may go through security in more than the usual 100 ml (3.4 oz), so tell the officer at the start of screening, and check the rules of the airport you fly home from, because they differ between countries. If your baby drinks one particular formula, bring enough for the whole trip, since shops abroad may not sell it.

On a winter-⁠sun trip, the flight home lands in the cold. The warm layers for the walk to the car belong in the carry-⁠on, because the checked bag comes off the belt after you need them. In the car seat, a puffy coat doesn't go under the harness: buckle your baby in thin layers and lay the coat over the straps.

After months of bundling up a winter baby, dressing this lightly can feel wrong, but it's right. Around 32°C (90°F) feels-⁠like, clothes cannot solve the heat on their own. Young babies do not sweat efficiently, so do what locals do: go out in the morning and the evening, and stay indoors or rest in deep shade during the hottest midday hours.

At the beach, set up in the shade first: a big umbrella or a beach tent, and a clip-⁠on stroller sunshade or a parasol for naps. Water, white sand and poolside tiles reflect sunlight into the shade, so the sun hat stays on even under the umbrella. Choose one with a wide brim, ideally with a soft neck flap and a strap under the chin, so it stays on in a sea breeze and when small hands pull.

For the water, a long-⁠sleeve sun cover shirt or sunsuit goes over a swim diaper, and a toddler who walks gets water sandals for the sand and the pool deck. From 6 months, sunscreen goes on the skin that clothes and shade leave bare.

A pool that feels lovely and cool to you after the heat chills a baby fast. Most babies can go in from about 6 months. Keep the swim short, half an hour at most, and lift your baby out at the first shiver, chattering teeth or bluish lips, into a dry towel in the shade.

The daytime beach forecast tells you nothing about the bedroom. Air conditioning away from home is unpredictable: some hotel units chill the room down to 20°C (68°F) overnight, while an older rental without it stays warm all night. Packing only the thinnest summer sleep bag because the destination is hot is how babies end up waking cold in the middle of the night. Take a small room thermometer, or a baby monitor that shows the temperature, and read it beside the crib rather than trusting the number on the AC remote.

Sleep bags carry a warmth number on the label, the TOG. A 1.0 TOG bag is often the most practical travel choice for an air-⁠conditioned room between 20°C (68°F) and 24°C (75°F). Pair it with a short-⁠sleeve or long-⁠sleeve bodysuit depending on how cool the room actually settles. If the room stays naturally warm at 24⁠–⁠27°C (75⁠–⁠81°F), switch to a 0.5 TOG bag. If you don't know the room, pack both, because sleep bags this thin weigh little.

Check where the crib stands before bedtime, and move it out of the stream from a wall unit or a ceiling fan. Many hotels provide a crib, but not always one that follows safe sleep advice, so ask ahead what you will get, and take out any pillow, quilt or bumper it arrives with. A travel crib mattress feels thin and hard under your hand. Leave it as it is, because a blanket folded underneath makes it soft and warm, and babies sleep safest on a firm, flat mattress.

The most common packing mistake is multiplying the days of the trip by a stack of fancy outfits. In the heat, babies live in simple, breathable rompers. Between fruit snacks, sunscreen, sand and diaper leaks, expect to go through two or three changes a day, so count to your next wash, not to the end of the trip. Clothes this thin dry overnight on a warm balcony, and a small bottle of travel detergent turns the hotel sink into a laundry.