When it comes to traveling with your baby or toddler, you’d be amazed at how much stuff one little person needs to bring on vacation.

You need to consider diapers, wipes, food, toys, clothing, bottles, strollers, car seats, and of course, something for your baby to sleep in.

If you’ll be staying in a hotel, many of them offer the option of renting a crib of some type in your room; other times you may be staying with relatives. If you are faced with the need to bring a bed for your baby on your trip, there are a few options such as travel cribs or pack ‘n plays.

In this article, I want to break down the differences between travel cribs vs. pack ‘n plays and help you decide which one is right for you; and it might be both!

So…what is the difference between travel cribs vs pack ‘n plays?

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Congratulations, it’s almost time to meet your new baby!

The bad news?

You have a TON of work to do to get ready.

You have to:

• Design the nursery
• Baby proof the house
• And go shopping for all the baby essentials

But what exactly are the baby essentials you’ll need for a newborn?

If you’re like me, you don’t want a lot of fluff and explanation, just a straightforward list of everything you could possibly need as a new or first-time mom or dad.

So if you’re looking for pictures of baby things to buy…

Here is (almost) everything you’ll need on your shopping list for a newborn baby, with helpful pictures for the visually-inclined (I’m looking at you, fellow dads!).

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Can you imagine this nightmare scenario?

(If you’re reading this, you might not even have to imagine… You may be living it!)

In any case, it’s frighteningly common, and a huge headache for parents.

What should you do if you’re traveling and the airline loses your car seat? What if you arrive at your destination and the car seat is too damaged from the flight to use?

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I’m really, really big on self-care for parents.

Taking care of babies and toddlers is so incredibly hard that it’s absolutely crucial that you find any way you can to make some time for yourself.

Some folks will encourage skipping showers when you’re alone with the baby, opting instead for wipes, dry shampoo, and extra deodorant so you never have to leave their side.

I say fooey!

Here are my best tips and advice for how to find time to shower when you’re alone with a newborn or toddler.

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The first year or so of a baby’s life is a full-contact sport.

Parents will be VERY hands on, and baby will be on your hip almost all the time.

That makes it difficult to take care of basic tasks, especially self-care. This is why new parents are always tired, unshaved, unshowered, and generally struggling to keep it together.

But there are some activities you can’t skip, which begs the question:

How do you go to the bathroom with a baby? Any tips for using a public restroom when you’re alone with your baby?

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Keeping baby’s room clean is one thing.

Keeping the nursery SMELLING clean is another one entirely!

Chances are, once baby moves out of the bassinet and into his own room, the nursery will be ground zero for everything from sleeping to feeding to, yes, changing stinky diapers.

If you’re like a lot of parents, you’ll want to have some kind of receptacle, like a Diaper Genie, right there in the nursery to help with disposal.

So what do you do if baby’s room always smells like poop? Or pee? How do you keep the nursery smelling nice?

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When you bring your baby home from the hospital, you’re going to realize pretty quickly:

Taking care of baby’s skin is quite a task!

It’s dry, flaky, and soft but easily irritable. Keeping it moisturized and baby smooth is no easy feat.

So a lot of parents wind up spending a fortune on tubs and tubs of baby lotion.

Is that really necessary, though? What’s the difference between baby lotion vs regular adult lotion?

Does it matter or can you just use whatever’s cheapest?

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I seriously can not tell you how many close calls I’ve had.

In the baby days, parents are HYPER diligent about perfectly tracking, mixing (if using formula), and sterilizing bottles used for milk.

Once the toddler years come and milk is sort of an optional, ‘whenever the kid feels like it’ endeavor, you tend to end up with a lot of half-finished sippy cups of milk lying around the house.

(And in between couch cushions and rolling around on the floor of your car. Just admit it, we’ve all been there.)

So it’s a common problem and a common question: What happens if your child or toddler drinks some old, spoiled milk?

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