Traveling with a Baby:

3-6 Months

In this post I’d like to share a bit of what we, idiot novice parents, have learned during the past few months, and given that we tend to live a more minimalist lifestyle, what gear (baby stuff) we have found is worth bringing along for the adventure.  Prior Travel with Baby post can be found here, here, and here. Ellen’s comprehensive Traveling while Pregnant post is also fantastic if interested.

Traveling with a Baby: 3-6 Months

In the past 3 months we have had the pleasure of seeing Kinley transform from a slightly emotive baby to a super chatty, shrieking, motor boating, giggly girl.  While I worked a contract in rural Kentucky, we lived in Lexington, so Ellen and Kinley could occasionally zip up to see Ellen’s parents once or twice a week in Cincinnati, Ohio.  It was great to have the flexibility to take a contract so close to home.  We could never imagine living in the Ohio/Kentucky area permanently given our lifestyle, but being able to make a 5 month stop in the region was fantastic for firming up family ties.  Both of our families were able to spend considerable time with Kinley and to enjoy her development from newborn to infant.

We are so lucky to be travel PT’s!

During the last 3 months we did our best to maintain our active outdoors lifestyle.  In the Lexington, KY area there are few options for the outdoor adventurer so we were largely limited to 2 local trails and the Red River Gorge while the weather cooperated.  

We also had to train for a 55K Ultramarathon in Antelope Canyon which took place on Kinley’s 6mo birthday.  Pushing her in a stroller for up to 16mi at a time, she rarely would make a peep as long as we were outside and moving.  In fact, Kinley’s favorite thing is to be held facing forward while we walk or hike.  She giggles and shrieks for miles on end.  I think it is safe to say she is a budding adventurer just like her parents!

Kinley also had her first airplane ride as we brought her with us to Page, AZ for our race. (Which Ellen rocked out, finishing 24th out of 253 competitors just 6 months after having a baby!)  Having to spend 4hrs confined to mom’s lap was a challenge but all in all it went smoothly.  If we are going to do much more flying we will need to find a better way to allow for her to lay down and sleep. (if any of you have ideas we would love to hear them as we are hoping to travel internationally soon).

As we move into the next stage of our travels we are prepping for the next contract.  We are headed to California and both Ellen and I are going to be working.  Check back in for updates on how it is going with finding child care and Ellen’s move back into the workforce after having nearly 8 months off.

Update on our sleep situation 

For those of you following our sleep saga you will be pleased with our progress.  At about the 5 month mark we had begun to improve her naps and were able to slowly improve Kinley’s night waking.  However, she was still waking up a few times a night requiring Ellen to roll over and pop a pacifier back in her mouth or to feed her in the night. El was getting about 1-2 consecutive hours of sleep at a time (at the most) and was running ragged.  Sweeping changes are required.

Established night feeding times

At around 5 months Kinley was able to make it through the night with only one 4 AM feeding.  Now, did she know this?  Of course not.  The thing is neither did Dad. 

Once Ellen established only a 4 AM feeding at night it allowed me to take a more active nighttime role in managing our little bear.  Prior to having this firm cutoff if Kinley would cry I wouldn’t  know how to help because it could be a diaper change, pacifier, or feeding.  Now, I knew that if it wasn’t 4 AM I could possibly be of use.  Ellen was now free to snooze through all of these other little wakings and I could be of legitimate help. 

Graduated Extinction

Ok, so this is probably the most painful thing we have had to do as parents.  Teaching a child how to self soothe is a battle.  There are all kinds of ideas out there but this is the one we tried and have had great success with it. 

First off, this technique is ONLY applicable when the child only is seeking comforting and is not in any dire need at the moment.  This means she is dry, fed, warm or cool enough, etc. 

Here is how Graduated Extinction works. 

1. Baby cries
2. Parents check on baby and go down the list of possible needs.  If no needs identified, pacifier is placed within reach and baby is gently calmed WITHOUT TOUCHING her and leave the room. (Sometimes the baby will not calm once she realizes that she is not going to get picked up as she expected.  This is ok.  Still leave the room once her pacifier is in reach.)
3. Wait 5 minutes if baby continues to cry.
4. If baby cries for the full 5 min go back in and repeat step 2.
5. Wait 10 minutes.
6. If baby cries for the full 10 min go back in and repeat step 2.
7. Wait 15 minutes.
8. etc.

The first night of doing this was difficult to stomach.  The 10 and 15 minute bouts pushed us to the brink to tears knowing that she was calling out and we were intentionally NOT helping our little baby.  Fortunately, she calmed before the 15 minute bout finished and we have never had to push into that timeframe since.

For Kinley, to date, she has not cried for more than 14min (knock on wood), and that was on day one of this technique.  Since that night she has gotten better and better at self soothing and is to the point now that she may cry out for 30s or less in the middle of the night and by the time we get to her room to check on her she is passed out again happily sucking on her pacifier.  

*See our section below about baby gear as one item was clutch for helping her to self soothe.

Give Kinley her own room

This seems like an obvious thing to do early on but with babies needing night feedings it is so easy to have her crib next to the bed so mom can just roll over and nurse when needed.  The problem is that this forces mom to be on alert all through the night in case she is needed.  Feedings or fussing alike would wake Ellen up and disrupt her sleep.  We moved Kinley’s crib into the next room and placed a video baby monitor next to her to keep a close watch on her if needed.  The reason this was so effective is that the soft little whimpering Kinley makes at night would be loud enough to wake us (Ellen) up, even though she may not actually need anything from us (Ellen).  Putting her in another room eliminated these mini-wakings and bought Ellen some precious ZZZ’s.

Overall these changes have yielded a tremendous improvement in sleep patterns, both for Kinley and for Ellen.  She has since progressed to sleeping through the entire night on occasion and is no longer needing the night feeding, to Ellen’s delight.

 

What we have learned

Time Flies

So all of those cliche’ things that parents say regarding parenting are largely true.  We have been shocked by how big Kinley has gotten, how much she has changed over the last few months, and how much we overlooked the beauty that was in the mundane moments we had with her at each tiny stage of her development. 

Traveling is easier than expected

Despite what everyone may say, traveling with a baby is only as difficult as you make it.  Having taken her all over the country with us, from Las Vegas casinos to freezing backcountry hikes, as long as her basic needs are taken care of it is possible to just GO.  Sure, there is some added logistics to airplane travel with an infant, but every challenge can be overcome.  Heck, if we can manage 6 state licenses simultaneously and changing jobs multiple times a year, bringing along our little Bear is only an incremental increase in the complexity of our lives. 

Oh, yeah, babies still are growing freaking fast! 

We talked about this in our last post about travel with a baby but man is it for real!  We cannot emphasize enough – Do not buy NEW baby clothes.  There are some items that she only fit for a few weeks before we had to toss them into the giveaway pile.  Save yourself some moolah and stick to hand-me-downs, gifted clothes, or thrift store items.

Baby Gear We Like

Wubbanub

When we were first decided to buy this little bear we were super skeptical about its use.  We figured it was just another cutesie piece of baby crap that we would never use, but needed a Christmas gift for Kinley. Being minimalist we were less than enthused about another baby toy to add to the growing pile.

WOW we were wrong! 

Once Kinley developed the dexterity to handle this hand sized toy she was able to manipulate it enough to pop it back in her own mouth.  This sounds inconsequential, but when she was waking 4-6 times a night wailing just because she lost her pacifier it became a big deal.  The Wubbanub has become our go to sleep association toy for her and things have gone much more smoothly because of it.

 

Large Ice Cube Tray 

 So when searching for this on Amazon you’ll see that most of the hits are for whiskey ice cubes.  I promise this is not the reason we are recommending them (though at times they have been used for this purpose).  These large cube trays make the perfect size for baby food cubes.  Pureeing boiled veggies and freezing them into these single serving trays has saved us tons of money over the last 2-3 months, and we know the ingredients are whole foods and healthy.  Baby food from the grocery is about $0.50 a serving, and most meals require 2-4 servings of food.  That comes to $2/meal for a tiny baby girl!  Our back of the napkin math puts our typical meal cost at $0.25 by simply making our own.  Easy is not always BEST!

The steps for making your own baby food are simple:

1. Boil selected veggies (sweet potatoes are Kinley’s favorite, peas are her least)
2. Puree cooked veggies or raw fruit in food processor
3. Pour puree into tray and freeze
4. Pop out the cubes and store in a Zip-Lock bag until needed.
5. When anticipating use take a frozen cube and put it into a small Tupperware for easy travel.

Baby Down Snow Suit

For any of you who follow either of our Instagram accounts (Steve and Ellen), you will notice at ton of pictures with Kinley sporting a hot pink snow suit.  This has been a life saver!  Not for Kinley…well maybe for Kinley, but for us too.  Our active lifestyle doesn’t stop in the winter months, and Kentucky had one of the coldest winters on record this year.  Did that stop us?  Not a chance.  In this outfit (with layers underneath as well) Kinley tackled hikes in Red River Gorge in the low teens, adventuring Antelope Canyon just above the freezing point, and even 16mile runs in her BOB running stroller while we trained for our recent Ultra-Marathon. 

 

Ergobaby Baby Carrier

Obviously if we are doing all of this hiking and adventuring with a 3-6mo year old we are not doing it all holding her in our arms.  The Ergobaby has been a fantastic option for us.  It is sturdy and highly adaptable allowing for her to fit in it as a teeny tiny infant with a special insert for little ones. One of the best features is the waist belt support which helps take the load off of the shoulders and carry it through the hips – especially helpful as Kinley is growing exponentially!

We also have the Baby Bjorn Carrier which is a cheaper option, but have found that the Ergobaby was more secure around her head back when she didn’t have the same level of head control that she does now.  We keep one carrier in each car now days and can just grab it and go!

Written by: Stephen Stockhausen – AKA Dad