Packing list for travelling with a baby
The list changes shape entirely with an infant, and every generic checklist gets it wrong — usually by giving you a noun where you needed a number. Nappies and feeds scale with the length of the trip and the transit at both ends, and running short at 30,000 feet is the failure this list exists to prevent.
Security treats baby food, formula and breast milk differently from ordinary liquids: reasonable quantities are allowed over the normal limit, and you may be asked to taste or open them. That is worth knowing at the packing stage rather than the belt, and it is the one place where the usual carry-on advice does not apply.
What this trip type changes
Nappies and feeds are counts, and generous ones
Scaled to the trip length, with the transit at both ends allowed for. This is the number people get wrong.
Liquids for infants sit outside the normal limit
Formula, expressed milk and baby food are allowed in the quantities a baby needs. Our prohibited items checker holds the detail; the list links to it.
The bulky items are the ones with rules
Pushchairs and car seats are usually carried free and handled at the gate, but the policy is the airline's rather than ours — check yours.
Build the list
Already set up for this kind of trip. Add where you are going and your dates — those are the two things we will not guess.
Packing for — leave on Anyone to see everything
Laundry
Trip type — pick any that apply
Children's ages — bands only, pick any that apply
Bags
Pick a destination to start.
Other kinds of trip
Flying soon? Check what can and cannot fly for anything unusual, and what an overweight bag costs on your airline before you get to the desk.