Let me start by saying, the idea of travelling to Mexico with our 3.5 month old, positively scared the shit out of me. I was scared that I wouldn’t be prepared enough and of what I should be packing for him, I was scared of how he would be on the flight, and I was scared of basically all aspects of bringing him to Mexico (sun, heat, mosquitos etc.). There were literally points in the weeks leading up where I considered cancelling the whole thing all together, but I knew this was something I (we) had to do. Travel is one of Danny and I’s passions and I didn’t want that to change. I want Cruz to see the world and I want him to learn to be a good traveller, and at 3.5 months (before crawling or walking) a chill trip to Mexico was the perfect way to ease ourselves into travelling with baby.

The first piece of advise I would give is to get your expectations in check. This is not going to be like past vacations, bar hopping, downing 25 margaritas on the beach, scorching yourself in hopes of the perfect tan (no? just me?). It will take a bit more prep, and will be a bit less sun, and a bit less margaritas. That being said, seeing your baby’s face light up as you dip their toes into the ocean for the first time ever or their screams of excitement as the breeze off the beach brushes their face, it makes it so worth it. We did Playa Del Carmen and stayed at Aldea Thai. It was great because we had our own private rooftop pool where Cruz was free to have nudy time ;). It was close to La Quinta which we loved, but the beach in front wasn’t super baby friendly but we had a car so we ventured out to different beaches. I’d recommend grand coral beach club during the week – it’s super quiet and they have sun loungers on the beach and a pool.

WHAT I PACKED:
– diapers (enough to last the flight, any connections, and the first day until you’re able to make it to the store)
– diaper bag (wipes, diaper rash cream, thermometer etc.)
– medicine (baby tylenol, biogaia, enfacol)
– 2 swaddles
– a little face cloth for baths and/or wiping sand from face
– Cruz’ towel
– 3 pairs of jammies (footed are best, washed them by hand once throughout our one week trip)
– lightweight outfits (picked up some cute ones from little urban apparel. I should also say that I organized his outfits ahead of time and put them in an ikea drawer organizer to make things easy to find and grab)
– 2 pairs of socks
– dock a tot (I packed this in my checked bag and am SO happy I brought it, we brought it with us to all the beaches we went to and Cruz would lay in the shade and have his naps in it – SO worth bringing. You can also carry it on and lay it across yours and your partner’s lap for babe to snooze in on the flight)
– ready made formula (I brought these as a just in case on the flight if Cruz suddenly rejected the boob or I suddenly had low supply, was just being paranoid at this point. But I’m happy I brought them because Danny and I ended up getting my mom to watch Cruz for one of the nights so we could go to a Cuban bar – it was our first night out by ourselves since having Cruz and it was SO nice and so fun to get a good buzz going together like past vacations ;))
– sanitized bottle (never ended up using)
– powder formula (never used this either)
– 2 x wubanubs
– teether (surprise! A tooth started popping up while we were away)
– adjustable sun hat
– full body UPF50 swimsuit (I picked up this one from Honeysuckle swim)
– reusable swim diapers
– nail clippers (his grow so fast!)
– travel stroller (we picked up the Jet by Silver Cross from West Coast Kids and it was perfect!! Super lightweight and folds up small enough to carry on, you can also plunk your car seat into it which was really good for when Cruz fell asleep in the car)
– car seat (we have the Nuna Pipa which can be used without the base which made it perfect for travelling)
– beach umbrella (shade is KEY, we picked up a stunning fringe one from Monika Hibbs Home and it was perfect!)
– beluga baby wrap (we didn’t end up using this because both us and cruz would have been too warm so we opted for the stroller instead)
– Aveeno SPF 50 baby sunscreen (we also never ended up using this either, most people advised no sunscreen until after 6 months but I wanted to have it on hand just in case (a little sunscreen is better than a burn IMO) but we just stuck to the shade, full length clothes and a sun hat and he was great!)
– baby bug spray (I’m not sure but I think this falls under the same rules as sunscreen so we never sprayed directly on him but instead around the room – normally hotels spray for mosquitos but since we were at an airbnb we had the odd one)
– hand sanitizer (for obvious reasons, we used it a ton on the plane and put some on a baby wipe and wiped down the seats/arm rests)

WHAT I WISH I BROUGHT
– disposable changing pads (I had swaddles to change him on but it would have been nice to have something that I could just throw away after)
– thin soft mat for play time by the pool
– mosquito net (okay this would have been a bit overkill but if you don’t want to use a bug spray and want to sleep with the balcony door open you’re going to need it)
– toque for the plane (oh lord, I literally spent weeks, no, MONTHS packing, ordering things, getting ready for this vacay and when it came down to it, I didn’t bring him a damn toque for the plane.. As it turned out the plane ride was quite warm so he wouldn’t have needed it then but for sure in the airport before it was a bit chilly)
– thin beach blanket (we had brought towels but it would have been nice to have something larger to prevent sand from getting on it)
– orajel (again with that surprise tooth popping up)
– small container of baby detergent (I had thought I brought enough sleepers and outfits but I did end up having to wash his jammies once and I just used shampoo :/ so it would have been nice to have some of his baby wash for that)

TIPS/TRICKS
– before your flight, call the airline to see if they have any bassinets available. We flew air transat and were able to get the bassinet going there but not going home. Let me tell you it was the best thing. Apparently it’s on most international flights and basically you have to pay for the bulkhead seats which cost us $50 per seat so $200 but then you get SO much legroom, you’re at the front of the plane and after take off they bring you a baby bassinet and blanket that clips into the wall in front of you so when baby falls asleep you can just set them in there! It wasn’t available coming home but that would have been actually more beneficial because our flight fell on Cruz’ nighttime sleep so he was lights out and we were also zonked but couldn’t sleep because one of us had to hold him, but it wasn’t so bad.
– you can check your car seat and stroller for free! We also said that our umbrella was a baby umbrella so they didn’t charge us for that either
– you can bring your stroller right to the airplane door and they will take it from there