At 3-6 months, your baby is beginning to be alert, curious and interested in what’s around them! General precautions for young babies under 1 year during travel fall into a few categories that we’ve created. Let’s take a look at the best safety tips for infants at this age.

Sleep safety

As we’ll be hitting home in a few of our course chapters, the 3-6 month age range is when your baby starts sleeping in a crib, or might be sleeping in their own room.

For families who keep their baby in a bassinet or crib in a room with them until 6 months or later, your child will be close to you for supervision, but there are new developments taking place anyway!

Your baby monitor

If your child is sleeping in a different room starting about 3, 4, 5 or 6 months, start pinning down your baby monitor of choice. For us, we got the Eufy baby monitor system, and we actually packed it up quite a few times before we mounted it to the wall in later months. While some families opt for an audio monitor for trips (which is simpler), we felt comfortable knowing that we could see our baby in the crib any time she was sleeping with the door closed.

Have a plan for your baby monitor if child will be sleeping in a different room (or napping while you are outside on a balcony or deck, etc.). Find out how far the WiFi signal reaches, if you’re staying in a vacation rental house. Make sure monitors that work over WiFi will “reach” you if you choose to migrate to another part of your vacation rental, or step outside to the deck, balcony or patio.

Swaddling, rolling, sleep sacks

I would’ve never guessed it, but I got really “into” swaddles and sleep sacks: all the different kinds, TOG weights, styles and materials. Regardless of my fascination with these types of products, one thing to be aware of at the 3-6 month age range is that your baby will start rolling. This might happen while you’re on vacation, for the first time!

For the swaddling to sleep sack transition: if your child pulls their first “roll” on you during a trip, be prepared to stop swaddling and use the Velcro flaps of the sleep sack to make a hands-free sleep sack. It’s an exciting development, and you don’t have to worry about being prepared with an arms-free sleep sack because it’s just something else to pack. We recommend the HALO brand, just from personal experience.

Car safety & transport safety

At 3-6 months, you likely have the hang of how your baby tends to be in the car, or during transport (unless you’re flying for the first time and it’s a grab bag). In this short section, we’ll discuss a few transportation scenarios for safety.

Car seats

If you’ll be renting a car, bring your own car seat or make sure there will be an infant car seat available. The last thing you want is to overlook this important piece of the puzzle in traveling with a baby and be stranded with no car seat when they’re so small.

If traveling overseas, remember to bring a seat belt clip, for international-style seat belts that do not tighten like ours do in the US. We talk about this in every section of this course in regard to car seat safety.

Taking road trip breaks

If you’ll be traveling with your own car via road trip, remember to still get your baby to stretch and get out of the car seat every two hours as recommended. This helps with blood flow and letting the baby move around freely rather than being strapped in for hours at a time. It’s helpful to parents, too!

Baby carrier

We love using baby carriers during travel, and 3-6 months was a sweet spot for having our baby happily in the carrier during our family adventures. From the entire 0-24 month age range, it remains high on our list of the smartest things to pack.

If you’re transitioning from a newborn carrier (called a “mini carrier” in some brands) or a wrap carrier to a standard/structured baby carrier, make sure you’ve had either a fit check and tutorial (like the complimentary ones offered from our favorite carrier brand Baby Tula) or know how to position your baby safely in it for naps on the go.

It also pays to do a trial run at home with your baby in the carrier, before debuting it for its maiden voyage on your trip. This is important for both the parent wearing the baby, as well as the baby in the carrier, as we’ll mention in so many parts of this course in regard to baby-wearing.

Food safety

Oh my gosh, solid foods are beginning at 3-6 months! Some families don’t start til after 6 months, and many families tend to start with the first tastes of food between 5 and 6 months. Either way, check back at the 3-6 month packing page to remember to bring a baby-sized spoon!

If you’ll be starting solids with your child toward months 5-6, steer away from new allergens while on your travels, to avoid reactions and unexpected circumstances! The best foods to give your child while they are under 6 months if you’re on a trip are foods like applesauce, bananas, rice-based teething crackers or baby oatmeal.

As for water, continue to use distilled, purified or bottled water when mixing formula or washing pump parts and bottles in international destinations where tap water is not potable.