Food safety was top of mind for us after hearing that a friend’s toddler had an allergic reaction to a new ingredient in a granola bar (that they brought from HOME!) in the Dominican Republic. They had to go to the emergency room there, and it put a damper on their short trip. This story made it seem “real” for us that food safety is a reality for children of any age, but especially under 24 months.

In the following tips, you’ll see all the tips we’ve collected regarding food safety while traveling 30 minutes from home, or 30 hours of flying, away from home!

Milk

Traveling with breastmilk and baby formula can be CONFUSING! Especially if you’ll be flying for 20-or-so hours across the world, or if you want to come with a supply of breastmilk, check out the following tips.

Breastmilk

For all our road trips, we traveled with the Medela cooer + ice pack, which we recommend in how to feed a baby while traveling.

We traveled with a small cooler full of breastmilk to Canada, by plane, and had no issues! This is considered an essential for a baby and we didn’t endure any delays during airport security because of it. I suggest checking out the TSA.gov resource on breastmilk before flying.

Helpful Tip

We have a friend who traveled with a cooler full of pumped breastmilk from Mexico to the US, and endured a lot of questioning during security. Be prepared for any scenario (unfortunately) when traveling with milk for a baby, especially abroad.

Baby formula

Like we’ve mentioned in other sections, your baby’s favorite brand of infant formula may NOT be available in your destination. But, it also very well might be (within your home country or region).

To avoid running out of any specialized formulas, bring enough in the car or in checked luggage, especially if your child is on an allergen formula like Nutramigen, for example.

Research vetted ways to travel with baby formula according to the airline you’re flying with and the destination to which you’ll be traveling. The TSA has an online resource FAQ for families traveling with formula.

Food

Let’s talk about food. Whether your child is starting solids (around 4-6 months) or whether they’re eating full toddler-style meals by 18-24 months, food safety during your trip is a priority!

Snacks

Snacks are a huge part of traveling with a little one! Here are the top tips we use.

Test out new snacks before trips

Test new snacks before you commit to bringing some in bulk. Our tip is to buy a package of new snacks (like teething wafers) and to open to share with your baby before bringing them all on the trip. This helps them acclimate to a snack that you’ll have with you on the trip, as well as the flavor.

What happened to us was we brought two new types of toddler granola bars from home (Cerebelly, and Lara Bar for Kids) and our daughter didn’t like either of them throughout our trip in Mexico. Guess who had to eat them (answer: Mom and Dad).

Buy snacks in your destination

Don’t think that you need to bring snacks for your entire duration of the trip (although when we went to Canada, we took a handful of puree pouches, knowing we’d go through them all and not have to come home with them)! You can stock up on snacks when you get to your destination. Look for the baby food section in a pharmacy, supermarket or big box store.

At least for us, we always plan to travel to places where we know have accessible grocery store or convenience store locations. Remember that there babies everywhere, and therefore, lots of different baby foods, all around the world!

Restaurant food

If your child (~6 months and above) is already eating off your plates at restaurants, there are a few things to remember. We detail this tip quite often, as you’ll see it in the safety guides for all our age-group chapters above 0-3 months.

Fully-cooked food

Request that meat and eggs be fully-cooked, or well-done. This helps avoid bouts of food poisoning.

Spicy food

Avoid foods that are too spicy, if your baby has not tried that yet at home. For some families, this is not an issue, if they started their child on spicy traditional foods from the start! For other families who don’t typically give their child spicy cuisine on a daily basis, giving your child their first bite of hot sauce, curry or hot wings may lead to an uncomfortable episode while on a trip.

Allergens

Avoid allergens that you have not yet tested your child for (see “new snacks” above). Allergens may be hidden in restaurant food, with examples like peanut oil, gluten (in things like fried foods or soups), dairy (in things like sauces, or butter as a cooking fat) or shellfish.

Bibs and sitting

Bring a bib, or a “smock bib” in the diaper bag, to set up at restaurants when dining begins. This is a great way that we’ve kept as a travel norm in order to keep outfits clean and avoid changing.

Next, also bring your travel high chair around with you (it can be a pain, but most can be stowed in a stroller basket!)if you’re traveling in a region or country that does not really have high chairs at dining establishments. We’ve found that high chairs are not fully the norm around the world, and many cultures just bounce their children on their laps during meals or sit them in their strollers.

Supermarket food

You likely saw that we really enjoy visiting supermarkets during our travels! While shopping at them, we always read ingredients on packaged foods (luckily, I (Becca) have full reading ability in Spanish!) so that we know what’s in the food we’re buying for our baby or toddler.

If your child has allergies: it pays to a) play it safe and/or b) use a translation app, if you’re traveling internationally and the language is different where you’re traveling. Use a translation app that has a “scan” feature with your phone’s camera. Some may require having a data plan for trips abroad (check out our review of Google Fi for trips abroad).