Feeding your baby while traveling

Plan the food before the trip

Pack more than you think you’ll need. The CDC suggests bringing a supply of familiar snacks from home for times when the food available may not be safe or appealing.

Pack a soft spoon, bib, cup, wipes and a small bowl, so you don’t feed straight from a jar.

Packing purées

• Jars and pouches: once opened, treat them like fresh food. Spoon some into a bowl and keep the rest cold, or throw it away. Squeeze pouches onto a spoon rather than letting your baby suck from the spout: see baby food pouches.
• Homemade purées: pack frozen cubes in the cool bag. The NHS says to eat defrosted food within 24 hours, and to reheat it until steaming hot, then cool it before serving. See batch cooking and freezing.
• Throw away leftovers from your baby’s bowl, or a pouch they’ve sucked on.

Finger foods that travel well

Pick foods that are easy to serve safely on the go:

• banana, peeled and served in finger-sized pieces or mashed
• avocado, halved and scooped or sliced into soft strips
• soft cooked vegetables like sweet potato or broccoli, packed cold
• toast fingers or soft pancake strips
• sticks of pasteurized full-fat hard cheese, in thin strips rather than chunks

Keep the usual choking rules on the road: quarter grapes lengthwise, no whole or chopped nuts, no hard raw vegetables or apple pieces for babies, and no popcorn. The CDC says children shouldn’t eat in a car or stroller: stop and sit your baby upright to eat, and stay with them. See choking hazards.

Cool bags and ice packs

• Use an insulated, soft-sided bag with at least two cold sources, such as two frozen gel packs, one above the food and one below (USDA FSIS).
• Chill cooked food in the fridge first, and pack the bag right before you leave.
• Throw away any food left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours (1 hour if it’s hotter than 90°F / 32°C).

Breast milk: the CDC says freshly expressed milk can be kept in an insulated cooler bag with frozen ice packs for up to 24 hours. At your destination, use it, refrigerate it or freeze it. Frozen milk that still has ice crystals can be refrozen. Fully thawed milk should be kept cold and used within 24 hours, and never refrozen.

Formula: the CDC says to use prepared formula within 2 hours of making it and within 1 hour of starting the feed, and to throw out what’s left in the bottle. The NHS suggests carrying powder in a clean container and a vacuum flask of just-boiled water, and making up each feed fresh. If that isn’t possible, use ready-to-feed liquid formula. For more, see choosing and preparing formula.

Flying with baby food and milk

Leaving from the US (TSA):

• Formula, breast milk, toddler drinks and baby or toddler food, including purée pouches, are allowed in carry-on bags in amounts over 3.4 oz (100 ml). They don’t need to fit in your quart-sized liquids bag.
• Ice packs, freezer packs and gel packs are allowed, with or without breast milk.
• You can carry breast milk even if your baby isn’t traveling with you.
• TSA’s page doesn’t say whether frozen breast milk is allowed in a carry-on. It says partially frozen or slushy items get the same screening. If you’re flying with frozen milk, check with TSA before you go.
• Tell the officer at the start of screening and take these items out of your bag. TSA says X-rays don’t harm food. If you don’t want them X-rayed or opened, say so: you’ll have extra screening instead.

Leaving from the UK (GOV.UK):

• You can take enough baby food, baby milk and sterilised water for the journey. There’s no legal limit, but check with your airport.
• Formula, cow’s milk, soya milk for babies, sterilised water and baby food are allowed in hand luggage only if your baby is traveling with you.
• Breast milk is allowed in hand luggage without your baby, in containers up to 2,000 ml. Frozen breast milk isn’t allowed in hand luggage, only in the hold.
• Ice packs and cooling gel packs are allowed.

Other countries’ rules differ, so check before a return or connecting flight.

On the plane: the CDC suggests nursing during takeoff and landing, and the AAP suggests nursing or a bottle during descent, because sucking and swallowing help with ear pain from pressure changes.

Safe food and water abroad

Babies and toddlers can get very sick from contaminated food and water, and diarrhea can lead to dehydration quickly. The CDC’s travel advice:

• Breastfeeding lowers a baby’s risk of food- and waterborne illness. If you use formula, the water and formula points below keep feeds safe.
• Water for formula: where tap water may not be safe, disinfect water for young children, including water for formula. In some places even bottled water should be disinfected. Ready-to-feed liquid formula is sterile. Formula sold abroad may not meet the same standards, so consider bringing your own.
• Bottles, spoons and pacifiers: wash them in safe water. Where water quality is poor, sterilize bottles, nipples, caps and rings before use, for example by boiling them in water for 5 minutes.
• Food: choose food served steaming hot, or dry or factory-sealed foods. Avoid lukewarm buffet food, raw salads, cut-up fruit you didn’t prepare, and ceviche. Fruit you wash in safe water and peel yourself is safer.
• Drinks: avoid ice. Choose pasteurized milk from a sealed container.
• Hands: wash with soap and water before eating, or use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.

Time zones and routines

Travel throws off sleep and mealtimes for babies too (CDC). The AAP suggests shifting your child’s sleep schedule over 2 to 3 days before you leave, and spending daylight hours outside or in bright light after you arrive. Moving meals along with naps and bedtime keeps the day predictable.

Your baby may eat less, or want more milk, for a few days. Keep offering meals at the new local times, feed milk on demand, and let your baby decide how much to eat. See hunger and fullness cues.

If your baby gets sick

For diarrhea, keep breastfeeding or giving formula, and keep offering your baby’s usual food (CDC Yellow Book). Oral rehydration solution, mixed with safe water exactly as the packet says, helps prevent dehydration. Don’t give medicine to stop diarrhea unless a doctor tells you to. The CDC says bismuth medicines shouldn’t be given to children, and loperamide must not be given under age 2, because of the risk of serious breathing and heart problems, and isn’t recommended under age 6.

Get medical help right away, and tell the doctor about the trip, if your baby shows signs of dehydration (fewer wet diapers, a dry mouth, or a sunken soft spot on the head), has bloody diarrhea, a fever, or keeps vomiting so they can’t keep fluids down (CDC). See food poisoning in babies.

Call 911 or go to the emergency room if your baby:Call 999 or go to A&E if your baby:Call your local emergency number (such as 112 in Europe or 000 in Australia) or go to the emergency department if your baby:

• is floppy, very sleepy, hard to wake, or not responding as usual
• has severe difficulty breathing
• has signs of severe dehydration, which the CDC calls a medical emergency: very little or no pee, unusual sleepiness, cool hands and feet, or a sunken soft spot on the head

Before you go, find out where the nearest hospital is and the local emergency number.

Where US and UK advice differs

• Airport rules. UK airports allow formula, baby food and sterilised water in hand luggage only when your baby is traveling, and frozen breast milk only in the hold. TSA allows formula, breast milk, baby food and cooling packs in carry-on bags, and your baby doesn’t have to be with you for breast milk or cooling packs. TSA’s page doesn’t say whether frozen breast milk is allowed, so check before you fly.
• Formula on the go. The CDC says use prepared formula within 2 hours. The NHS prefers making each feed fresh from a flask of just-boiled water. As a one-off, it allows a feed made at home, cooled in the fridge and carried in a cool bag with an ice pack, used within 4 hours.
• Bottled water for formula. The CDC says bottled water can be used for formula when tap water isn’t safe, but abroad it may need disinfecting too, because in some places bottled water can be contaminated. The NHS doesn’t usually recommend it, because it isn’t sterile and may contain too much sodium or sulphate. If you have to use it abroad, an NHS trust suggests checking the label for sodium (Na) under 200 mg per litre and sulphate (SO4) no higher than 250 mg per litre, and boiling it once before use (not again, as re-boiling can concentrate the sodium and sulphate).
• Raw soft fruit. For babies under 1, the AAP says that apart from mashed banana, most fruits should be cooked until soft. If you follow US advice closely, mash the banana, and use only fully ripe avocado that squashes easily and mash it well. The NHS lists grabbable bits of avocado among first finger foods from around 6 months.
• Diarrhea medicine. The CDC says loperamide must not be given under age 2 and isn’t recommended under 6. The NHS says not to give children under 12 any medicine to stop diarrhea.
• Food not kept cold. The NHS says eat it within 4 hours at most. US advice is 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F / 32°C), which fits both.