Things to consider when travelling with young kids

There are many extra things to factor in when travelling with young children. I'll share my thoughts and things I have done to try to make this adventure as fun and safe for the kids as it will be for us!

Nappies!

We had always used disposables but, once we decided to travel, I had to seriously consider what we were going to do.

Disposables - Pros

• Convenience
• No extra washing
• Don't use valuable drinking water
• Slightly less frequent changing
• Easy to buy sizes to suit both kids

Disposables - Cons

• Smell!!
• Adding to garbage and having to carry our rubbish with us with limited space
• Cost, a serious consideration if we're struggling to find work at times

Modern Cloth Nappies - Pros

• We would already have bought them, so little ongoing costs
• When used with flushable liners, they are quite easy to clean and have minimal environmental impact
• One size fits most, so should last the entire trip

Modern Cloth Nappies - Cons

• Add to handwashing pile
• Take a while to dry
• Bulky to carry
• Have been unable to find a brand to suit Hamish (he is an 18kg 2 year old!)

Having taken all these points into consideration, I finally ended up with a mix. Crazy you may say, but let me explain it to you. I decided on MCN for Matilda and bought the largest rated sizing I could find (up to 18kg, which usually means up to a kilo or so lighter I've found...maybe I just have super chunky kids!). I use these on her during the day and just make sure I have a day's worth prepared with boosters and pre-lined so they're easy to grab, a day's worth in the washing tub and a day's worth drying. I've been finding they take up to two days to dry. If I buy more boosters, then I'll have no worries with nappies not drying fast enough. At night, she is in disposables as I find the MCNs just don't absorb enough for my awesome (minimum) 12 hour sleepers.

I tried to toilet train Hamish a month before we left. The first couple of weeks were going pretty well, before a week and a half of constant accidents and a very unhappy toddler. I've decided to hold off on toilet training again until we settle somewhere for a minimum of two weeks before trying again. He is such a big boy I've only been able to use disposables on him, those being the nappy pants for 4 - 7 year olds! Very frustrating, but the best option for us. With a bit of luck, the next lot of toilet training with be a success and we'll only have to worry about nights for him.