Baby Essentials for Staying in a Hotel

I am not going to lie, I was STRESSED about going to stay in a hotel with 11 month old Molly Anne.  Anytime we've traveled, it's been to my parents or brother's house so it was easy - we had laundry, a sink, soap, towels, a separate room for her, a pack n play etc.  

Going to a hotel - we would have none of that.  Well I guess we could have paid for laundry service ($$$!) or used the hotel crib but I wanted to have a sleeping arrangement that Molly Anne was familiar with.  

I'm by no means a professional but here's a list of things I brought with explanations beside each item.  I always make lists for any trip we go on.  I start the list a couple weeks prior and keep it in my phone so the second I think of something, I just quickly add it to my list.  It makes packing a lot easier.  


1.  Sound Machine - I'm not a believer in sound machines (we don't use it at home) but I did think it was important to have just in case.  We did use ours but I have no clue if it made a difference or not.

2.  Dish detergent, sponge and tea towels to let the bottles dry on - because I had to wash bottles in the hotel room sink.  Lovely, I know.

3.  Molly Anne bath soap - because hotels don't provide this!

4.  Pack N Play and a mattress to go on it to make it more comfortable.  This mattress came highly recommended from a mom's FB group I'm a part of.  Also, don't forget the mattress sheet!

5.  A big LL Bean type bag - in this I included essentials - LOTS of diapers, wipes, diaper cream (Triple Paste!), extra formula, her bottles already filled with water, swim diapers, food pouches just in case, spoons, bibs, burp cloths.  Everything that was essential.  This was an important bag and I had extras of everything.

6.  Bag of toys - a smaller LL Bean bag filled with toys for her to play with.  I didn't bring big things, just small rattles and blocks for her.  And a lot of options so she wouldn't get sick of them.  

7.  For the car ride - refer to #6 and also a portable DVD player with a case that attaches to the headrest.  LIFE SAVER.  Mickey Mouse clubhouse 5 episodes on repeat.  Sarah I love you.

8.  Washcloth and towel - I brought hers because they're extra soft and they made her feel a little like home was with her.

9.  Plastic baggies in all sizes.  I use the sandwich size ones to put diapers in (#1 or #2) because no one wants to smell that in a small room that you're sharing.  I bring gallon and quart size ones too because you never know what you'll need.  In fact, I keep a few baggies in my regular travel bag too.  But you at least need a bunch of sandwich size ones for diapers! 

10.  Monitor - if your hotel room has a balcony, bring a monitor so you can hear them if you're out on the balcony. 

11.  Clothes - usually I put all of her outfits individually into gallon size plastic bags.  I think I've mentioned it before but I do this every Sunday for the week so it's easy to get her outfit on her in the mornings.  Definitely do it for vacations - I didn't this trip because I didn't have time but I would have normally.  I also put all pajamas in one bag - ps bring extra pajamas always.  Bonus points for labeling each bag...yes I have a problem haha.  

12.  Medicine cabinet - I call it a medicine cabinet but I put each med into a sandwich bag, and write in a sharpie what the dosage is for each medicine on the bag and include the syringe too.  Then I put all of the sandwich bags into one gallon baggie and write on the outside - "Molly Anne's Medicine Cabinet."  Ha!  I'm not kidding but it's easy and I can just pop it in her bag when we go anywhere overnight.  It includes....Motrin, Tylenol, Benadryl, a bulb syringe, gas drops, some ointment for any bites, saline drops, nail scissors and a digital thermometer.

13.  Kit - let's call it a little kit because that's what I call mine.  I put her bows and hairbrush in this little pouch.  It's her primping kit.  I foresee little hair diddies that can be used for pig tails in it as well.  

14.  Sleeping essentials - Baby duck and blanket - she always has to have baby duck and her Little Giraffe blanket.  She sleeps with them every night.  I forgot Baby Duck this past trip but she got to sleep with her Minnie Mouse instead which she was thrilled with.

15.  Fridge - if you need to store milk or snacks, we had a refrigerator brought to our room that the hotel provided.  I purposively didn't transition her to milk prior to this last trip just so we could stay easy peasy with formula.  If we had to have milk, the fridge would have been essential.

16.  Snacks - and a lot of them.  We brought a bunch of stuff so we wouldn't have to rely on the hotel for a pack of crackers.  I could have fed her every meal with the amount of food I brought but I didn't want to be reliant on anyone else for Molly Anne's food.  She did end up eating with us almost every meal but just in case!  

17.  Stroller - we used it everywhere we went throughout the hotel.  And on the beach.  It was a necessity.


A few things about staying in a hotel:
1.  I had to get over the fact that she was going to crawl on the floor.  And honestly it wasn't that big of a deal because she didn't do it much, plus the hotel was extremely clean.  I did bring a small blanket in case she played on the floor instead of the bed.

2.  I was stressed about where we were going to put the pack n play so she would be able to sleep and we could still have a light on.  We ended up putting it in the corner against the sliding glass door and between it and the desk.  It worked out perfectly and she had her own little nook out of the way.  


Hope this helps someone somewhere!