I realize August is a little late for a post like this BUT in my defense, I needed some serious beach time to be able to confidently recommend these must have baby beach gear items for you! Today, I have all the baby beach gear WINS from our recent beach trip to Block Island (with only one fail!). I left this trip feeling super proud of our packing job, we literally had everything we needed for William and used everything we packed. If you saw our car, you would have 100% thought we overpacked but I promise we didn’t! Also, big shout out to our friends at Riley Volvo (we have the XC90) and our Volvo Roof Box by Thule for being able to fit 5 people for a week long beach vacation comfortably!
Beach Vacation Must Haves for Baby
Babies are tiny, but boy do they pack MIGHTY. I suppose if you were a true minimalist you could get away with less, but I wanted to be able to relax and enjoy our vacation (we also went with a group) so being able to put him down and keep him happy/entertained while we enjoyed our time on the beach required some “stuff”.
Baby Sleep Travel Gear
Let’s talk about the most important part of the trip, making sure your baby sleeps at night in a new room. For this, you’ll want to pack a couple of things. These paper black out shades are so legit, we even use them in our rental! They can be cut with scissors to fit any size window smaller than 36″ and work REALLY WELL. They are pretty cheap, too, under $30 for a pack of 6.
This is the pack n’ play we use, and we bought this mattress for it. I was shocked but William slept REALLY good in our room the entire trip, his usual 12 hours 🙌🏻 We still swaddle him and use this one the most, I like that the material is light because I worried he’d get too hot (no AC in Block Island 🙃)
There was another baby on the trip and my friend used this black out tent that goes over the pack n’ play which worked out well for them, too! We didn’t need it because our room was so dark with the black out shades.
This is the sound machine we use, and we brought a small fan because again (no AC). And also, our Owlette monitor!
Beach Gear for Baby
The beach can be a tricky place for a baby, lots of sun, lots of sand 😆You need to be prepared if you’re going to spend a day at the beach… feedings, naps, play, etc… The absolute BEST thing we brought onto the beach was the Baby Bjorn bouncer. William sat in that thing for hours, would drift in and out of sleep and was SO AT PEACE just watching everyone and feeling the breeze. It truly was the cutest thing. I found that the beach tent we originally bought for William at the beach didn’t let enough breeze in, plus it broke after the first day, so he was better just under our beach umbrella. We also used this sand-free beach blanket and then I’d lay one of our cotton blankets on top for when we laid him down and I liked how there was no sand! Also, if there is no breeze you’ll want a portable mini-fan, we like this one and it’s also great for stroller walks! A portable sound machine, I made fun of people who used these and now I love it 🤣 This thing works like a freaking GEM! Especially when the kids are screeching around your sleeping baby.
For dressing your baby for the hot beach, I recommend these cotton onesies and a beach hat for their heads! We use Young Living’s mineral sunscreen because it’s so pure and even though William is under 6 months, I used it on him, all good. This swimmie diaper if you’re bringing them in the water and rash guard (we didn’t, I dipped his toes in but the water was too cold).
For Feeding
Depending on if you’re breast or bottle-feeding, you’ll need to bring what you need! Breastfeeding is way easier because you basically need nothing, BUT if you’re bottle feeding remember your bottles, a drying rack, your bottle brush, and whichever dish soap you use! We use Thieves.
For Lounging
When you’re at home hanging out, you’ll want to have a place to put him, and a carrier for when you want to hold him. I LOVE our Solly Wrap (literally use that thing constantly), right now, William is loving his little jungle that we put on the floor, AND the baby bjorn bouncer which you can just put wherever.
*the one thing we decided at the last minute not to bring was our baby bath. We actually just held William in the outdoor shower and it worked out just fine!
And that’s a wrap folks!! Happy Vacationing!!
