It’s a common assumption that going to the beach with babies will be a total disaster. After almost two decades of living by the beach and now four babies later, we have found that this doesn’t have to be the case.
We have discovered that a quick little beach trip, for only an hour or two early in the day, seems to work best. The babies usually sleep the entire time we are there, no one gets too much sun exposure, and we can still make it home for lunch and afternoon naps.
It may seem silly to some people to pack everyone up to only go somewhere for an hour or two. But when you have new babies, sometimes this is more than enough. The beach is such as special place for my family and we love making new little memories every time that we go. So for us its totally worth it!
Seating: The number one villain with beach trips is the sand. So I try my hardest to keep the sand off the baby which means keeping them as high off the sand as possible. I am not a huge fan of the pop up beach play pens so usually I wear one baby in the baby carrier and Will wears the other if they are fussy and then when sleeping we use the wagon as a bassinet, placing it under the umbrella. Again this brings them off the sand. On this particular trip, we put Ziggy in his car seat into the wagon since he was sound asleep on the drive there and this worked really well.
Stuff: Babies really don’t need as much stuff as we think they do. This applies to beach trips as well. We have discovered we can still enjoy a quick trip with only a few items thrown into our wagon: towels, an umbrella, one fold up back up chair, and snacks. We keep the change of clothes back in the car. And the two big boys are in charge of carrying whatever toys they want which is usually one dump truck and one shovel each.
So we bring just the bare essentials for quick beach trips. If it cant fit into the wagon, it stays back. I have rounded out a few of my favorite beach items for this summer and have shared them below. Enjoy!
A beach hat for the baby is always great, but I have found that when I am wearing my wide brim hat and wearing the baby in the carrier, they get more than enough shade from my hat. A nice umbrella is also great for shade and easier to pack and carry than one of those big bulky tents. If you are not baby wearing or need to set the baby down, we use our wagon as a make-shift bassinet by tucking a towel tightly around the inside base of the wagon. You could also pack a travel size bassinet and lay it in your wagon. But I have found that is just one more thing to carry and the wagon works well. I love to wear a sarong because it can double as a baby blanket or nursing cover if needed. And a mesh bag is so easy to throw any other small items like diapers or sunscreen and toss into the wagon. And that is usually all for us! Less stuff and less stress for the perfect quick trip!
1. baby sun hat // 2. pareo or sarong // 3. cute baby boy swim trunks // 4. baby daisy sunglasses and baby aviator sunglasses // 5. straw hat // 6. women’s nursing friendly swimsuit // 7. mesh bag // 8. beach umbrella // 9. baby carriers (ring sling, wrap, newborn carrier) // 10. beach wagon // 11. our favorite kid sized towels // 12. safe mineral sunscreen
