Monica Lee

Introducing solids – tips from the mom that has no clue what she’s doing

Well friends, I know this post is long overdue and I’m so sorry to keep y’all waiting!
I’ve been spending a lot more time off of my phone and computer during the day because I want my time with Hayes to be special and with as little distractions as possible. Trying to keep up with a blog, making sure I am present & growing on social media, running an online store and being a dog mom + a mom to an almost 10 month old wild crawler is FREAKING HARD. Honestly, each of those things I listed is a full time job so trying to balance all 5 is pretty dang exhausting, I know SO many of you who do it and make it look like a piece of cake, so SHOUT OUT to all you supermom boss babes! I’m just over here trying to keep my dang head above water!!
I usually call it a successful day if I remember to brush my teeth before 3pm. Lord help me.

ANYWAYS…I’ve gotten tons and tons of questions on how I started introducing solids to Hayes and a lot of you requested a blog post. Not going to lie, I’ve totally been putting this post off – mainly because I’ve been winging it when it comes to feeding him and I feel like I am not a person that needs to be giving out “advice” on this topic when I really don’t even know what the heck I’m doing lol
BUT I think most of you know that when I do come on here (like what, once every two months now?) and share blog posts with y’all it’s not because I think my way is right, or that I have all of the answers, it’s because we’re all in this together and maybe just MAYBE my story of the day will help you feel more normal, or give you an idea, or maybe even just make you laugh, so today’s post is all about introducing solids – from the mama who has no clue what she’s doing.

Before I dive into this post, a lot of you have also asked if I’m still breastfeeding, yes I am! I just nurse Hayes on demand, and it’s been pretty consistent with every 3 hours or so still, but he nurses much quicker these days, well during the day at least, like literally under 5 minutes sometimes. He’s going through a “no bottle” phase right now, so that’s been fun. Oh and lately at night (the last 3-4 nights) he wants nothing but the boob…like from 5pm and on he is such a savage and it’s almost as if my nipples forsake me and go back to the new mom cracked raw and bleeding nips during those hours. They don’t actually bleed and they aren’t cracked BUT I’m just making it a point to say that he is tearing my boobs apart lately and if anyone else is dealing with this please let me know because holy smokes I’m about to just cut my nipples off and give them to him.

OKAY back to the main topic…I’m honestly really surprised at myself because with as much anxiety as I have in general, feeding Hayes solids has never been something that scares me – I know SO many of you have told me that you’re so scared of your baby choking and that’s why you’ve been hesitant to start introducing solids but for some reason that hasn’t been a big fear of mine. Which is shocking considering all of the other things that I’m fearful of, but ya, anyways…
Kyle and I started introducing solids a little before 6 months (pediatricians recommend starting at 6 months) We seriously could not wait to start giving Hayes real food and were SO excited to see his reactions to different tastes. When he was around 5 months we would just give him little tastes of things off of our fingers, nothing too crazy! We didn’t REALLY start giving him food until 6 or 7 months though. We did some traveling during that time and I didn’t want to mess with trying to introduce solids while traveling, especially if he ended up having a weird reaction to something! So once we were done traveling we decided to give it a go.

I honestly forgot what exactly we did first and all the steps we took. I think we tried baby oatmeal w/ breastmilk first, he hated it. Then we tried mashed up avocado, didn’t hate it but still wasn’t a fan, he did seem to like mashed up bananas! But got sick of them pretty quickly. But ya, basically we started out with the usual purees. I would boil veggies and then we’d mash them up into a puree and BOY did he hate them, all of them! It was funny at first, watching him make disgusted faces and of course the overly dramatic gagging was hysterical…I’m sure the majority of you have seen Hayes’s carrot video that didn’t but totally should’ve gone viral lol. Well after about a week  of trying purees and him wanting nothing to do with them I decided to say “screw it” and try something different. Whenever we were trying purees Hayes would actually try to chew them so part of me knew that he was ready for softer foods. So instead of mashing up bananas or avocados I just started cutting them up into super small chunks for him. And just like that, he started to LOVE food. Giving him small chunks of food instead of mashed or pureed food was a complete game changer. I started out with foods that had a really smooth texture so that if he didn’t chew them good they would still go down easily for him! So we didn’t do the traditional purees first like most people, but we also didn’t do baby led weaning…we kind of just did our own thing. I would cut up small chunks of food and feed him myself. Because if I was going to take the extra time to make him a special meal I wasn’t going to let it be all over the floor and I wanted him to actually get nutrients out of it lol BUT then finally around 7.5 months he started wanting to pick up the food and feed himself so I let him and it’s been great! I still feed him some things that are hard for his little fingers to pick up like avocado or bananas but for the most part he LOVES feeding himself.

Our pediatrician gave us this incredibly helpful chart that we keep on the fridge!

{you can download your own copy here}
I was shocked when some of my friends told me they had never seen this chart before, I just assumed everyone gets one!  Like I said, we keep it on the fridge and I look at it pretty regularly. We definitely give Hayes more than just what’s listed, and I’m sure we feed him more than the recommended tablespoon amounts or whatever, I’ve honestly never measured.

Once I realized that Hayes loved to actually chew his foods I started to get a lot more adventurous with foods I would give him. Instead of mashing up veggies I would cut them into small pieces, put a little oil on them and then put them in the oven for 20 minutes or so to soften them up a bit. Hayes LOVES meat. Turkey and chicken are his favorite, I just buy organic turkey lunch meat and tear it up or a rotisserie chicken and peel off pieces for him. Eggs are another one of his favorites. I’ve realized he loves something for about a week and then if I try to keep giving it to him he gets annoyed because he wants to change things up, which is totally understandable. I think noodles might be his absolute favorite thing, he never gets sick of those and could eat A TON. I’m kind of at the point where I don’t know what the heck to feed him lately. He’s starting to get bored with his usual meals so I need to change things up…I always find myself going to BrittLessers Instagram page when it comes to baby food ideas! She’s always feeding her dude the best stuff and shares awesome ideas and recipes!

Here’s an example of what a typical day looks like for us:
Wakes up at 7ish – Breastmilk
(he nurses about every 3 hours, every day is different though! Some days he’ll be too active to stop and nurse and others he’s super consistent and will do a full nursing session every 2-3 hours)
Breakfast – cheerios / eggs / fruit/veggie pouch / bagel / pancake / banana
Snack – Puffs / Teethers / Cheerios
Lunch – Turkey / chicken / veggies / pouch
sometimes he’ll have another snack before dinner
Dinner – Usually the same as lunch – we’re pretty boring over here – going to start trying to make his meals more fun and more of a variety

Hayes is NOT a fan of broccoli, he’ll eat peas and zucchini and squash (roasted in the oven), loves sweet potatoes! He likes small chunks of sweet potato though not mashed! He really gets most of his fruits & veggies from the Happy Baby Pouches, they have them by age which is great! Some days he’ll literally go through 4 and other days I can barely get him to finish one. I’m pretty sure you can get them anywhere, we typically grab them at either Kroger or Target!

Q&A:
1. How long did you wait between giving him solids/introducing him to a new solid? 
I’m pretty sure the rule says to wait at least 2-3 days before introducing a new food in case your baby has some sort of negative reaction to a food, that way you’ll know which food your baby is reacting too!…but we never followed that rule. I have been so chill about food it’s honestly kind of weird, because I totally am a paranoid helicopter mom. I should probably start being a little more cautious.

2. How long do you continue supplementing with breastmilk after starting solids?
Breastmilk or formula should be your babes primary source of nutrients until they’re 1! It’s totally up to baby and mama on how long you continue to breastfeed after that!

3. How did you get over fear of him choking?
I talked about this a little in the post but for some reason this hasn’t been a big problem for me or a big fear of mine. Maybe because Hayes has always been a good chewer??

4. How much solids is he eating per day and has his milk intake decreased?
Honestly, every day is SO different. Some days he can’t get enough solids and I feel like he’s just eating all day long, and other days I almost feel like I have to force feed him. His milk intake has definitely decreased since starting solids…but with that as well, every day is different. Some days he’ll nurse constantly every 2-3 hours and take both boobs and other days he’ll latch on one boob for 2 minutes and that will be all for that session.

5. How many times a day and days of the week did you start feeding solids?
I may be answering this wrong, because for some reason it feels like FOREVER ago that we started introducing solids…even though it’s literally only been 4-5 months. But I’m pretty sure once I started I’d try to give him solids 3 times a day every day, even if it was just a tiny bit. Some days he wasn’t interested and others he was!

6. What was your go to brand for rice cereal / oatmeal?
I only tried Gerber, but he wanted nothing to do with it – Hayes has got a weird thing with textures! lol

7. Do you like your hair chair?
Yes! It’s honestly super easy and convenient and ridiculously affordable. I’ve heard really great things about the Beaba high chair but it’s definitely pricey!

8. How and when did you introduce peanut butter?
This is one thing I AM fearful of! We haven’t introduced peanut butter yet. A friend told me that her pediatrician gave some to her baby while they were there just in case anything happened they were already in a safe place and literally right in front of the dr!  I’m going to ask ours about doing that at Hayes’s next appointment!

9. When did you introduce a sippy cup with water?
At Hayes’s 6 month appt our pediatrician told us that he could start drinking small amounts of water with every meal! It took him a little while to get the hang of it but now he LOVES his water. It also took some trial and error with sippy cups. Our favorite has been the Nuby sippy cup. Other ones tend to come out SOOOO slow.

10. Did your pediatrician suggest bottle first and then solids or the other way around?
My pediatrician actually told me to feed him solids first and then nurse afterwards…buttttttt I nurse him first. lol Clearly, not a rule follower.

I hope this answers most of y’alls questions!! SORRY it took me so long to finally get this post up!
Hope y’all have a great week!!

Top Ten Fall/Winter Staples for the Trendy Mom

I couldn’t be more excited to be teaming up with Rank & Style to share my Top Ten List!!
I’m sharing 10 items that I think are absolute MUST HAVES and that will be staples in your closet during the cooler months.
You can create SO many cute looks with each item on this list and that’s something that I really look for when buying clothes these days. I’m all about finding ONE piece of clothing that I can wear multiple ways and get a lot of use out of!

So here it is ladies, my Top Ten Fall & Winter Staples for the “Cool Mom”, or just any mom. But I mean, I like to think that I’m a cool mom…so I’m just going to stick with that…Okay ANYWAYS, here it is!

#1. Over The Knee Boots (3 diff colors available)

I have shared these boots with y’all SO much and that’s because they are truly the best.
I have searched long & hard for the perfect OTK boots for years now and I’m not lying when I say that these are legitimately like the sisterhood of the traveling boots…
They fit no matter how thin or thick your legs are and no matter how tall or how short your legs may be.
Why do I love them?? Read below!
-They stay up all day long
-They have a small heel to make your legs look longer but the heel is small enough that you can wear them all day and still be comfortable (no joke I wore them all day while 9 months pregnant)
-They are a little pricey but they go on sale often, I have 2 colors and paid full price for both, and they are 100% worth the price!
They’re actually 30% OFF right this minute with code “GMJOY30” so RUN!!


#2. Chenille Sweater

A good sweater is a MUST, and by “good sweater” I mean a sweater that is extra soft, warm, but also somewhat light weight and flexible. You want a sweater that you can easily create different outfits with, a sweater that is easy to tie in a knot, tuck in, or just leave loose over leggings!


#3. (Faux) Leather leggings
These are something that will never go out of style, and they instantly make any outfit dressier or edgier without much effort.
You can find affordable faux leather leggings pretty much anywhere, but I have heard GREAT things about the Spanx leather leggings, and I hear they last for years and years so they’re worth the price! I’m linking an affordable pair as well as the Spanx leggings for y’all!

#4. Joggers
If you’re a mom, especially a stay at home or work at home mom, joggers will be your BFF.
Joggers are basically a glorified version of your husbands old sweatpants that you live in at home, but 100x cuter & more flattering. They’re easy to throw on and wear around the house all day but you can also run errands in them and still feel put together! Aerie, hands down, has THE best joggers. I love that they have some that are more fitted like leggings and also some that are more of a sweatpant style! I own about 100 pairs, and that still isn’t enough!

#5. Comfy Sneakers

I mean, there’s really no explanation needed here. If you’re a mom, sneakers are a necessity. For daily life, play dates, errands…you name it! I love finding sneakers that you can wear with anything. I’ve worn these with jeans, leggings, dresses, everything!


#6. Sweatshirt / Pullover

Sometimes you just want to be comfortable and that’s A-OKAY in my book. I found the worlds softest pullover and have been sharing it on Instagram nonstop since it’s been on sale. It comes in 5+ colors and is the coziest thing you will ever wear…but of course also adorable.

 

#7. Sweater Dress
Sweater dresses are everything, it’s basically like wearing a blanket out and about. I love loose sweater dresses so that you can wear it loose and flowy or belt it for a more figure flattering look! These are great especially around the Holidays when you need to be a little dressier but still want to be comfortable!

 

#8. Booties
Honestly, booties are something I wear year round and if I could own 500 pairs I totally would. I love wearing them in the Summer with shorts and they just seem to make any outfit a tad bit cuter and more trendy. When it comes to Fall & Winter I always make sure I have a good pair of neutral booties that can go with pretty much any outfit!

 

#9. White Jeans

Just like booties, white jeans are something that I wear all year long and it is SO essential to have a good pair that will last you for years and years to come. That “no white after Labor Day” rule went out the window a long time ago. I think my favorite “go to” outfit during Fall & Winter is a pair of white jeans with a cozy sweater and boots, ya just can’t go wrong with that look!

#10. House slippers
I mean, this is a given. Every mom needs a good cute pair of slippers. Especially if your baby uses a walker…Hayes slammed into my middle toe the other day and about ripped my entire toenail off…Lord have mercy, it was BAD. I snagged a pair from Target the other day, they always have the cutest and most affordable option when it comes to cozy slippers!

 

And that’s it!! My Top Ten List!
Make sure you head over to Rank & Style’s website to see me on their “Blogger spotlight” section!!
And let me know if you end up snagging any of these items.
Happy Thursday babes!!!

5 Rules to Follow to Make Sure You LOVE Your Fall Family Pictures


Photography by: LentillePhotography // Hair & Makeup by: bespokenbeauty //
Outfits borrowed from studio wardrobe

Family photos are something that have always meant EVERYTHING to me, but it wasn’t until recently that I realized how important it is to INVEST in your family photos, that way you will love them now, and for years and years to come.
When Kyle and I got engaged I was ALL about going the cheap route…even when it came to photos.
And I can’t even begin to tell you how much I regret that now.
I look back at our wedding photos and I’m so unhappy with how they turned out and that’s 100% MY FAULT for not doing my research and for just choosing the cheapest option and thinking “well, they have an expensive camera surely they’ll turn out good!” But its not just about the camera equipment y’all…it’s about the photographer and connecting with them and feeling comfortable. If there’s one thing I URGE you to do…it’s to really INVEST in your family photos, because they will be around forever & you want to be proud of them…
So today I’m going over 5 different rules that I think are total game changers, if you follow these simple rules I promise that you really will end up L O V I N G your Fall family pictures!

#1. Finding the right photographer – INVESTING in the right photographer
This is HUGE. I know you probably have a family member that is starting a photography business that will do your photos for free…and I know you found this awesome photographer that’s CRAZY expensive and you’re going to book a 10 minute mini session because that’s all you can afford and SURELY if the photographer is that great you’ll get a shot.. Y’all, DO NOT do either of these things! I’m telling you, the most important thing to ensure you LOVE your family photos is to INVEST in a great photographer. Not just any photographer, but a photographer that will take their time, make you feel comfortable in front of the camera, a photographer that will make it easy for your family to just be silly and be themselves so that you get natural, unposed, REAL, beautiful shots. Oh and trust me, I’ve done mini sessions and they are STRESSFUL and dang near impossible with more than 1 person involved. Don’t add more stress to the situation by giving yourself a strict time limit.

#2. Hire someone to do your hair & makeup…
I don’t care if you yourself are a professional hair & makeup artist…the last thing you want to be doing is trying to get yourself ready and then wrangling up all your kids, only to have your baby yank your hair and mess it up before you get to your location and get applesauce spattered all over your outfit…I can’t tell you how RELAXING it was to be able to show up to Allison and Bridgettes studio looking like a train wreck, and then getting to sit and have my hair and makeup done professionally right before the shoot. Bridgette (bespokenbeauty) is hands down the best hair & makeup artist in Houston. I would travel hours and hours for her work. The two times she’s done my hair and makeup I have felt SO beautiful and confident (which is SO important when you’re about to take photos) Kyle prefers me with minimal makeup and Bridgette just has this amazing way of doing a full face of makeup on you but making you look SO natural. It says A LOT when your husband prefers you with no makeup and even he compliments your hair and makeup after it’s been done professionally. I just have to show y’all this pony Bridgette created…that is ALL my real hair!!! Trust me, it is no where near as thick as it looks…Bridgette is a magician and will make you feel like a million bucks, I’m going to share the two looks she’s done for me below so y’all can see how talented she is!!

Bridgette and Allison share a studio together but Bridgette does hair and makeup for all kinds of events!
Wedding/Bridal/Special events/Photography…you name it.
Also, I was being dead serious when I said I would travel hours and hours for her, if you’re getting married soon or have any event where you want to look your best OR are currently planning your family photos – I HIGHLY recommend Bridgette!
You can head straight to here Instagram to see her work {HERE} Or send her an email at bespokenbeautyinfo@gmail.com

Alright, onto rule #3…


#3 Stick With Neutrals/Muted colors
Yes, you may be a fashionista who is up to date on all of the latest trends and everyone is always asking where your outfits are from, BUT a family photoshoot is not the place to make a fashion statement or try out a new trend (in my opinion). No matter what season it is, neutrals are ALWAYS best. One of my favorite things about booking with Allison (LentillePhotography) is that she provides wardrobe for all of her clients (like REALLY cute clothes y’all), all 3 of our outfits are from her studio wardrobe…I had so many gorgeous options to choose from but ended up going with this beautiful Free People maxi because I completely fell in love with the color. Not only did I not have to worry/think/stress/come up with outfits for all 3 of us but I also didn’t have to pay for new outfits for all three of us! Y’all know how quickly outfits & accessories for a family can add up!

#4 Find a photographer that understands the importance of PRINTS &
offers high end products and not just a USB
There’s something so special about receiving actual prints of your photos after your session and having beautiful high quality images to frame around your home! Allison has carefully curated a line of heirloom products, and all of her clients choose digitals plus an album, or framed fine art prints. Seriously y’all, HOW MANY TIMES have you wanted “just the digitals”, with full intention of printing them, but never did? Family pictures should live on your walls, and not on a USB.

And lastly, Rule #5 Bribe your husband & children if necessary
I know y’all are probably laughing at this BUT men & children do not love photos as much as we do…if I give my husband a good pep talk & explain how important these photos mean to me before the photoshoots {& also promise him something he loves if he smiles and cooperates} he tends to be a much better sport! As far as kiddos, Hayes isn’t old enough to be bribed but we did bring a few of his fav toys and had my mom hold them up right behind our photographer! There was also a lot of peek a boo action going on behind the scenes lol

I’ve been dying to share the rest of these photos with y’all! I have never been SO happy with a photoshoot in my entire life.  I typically pick and pull myself apart in every photo – but thanks to Bridgette I felt SO confident and comfortable in front of the camera and Allison always makes the photoshoots so fun & easy!! If you’re in Houston or even the surrounding areas make sure you check out these two babes if you’re in the market for some family photos or just on the hunt for a good hair & makeup artist!





Allison is completely booked for 2018 but is taking on clients for 2019, She specializes in maternity, newborn, baby, and family photography in the Houston area and is the sweetest human alive!!
Let me know if you end up booking with Allison or Bridgette and be sure to tell them I sent you!

The baby book of my dreams

Happy Friday Friends,
I’ve been a little quieter on Instagram stories this week because Hayes and I had our first {bad} cold and
BOY was it rough…
Not only did I feel like absolute crap but seeing Hayes be so uncomfortable was freaking heartbreaking.
BUT we are almost back to feeling ourselves and I can’t thank all of you enough for your prayers and sweet messages!!

I’m talking all about Hayes’s new baby book today and I’ve got a DISCOUNT CODE for y’all!!
Use code “MONICA99” to get this baby book for $99 (originally $120), code is valid through October 12th!
______________________________________________

I remember before Hayes was born, finding “the perfect” baby book was extremely important to me. I absolutely love going through my old baby book and old photos anytime I’m back home at my parents house, and I wanted to make sure Hayes’s baby book was something I was proud of, something that he’d love to look through one day, and something that was unique. I purchased a baby book before Hayes was born but for some reason I just wasn’t in love with it like I was hoping to be. When I’d go to fill in the blanks or add photos I kept finding myself stressed or disappointed because it just wasn’t looking how I wanted it too.

 Well, Recently I came across this baby book called “The Story of You” by Artifact Uprising and I pretty much fell in love as soon as I saw the name of it. It was a more modern take on a baby book and the more I researched it the more I knew I NEEDED it.

As soon as the book arrived in the mail I was SO excited, it even comes with a rose gold pen and some adhesives for your prints!
OH, and the best part?! You can order print sets straight from the Artifact uprising site and they come in a variety of different sizes. You can also choose to have a border (like mine) or no border. I wasn’t aware of this before I ordered my prints but they’re actually not regular prints, they’re this awesome textured card stock paper and the pictures are such good quality!!
Kyle was SO impressed when he saw them and loved the uniqueness and quality of the pictures.

This baby book is typically $120 (worth every penny) but they’re offering all of my followers a special discount code through October 12th and you seriously DO NOT want to miss this deal! I wish I could go through and show you every page BUT I didn’t have time to take that many photos haha BUT I just might hop on instagram stories today and do a little flip through so y’all can see the book in more detail!

Some of the pages have the sweetest quotes that literally bring tears to my eyes, this book is so incredibly well made and is definitely not your “average baby book”. But it still has all the best things that a baby book should have!
Each month has the same three prompts + two unique prompts or questions!
Each month you’ll get to write about the following
“You spent most of this month…”,
“You surprised us when you…”,
“This month we learned…”

I LOVE that this book gives you prompts and it’s not just a list of things you check off.
You can write as much or as little as you want and make it as personal and detailed as you want it to be!


I can’t wait to fill these pages with the sweetest memories – thank you Artifact Uprising for creating just what this mama had always pictured but couldn’t find.

Make sure y’all head over to my Instagram to see a more in depth look at the book!
And if you decide to order don’t forget to use my code.
Love y’all, hope you have the best weekend ever!!

Flying with a baby – What I learned + Tips & Tricks

We’re back from our Hawaii vacation and I’m happy to say that the flights went SO MUCH better than I had anticipated!!
We also happened to get incredibly lucky and got our own row for every single flight there and back.
I remember SO many of you telling me to pay for Hayes to have his own seat because it would be SO worth it,
but Kyle and I didn’t want to spend that much extra cash…BUT we both agreed that for future flights we will definitely pay extra for Hayes to have his own seat because it was a TOTAL game changer and I honestly don’t know what we would have done if we were squished between a stranger and Hayes didn’t have room to spread out and play.

So my #1 tip, if you’re able too…PAY for an extra seat so you get an entire row to yourselves!
Hayes loved sitting in the middle seat and playing with his toys, it also made it so much easier and less stressful to nurse him!
I was able to just whip my boob out and not worry about a stranger next to me seeing my boob or making them uncomfortable, or Hayes’s head or feet being on them!
Also, when booking your seats choose seats towards the back of the plane! Most people like being near the front of the plane so it’s more likely that there will be open seats towards the back that you can snag and it’s easier to stand up and walk around in the back if you need too and also close to the bathroom for diaper changes etc! ALSO, if you don’t book a seat for your babe, head to the counter before boarding (make sure you’re holding your baby lol) and ask if the plane is fully booked/if they think you can get a row to yourselves! Some were rude when I asked and some were super friendly and went out of their way – but we managed to get an entire row for all 4 flights – so it doesn’t hurt to ask!!!

Tip #2, Pack a few gallon sized baggies with diaper changing essentials. This was a life saver. Instead of trying to haul the diaper bag into a tiny airplane bathroom I was able to just grab a baggie and go. I packed 5 of them in our carry on and they didn’t take up much space at all! Each baggy had 2 diapers, wipes and an extra onesie just in case! Once we were on the airplane I put the baggy in the pocket in the seat in front of me for easy access! So they say pack a diaper for every hour that you’re on the plane, so I packed 10! We definitely didn’t need or use them all but better safe than sorry!

Tip #3, I packed a ton of new toys for Hayes to introduce to him on the plane and I think I only ended up getting out 2 of them for both flights. He was so amused by the all of the people around him and honestly, he played/chewed on his diaper changing baggy the majority of the time haha BUT I would still pack some new toys to be safe — I had more than we needed but I liked it that way! But again, better safe than sorry! I’ll link some of the toys we brought below that were his favs!

Tip #4, bring all the things to keep your routine as normal as possible, we brought Hayes’s sleep suit (he wears it for naps and bedtime) as well as some gripe water, essential oils,  and Tylenol for emergencies. Our flight to Hawaii was during the day so he didn’t sleep a ton but we tried to do his typical nap time routine on the plane and he took 2 decent naps!

Tip #5, Nurse/bottle/paci during takeoff and landing! I got super lucky and Hayes’s ears didn’t seem to bother him at all but there were other babes on the plane that did cry during takeoff and landing!
So I actually packed my pump and then brought two full bottles in a little lunchbox w/ an ice pack onto the plane (will link ice chest below) I wanted to have the bottles on the plane in case of emergencies, also when I’m stressed sometimes my let down takes forever and Hayes gets super frustrated. They had to check the bottles but it literally took less than 5 minutes. I asked them to change their gloves before handling the bottles and then they asked me to open each one and they just waved a little test trip over it and then that was it! Hayes ended up not taking the bottles, he’s high maintenance and will only drink if they’re freshly steamed so I ended up just nursing him our entire trip and never needed the bottles or my pump!

Tip #6, it’s OKAY if your baby cries/fusses/is loud…they’re a baby! There will be rude and insensitive people on the plane that may give you dirty looks but there will also be kind and understanding people who have been there or just get that babies cry and it is what it is! Take deep breaths, baby can feel your stress…I’m typically a stress ball but I mentally prepared myself to just laugh everything off that happened on the plane, there’s really nothing you can do so you might as well laugh instead of get super upset!

Tip #7, bring lots of blankets // comfy things for YOU & BABY. We put Hayes in a footed sleeper so he’d be warm and cozy and I brought one of his “big” blankets, a smaller blanky and a muslin swaddle blanket – we used ALL of them & honestly couldve used more. Planes are not comfy so if you’re able to pack some stuff to make the flight more bearable then DO IT. I didn’t bring the boppy pillow but if I would’ve known we were going to have our own row I definitely would’ve brought it or some type of small pillow!

Tip #8, bring an iPad & lots of snacks for mom, dad and baby! Hayes is only 7 months but we were still able to keep him occupied with Mickey Mouse for a little while on the plane, Kyle also used the iPad to watch shows/movies on the flight when Hayes napped. Snacks are a MUST, if your baby is obsessed with food like mine is then make sure you bring snacks that take a while to eat!!

Tip #9, if you’re breastfeeding wear a good easy access nursing bra (preferably one with no clips, one that you can just pull down) & a good loose v neck on the flight! You want your boobs to be easily accessible and don’t want to be fighting with clothing while you’re already stressed and trying to get your baby to latch!
I wore this nursing bra with one of these tees and it was PERFECT, I actually ended up wearing an oversized hoodie on top which worked out great too because I was able to pull down my bra and top and use the hoodie as a cover. Linking exactly what Hayes and I wore on the flight for y’all below!!

Tip # 10, If you’re able too I would honestly just rent baby gear once you get to your destination! We had planned on bringing both Hayes’s car seat and stroller but decided against the stroller last minute. We checked on our luggage as well as the car seat, all at the gate! We ended up renting a crib while we were there which was PERFECT, I just googled “baby rentals in Kauai” and a sweet couple brought and set up the crib for us. I also brought Hayes’s fitted crib sheet so it would smell like home and he’d be more comfortable!

Everyone told me it would go way smoother and be easier than we thought it would and good news, they were right!! Of course we had some stressful moments in the airport and on the plane and moments where we were all just freaking exhausted and DONE but overall, Hayes did SO well and we are so proud of him for being such a trooper! I’m going to go ahead and link some of our “life saving” items below!

Saying big prayers for all of you about to travel with your babes!! YOU GOT THIS MAMA!!
A lot of you asked about sharing what we packed in Hayes’s carry on so I’m going to go back and add those stories to my Instagram highlights so check there!!