Six Tips for Flying With Baby Food

Traveling with a baby is stressful enough - add packing, airport itineraries, security AND feeding Baby on top of that - it's a recipe for disaster! If you are also traveling with refrigerated baby food, like Café Baby, this can add another layer of complexity to your travel planning.

Momma, let us take some of your load off. Here's the 411 on flying with baby food.

1. Travel with a cooler bag.

One way to keep your food cold all day is by bringing a small cooler bag or lunch bag with an ice pack to keep Baby's food in (or reuse your breast milk travel bag and ice pack). Need some more ideas? Check them out here. Traveling with a small cooler bag will also be easier on the plane: you can keep your carry-on in the overhead compartment and the cooler bag under the seat in front of you for easy access.

2. Choose healthy, easy food items to travel with.

Obviously, you don't want to pack up your whole kitchen and bring it on the airplane with you. You also never know what kind of food you'll find in the airport. Here are some of our baby food travel go-tos:

Café Baby pouches
Café Baby Pancakes, Cheddar Bits and Muffins
Fruit: blueberries, bananas, raisins, quartered grapes
Steamed vegetables (carrots, broccoli)
Cheese sticks
Yogurt melts

One Café Baby mom recommends "Shelf-stable snacks like Cheerios, puffs and fruit." She also adds "don't attempt new things while flying! Bring foods they like."

3. Travel with frozen food if traveling for long periods of time.

If you're leaving in the middle of the night and will be traveling all day, we recommend traveling with frozen baby food. The food will be thawed by time you will need it. One Café Baby mom told us "We took Café Baby pouches with us on our trip to the Dominican. We put them in our bag, frozen, at 4 am and they stayed cold until the afternoon - almost 12 hours!"

4. Pack your baby food in your carry-on.

According to TSA, Baby food is allowed in both your carry-on and checked baggage. If you're traveling with refrigerated baby food, we don't recommend checking it in your carry-on for risk of spoilage. Baby and toddler food (including puree pouches) in greater than 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters are allowed in carry-on baggage and do not need to fit within a quart-sized bag since they are considered medically necessary liquids.

5. Before going through security, remove the food from your carry-on to be screened separately from the rest of your belongings.

This also applies to ice packs, freezer packs, and gel packs. Inform the TSA officer at the beginning of the screening process that you are carrying baby or toddler food. TSA officers may need to test the liquids for explosives or other prohibited items.

6. Inform the TSA officer if you do not want your food X-rayed.

TSA X-ray machines do not affect your child's food. However, if you do not want the food to be X-rayed or opened, please inform the TSA officer. (Screening will never include placing anything into the medically necessary liquid.) The officer can take other steps to clear the liquid and you or the traveling guardian may undergo additional screening procedures.