We spent a lovely week vacationing in St. George Island with friends. This was followed by a lovely week with Lyla, my husband, and myself exchanging some mystery cold illness** that we had caught from our lovely friends at the beach. So I’m back from my fun/not so fun hiatus and thought I would share my recommendations on what to pack to make your one year old’s (and your) trip to the beach a little easier. Being a first time mom, I was kind of shooting in the dark so hopefully I can help you learn from my mistakes. Let me know if you have any additional essential beach gear for a 12 month old!
1. Babyganics Sunscreen. Let’s be clear, all sunscreens contain chemicals. There may be some cleaner products than others, but unfortunately it’s just the nature of the beast. You can smear chemicals on your child and keep them safe from the sun, or not and be faced with a miserable and blistered child because keeping a very busy one year old in the shade is nearly impossible. Babyganics’ brand is rated well on EWG.org, so it was my weapon of choice.
2. Tent or Umbrella. Just because the baby won’t sit still in the shade, doesn’t mean I didn’t give it a hell of a try. We brought two large golf tents that were set on the beach and at the pool.
3. Large Beach Tote. Gone are the days of packing a cute and lightweight tote bag with some sunscreen, a coozie, and a book. I think the word packmule sums it up and this only heightens as the kids grow. I watched my friends pull wagons through the dunes while balancing a toddler on one hip and a cooler on the other. We’re not quite to the wagon phase yet, but I was grateful for my spacious tote bag!
4. Swim Diapers. Full disclosure, I didn’t know about these reusable swim diapers before our trip, but I wish that I had. We bought the typical disposables and Tim and I both got peed on at least once thanks to the less than ideal fit. This reusable one is super cute and has great ratings on Amazon.
5. Sun Hat. We took a functional sun hat (with the velcro strap that kinda sorta keeps baby from immediately taking off and throwing) and a cute floppy hat that only served as a prop for photos.
6. Swimsuits (at least 3) and include a rash guard. We stuck to our normal schedule of a morning and afternoon nap each day. With this comes a lot of in and out of bathing suits and putting on a wet swimsuit just isn’t fun at any age. Do you remember the Ken doll from the 80’s with the rubber legs?? Shimmying a wet suit onto a 12 month old is about the same as the thirty minute attempt to get his pants pulled up. Having plenty of backup swimsuits makes life easier and the rash guard is great to protect those shoulders from the sun.
7. Waterproof Blanket. My in-laws bought a similar blanket for Lyla last summer and I absolutely love it! I’ve taken it to picnics at the local vineyard a couple of times and now finally to the beach. It’s huge and doesn’t absorb water. Folding up into a bag is a must as it makes travel so much easier.
8. Baby Pool Float. I found this exact one at TJMaxx for $6. My thought was if it ends up being super cheap, I’ll at least get one trip’s use out of it. I was pleasantly surprised that it worked great and even held up to some two year olds who took it out for a test swim.
9. Hooded Towel. Another great gift from my in-laws (they live in Florida so were very helpful with beach related necessities). Even in the warm summer air, it’s nice to have a towel to snuggle them into when getting out of the pool.
** On a side note, this is the second time that I have gotten off my doTERRA’s LLV supplements and have gotten sick within a two week span. I ran out of my supply and tried to have them shipped to the beach house and it was a fiasco. I can neither confirm or deny that the events are related, but it is quite a coincidence. Needless, to say, I will be making sure my shipment arrives in plenty of time from now on! Read more about my experience with these supplements in this post.
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Things I thought I would need and didn’t: Cover-up, beach toys, shoes, sunglasses,
