I’m sure 99.99% of parents have wondered why their baby/toddler is so fussy when it comes to eating, whilst every other child seems to devour their vegetables with a side of salad.

That doesn't’ change when you are on the road…

In some ways I guess it’s easier because you don’t have people constantly asking you what she eats/doesn’t eat and making you feel like you are a failure, or like your child is on the brink of malnutrition.

The fact is, toddlers are fussy.

They go through patches when they will eat 7 full meals a day, then they won’t eat anything for a week.

It’s concerning!! But as long as you understand that it’s normal, and strive to atleast offer you child healthy food regularly, it doesn’t have to be any more stressful because you are travelling than it would be at home.

Gypsy, I’ll be honest, is an extremely fussy eater. She always has been and I desperately hope she grows out of it.

The one consistency with her is breakfast. She LOVES her porridge. And it’s super lucky for us that you can buy oats anywhere and that (knock on wood), so far we’ve never had a guesthouse/restaurant refuse us use of their kitchen to whip them up for her in the mornings.  So, as long as she is having one super healthy meal a day, I guess it’s not that bad..

Sometimes we will give her oatmeal for dinner too..  Because we are bad parents like that.. lol

Although you don’t have the flexibility to be able to hand cook delicious toddler meals on the road (unless you stay somewhere with private kitchen – couch surfing and Air BnB are awesome for this), there are surprisingly a lot of baby-friendly foods on regular menus.

In SriLanka/India/Nepal, babies eat rice with dahl. Gypsy loves her plain rice but unfortunately refuses dahl..

Chapati/ Naan breads are also a hit and easy to find.

Bananas and fruit are plentiful, cheap and delicious.

On tourist menus you can always find French toast, pancakes, omelettes, French fries, spaghetti, fried rice, fried noodles etc.

A lot of times we will just get some toast or plain bread and make a sandwich.

Or we will ask the restaurant to boil some plain vegetables.

So whilst it is hard, we honestly don’t think it’s that much harder than it would be anyway? Well, that’s our experience anyway.  What do you think?

In response to some questions I have received, here is a list of what we travel with.

Previously we traveled with a backpack and day pack each.
This trip we have managed to compress everything into ONE big backpack and 2 small day packs. Pretty good seeing as we gained an extra person!

That being said there are several items we simply cannot live without (in no order of importance):

*  Silk sleep sheet - we simply could not live without these. They are amazing when you are sleeping in a dodgy guesthouse (silk is virtually impenetrable to bedbugs), perfect to throw over you if the fan is a bit too cool, great for those guesthouses that you need to provide your own sheets for etc etc.. the uses are limitless! As we have Gypsy with us now, we have upgraded to 1 double sheet, and 1 single sheet. So it can either be her vs us, or mum and bub vs dad. Either way, we are all safe and clean!

* Sleeping bag - Ours are Denali Pod 200 - a tiny tiny 800 gram sleeping bag and it has been amazing. I know, a sleeping bag in Asia?!?! But seriously, you NEED it!! Asia can be really hot, but it can also be really really cold. Not to mention those bus trips where the AC is turned up to arctic!!

* Camera - We used to have an Olympus waterproof camera but have now upgraded to a Canon G12. Having a good camera that suits your needs goes without explanation. We also travel with an underwater housing for it and a spare battery.

* Thongs - The ultimate travel foot wear. AKA Jandles, Sandles, slippers, flip-flops...

* A computer - Cliche as it is, we know "flash-packer" and all, having a computer has been AMAZING! We started out without one and bought a cheap little ASUS in Malaysia and have not looked back. For space, as well as weight, we have a Macbook Air. Most places in the world these days have wi-fi, including Asia. The computer has been amazing to: book flights, research next destinations, write emails, blog, keep track of your money, internet bank securely, make bookings, backup photos, watch movies, listen to music, skype family and friends for free, and a million other reasons. Even in places with no wi-fi it certainly has not been dead-weight. If you are only going for a short time, an ipad or tablet, and some spare sd cards for your camera could also work well. 

* Refillable water bottle - There are water refill "stations" all over Asia and having your own bottle is a great way to reduce costs (refills are practically free) as well as to reduce your plastic footprint. It has many other practical purposes such as to make instant soup in, drink tea, use as a hot water bottle, use as weights after a few months of excessive eating etc etc..

* A sarong - Another cliche but extremely practical. Throw it over you on a cold bus, hang it up on a dorm bed for privacy, use it as a towel, use it as a dress/skirt, bathe in it when bathing in public rivers etc with locals, use it as a scarf, wrap it around your head to protect you from the sun, use as a mosquito screen, use it as a baby change mat, use it to cover up when breastfeeding in public etc etc

* A notebook - Essential to keep track of your money, write notes, get new friends' contact details, let bub draw, take note of bub's new milestones etc etc..

* Medical kit - Obviously it's pretty important to have a medical kit but if you travel like we do, make sure it has atleast a basic anti-biotic, malarone(anti-malarial), bandaids, panadol and emergency supplies enough to suffice you for a couple days in case you are that far away from a hospital. There isn't much in our medical kit we haven't used at least once. 

* Laundry powder (in a 500 ml water bottle) and scrubbing brush - Washing machines are really hard to come by and getting people to do your laundry for you can cost you a small fortune. And sometimes things go missing or get damaged. Handwashing yourself is pretty easy and quick, not to mention cheap! We also have an elastic clothes line which has been pretty handy.

* Wash nets - Wash nets are the perfect way to keep your backpack organised. We have 1 each. 1 for Roh's clothes, 1 for Rob's clothes, 1 for Gypsy's clothes, and 1 for our underwear and misc objects. It makes packing SO much easier, makes finding things SO much easier, the nets can double up as pillows or cushions, can be used as a barrier to stop bubs from rolling off the bed during naps, and the net also allows the clothes to breathe so your bag doesn't end up stinking. 

* Toiletries - You can buy everything you need on the road. We only travel with the bare essentials - soap, tooth brushes etc, moisturiser, sunscreen, insect repellant, razor, nail clippers etc. 

Other miscellaneous items and baby specific items we have:

Helping your baby to make a routine is one of the hardest things for all parents, let alone when you are on the road and everything is constantly changing. 


A few things we have done to try to encourage a routine are:

Meals: setting meals and meal times- this might seem like a given, but when you are travelling for 8 hours on buses/tuktuk/plane some days, it can be quite tricky. We have found that having set times has been great for Gypsy, but also, having set meals. 
    For breakfast Gypsy has oatmeal with 1 tablespoon of honey and about 10 sultanas. We travel with quickoats so only need to quickly run out to the restaurant for hot water as soon as she wakes up, usually between 6:30 and 7:30am.
    For lunch she has bananas/papaya with yoghurt.
    For dinner she has either vegetable fried rice, fried noodles or Kotthu (like fried rice but with chopped up roti bread instead of rice)
    She also usually has 1 snack a day, either soya crackers (freshly available everywhere), or plain wheat biscuits, or more fruit. (or sometimes icecream....) 

Sleeping: As for sleeping, Gypsy alternates between having 2 x 1hr naps a day (once in the morning and once in the afternoon) and 1x 1.5-2hr nap (from around 1pm) a day.
On days we have a lot of travelling to do, we try to coordinate it with her naps. She usually goes down for her first nap around 10:30am, so we will aim to leave around 10 and drive until about 12. Stop for lunch and a play, then get back on the road at around 3pm in time for her next nap. If we try to work around her routine as much as possible, she doesn't seem to even notice the constantly changing rooms/people/landscape.

Breastfeeding: Gypsy is still breastfeeding, and breastfeeding is the one thing we have struggled to make a routine for. Somedays she won't feed at all. Other days it's every hour. We figure that as it is one of the few things we can keep constant for her, that we will let her choose when she has it. Breastfeeding is very accepted here in Sri Lanka and was in Malaysia as well so I haven't felt the need to cover up, but we do travel with a thin wrap to use as a cover if need be.
She also drinks alot of water (in her explora cup) and likes to share (aka steal) our milo poppers and fruit juice, although we try to not let her drink much. In places where fresh fruit juices are available though we will get her one for herself and she will devour it!!! 

Here are some things to definitely bring with you, when travelling with a toddler/baby

His/her own bowl, spoon/fork, bib. They help them to recognise that it is time to eat, and that what goes into that bowl is food, no matter how new or strange it looks/smells. It has really helped Gypsy. Even if she turns her nose up at something, if we put it in "her" bowl, then she will try it.

A drink bottle/sippy cup. We use the explora series and have a spare aswell. It is great and again, helps her build those all important associations.

Oatmeal. If your little person likes oats, (and I highly suggest you get them addicted before leaving home) bring some oats with you. Oats are available everywhere, and are so quick (just add hot water/sultanas/honey) and easy to make, not to mention healthy and versatile. We usually give them to her for breakfast, so you don't need to venture out at 5 am trying to find something to eat! Adding some sultanas or banana helps to keep it exciting aswell! And it's wonderful for a dinnertime comfort food during those wonderful teething days too!

In general we have found that the types of baby food available are very different to what we would normally get at home..
In Fiji, you pretty much can't buy baby food! Everything is made fresh! Which sounds wonderful! BUT, it's swimming in sugar..
We were wondering why Gypsy liked it so much, then we walked into the kitchen one day...
Luckily she also loves her fruit!! She ate alot of fruit after that fateful sugar filled day...

In Japan it was a bit easier. You can atleast get plain rice, tofu and miso soup everywhere and the flavours are quite simple and gentle on a child's palate. Noodles, spaghetti, rice dishes, bread, savoury breads and premade baby foods (with pretty healthy sounding ingredients) are available pretty much everywhere.

In Malaysia baby food was a bit harder to come by. You can find some pre-made stuff at myden and other supermarkets, but that was about it. Gypsy was 1 yr when we were there and we found she enjoyed some plain rice porridge for breakfast and roti for lunch. Luckily she loves her rice so we usually had fried rice for dinner. 
As much as the restaurant owner will tell you there is no chilli in the dahl or curry, ALWAYS try it first as we found that only 1 of them was actually chilli-free.
Fruit is super cheap and fresh and easy to find. 

In SriLanka it's actually pretty easy to feed a toddler. Premade baby food is non-existent except for rice cereal which you can find everywhere, and a small selection of packaged stuff at the super expensive import supermarkets.
BUT, Srilankans LOVE babies and will go out of their way to make food for you! Just say those magic words "for the baby" and they will run out back to whip something super fresh, super healthy and super chilli-free up for you!
Winning foods we have found so far include: dahl, paratha, snacks (deep fried lentils), hoppers, string hoppers, ada, kothu, fried rice, and of course, the beloved papadum!
You can also buy bananas, papaya and, most importantly, yoghurt at about 15metre intervals along every street in the country! 

Even fussy miss Gypsy is always full!