First weekend away with baby -- what to pack?

[MrsPurr]

We're going to a wedding with a 5-month-old baby in a couple of weeks. It's our first time staying away from home with the baby. Can any kind souls give me any tips on what to pack? Have bought the travel cot (Christ knows how to put it up though), obviously he'll need clothes... what else would be useful?

Any tips on what might be worth bringing would be welcomed. Also, as I suspect I might tend towards bringing everything, including playmat, spare playmat, etc. etc., any tips on what to leave behind would also be great. Sorry to sound such a divvy, but it seems like a hugely big deal when it's your first time away with baby. Heaven knows he'd probably be happy flapping around in his grobag all weekend, but would welcome your thoughts!

I'm probably one of the worst people to ask as I always totally over pack when going away with DD!

Are you breastfeeding? If so, and you haven't started weaning, then it will be a doddle as at least you won't have to pack any food/bottle paraphernalia. When DD was that sort of age I would ask for a cot from the hotel (check to see if they supply them to save you lugging yours there) and also take her baby bouncer, which she loved and kept her happy for ages.

Remember bathing stuff, nappies (obviously!), wipes, nappy bags, that sort of stuff. Also a couple of favourite toys and books would be nice.

Your first weekend away with the baby is a big deal, but have lots of fun

My sister made up the mnemonic SPEWWT for travelling with babies (actually I had better come clean and say I made up the mnemonic cos it's a bit rubbish but they are her headings):

Sleeping
Playing
Eating
Wearing
Washing
Travelling

So for sleeping you'd have travel cot and grobag, playing a playmat etc. It has been really helpful and I've even taken to using it for myself!

HTH.

Thanks both. Plantsitter that mnemonic is great actually, have such abby brain anything like that is really useful, or we;ll get there and find we didn't bring any nappies!

Love the mnemonic - just don't forget the baby!

As a complete aside, I used to compete on horses in my youth. I knew of someone who loaded everything up on to the horsebox - all the horse's equipment, her stuff, etc - she then got to the horse show, opened up the horsebox, only to find she'd actually left the horse tied up in the yard back home!!

Oh my god that will so be me!