Top 10 baby car accessories to make travel easier

Car journeys used to be simple and stress free, but they might be about to get trickier and busier for those expecting a new family member. Thankfully there are some great accessories families can add to their cars to make life easier when transporting a baby around!

I have tried and tested many car accessories over the last nine years as a mum of two, family car journalist and founder of BabyDrive.com.au.

Here are my family's top ten baby car accessories to use in the car to make travel with little ones that bit easier.

This is a must-have accessory for all new parents. When your baby is rear facing in the back seat and you are driving, having a baby mirror attached to the headrest of their seat allows you to keep an eye on them while you are driving. It can really help to relieve some of that new parent anxiety because you can check they are okay.

As your child gets older and more aware of the surroundings, the mirror is helpful as a way for them to entertain themselves by seeing their own reflection, as well as giving them peace of mind from seeing yours.

Many parents change their car just before their baby is born and unless we look after it, it doesn’t take long for the rear seats to cop all that family life and grime! Whether it’s leaky nappies, water, milk spills or teething biscuits smooshed into the brand-new back seats, it’s going to get messy.

Seat covers are a must with little ones on board. Install them before your child seats to prevent them scuffing and making indents in your upholstery and you can take them off and wash them any time there’s a big accident or spillage.

Smaller newborns and premature babies need extra support to travel safely in their car seats.

You can buy a newborn insert to add to the existing cushioning in their rear-facing child seat or infant capsule. This provides comfort and support, reducing the space around a newborn, ensuring their head and body are properly positioned and preventing them from shifting during car journeys.

Travel toys come in a few variations. Some can hang from the handles above the rear doors or tied to each side of the car seat. Make sure you choose one that’s soft, so it won’t cause anyone harm in the event of an accident. They often have squeaks or crackle/rattle surfaces to keep your little one entertained on long journeys.

They are a great accessory for travelling parents, especially for longer journeys when Bub starts getting bigger.

Some parents swear by white noise. White noise or rain sounds might help your baby fall asleep more easily and wake less frequently or be disturbed by sudden noises.

It never worked for my kids, and it drives me bonkers, but I know many of our family friends have used white noise every day since their babies were born and still do ten years later for both car journeys and bedtimes.

Some Kia and Hyundai cars even come with white noise in the ‘Sounds of Nature’ feature of the media system, some of which I found fairly effective at soothing my kids. For my family it was the relaxing forest sounds that worked best but the system has numerous choices from the typical rain soundtrack to noisy cafes. Whatever it takes to get your baby to sleep, right?

If your little one screams and fights to go in the car then sometimes you just have to choose your battles and give in to the iPad. My first daughter screamed for every single car journey of the first few years of her life, which was pretty heartbreaking for a car journalist! She used to fight being put into her car seat too. Watching videos on an iPad in the car on long journeys made it something for her to look forward to rather than dread and it made it a lot less stressful when driving too.

Some cars like the Tesla Model Y have a screen in the back so passengers can watch or play the in-built games. These can also be a gamechanger in traffic jams and occasions when you have to sit in the car waiting for a sibling’s soccer game to finish!

Living in Australia, the sun and UV are a high concern and never more so than with our kids. We have all seen cars driving along with towels or cloths strung up across the rear windows to shield the little passenger in the back from the sun.

Privacy glass provides limited shade, and not all factory tints include UV protection! If you have a dual-cab ute and rear-facing child seats, the back window being so close can be a real source of glare for them (I found models with a sailplane provide some useful shade if the sun is high in the sky).

Quite a few large family-focused cars now come with in-built window shades for the second-row windows and some, such as the Kia Carnival, have them for the third row too. It’s good to see medium SUVs such as the Mitsubishi Outlander including them (on high-spec versions only).

A big upgrade from the sock-type mesh you see flapping about on family car, or suction-cups are dealer-fit or aftermarket window blinds specifically for your make and model of vehicle that can provide maximum shade for your kids.

If you have seen parents changing nappies in the boot of their car and thought “I’ll never do that when I’m a parent” then think again! It happens to us all and the best thing about the boot is you’re not breaking your back bending over to do it! Especially in boots that you can raise and lower the height of like the Volvo EX90 seven-seat SUV.

You can make a change station yourself with a comfy travel mat on the boot floor so Bub is not laying on anything hard (make sure it’s one that can be wiped clean!) You need a nappy and wipe dispenser within reach – and make sure you have nappy bags too!

These grippy claw clips are a boon when you have a baby and you’ll find you use them for everything. They can be used for attaching and holding all sorts of things whether it’s to your pram or in the car (for example if you don’t have window shades fitted to your rear windows they can help to attach a cloth across the windows). They’ll also come in useful when you take Bub out of the car too for easily transferring a soft toy from hanging in the car to your pram.

Accidents happen all the time in the car once children are onboard! Whether it’s bringing up their milk, leaking nappies, banana, yoghurt or teething biscuits smooshed into their baby seat or the car’s upholstery I feel like there’s cleaning up to be done on every journey!

A sanitisation station hanging on the back of the front seats with hand sanitiser, wipes, rubbish bags and bag dispenser can be a lifesaver in some of those moments and you can easily clean up each time they happen.

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