I Tried Out the TushBaby on Our Trip to the Netherlands Last Month, and Here’s How it Went

This site uses affiliate links, meaning that if you make a purchase through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

This was our baby’s first flight, first international trip, and our first big adventure as a family of three. We went in expecting a sh!tshow so that if it was, expectations were met, and if it was ANYTHING better, it’d be a major success.

I’d heard of the TushBaby, and I had a lot of questions.

Was TushBaby actually worth the money?

Would the TushBaby work for my baby?

Would the TushBaby live up to the hype?

I actually purchased our TushBaby a few months before our trip to try out around the house, and I was pretty impressed with it from the get-go. I was concerned about how it would hold up for prolonged use, and how my body would feel using it for hours at a time rather than just a few minutes here and there.

It’s helpful to know that at the time of travel, our baby was 9 months old and pretty active and curious - stepping and standing, but not yet independently walking.

Based on how busy our kiddo was, and my test run of our TushBaby at our house, I decided to pack it for our trip! Read on to find out how I used it.

Through the airport on our day of departure

We decided to check our stroller bag and fill it up with diapers, baby wipes, formula, and other baby gear instead of using it in the airport. To carry our baby around the airport, I used our TushBaby. It was FABULOUS and I definitely recommend it to parents with kids old enough to hold themselves upright, especially if they’re curious but want to keep close to their parents (like our baby).

It’s a velcro fastened mega belt, basically, with all those little things you didn’t realize you’d need already built in. The main feature is a hard plastic seat for baby that really took the strain out of holding our baby for an hour, and allowed me to have one hand free. It’s got a pocket under the seat for snacks and toys. It’s got a pull out mesh pocket perfect for a bottle. It’s got a zipper pocket in the perfect position for wallets, passports, and boarding passes, AND a separate space that was easy to slide my phone in and out of (with absolutely zero concern it’d fall out).

In Amsterdam Schiphol Airport upon arrival

When we landed, I put our TushBaby back on to carry our baby off the plane. They were a little sleepy and the TushBaby’s seat is perfect for our baby to snuggle and snooze while we’re holding them, so this was an ideal scenario.

Jake (my husband) and I grabbed our luggage from the conveyor with the TushBaby on with no difficulty. A caveat to this was that the person wearing the TushBaby needed to use one hand to grab luggage, which was no problem for us but is a caution to those that would need both.

I carried our baby and pulled a suitcase easily through the airport to the rental car pickup area, and our baby was able to people watch and snuggle with the freedom to turn and look around at whatever caught their attention.

In Amsterdam Central

Jake used the stroller and our ErgoBaby a few times to carry our baby, but I went for the TushBaby every time. I really liked the flexibility it offered me as the baby carrier, and to our baby as a passenger. They weren’t strapped down or INTO anything, and they could really look at a lot of things (which is a very important requirement that our baby is always sure to let us know about - AKA, we get YELLED AT).

Our baby also liked to sit forward facing to people watch, and it was SO EASY to just flip them around whenever necessary.

We were easily able to pass our baby back and forth when needed without having to unbuckle or unsnap ANYTHING.

Our baby loves to nap while being held, and our TushBaby allowed us to snuggle them close while they slept and still be out and about,s rather than having to head back to the hotel or face a big nap time struggle.

Using the restroom

If you’re not a parent this might be the part where you’re like ‘whoa, really?’ And yeah, I get it. But sometimes, as parents know, you need to do what you need to do.

There were a few times that it was just our baby and me, and I needed to use public restrooms. I was NOT going to set my baby on the floor of a public restroom, and our hotel was too far of a trip to make it back in time. Thankfully I’ve already learned how to take care of things with one hand, and using public restrooms with our baby on the TushBaby was no problem.

I was able to wash my hands while wearing the TushBaby by using my left upper arm to hold our baby in place, rather than my forearm and hand which I normally used. It helped that our baby is old enough to sort of hold on to my shoulder a bit, too.

At Keukenhof Gardens

This was probably my FAVORITE use our TushBaby. We spent an afternoon walking through the gardens, enjoying fresh strawberries and letting our baby try them for the first time, and admiring the ENDLESS fields of springtime blooms.

We used our TushBaby the ENTIRE time.

(We actually did bring our stroller, which we pushed through the whole park, but out baby had zero interest in using it. They wanted to be close to us, and when they could see us and knew where we were they were much happier.)

The plastic seat offers support for a baby in more than one way. It’s a seat of course, and this is what we use our TushBaby for most of the time, but it’s also great as a place for our baby to stand on. We tried to get some standing time in for our baby because sitting in one position a while isn’t comfortable for anyone.

Even when our baby was standing on the seat, my back didn’t get sore.

We also used it to support our baby when it was time for a bottle. Our baby leaned back and we were able to take some of the strain off of our backs and arms by using the plastic seat to lay them on and continue to walk through the Gardens.

Traveling home

We used the same strategy to fly home that we used to fly to the Netherlands - we carried our baby through the airport and on the plane with our TushBaby, and checked our stroller.

Overall

The TushBaby was by FAR by favorite method for carrying our baby on this trip. I actually use ours often in daily life when our baby really wants to be held, or wants to be held and 2 seconds later needs to crawl but then wants right back up - you get it.

AND - my back and shoulders don’t hurt after holding our baby a while when I use our TushBaby, which was a major concern for me on our first big trip as a family.

One caution for lefties: the setup of the seat and pockets is really ideal for a right hander (like me) to have baby seated on my left side and hold them with my left arm, allowing me to write and do other things with my dominant right hand.

If you are a parent, know a parent, a grandparent, nanny, or anyone else that regularly holds wiggly kiddos, SERIOUSLY check this product out.

And if you are thinking about traveling with your kiddos but you have questions or nerves, get in touch! I love to help people overcome barriers to travel and I’m happy to answer your questions. Check out my Travel With Kids page for more helpful information being compiled as we travel more with our kiddo!