Preparing to Sail with a Baby | How We Got Our Sailboat & Life Ready for Cruising with an Infant

In August 2024, we welcomed our daughter, Nora.

Just before that, we wrapped up a short summer sailing season in the Med, we disembarked in Pula, Croatia, hauled the boat from the water, and headed inland to Zagreb to await her arrival.

While Nora was still too tiny to enjoy the tail end of the 2024 season, we decided to return to Pula in 2025 and relaunch the boat for (at least) one more season of sailing the Mediterranean—this time with a crew of three.

But before stepping back aboard, we wanted to be sure that everyone was as prepared as possible for a safe, smooth, and (relatively) stress-free season.

During our off-season, we took a deep dive into the dos and don’ts of sailing with a baby. We pulled together advice from other sailing families, reflected on our own experience living aboard, and made a plan to get our boat and our family ready. Preparing to sail with a baby came down to three key areas: getting the baby ready with the right gear, getting the boat ready for life aboard with a little one, and getting ourselves ready for a new kind of sailing season.

Check Out our Vlog Covering Everything We Did to Prepare for Sailing with a Baby

Preparing to Sail with a Baby

Preparing the Baby

Before anything else, we wanted to ensure Nora had everything she needed to be safe, comfortable, and (hopefully) content at sea. From life jackets to sunnies, here’s how we got her ready for boat life.

Preparing a baby for sailing is less about teaching them the ropes (hopefully, this comes later) and more about ensuring they have the right gear to stay safe, comfortable, and as happy as possible on board.

Safety First

The top priority when preparing a baby for life aboard is safety. A few key items were non-negotiable for us:

• Infant life jacket: We chose the Split-Front Life Jacket from Baltic – an infant PFD that fits securely and comfortably. It’s not perfect for extended wear, but it will be essential whenever we are on deck, in the dinghy, or any other time conditions call for it.
• Baby harness and tether: A PFD is a great start, but if you can avoid falling in the drink to begin with, that’s even better. Now that Nora is mobile, an adequately sized safety harness and tether will be useful for making sure she can’t actually get too far from the center of the cockpit. These also came from Baltic.
• Secure seating: One piece of advice we kept hearing was that having a secured seat to lash the baby down when things get hairy was absolutely essential.
  • Our Doona Car Seat & Stroller is one of the best things we’ve used to travel around the world with Nora. This summer, it will have a third function: as an emergency jump seat and nap pod, securely anchored below deck.
  • We also picked up a foldable, clip-on high chair booster seat that could attach to the saloon seats or up on deck—perfect for mealtimes down below and contained play above.
• First aid kit with baby-specific items: We updated our onboard first aid kit to include baby essentials: a thermometer, infant paracetamol, baby nail clippers, and other bits and pieces to help manage tiny crises.
• Baby carrier: We love our baby carrier on land. It’s another one of our favourite items for travelling with Nora. It’s just as great for hiking and exploring as it is for navigating the airport or mall and generally freeing up our hands while carrying the baby. Nora also loves it, and sometimes, it’s the only place she can fall asleep. Having a carrier will be just as, if not more, useful on the boat. We were gifted a neoprene baby carrier, which will replace our cloth carrier when at sea.

Comfort and Routine

We also focused on creating an environment that would support naps, feeding, playtime, and all the little routines that help keep baby (and us) happy.

• The Comforts of Home: While we might not have enough space for a full playroom of toys and books, it was important to us to make sure we had some of Nora’s favourite playthings and go-to books.
• Shade and sun protection: We stocked up on baby sunscreen, baby sun hats, rash guards, breathable blankets, and sunglasses.
• Grab-and-go baby bag: This dedicated baby bag is pretty much the same thing as the diaper bag on land, plus floaties and sunscreen. It is our dedicated baby bag with all the essentials—diapers, wipes, snacks, a change of clothes, and sunscreen—ready to go at a moment’s notice. It saves us from scrambling when it’s time to head ashore or when something’s urgently needed.

Preparing the Boat

Getting the boat ready for sailing with a baby meant more than just a deep clean and a tidy cockpit. We had to look at every corner through the eyes of a new parent—what was safe, what needed reinforcement, and what could spell disaster in a rolly anchorage or during a squall. Our goal wasn’t perfection, but to create a space where we could sail confidently, knowing we’d minimized the biggest risks.

Above Deck

The deck can be a pretty intriguing place for a baby— the sparkle of the deep blue, the whirring of the autopilot and the grumble of the throttle—obviously, it’s also pretty dangerous.

Here’s how we prepared:

• Safety netting: One of the first and most essential installations was safety netting around the perimeter of the boat. It’s not a substitute for supervision or a harness, but it adds an important layer of security, especially for babies on the move.
• Cockpit containment: We added another removable safety net to the companionway and installed anchor points for Nora’s chair and for her tether, making the cockpit her designated safe space if she’s on deck while we’re underway.
• Sun protection upgrades: We added a hook-on UV shade for the deck to provide better coverage during long sunny passages or anchor days.

Below Deck

Below deck is where the baby spends most of her time —and where we spend a lot of ours too. We wanted it to be safe, functional, and somewhat relaxing (a tall order, but we tried!).

• Baby berth: We created a little space just for the baby—somewhere to sleep, play, and explore safely while we’re at anchor. We rigged the V-berth with more safety netting that prevents her from exploring too deep into the berth, getting to fan or light fixtures, or to toys, books, clothes, and blankets when they are packed away.
• Lee cloths and safe sleeping spaces: We added lee cloths to our berth to create a separate sleeping area if Nora has to sleep in our cabin.
• Improved ventilation and airflow: Babies can overheat easily, especially in hot climates, and the Mediterranean in summer definitely counts as a hot climate. To increase airflow, we added fans to the baby’s cabin and extra fans to the saloon, purchased a wind scoop and mosquito net for her berth, and installed new mosquito netting for the companionway.

Preparing Ourselves

While getting the boat shipshape—and as baby-proof as possible—was obviously a big part of preparing for life at sea with a baby, we also knew we had to prepare ourselves. Sailing with a very young child would bring new challenges, and we wanted to be as ready as we could be, both practically and mentally.

Upgrading Our Skills

Having the right gear on board definitely helps make sailing safer, but nothing replaces solid knowledge and skills. So before setting off, we took the time to revisit and upgrade our sailing abilities. That meant refreshing safety procedures, brushing up on navigation and weather routing, and talking through emergency plans.

• Upgrading Certifications: I upgraded my sailing certifications by undertaking the RYA Coastal Skipper course. This week-long course focused on advanced maneuvers like docking, picking up buoys, and man overboard under sail. It also focused on night navigation, passage, and pilotage planning. Taking the course gave me a confidence boost, which will be helpful with more solo sailing anticipated this season. The course also exposed a lot of gaps in my theoretical knowledge, and as a result, I’ve now enrolled in an online theory course to upgrade my knowledge.
• Revisiting Core Skills: Back on board, Kelli and I spent time practicing specific skills we might need to rely on more with a baby on board, like solo sailing, solo docking, baby-overboard drills, and troubleshooting common issues without a second pair of hands available. The goal wasn’t to eliminate every risk (because you can’t), but to increase our confidence and capability for handling the unexpected.

Revisiting Protocols

Over the past three years of living aboard, we’ve naturally developed our own style of sailing and a set of spoken and unspoken rules that work for us.

These were shaped by our experience, our appetite for risk, our work-from-the-boat lifestyle, and our priorities.

Some of our old go-to rules included things like:

• If winds are forecast over 20 knots (give or take), we head into a marina.
• We need two yeses to go—one no means no.

These rules helped simplify decision-making, reduce fatigue, and keep both of us on the same page. But now, with a little one on board, we knew it was time to revisit and update these rules with fresh eyes.

New rules for sailing with a baby now include things like:

Mom and baby hop off for longer or more intense passages (especially those with overnight sails or questionable conditions), one adult must always be on dedicated baby duty (and in their PFD) while underway.

Overall, we’ll prioritize comfort and safety over speed or sticking to a schedule. Sailing with a baby means the margin for error is smaller, and our tolerance for stress is different. These new boundaries help us stay in sync, make decisions more easily, and ensure everyone onboard feels safe, supported, and as rested as possible.

Check out our full list of Rules for Sailing with a Baby

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This is what we’ve done so far to help prepare us for life aboard with a baby, and soon we will find out if it’s enough!

Of course, we are only just getting underway, and surely have a lot to learn about balancing a liveaboard life with a young family.

If you have tips, hacks, ideas, advice, or stories about sailing with a baby, we’d love to hear them.

Let us know in the comments below!