This is the question parents search for the night before a trip, and most answers online give a single number that was never going to fit every child. The honest answer is a short calculation you can do in about thirty seconds — built from your own child's usual daily use rather than from someone else's baby.
Packing the rest of the suitcase too? See the Baby Holiday Packing List or the Toddler Holiday Packing List.
Start from what your child actually gets through at home, then add the journey and a buffer:
your child's usual nappies per day × number of days + nappies for the journey + a sensible contingency
Three things make that formula work better than a fixed number:
PackBaby deliberately does not tell you that a baby needs six, eight or ten nappies a day. Your figure is yours — the calculation below just does the arithmetic on it.
Any page that answers “how many nappies for a week's holiday” with one number is describing one particular child. The appropriate total for your trip depends on:
PackBaby is a packing tool. Nothing on this page is medical, health or childcare advice — how often a child should be changed, and anything about nappy rash, illness, hydration or a change in nappy output, is a question for your midwife, health visitor, pharmacist or doctor.
Fill in your own numbers and this works the total out for you. It runs entirely in your browser: nothing is saved, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Estimated nappies to pack
Enter your numbers above
Your usual nappies per day × holiday days + journey nappies + contingency.
This calculator is an informational tool for this article only. It does not save or transmit anything you type, it does not create a PackBaby packing list, and it has no effect on the quantities PackBaby's own list builder works out for your trip.
Each example uses a different daily figure on purpose, to make the point that the daily figure is an input rather than an answer. None of these numbers is a recommendation — substitute your own.
Example only: assume this particular child normally uses 5 nappies per day, with a short drive at each end.
5 × 3 = 15, plus 2 outward and 2 return, plus 4 spares = 23 nappies
On a short trip the journey and the spares are a big share of the total, which is why a weekend away rarely needs much less than half of what a week needs.
Example only: assume this particular child normally uses 6 nappies per day, with a flight and transfer at each end.
6 × 7 = 42, plus 3 outward and 3 return, plus 6 spares = 54 nappies
Seven nights is really eight or nine nappy days once travel days are counted, so if you are packing exactly seven days' worth you are already short. Counting the travel days as full days, rather than adding a fudge factor later, is the simplest fix.
Example only: assume this particular child normally uses 5 nappies per day.
5 × 10 = 50, plus 3 outward and 3 return, plus 8 spares = 64 nappies
Around this length, most parents start splitting the total: enough to cover the journey and the first two or three days in the luggage, and the rest bought on arrival if the usual brand and size are easy to find.
Example only: assume this particular child normally uses 4 nappies per day.
4 × 14 = 56, plus 4 outward and 4 return, plus 10 spares = 74 nappies
A fortnight's supply is a genuine luggage problem — often a whole cabin bag's worth. Two weeks is the point at which buying at the destination is worth a proper look, provided you have checked that what you use is sold there.
The single most useful thing you can do with the total is split it. The nappies you need between your front door and the accommodation belong in the bag on your shoulder, not in the case in the hold or the boot — a suitcase can be out of reach for hours without any consequence, and a changing bag cannot.
This split is why PackBaby produces two lists rather than one. Based on the trip details you give it — including how long the journey is door to door — it builds a suitcase list and a separate journey bag list, so the things you need in the air or on the road are not sitting in the hold.
Hand-luggage allowances, what counts as an extra bag for an infant, and the rules on liquids and powders differ by airline, airport and country, and they change. Check the current rules with your airline before you pack to them — PackBaby does not check airline or airport rules for you.
Both are sensible; the trade-off is luggage space against certainty. A useful way to decide is to pack what you cannot afford to be without — the journey plus the first day or two — and then treat the rest as a decision rather than an obligation.
Things worth weighing up:
PackBaby cannot check what is on the shelves at your destination, or which brands and sizes are sold there. If it matters to you, check with your accommodation, or a local supermarket's own website, before deciding to buy on arrival.
Count swimming nappies separately, and keep them separate in the case. They are not interchangeable with ordinary nappies, they are not a substitute for them, and adding them into the main total is how parents end up short of one or the other.
Pools, water parks and some accommodation set their own rules about what a child must wear in the water, and those rules vary from place to place. Check with the pool or your accommodation before you travel, and follow their requirements and any health guidance from a suitably qualified professional.
The formula is the same; the inputs move around more. A toddler in nappies usually gets through fewer per day than a baby, so the daily figure drops while the spares matter more, because unfamiliar toilets, long journeys and a broken routine all create accidents that home never does.
The Toddler Holiday Packing List covers all three situations in detail, along with journey entertainment and the things toddlers get through fastest. For younger babies, the Baby Holiday Packing List has the full changing-bag checklist.
Toilet training is a childcare and health matter, not a packing one. PackBaby does not advise on it — speak to your health visitor, nursery or doctor.
Take your child's own usual nappies per day, multiply by the number of days including both travel days, then add the journey nappies and your contingency. For a child who normally uses 6 a day: 6 × 7 = 42, plus 3 out and 3 back, plus 6 spares = 54. If your child uses 4 a day instead, the same trip is 4 × 7 = 28, plus 3 out and 3 back, plus 6 spares = 40. The formula is the answer; the daily figure is yours.
Yes — treat the journey as its own line in the calculation rather than assuming the holiday total will stretch. Base it on the door-to-door time, then add slack for a delay, because that slack is only useful if it is in the bag you are carrying.
Both. Keep the journey's supply plus the buffer in your hand luggage or changing bag, and the bulk in the main case. Splitting them means a delayed suitcase or a gate-checked bag does not leave you with nothing. Your airline decides what you may carry, so check its allowance.
Often, yes, and for longer trips it saves a lot of space. It depends on whether your usual brand and size are sold there, how easy shopping will be, and what time you land. Carry the journey plus the first day or two regardless, and check availability yourself — PackBaby cannot check local shops for you.
No. Work them out separately, from the number of swims you expect rather than the number of days, and keep them apart from the ordinary nappies so neither total gets raided.
PackBaby gives you a practical estimate for your trip from the details you enter, and you should adjust it for your own child. It is a packing tool, not a source of medical, health or childcare advice.
Nappies are one line on the list. Clothes, feeding, sleep, swim things and the journey bag all need the same kind of arithmetic, and doing it item by item the night before a flight is how things get forgotten.
Create your personalised family packing list with PackBaby. It asks a short set of questions about your child and your trip — their age, how many nights you are away, how long the journey is door to door, the destination and climate, whether you will have laundry, and whether you are packing nappies, bottles or swim things — and builds your list from those answers.
You get two lists, not one: a personalised suitcase list with quantities, and a separate journey bag list sized from the door-to-door journey time. You can print them, save them as a PDF, copy them as text and save them with your trip.
Free to build your first list. The quantities are practical estimates to adjust for your own child and trip — PackBaby does not give medical, health or childcare advice, and it cannot check your airline's rules or what is available at your destination.