The complete guide to hiring baby equipment in Australia
The heaviest part of any family holiday is the gear that gets you there. A pram, a portacot, a highchair and a week's worth of nappies can turn a long weekend into a logistics exercise before you've left the driveway.
The good news is that you can hire most of it. Baby equipment hire has quietly grown into a proper option across Australia — and a newer wave of delivery services has taken it a step further. This guide covers what you can hire, how it works, what it costs, and how to make sure whatever you're handed is as safe as the gear you'd pack yourself.
Can you hire baby equipment in Australia?
Yes. Baby equipment hire is available in every Australian capital city and most major tourist regions, from one-off pram rentals to full travel kits delivered to your door.
The market splits roughly in two. On one side are traditional equipment hire companies, where you book items individually and either collect them or have them dropped off. On the other are newer baby equipment delivery services built specifically for travel, where the whole setup arrives at your accommodation and is ready before you check in. Both solve the same problem — they're just pitched at different kinds of trips.
What baby equipment can you hire?
Most of what a young child needs on holiday can be hired rather than packed. The usual range includes:
Portacots and travel cots — the most commonly hired item, and the one parents most want to get right
Prams and strollers — from lightweight travel models to full-size double prams
Highchairs and portable feeding seats
Car seats and boosters — useful if you're flying in and hiring a car
Baby baths, change mats and monitors
Toys, playmats and books — the small things that make a room feel set up rather than borrowed
Some providers stop at the hardware. Others include consumables — nappies, wipes, sometimes formula — so you arrive to a child travel equipment setup that's genuinely complete, not just a cot in the corner.
How does baby equipment hire work?
There are three models worth understanding, because they ask very different things of you.
Collect-yourself hire. You book online, then pick the items up from a depot or store and return them at the end. Cheapest, but it eats into your trip and you're transporting and assembling everything yourself.
Delivery hire. The items are dropped off at your accommodation and collected later. Less effort, though setup is usually still on you, and separate items can mean separate delivery windows.
Delivery-and-setup. The full kit is delivered and assembled before you arrive, then collected when you leave. Services like Travel Tots deliver and set up baby and child equipment — prams, cots, high chairs — ahead of your arrival, so you can travel without the gear. This is the option that removes the logistics entirely rather than just relocating them.
How much does it cost to hire baby equipment in Australia?
Pricing follows the model. Individual-item hire is usually charged per item, per day or per week — a portacot might be one rate, a pram another, and the totals add up once you're hiring three or four things.
Full-kit delivery services tend to charge a single nightly rate for everything. Travel Tots, for example, bundles the portacot, pram, highchair, nappies, wipes, playmat and toys into one booking at around $80 a night, delivered and set up. For a family already spending thousands on flights and premium accommodation, that's a rounding error against the trip — and a meaningful saving on excess-baggage fees and the hours you'd otherwise lose to packing and assembly.
The honest comparison isn't cheapest versus dearest. It's how much of your time, boot space and peace of mind each option costs you.
Where can you hire baby equipment?
Baby equipment hire is easiest to find in the capitals and the regions families actually travel to. You'll find pram hire in Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast, cot hire for a holiday rental in Australia's coastal and wine-country destinations, and a growing number of providers servicing Airbnbs and short-stay apartments rather than only hotels.
Coverage thins out as you move regional, so it's worth checking service areas before you lock in accommodation. Travel Tots currently operates across Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula and the Yarra Valley, which makes it a fit for families flying into Melbourne or locals heading away for a few nights within that radius.
Is hired baby equipment safe?
This is the question that decides everything, and it's a fair one. The whole reason many parents bring their own gear is that they don't trust what they'll be handed.
A good provider makes that easy to check. Before you book — whether it's a hire company, a hotel, or a delivery service — it's reasonable to ask:
Does the portacot and mattress meet current Australian Safety Standards?
How often is the equipment cleaned and condition-checked?
Are the prams and seats recent models in good working order?
Reputable operators answer these plainly and keep their stock to a standard that matches what a careful parent would buy. If you can't get a straight answer, treat that as the answer.
Hiring versus bringing your own
Bringing your own gear makes sense for short drives, where the car's already loaded and there's no flight to navigate. Hiring earns its place the moment air travel enters the picture.
If you're flying interstate — or flying into Australia from overseas — you physically can't bring a full setup without checking oversized luggage and paying for the privilege. That's where hire, and especially delivery-and-setup, changes the trip: you travel with a toddler without checking luggage, and the equipment is simply waiting for you.
What baby gear can you get delivered to your accommodation?
Delivery-and-setup services cover the items that are hardest to travel with. Expect the full child travel equipment setup: portacot, pram, highchair, plus consumables like nappies and wipes, and the smaller comforts — playmat, toys, books.
The practical difference is the arrival. Instead of building a cot at 9pm on day one, you walk into a room that's ready. With baby gear delivered to your accommodation ahead of check-in, the holiday starts at the door rather than after the unpacking.
Frequently asked questions
Can you hire baby equipment in Australia? Yes. Hire is available in all capital cities and most major tourist regions, from individual items like prams and portacots to full travel kits delivered and set up at your accommodation.
What baby equipment is most commonly hired? Portacots and prams are the most-hired items, followed by highchairs and car seats. Many services also offer baths, monitors, playmats and toys, and some include consumables like nappies and wipes.
Is hired baby equipment safe? It can be, but it depends on the provider. Ask whether the portacot and mattress meet current Australian Safety Standards, and how often the equipment is cleaned and condition-checked. A provider who can't answer clearly is one to avoid.
How much does it cost to hire baby equipment? Individual items are usually charged per day or per week. Full-kit delivery services often charge a single nightly rate — Travel Tots, for example, bundles a complete setup at around $80 a night in Melbourne.
What baby gear can you get delivered to your accommodation? Delivery-and-setup services typically provide the full kit — portacot, pram, highchair, nappies, wipes, playmat and toys — delivered and assembled before you arrive, then collected at the end of your stay.
Flying into Melbourne with a little one? You can leave the bulky gear at home — see what Travel Tots can have set up before you arrive.