TS meals and children not old enough for high chairs. Question/advice needed

[tink9702]

At 5 months if he has "reasonable" head control she could put him in the Ergo on her back with the sleeping hood up and turn her chair sideways or scoot forwards while she's actually eating. She/her husband/others could hold the baby before the food arrives.

 

[cmb4314]

I am in the same boat - my son will be 15 weeks when we go (three weeks from yesterday, wow), and the plan now is to not bring his car seat, just his stroller. He will not be in any vehicles with seat belts during the trip (well, other than the airplane, but we didn't buy him a seat) and it will be SO much easier to not have the car seat when it comes to getting on and off buses. I'd much rather have the stroller and the chest carrier only if I can manage it.

My plan is to just put him in the front carrier and eat over him if they won't let me have the stroller inside. He can only stay awake for 1-1.5 hours at a time, so the odds of him being awake through the whole meal are pretty much zero. I may also do some experimenting - my carrier is a Beco Gemini, which can be used for a hip carry as well - I'm wondering if holding him on one side like that would be an awesome way to free up my dominant hand to eat.

We do have the advantage that we are traveling with 7 adults, all family, and the only child is my son, so people can take turns holding him throughout the meal. We also only have one TS meal to deal with this at, so I hate to drag a giant car seat with me everywhere for three days just for a single dinner reservation.

 

[kboo]

Haven't done it at WDW, but we traveled a lot when DD was an infant and the carrier was our go to option. And if she fussed too much, we'd eventually take her out and pass her around/switch off if need be.

 

[Lemurone]

Food may taste the same, but I sure don't get to eat much while holding a 25 month old who absolutely won't sit still no matter what I do, and tries to run around the restaurant at all times Plus my child has a gluten allergy and I don't so either I have to avoid gluten or fend off him eating my non gluten free food from my plate. So while it does work, it certainly isn't ideal. I'm glad it works better for you. Having said that, i still love the character meals and some of the restaurants at Disney, and maybe I'm a glutton for punishment but we're pressing ahead with our favorite TS meals and we'll deal with him ! In My SIL's case her son is 5 months, so he is much easier to hold and eat as he doesn't do much wiggling and can't struggle to get down, so she said it shouldn't be too bad.

But a high chair or whatever isn't going to fix the problem if he won't be still and wants to run around, either! Funnily enough we also have gluten, berry, and fructose (random) issues/allergies. Luckily at least 2/3 of those things are easily avoided at most meals. Maybe I'm just too accustomed to always having a kid attached to me, but I don't feel any different eating with one on me or not. Except dessert.

 

[Bluegrrl]

Aside from bringing in a stroller, we also play "pass the baby". My husband would hold the baby and I could quickly eat, then I'd hold the baby and he could eat. Sort of an baby swap for dinner! Most of the TS let me bring him in when he was little too. But holding (and breastfeeding) at mealtime was never a real issue. I even breastfed at the Blue Bayou, much to the embarrassment of my brother. But hey, kid's gotta eat and it was a nice dark place to feed my son.