1st Time Mom bringing 11.5 month old

[cathyshos]

I'm a first time mom and i need help for our trip in may. our baby girl will be
11.5 months old. Any suggestions on WHAT TIMEs to make dining reservations...
i know every baby is different but just a rough idea??? how about food? do you think i will be bringing baby food to the parks??? i'm assuming she will be eating some baby food and some table food? any pointers are much appreciated!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

We took DD (6 mo) and DS (2.5) and here are some of the things we took:

1. our own stroller
2. rain gear/sun shades
3. formula (put in 3 chamber thingy for the parks) refilled at break
4. cereal (put in 3 chamber thingy for the parks) refilled at break
5. baby food (one of the only allowable glass products in the parks)
6. disposable flatware (take n toss is my best friend on vacation!)
7. disposable bibs
8. disposable changing pads (the huggies ones are great!)
9. disposable sippy cups
10. more pacifiers than I ever imagined (and they came in handy)
11. more wipes than I should have
12. 100 calorie packs and fruit snack packs (proved to be invaluable in the parks - sooo helped out when the kids needed a pick me up and they didn't get gross in the FL weather)

One of the cool things about being down there is that you have options. We all shared food on the trip. The kids meals come with 2 sides (generally carrots and grapes I think - but you can trade those out for a cookie and something else). On several occasions I got a kids meal for myself and had food to share with the kids.

As for dinner reservations, make them for the same time you eat at home. For this fall we are doing ours a little earlier than usual (around 5-5:30) in an attempt to beat the FD dinner rush. We usually do dinner around 6 at home, but we are aiming for 11-11:30 and 5-5:30. With our snack credits, if we need something later, we're covered.

Are you doing the dining plan? What places are you planning to go? Remember at buffets you and baby will have plenty to share. I would seek out the CS places that are known for larger portions too (cosmic rays anyone?!?) That way you are covered if baby wants some of your food (and most likely she will).

The biggest advice I can offer is to make sure to take time where baby can toddle around for a bit. Away from the stroller to get out a good stretch. Our 1st two days we had extreme sun, then extreme rain and DD was stuck in the stroller for most of that. By day 3 the weather cleared up so we split time between the stroller and sling. Now that both kids are a little older, we're planning some break time at places like Pooh's Playful Spot, Tom Sawyer's island, kidcot stops at EP, and the walking trails. My goodness the walking trails at AK were a Godsend! It was one of the few places that DS could walk around in a "controlled" area and got to explore. They went over like gangbusters!

Best of luck in your search for information. I think we really lucked out having such a great experience with the kids. It's not all roses for everyone, but the best way you can prepare is to dig for info. All of this stuff just happened to work for us!

 

[badblackpug]

By that age ours was on table foods. ADR times depend on what type of dining experience you plan to have. What we did is if it was a meal in which we wanted her to participate (a character meal or something) we would schedule an early ADR so she was up and around for the meal. If it were a quieter meal in a more "adult" restaurant we would schedule a later meal and feed her early, and generally she slept through the meal. If she were sleeping most restaurants would allow us to bring in the stroller, which we kept covered.

 

[Disneygal4life]

We took our DD at 11 months old. I would suggest dinner reservations no later than 5:30. Also, those divider things that you can put formula in were wonderful. I took that around along with bottled water so I could make up a bottle very easily. Most babies are still on at least a few bottles at that point. Our baby was on a morning one, an afternoon one and an evening one. We bought some baby food at the baby centers but I would suggest you take your own as they of course cost more if you buy them in the parks. Our daughter was on stage 3 foods and some table foods at that point. We also took along ziplock bags of cheerios and various early stage finger foods.

The disposable sippy cups for water and juice are great as well as the pp said, the disposable bibs and spoons.

 

[sailors_wfe]

Hi.. I'm getting ready to head down with my 10.5 month old DD (also first time mom) but this will be her second trip... she also went at 4.5 months. I also have many of the same questions as you though... here's what I'm expecting:
I'm taking her favorite baby foods.. she doesn't like most of them any more, but there are a few that she still likes. We have dinning reservations around the same time that we eat dinner at home and Im not sure what to expect for night time things.... our last trip we did't get to do any of the night-time things (Wishes; Illuminations ect) because she needed to be in bed before then (we tried, she wouldn't stay asleep through them) but this time I'm hoping we can stay out later and just let her sleep wherever. My packing list for the baby will consist of:
2 outfits each day (we're also preparing for cooler nights and mornings-we leave tomorrow)
Case of diapers
Pack of Wipes
Bathing Suit
Shoes
Stroller
10 containers of food
Snack types of food (Gerber Puffs; Yougart Snacks; Cherios)
Oatmeal
Apple Juice
2 containers of Formula
Bottles
Bottle Brush
Sippy Cups
my Ergo carrier
Hats
Infant Tylenol
Infant Gas Drops
Bath stuff (shampoo; hooded towels; bath toys)
Blanket
Toys (few stuffed animals plus what she sleeps with at night)
hmm.. I'm sure I'm forgetting things, but i'm packing tonight, so I'll let you know if I think of anything else.
we're driving down, so it isn't an issue for us to take extra things with us just in case and we can also run to the store to get things if we forgot something.
I'll let you know how it goes when we get back... I can't wait for this trip, she slept a lot on the last trip, she's got so much more personality now.. I can't wait to let her play in the fountains, meet mickey mouse (her favorite) and just see how she reacts to all the things she slept through last time

 

[msmama]

I'm a first time mom and i need help for our trip in may. our baby girl will be
11.5 months old. Any suggestions on WHAT TIMEs to make dining reservations...
i know every baby is different but just a rough idea??? how about food? do you think i will be bringing baby food to the parks??? i'm assuming she will be eating some baby food and some table food? any pointers are much appreciated!

If you have a schedule at home, I'd try to keep close to that (if she's used to eating at 7 and you try to get her to eat at 5, she may not want to eat). Although, that said, I went with the earlier the better for dinner.

And for the most part, I tried to get the earliest ressies possible, especially for character meals.

My DS (10 mos at the time) never ate baby food again after our trip, lol. He was pretty much off it completely before the trip, but I took a couple of jars, "just in case." I ended up bringing them home with me. You'll have a better idea once it gets closer to your trip, too.

And I never had any trouble (table service, buffets, quick dining) finding something for him to eat.

 

[Luv4Dis]

We're taking our 1 year old at the end of the month and I'm getting some great ideas from these posts. My son is still eating stage 3, but does eat some table food. I'm planning on feeding him table food for breakfast....figured that'll be easy enough. Just think, foods like scrambled eggs, oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, etc. will be available. I'm planning on ordering a few jarred dinners and I figure if I run out...we could always buy some at disney. I really like the idea of having disposable items.....I will plan that for sure!

 

[RedPanda]

I'm a first time mom and i need help for our trip in may. our baby girl will be
11.5 months old. Any suggestions on WHAT TIMEs to make dining reservations...
i know every baby is different but just a rough idea??? how about food? do you think i will be bringing baby food to the parks??? i'm assuming she will be eating some baby food and some table food? any pointers are much appreciated!

We haven't been yet -- our daughter will be 14 months old when we go at the end of this month -- but I can say that she was eating table foods almost exclusively by 11 months. No baby food. She was still taking some bottles, though, because we didn't transition to cow's milk until after her birthday. We haven't planned a lot of sit-down meals for our trip, in part because it's a big group trip with family, but also so that we can have some flexibility as to mealtimes. The dinner reservations we have made, though, are between 4:30 and 5:30, just to make sure we have plenty of time to get seated and settled before she gets REALLY hungry. (She's a fearsome girl when she's hungry!) ADRs don't guarantee seating right at the reservation time you made, so it's good to make them for a little earlier than you think you'll absolutely need to eat.

Good luck with your planning and your trip!

 

[MissLiz]

I echo the sentiment of staying as close to the schedule as possible. Due to both DH and I working, we usually don't eat dinner at home until about 6:30pm. Our 10 month old is on table food for the most part, so she waits to eat when we do.

We are heading down to WDW in May as well and I've scheduled all of our ADRs for right around 6pm.

We are pretty low maintenance when it comes to going out with the kids. We have tried all of the table covers and highchair covers and all that stuff, but it is more of a pain that we would like to deal with, so we take individual wrapped Handi Wipes to wipe off tables, highchairs, and anything the baby may or may not chomp on.

Right now we are playing it by ear with what we will "need" and what we will "want". You didn't say if you were driving or flying. We drive and I know that I always pack way more than we would ever need.