another question about newborns in Disney

[justhat]

We plan on using the Playtex nursers with the bags, so mcnuss, that was easy for you? I hadn't decided if we'd be storing the milk I'd pump while we were away, initially I thought yes, but then I thought that it might go bad while transporting it back to the resort with us after the cruise, since it will be so hot in June. So anyone with thoughts on that topic please share! It seems like it would be a good idea if we could keep it frozen.

 

[mcnuss]

IMHO, it's going to be really hard for you to store milk properly on the cruise. There is a small fridge in the room, but no freezer. You can bring a cooler on board, and you can have ice delivered as many times per day as you'd like, but I think there's a chance it will get spoiled.

As for the nurser bags, yes, that worked very well for us and for DD's daycare provider. She went to a family home daycare with a woman who took 3 babies to care for (she was Mary Poppins, we still miss her!) and she found it super easy. I'd store the milk in 4 oz. increments bc you don't want to waste - once the bag is opened, you have to throw away any leftover. I'd nurse right before taking her to care, and first thing in the am, our caregiver would defrost the first bag in the fridge so it would be ready by the time DD arrived. If she needed some milk in a hurry, she'd defrost in under running H2O. She loved the fact that the bag just dropped into the nurser, and that she did not have to wash bottles. At first, I exchanged nipples with her every day, but once I got to know and really trust her, I'd let her just wash them in her dishwasher. It was a near perfect system!

 

[NotUrsula]

... seeing as how human milk is essentially liquid gold, there is a way.

If you are pumping on the cruise, bring along a FedEx or UPS overnight shipping box, and some foam peanuts. Also bring a heavy plastic pouch and a couple of paper bags. After you pump, package the milk securely, double-bag it, and take it to one of the ship's restaurants. Have the whole thing in an outer box or bag with your name and cabin number on it, & clearly marked "medical supplies, keep frozen!" Ask the restaurant to store the package in the freezer for you; I'm sure they will do it. Each day, go back once or twice and add the new day's supply to the package. When you leave the ship, take the box of frozen milk to a seafood market, there are plenty of them around coastal Florida, and any of them can properly pack frozen foods in dry ice for overnight shipping. When you tell them what you have, I am sure they will agree to pack and ship it for you for a fee. (For that matter, guest services on the ship may be able to arrange shipping it for you.) Have it sent directly to your mother.

This method always worked for me when I was on extended business trips of more than 72 hrs. I'd have the hotel freeze the milk, and have it shipped by a fish market back home to Dad. BTW, if I knew I would be gone long enough to have to do this, I did use the freezer bags to store and ship the milk. It usually cost me around $40 to ship the package home overnight.

I used Avent standard and disposable bottles; the nipple is the same shape on both, and the standard bottles convert to sippy cups as the child ages, which is nice. The smaller bottles also make good containers for baby food if you make it yourself. Avent sells pump adapter rings that allow you to screw a bottle frame w/ plastic liner directly onto the pump horns of an electric pump, which means that you don't have to pour the milk out into a bag, it goes straight into the bag. I found that the liners that seemed to hold up best were neither Avent nor Playtex; the best are Gerber Seal n' Go ziploc liners. All bag liner brands are a standard size, so they all will work with any brand of bottle frame. Of the manual pumps, the Avent Isis is definitely best, but if you will need to pump every day for daycare, invest in a good double electric pump.

 

[mcnuss]

NotUrsula, you are an inspiration! WOW...I never thought of shipping my milk.

With respect to the pump, I agree. You need a Medela pump, the cheap ones are not worth buying. I had the little one, bc as I mentioned, I all but spouted milk. I never used a manual pump, and when DD was little, Avent was not as widely available as it is now. I went ahead and bought the pump, but other friends have rented them. The lactation consultant at the hospital or in your OBs office should be able to help. If you can swing the $$, get a double pumping model if you are going to do it everyday. It is worth it. I know there's one that comes with a nice looking carrying bag for travel.

 

[NotUrsula]

I have a Medela Pump n' Style. It was $300, and worth every penny! Here's a trick re: buying a pump. Buy it from a hospital lactation program. They don't charge sales tax, and they will show you how to use it properly, usually at no extra charge.
DS had a feeding problem just at first, so the hospital had me rent a pump. After 10 days, I decided to buy a pump, and the hospital credited what I had paid for the rental back against my purchase.

BTW: Unless your child remains hospitalized for an extended period after birth, your insurance will probably NOT cover the cost of buying a pump. However, a tax-deferred medical savings plan can be used to pay for it, so if you or your DH has such a plan at work, sign up for it on Jan. 1.

 

[justhat]

Wow, NotUrsula, that's a great idea to store the milk. Since we'll be heading back to WDW, where my mom and the baby would be, do you think it would be okay to make the drive back from the cruise ship terminal with us packed in regular ice, or should we still get the dry ice? I figure it'll be easier for the last 3 days of the trip, so that if I leave the baby in the room with my mom and go out for a few hours, she'll have some premade bottles. I didn't really know where to begin with breast pumps, so I'llb e sure to look into the Medela. I won't have to pump regularly since I'll be home with the baby till he's around 13-14 months, but I think that for the few times early on that I'll need it, I think the easier it is the better. Thanks again, that really is some helpful advice.

 

[JennsBabySky]

First of all -- Congratulations and Good Luck!

I agree with some of the previous posters, I found that babies are extremely portable (with the exception of all those blasted diapers!). We ended up taking our dd everywhere, even though I initially planned on leaving her with my mom for a few nights out. I did go back to work at about 8 weeks and had to leave her with my mom and dh and I HATED it (still do and she is 3 1/2 years old). If she is old enough, I agree, I would bring her on the cruise! I think it is great for babies to experience new places and people. Besides, if you are breastfeeding, that should help increase her antibodies to infection. My daughter loved her Baby Bjorn (especially once I could turn her forward facing), but it is really tough to nurse in. If you get a sling (which I want for #2), you might want someone to help you use it the first time. Start asking around to see if any of your friends are familiar with it. If not, I would probably be willing to pay a little extra money to buy it at a specialty boutique if the owner/employees knew how to use it. I don't know why, but I could not figure mine out -- all those years of college wasted!

Pumping early in the nursing relationship can totally vary from person to person. Since you'll need stored milk early, I'd take advantage of all the milk that comes in at the beginning. When you first get your milk in, you get enough to feed the entire village (usually). I don't think it is recommended to pump this early (usually 3 days after birth), but sometimes practicality needs to win out. You'll need milk soon after because of your schedule and if you pump during this time along with nursing, you should increase your milk production. The baby and the pump will send messages to your body to produce more. As someone who struggled with the amount of milk in the freezer, I think the more milk the better! That being said, there is also a huge debate on differences between pumps. The rental pumps are going to be efficient at pumping than the personal use ones. It may be a good idea to rent a really good pump to use the first 3-4 months and then use a personal use (i.e. Medela Pump in Style) for the remaining time. For most people, a good personal use (like the Pump in Style) will be totally sufficient. This is especially true when pumping after the milk supply is well established (10+ weeks). However, since you are trying to build an immediate stash of milk and might be away for extended periods of time (possibly during cruise), I think you can't go wrong with a hospital grade pump. It may or may not be overkill, but if it is necessary it is one less thing for you to worry about with a newborn and uncoming wedding. I think I paid less than $30 a month to rent my pump and it was well worth it. I used a hospital grade rental for almost 1 year and then borrowed (with my own attachments) both the Medela Pump in Style and the Ameda Purely Yours. I thought these were definitely decent pumps, but NOT the same as the hospital pump. I think for pumping on occasional trips with an older baby or pumping while at work they would totally suffice, but they might not be sufficient for the cruise while baby is still so young. I also loved my Avent pump. It was quiet, easy and small. I would use this if I wanted to be discrete in my pumping or if I was somewhere without power. In the airport, it was easy to pump in the yucky bathrooms without making a mess of myself. Also, it could fit in a small bag easily. This might be handy if you do any excursions on the cruise. This way, you only need to find a small space to pump and don't need to hurry back to the boat.

About storing the milk, I'll leave it to you if you want to pump and dump or ship it back or bring it back. If you have days at WDW after the cruise, I would bring it back. Even if it is not frozen, it is good for quite a while at refrigerator temp (I forget the guidlines, but I know they are on breastfeeding.com amongst other sites). The refrigerators are awful on the cruise, but if you keep the milk on ice in the refrigerator you should be fine. At first I stored the milk in the plastic bottles, but quickly realized that I didn't want to invest a major portion of my income on bottles and the lids (besides it takes more space). So, I switched to double bagged Avent liners with the clips. This worked better, but the bags leaked for me. Someone recommended the Bailey bags to me (available online through nursing retailers). I loved these. They were thick and I never had one leak. They had a built in twist tie at the top, I would leave some room at the top of the bag for expansion and then seal. And you could write the date and the amount of milk of the bag. I would freeze them flat and then put them into a bag in the freezer. These are great! I've also heard good things about other brands (like Gerber), but I have no first hand experience. Once I found something that worked well, I never wanted to switch.

Sorry this is so long, but hopefully this helped a little.

Congratulations,
Jennifer

 

[NotUrsula]

I'd say if your mom and baby will be in Orlando waiting for you, you could just pack it in a cooler of regular ice.

I'll summarize the guidelines: room temp of less than 70F=10 hrs. maximum, cooled to less than 40F=72hrs, frozen in a home freezer and never defrosted=3 mos. Frozen milk, once thawed, must be used w/i 24 hrs and cannot be refrozen.

What that means is that you should mark the bags that have been frozen; if they thaw out on the way to Orlando, they should be used first. Again, you can ask the hotel to keep the stock in a restaurant freezer for you, and milk frozen in a restaurant freezer will stay frozen longer than if were frozen in a home freezer, commercial freezers are colder.

My own personal experience was that I saw no appreciable performance difference between the hospital-grade Medela (which weighs nearly 40 lbs., BTW) and the PNS, which is 9 lbs.+ At $30/mo, I didn't think keeping the rental was a good use of money. If you are going to be a SAHM, I'm not sure you will need to invest in your own double electric pump unless you plan to pump just to stock the freezer. You could use a rental and 2 Avent Isis manuals for the whole wedding crisis, and then keep the manuals around for emergencies. Also, it is possible that someone you know will lend you an electric pump; in that case, you would only need to invest about $40 in horns and tubing.

 

[mcnuss]

I agree with NotUrsula, I found little to no performance difference bet. my little Medela portable (which plugged into my car's lighter btw, and I did use it in the car a couple of times!) and the hospital pump other than the noise. The little pump was a lot noisier! DH called it the Electric Baby and after awhile told me that its whir whir whir sound lulled him to sleep. LOL! I think I paid $95 for it way back when (DD is 9 now) and I figured it paid for itself very quickly. BEsides saving on the rental, I am to this day appalled at what formula costs and can't figure out how a lot of people afford it.

 

[justhat]

I didn't realize that breast milk was good for about 3 days unfrozen. In that case, I definitely will try to save it if we go on the cruise without him. When we're in the parks I plan to bring him with us in the mornings, but when it gets very hot and sunny and I think he'd be better off indoors. Some of that time we'll spend at the resort, other times he'll stay with my mom, so for the most part I plan to have him with me to eat, which will save me from having to pump at the parks and carry a pump around with me all day.

I have another question for all of you experts! We have a Graco Coach Rider stroller, with the infant seat. Do you think it's worth it to keep him in the infant seat in the stroller, or since the stroller fully reclines will just the stroller be easier? We're bringing the infant seat definitely since we'll need it for transportation, but will it just make the thing bulkier to push around in the parks? We're also going to have a sling/front carrier for him, but I'm thinking it's easier to keep him cool/shaded in the stroller.

 

[Bird-Mom]

I didn't read all the responses thoroughly, but you can usually find a good price on the Medela Pump In Style on Ebay-brand new ones.

When my dd was 6 months old, I carried her in the baby bjorn all the time we were out (the trip was at the end of September and it was hot!). She wore a big floppy hat and we kept her inside during peak sun hours. I would probably go with the stroller if you aren't wearing him because a couple of years ago, a study came out (and I wish I could find it, but I don't have time right now) that reported prolonged time in the bucket carrier (more than car rides) lowered baby's oxygen saturation level. I didn't use a bucket with my dd, but I would guess that baby would get quite warm. With the stroller, you will be able to change positions frequently.

Also, get a mayawrap because the fabric is very lightweight and completely breatheable! Trust me, they are awesome. When you get one, practice with a 10 pound bag of flour to get the hang of it. If you want some tips and tricks, please go to a La Leche League meeting (even before he arrives). More than one woman there will be able to turn you into a sling pro.

 

[mcnuss]

Oh, you will probably still need to have the pump with you, unless you're really different from me. I had to pump every 3 hours when DD was that little or I would have exploded. You really cannot fathom the feeling until you've been there, but believe me, you'll want your pump (I almost just typed pimp!!) with you all the time just in case.

As for stroller vs. carrier, I was a carrier person. Once that baby is asleep, you will not want to move him for anything, and the carrier, while bulky and heavy (your arms will never be in better shape), allows you to transport a sleeping child. Big advantage! Also, I found an abstract to the article that Bird-Mom referred to and from my quick read, it appears that the risks on the oxygen sat thing are for pre-term babies. Perhaps your soon-to-be-doctor fiance can research that one on Medline for you!

Last, I could never master either the sling or the Snuglie. I am 5 feet tall and felt that they both were made for bigger people, they just did not feel safe to me.

 

[NotUrsula]

" ... will it just make the [stroller] bulkier to push around in the parks?"

At WDW, pushing it isn't the issue, any stroller pushes easily with only an infant's weight in it. The issue is folding it. You are going to have enough trouble just folding a Coachrider to get it on the bus; you won't need the carseat on top of it. BevS97 is the one who can tell you about handling a Coachrider at WDW; she had one for her older daughter. (She didn't like it, she got rid of it and got a Chicco instead.)

The only time that having a carseat with you inside a park would be useful would be while eating in a restaurant. At WDW, open strollers technically are frowned upon inside restaurants, but if you make an effort to eat at off-peak times, they will usually allow you to bring them inside. If not, try to get a booth; you can just lay the baby down on the bench beside you, then loop a blanket (or your sling) around baby and sit on the tail, so that he won't wriggle off the bench.

Speaking of slings, with a summer baby you might want to consider a mesh sling. You can wear those into the pool and also use them in the shower to bathe the baby along with yourself. Infants can be very slippery little critters.

 

[BevS97]

If the coach rider is the Graco carriage style stroller with a reversible handle, then I would have to suggest returning it immediately and buying something else. I have had a lot of pushchairs in my time (current count is 7) and this is the single worst purchase I have ever made. When the handle is in the 'pram' position (with baby facing you) ,then it is absolutely impossible to steer the beast, it is also extremely heavy and bulky when folded.
Sorry to be so negative, but in all honesty, I hated that thing so much I bought a Chicco 2001 before my dd was 4 months old.

The study about babys not being kept in carseats for lengthy periods of time has been taken very seriously here in the UK - we are recommended to not leave the baby in the seat for longer than 2 hours unless travelling in the car.

I am taking my Chicco 2003 (liked it so much I bought another one) and carseat to Orlando in December for my baby (she will be 11 weeks when we travel), if she is fast asleep then I may well leave her in the carseat, but I don't intend to have her in it all day every day, apart from anything else I think they look more comfortable laid flat to sleep.

I don't want to be a downer on your discussion, but all this pumping talk seems a bit premature. Molly is 4 weeks old, and we have just abandoned breastfeeding for formula, before the La Leche League members shoot me down in flames, I have tried really hard to feed her, but I just can't do it. We have plenty of milk, and she is growing well, but I just hate every minute of it, I had every intention of feeding her myself until I returned to work, but unfortunately it hasn't worked out that way.

I had a c-section 4 weeks ago, and at no time has anyone suggested that I wouldn't be allowed to travel, I have mentioned our upcoming trip to just about everyone we've encountered trying to get advice, and they have all said 'have a great time'

Slings - we have 2 at the moment, a fleece pouch sling which is fab for sitting at the pc, and with a bit of practice I could probably feed in it, but I couldn't walk around WDW with it, it is very hard on the back and Molly is only 10lbs at the moment.
The other is a Baby Bjorn which is not as cosy, and Molly isn't quite as happy in it, (although she will go in it), but it's more practical for walking around in, i even managed to do some ironing with her in it this morning.

Phew, I've written a novel.... I have to say, that in all honesty, if you can't take the baby on the cruise then I would suggest abandoning the cruise and having an extra 4 days at WDW. I really think that leaving the baby for that long will be hard, and it would put a real dampner on your cruise experience.

Bev

 

[NotUrsula]

Bev, I knew you would have some pithy things to say about that Coachrider!

I think that those of us who have pumped while travelling were just trying to explain the sometimes tricky logistics of pumping on the road. You're right, not everyone does well with nursing, for a variety of reasons. As it happens, it was very easy for me, but I know that it isn't always that way. I personally hate it when people jump all over mothers for not nursing, or not nursing for very long. In this day and age it is a personal choice, and if it is not right for you, then trying to do it anyway generates a whole lot of stress you don't need right now.

How *is* Molly anyway? Good baby, I hope?

 

[justhat]

Thanks guys. I do know that breastfeeding may not work out, but since I plan to do it, I figure all the advice I can get while breastfeeding/pumping on the road is great. Since I was formula fed and turned out okay, I don't have anything against using it or others using it, but I would rather try breastfeeding and do it as long as possible.

Thanks for the input on the Coach Rider, Bev, and congratulations on your new baby. I know it's huge and we do have 2 other much smaller, lighter strollers (one is a Graco and the other is a Maclaren) and a Peg Perego that's pretty much the same size as the Coach Rider, but since the baby won't be able to sit up yet I like that the Coach Rider fully reclines which is why we want to bring that one with us. Also, since the stroller bed is removable and can act like a Moses basket, we figure it'll be a nice place for the baby to sleep, since Disney just has those pack n' plays and it's sorta hard to get them in and out when they're asleep at the bottom of those things. Especially useful if we decide to go without the infant seat so that way if he falls asleep in the stroller, we don't have to wake him up. But since I know it is so bulky, that's why I'm skeptical of using the seat too. It would be convenient for when we are eating, but carrying it around when we have to fold up the stroller like NotUrsula said is what is worrying us. We also hadn't heard about infant seats causing poor oxygen saturation, but I did tell my fiancé to look into that.

Also, do you guys bring your own diapers for the whole trip, or do you stop and get more. We obviously have to bring enough for at least 2 days, but since we never rent a car, we've just gotten anything we realized we needed at the resort, but since we'll still need a very small size diaper I'm thinking WDW might not have them. I've heard that towncars will make a grocery stop, but since we've never needed that I don't know if it's true or which ones do it.

 

[BevS97]

Gosh = I just reread my post and I was awfully negative - I am
sorry about that, cna we put it down to sleepless nights

justthat -
It sounds like the coachrider had changed a lot since I had one, but my dd is nearly 6 so that's quite likely! The big problem with mine was that rather than the body coming off and switching around, the handle was reversible (it could be flipped from the front to the back of the pram), when it was reversed the wheels just didn't work properly, the swiveling wheels were at the back and the fixed at the front - it was like trying to steer a tank.
Yes it was massively heavy, and that is a drawback, but it's not the end of the world, imho, you are lifting/carrying a pushchair for a lot less time than you are steering it, so as long as you can push/steer it comfortably I would be less concerned about the weight, although I would work out how you will get on/off the bus if you have pushchair, carseat, and bags - ie, who will carry each thing. It's probably doable, but it's worth having a plan.

For diapers - we always hire a car, I think it's much easier, especially with kids, plus we like to eat offsite sometimes (and go shopping, but that will be less exciting since you have easy access to american shops and prices all the time). Since we have a car, I just take a couple of days worth and then buy more as we need them. I have heard of people getting them delivered from netgrocer, but I've never looked into it as we will just buy them.

On the travel cot issue - we were planning on getting a pop up crib/moses basket thing. They have recently appeared all over in the UK, but I don't know if they are in the USA as well (we seem to get very different products)
there's a picture here
here (but that's a uk site)
My only concern is that Molly is quite big and will probably have outgrown her Moses basket by December, so I'm worried she won't fit in it.

NotUrsula -

Molly is lovely but then maybe I am biased! We got off to a bad start with the breastfeeding as she was a big baby (9lbs 4) and very hungry from the start. I had a section, and didn't have much milk initially. the combination meant the first few days were just awful (from a feeding point of view). Things got better when we came home, but she was still very hungry and feeding very often, I understand this is common in breastfed babys but it was making me miserable, so we decided this weekend to introduce formula and she is like a different child. She feeds for longer at one time, and then settles for 3 or 4 hours between feeds, which I am finding much easier to cope with.
I think we should have a good trip with her because she seems most content when we are out walking with the pushchair, and we will be doing a lot of that at Disney!

 

[mcnuss]

Love the word pushchair! It's so descriptive!

Ok, just had to say that!

 

[lovesdumbo]

Have you thought about shipping a package to yourself at the resort? I've never but think I will this trip with 2 in diapers.

 

[TJA]

We taking our twin girls (will be 7 months old) next month to WDW. After much debate, thought, and research, we decided to take our Graco duo glider because that's what our babies are used to and we feel they will be most comfortable in that. We have 2 baby bjorn carriers which we think are wonderful. They fit very nicely and the girls love to be close to us. We plan to fly with our girls in the baby bjorn carriers. We thought we would put the baby bjorns under the stroller in the parks and when we go on rides we will put the babies in our carriers. We may bring our carseats too (they fit right inside the stroller) for eating inside restaurants.

Though I don't have any experienced advice for you (yet!), I just thought I'd pass along what we have decided to do.