Any tips for new parents?

[DVCajun]

We're taking a short trip next weekend with our new DS-- he'll be 7 weeks old! Any of you parenting veterans have tips for us?

 

[Alysa]

Congratulations! No tips from me as I am still waiting for a certain arrival to make that first trip
I would love to hear any must know stuff too - being a parent sounds a little scary to me.

 

[sherry7]

My son is 11, so I can't help you out much. However, I have read about something called baby swap. That's where you swap your baby between rides on the same attraction, without having to wait in line all over again. I can't explain it any better unfortunately. Can someone explain it a little better please?

 

[CanadaKid]

Near the Crystal Palace restaurant in the Magic Kingdom there is a Baby Care Station. It is sponsered by Carnation and staffed by Disney cast members. It is a quiet area inside with big comfy rocking chairs, private nursing rooms and all the baby-type supplies a parent could ever forget (like they would!)

Our neighbours went down with an infant and they thought this was a great place - an oasis in an otherwise busy park. Disney expects infants to be visiting their parks with their families (and they probably get hundreds every day) and they provide these places with the parents in mind.

I think the Epcot one is in the Odyssey Center in Future World. I would be willing to bet the other parks also have these stations too. They are only there for parents like you - use them.

Have Fun!

CanadaKid

 

[padams]

the WDW strollers are not comfortable for a baby that young. If you have one of those strollers with the carseat that clicks into the stroller attachment, I would recommend that you bring that one so that you can bring just baby and the seat into the restaurants and shows without waking up baby if baby is sleeping. Also, a sling (one of those baby carriers that you wear) would be handy for standing in lines.Don't forget to takes lots of film so that you prove your child when he or she is older that he or she really did visit WDW already. 7 week old babies are usually easily transportable so you should have a great trip. It gets more complicated when they start walking and talking. Good luck! Pamela

 

[deeshie]

Actually, all of the parks have baby care centers, and they are wonderful! They have lots of changing stations that they cover with paper, you can buy almost anything (diapers, medicines, baby formula), and some private areas if you care to breast feed. They are nice and quiet, and the CMs staffing them are wonderful.

I also would reiterate bringing your own stoller, and make sure it has a canopy.

 

[skeezixspud]

Be sure to bring a bottle brush and a small bottle of dish soap so that you can clean bottles in your room. The kitchen will sanitize them by pouring in boiling water, but they usually can't scrub them out. I also recommend a couple of flat cloth diapers for general clean-up, and to use to shade the baby's skin (if your Ped. tells you not to use sunscreen on a baby that young.)

 

[Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo]

We took our first child to WDW when he was 10 weeks old and had a wonderful time. My suggestions:


-We were using formula, so brought individual cans/bottles which were one use amounts.
- We used a carriage bag (attached to stroller) plus
carried a backpack to bring ziploc baggies for wet/soiled clothes, a washcloth in another baggie for washing baby's face, plenty of changes of clothes.( I remember a particularyl nasty "blow out" and was glad I had all the above!!)
- Keep baby covered in lightweight clothes- no sunsuits, even if it's hot- they're too easily burned!
- don't forget a good hat
- I always carried several thin receiving blankets and some clothespins to make a sheltering canopy on the sides of the stroller for when the sun is low and slanting in. They're also good for draping across your bare skin when your'e holding baby- if it's hot- that bare skin to bare skin can mean extra heat!)
-bring an extra one or two of baby's favorite pacifier- you're bound to lose one (we did) unless it's hooked to baby.

Hope this helps and have a wonderful time!- don't forget to get a picture of Mickey or Minney holding the baby for his first trip there- they will usually motion that they want to sit down to hold the baby, but it turned out so cute, we made sure we got an identical picture 4 years later with our second son!

 

[erica_mutterer]

bibbidy bobbidy boo had great tips that we also used when ours were that small. here is a few more...

we found that most sit down restaurants allowed us to bring the stroller right in if our little one was sleeping. this made for some very enjoyable meals.

we were very glad we brought our own stroller with basket, reclining seat and cover!!!

the baby can go on any attraction with you that does not have a height requirement!!! you would be supprised how much a little one can take in and enjoy at that age. we have some wonderful memories and pictures that that we and our kids enjoy looking at.

each park has a baby center. I know this was mentioned but it was worth mentioning again because they are wonderful for items like passy's, diapers, formula (if you run out or forget something) they have nice area's for nursing, changing etc. very clean and comfortable.

some attractions / shows are very load. this never bothered our kids but i always held there ears. ex: tough to be a bug, honey i shrunk the audience, tarzan rocks.

crowds at MK on a sat. evening on a spectro magic / MSEP night can be a little scary especially when you have a tiny one in the stroller. (lots of pushing, basically not enough room for all those people) get a spot early and wait out the crowds before leaving.


you will have a wonderful time especially sharing it with your little one!!!

 

[Heidi]

So glad to here these tips. I just found out I am pregnant and one of my first thoughts was...Oh NO, what about our WDW vacations!!!

Now perhaps I can try to take the baby EVERY year!!! Then I can write a book on the subject. LOL

 

[DVCajun]

Well, we took our trip with the baby and it was wonderful! I know that many people don't want to bring their babies until they're "old enough to enjoy it," but let me tell you, WE enjoyed it much more with him there! We had a character breakfast and you could tell the characters really got a kick out of him (he's a cutie pie if I do say so myself!!)-- and of course we got a huge kick out of showing him off! It was fabulous and there are many many opportunities to get out of the heat and refresh in the air conditioning. I was very cautious about him overheating.

Anyway, thanks for all of these great tips! I checked out those baby centers and they were great!

There are also so many things that are different when you have children with you-- things that you don't even know about before you become parents. A small example-- one of the bus drivers gave me an "Honorary Bus Driver License" for my son's scrap book!! Who would have thought it!?

Have a Disney Day!!

 

[LizPR]

We just returned from WDW and we wet cloth diapers then draped them over our 3 month old's head. This kept her head shaded from the sun and we hope kept her a little cooler.

 

[naturaldisneyer]

I can back you up on the baby swap situation, Sherry. See if you and your DH want to ride a ride that the baby cannot go on you just all go in line then the tell the CM that is loading or whatever that you are doing baby swap. They will either show you a way or tell you to go to the exit. Then the one parent will ride while the other one waits with the baby at the exit. When the first parent is done the other will ride without having to go in line. Also if you have other children they enjoy it because they can ride two times in a row.

 

[Ali]

HI ya'll - we are taking our 10 week old son to Disney next week specifically to get pictures of him and Mickey. My first question is should I just go to the Starland area and wait in line, or should I go to a different park and hope to see Mickey? Also, we are new parents and we live in Florida, but I don't know how to deal with the heat for the baby. He gets so hot just riding in his carseat on the way to the mall - I can't imagine being in it all day at the park, so we are severely limiting our time outside - but what else can I do? The wet diaper on the head thing sounds great but my son hates being wet! He is a very touchy baby!

Thanks

 

[DVCajun]

Hi Ali-- getting photos with Mickey was a prime reason for our trip too! One thing we did was schedule a character breakfast where Mickey would be and we got some great shots there. Another thing we did, and we were surprised at how easy this was: we went to MGM and met Mickey there at the indoor studio where he stays all day! There was hardly any line-- I had asked where we could meet Mickey and was directed to the right spot, but if I hadn't known I don't think I would have realized! There was a marquis out on the street that read "Meet Mickey Mouse," but in MGM, you can't really count on the signs actually meaning what they say, so I can see people thinking it was just another "atmosphere" sign. Anyway, it was air conditioned and very pleasant while we waited our turn with the Mouse.

I was also concerned about the heat issue. I just kept a very close eye on our son and made a point to visit many air conditioned attractions-- you'd be surprised at how many there are when you look for them. While we were in MGM we timed a bottle break with the tour through the artists studio-- then we went and met Mickey, also in air conditioning. At Epcot we spent time indoors most of the time, not difficult there at all. At the Magic Kingdom we took a break at the baby station which was very nice.

I also didn't just leave him in his car seat, which can get stuffy and claustrophobic-- I took him out frequently to air out his little back, and brought a hat to shield him from the sun.

One last thing: I didn't heat his bottles. He seemed to appreciate a nice frosty bottle!

Good luck on your trip!