Feeding infants in the parks???

[boomhauer]

My wife and I are trying to get prepared for this for our trip next month. We have twin 5 month olds.

What is the best strategy for formula fed babies in the parks?

 

[belle&beast]

When I used formula, I would put the water in the bottles and carry the powdered formula in a container designed for formula. It had 3 sections and you measure the amount you need for each bottle. This was the easiest for us, but I only had one baby at a time! Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[johannams]

We took our ds4 when he 5 months old, I brought a container full with water for the day, the amount of powdered formula he needed for the day and 2 baby bottles. When he finished a bottle, I rinsed in the bathroom. Of course you can buy the water and formula on site, but it's much more expensive. Also, you can buy 8oz bottles of the already made formula, but it's also more expensive.

 

[NotUrsula]

Some people swear by nursettes, but that's a quite pricey option. (The bottles ARE allowed into the parks, they are a specific exception to the glass prohibition.)

If your kids will drink powdered formula: To cut down on what you carry, disposable nursers might be easiest inside the parks; because you can toss the liner when done and only have to carry two bottles and a few spare nipples to avoid really bottle-washing until you get back to your resort. If you use zip-locked liners and premeasure into them, it would just be a matter of adding bottled water to mix. I'd get them used to room-temp formula in advance if possible; warming will complicate matters.

 

[laughinplace199]

Our youngest was 5 months when we went to WDW this past April. I ordered nursette bottles directly from Enfamil and had them delivered to the resort. They are more expensive, but I decided to splurge since it was vacation and the nursettes are so easy and convenient. What kind of formula do you use? Some formula companies make single serve packets of powder. If DS's formula had been available that way, I would have brought those instead of getting the nursette bottles.

Be prepared for the babies to be distracted if you're feeding them in the parks. On our first day we went to MK. While DH took the older kids on Dumbo, I sat on a bench nearby and tried to feed DS. All he wanted to do was look around at everything. He wanted nothing to do with the bottle. I ended up using the baby care centers for feedings for the first couple of days. Luckily, by the end of the week he was so used to all of the colors, sounds, etc that he was no longer easily distracted during a feeding. He even drank a 6 oz bottle during the FOTLK show with no problems.

Have a great time with your little ones!

 

[IlovemythreeC's]

Congrats on your twins

We took our then 4 month old in September 2006. I found it to be easier than I thought it was going to be. Avent makes a disposable type bottle that you attatch the normal nipple to. So I only had to wash the nipples. They sell these in packs of 10. It was a little expensive, but it was worth it to me not to have to wash bottles on vacation. I do not know what type of bottles your little ones use, but this worked really well for me.

I also found the Baby Care Centers (in each park) to be so helpful. The ladies that work there are so kind. Sometimes I would go there and rock my son because it was such a quiet and cool place.

We had a wonderful trip there with our little one, I know you will too

 

[blessedby3]

I nursed all of mine, but I would take the powdered formula for sure and put it in snack size baggies or the specifically made containers that hold one bottle amount at a time. These usually only have room for 3 so that is why I recommended the baggies. You can take more. I would fill 4 bottles with water in the morning and take another couple of bottles of bottled water for later in the day if needed to pour into their baby bottles. I also think the playtex or avent nursers with throw away bags are a good choice. Have fun in the world with your twins!! Congrats!!

 

[dis-happy]

Great suggestions, I've used a lot of them in the past. One thing I plan to do during our upcoming trip with a new baby is buy those cloths that have dish soap built in to use for cleaning the baby stuff in hotel sinks, etc. Also, if you're in the parks, the babycare centers have nice sinks with soap and hot water for cleaning things out. Have fun!

 

[TravelinGal]

I totally agree that powdered is easiest for travel!

I glanced through the other posts and didn't see this - sorry if it was already said -

If your kids are using liquid formula at home, the powdered stuff tastes different and many babies won't adjust to the change easily/quickly. You need to start giving them that NOW so you don't have refusal problems on your trip. My DS never had an issue with it though. He'd drink whatever we gave him. We used the liquid stuff for a LONG time because it was so much easier (albeit more expensive per ounce) but we'd keep some of the similac travel pack things in the diaper bag and if we were out longer than we planned, he never fussed/refused those.

I agree that they should get used to room temp liquids before hand too. DS was in the NICU when he was little and they didn't warm the formula, so I didn't either! When we used up the nursettes they gave us and started using the big bottles of formula that had to be refrigerated, I would warm it up a tiny bit at first and then slowly made it less and less warm. Within a couple of weeks he was drinking formula straight out of the fridge.

Also, if you're going to try a disposable system (like Playtex or Avent Tempo Natural Feeding Nurser ) make sure the babies get used to it before the trip too. Some little ones can be super picky about what nipple they use. If you're already using Avent bottles, the disposable system now uses the same nipple, so that will be an easy change over. (the old system had different nipples)

 

[bzzymom]

I took DD on formula. I used the bottles with the disposible liners. I put several in a zip lock baggie, and took plenty of nipples. I had a clean nipple baggie and a dirty nipple baggie. I took in bottled water, and powder in a sectioned powder container. I took along a bottle brush and dishwashing liquid and washed the nipples at night. It was very easy.

 

[Cruz91]

One poster mentioned it - but it can't be over-stated enough! The baby care centers at each park are AMAZING! I'm pretty sure there are microwaves and a little 'kitchenette' to use for warming formula. There are also great changing tables which make it quite easy to do the diaper thing. In addition, it's a wonderful place to take the little ones to sit and cool off. They have a little den with a TV playing some great Disney programming, and nice tables where you can do a snack and refresh.

The one at MK is right by the Crystal Palace. Not sure about the other parks, but I'm sure they're on the map.

 

[dsneygirl]

I also traveled with the ready to feed formula so much easier than having to worry about mixing. I also just took a small cooler bag and placed it in the stoller basket with some ice packs. Easy as pie.

The baby care centres of sinks for washing bottles as well.

 

[laughinplace199]

Great suggestions, I've used a lot of them in the past. One thing I plan to do during our upcoming trip with a new baby is buy those cloths that have dish soap built in to use for cleaning the baby stuff in hotel sinks, etc. Also, if you're in the parks, the babycare centers have nice sinks with soap and hot water for cleaning things out. Have fun!

Do you know what companies make those dish cloths and/or where to buy them? I have been looking everywhere for them and I can't find them. I wanted to get some for our Aug trip since the baby will still be on bottles at that point.

 

[boomhauer]

Thank you so much for all the great replies. My wife and I really appreciate it. This will definitely make things a bit smoother for us.

 

[bzzymom]

I know this is a little off topic, but on my last trip, I took the bath towelettes by babymagic that all you have to do is get them wet. It was so easy, I put them in a ziplock and packed them in with the clothes. I planned one for everyday since we were there in August, plus I took 2 extra just in case.

 

[AmyBWV99]

We've done formula many trips and used the tubes that come pre measured for 4oz bottles (Enfamil DHA/ARA brand but i know others offer something similar), had the Avent disposable bottles so i only had to take one bottle piece and just extra nipples. If we needed it warmed up we went to any resturant and asked for a cup of 'coffee water' (water right from the coffee maker and dipped the bottle in and it'd work in about 90 seconds and be ready to feed. Obviously testing the temp of the bottle before we would feed him.

I know that the Epcot and AK baby centers have the Avent bottle sterilizers so if you wanted to cut down on carry around items you could stop in there to cool off and strelize the nipples that way. I'm sure the other BCC have them i just haven't seen them there. Also they all offer bottled water that you can go in and get for free to fill the bottles with at any time.

I agree w/the PP those presoaped disposable wash clothes are awesome used them for every trip. There are many brands out there now. FYI The bathtub bottms are really slick so i would fold up bath towles and put them on the bottom of the tub to set DS on b/c a slick baby in a slick tub is a combo for disaster.

 

[Skrump]

We were using Similiac with our twins last year. And you can get 4 ounces of premeasured packets in seperate containers. They were awesome. So we always left with two bottles made, our diaper bag had a cold compartmant area. Than we often made bottles out of our bottled water we had with us. We also used the baby care centers to wash bottles and change them and get the girls some ac for a while on some really hot days.