Help! Flying with infants - baby food etc!

[AnnaTink]

Hi everyone, newbie to the forum

I'm looking for advice on travelling with a baby to Florida.

We've been offered a villa for a week at the end of the month and my Mum and I are looking at taking my DS and her 7th month old baby out there for the first time!

I have never been out there with an infant and wonder how people handle the flight - we'll most probably be flying with Virgin - and what they offer etc.

Also baby food - can you take jars etc into the US??

Any help/advice will be gratefully appreciated!!!!!!

Anna x

 

[mrsminniemouse]

We took DD at 6 months and it was a great trip. We took a few jars like banana porridge on the plane as they did not require heating. Also we took the powder meals that you add hot water to, like cauliflower cheese and Sunrise banana cereal (or whatever it is). When we were out I would put a serving of powder into a little tub and add hot water from a cafe/restaurant to it.

Not sure if you can take jars into the US with you. You can definitely take the powders. I think we bought lots there. They were different to the ones at home but fine. We also bought baby finger foods there, like Cheerios and other baby snacks.

We took individual sachets of SMA formula for when we were out and a tin for at the hotel. We also took a cold water steriliser as we did not have access to a microwave.

You can buy all the same nappies and wipes and bath products there so we took just enough for the journey.

If you fly with Virgin, request a Skycot. Your little one can lay and sleep in there, it is great at that age. By our next trip at 11 months DD was too long for it and spent more time on our laps which is a bit uncomfortable. Since then we have always got her a seat.

It is a long way for just a week though. Could you extend it at all? I know DD took a few nights to get back into her sleeping routine once we got home but it was ok.

Hope you have a great trip if you go. DD had a great time cuddling characters, watching the parades and splashing in the pool.

Mandy

 

[lexie32]

You can take jars of baby food into the US as long as they don't have meat in them!! we got stopped at customs this year with ours, and the customs officers had to read all the ingredients and sort which we could and couldn't!! We found that our son loved the gerber jars and we even ended up bringing some back.


Definatley take your milk powder as their brands are totally different, but as mrsminniemouse said eveything else is cheaper out there.

good luck with the planning, and don't worry about the journey, our ds then 11 months slept most of the way there and back it was just me who was shattered from all the stressing!!

Alex

 

[AnnaTink]

Thanks both of you - we've just booked the flights and we've managed to extend the holiday by a day, which isn't much, but at least it gives us a full week out there!

Its good to hear we can take jars and that the nappies etc are all similar - it's put my DS mind at rest a bit!! She is nervous about doing such a major trip with the baby but she knows it'll be worth it and I can't wait to introduce my niece to Mickey!!

 

[Celestine]

Having gone in Oct with my then 4 month, my advice is take your own formula - in the US it was horrendously expensive. I would also take your own nappies. Althoug they had pampers & they were comparable/slightly cheaper in price I found them less absorbent and DD got nappy rash for the first time, therefore also take lots of nappy cream! Take your own buggy and canopy (seemed to provide better shade than a parasol). Virgin are wonderful with babies - have you ordered a baby meal? I seem to recollect it consisted of 2 jars of cow & gate. Reheating is using hot water. Sky cot was wonderful and it meant bulk head seats so unfortunately we had to put up with all that extra leg room!!! Have a great trip and make use of the baby care centres in each WDW park - they have everything (incl. microwave) and made nappy changing & feeding a whole lot easier.

 

[coastergirls]

We have taken all our girls when they were little and I agree with what everyone else has said.
Definately take your own buggy and sunshade. Yes to taking your own nappies as I too found them not quite the same and they didn't agree with their bottoms!!
Take your own calpol as they don't do it over there.
I thought the baby food was awful as did my girls I ended up always taking my own and making sure I had no meat in them . The dried food where you add water is great much easier than plastering about with hot water on the plane. To be fair the food with fruit in it was ok it was just the stuff for slightly older with meat, pasta in it they disliked.
The flights were always easy never had a problem. Most of the time we paid for a seat and took our own carseat on the plane. There was always someone different to smile at them and they were kept amused . Slept quite a lot of the time.
If you take one thing with you take your own carseat . the carseats out there provided by the car rental co are rubbish!!
We still do that yet even though the youngest is coming up for 4. Either put them in a black binsack in the hold or stuck a label on them and put them through without.
If you have a decent foldup buggy you can use it right up till you are about to get on the plane . They take it away as you are boarding and it will come off the belt at the other end or be in a pile with other items.
You will have a great time if it was such a problem people wouldn't do it. I certainly wouldn't have done it time after time.
The Americans are very geared up for young children all the parks have good baby change facilities and Disney have a great place where you can go and heat up food ,milk etc and change them. I also think that you can buy baby food there. The park maps will tell you where the facilities are.
Have a great time.

 

[DebIreland]

I agree with others who suggest your sister take the buggy with her for getting around the airport etc. Essential! The ones for hire in the parks are basically like plastic bucket-shaped seats on wheels and not comfortable I'd imagine. Also, they're for hire just inside the theme parks so you'd have to carry the baby (possibly sleeping) to and from the car park or bus stop.

As regards baby food on the plane, Boots sell baby food in cans as opposed to glass jars and that's what I brought - they were great, no risk of breakage (they have the pull off ring-top thing).

You can get the spongy ear plugs in chemists - they don't stay in a baby's ears for long but they helped a lot on the plane for us and our baby (even though we had to put them in about 30 times )

Bring a lollipop or seven - the sucking action will help the baby's ears.

We brought 2 cans of formula with us as I did a bit of research and they don't sell the brand we use in the U.S. (Farleys). We used lunch bags and measured out the right amount of formula into them and mixed it with the bottled water when it was time - instead of carrying around the bottles made up.

Nappies (diapers) are basically the same over there (Huggies and Pampers) except cheaper of course!!

I'm not sure what the temperatures will be like when you're there but if it's hot or there's a strong sun I recommend a fan that attaches to the buggy. We found it invaluable. This is the type of thing I mean - http://www.kidsstuff.com/g184.html

Be sure to have a sunshade too, as others have said.

Have plenty of drinks in the parks for baby - If you run out, they sell apple juice and water in almost all counter-service restaurants there and at some of those carts along the way.

I don't know if you'll have a rental car. If you don't (or even if you don't feel like battling traffic) I can recommend a great grocery delivery service which we used last year. They're called wegoshop and the website is www.wegoshop.com - you phone or email them with a list of what you want and when you want them and they'll bring them to you with a very reasonable charge added for their trouble. We saved a lot of time and money that way by having water and juice delivered (as well as other things). Our girl loved the U.S. baby food - things like Gerber animal rusks!

There's a fabulous baby centre at each WDW theme park. These places are spotless and have huge changing tables as well as microwaves for heating food and first aid kits etc. Or just to go in and sit there for a while in the air-conditioned rooms is a treat.

Make the most of the baby swap system which is available at many attractions (basically those ones which have height restrictions) at WDW and at Universal too.

Have a great trip!

 

[AnnaTink]

Hi again everyone,

Just wanted to say a belated thank you to everyone else who has offered advice to us! I haven't been around to say so before!

We go in just over a week now and it's been great to get so much advice, it's really helped my DS to relax a bit more.

We have a sky cot requested and are just looking forward to going to Disney!!

 

[jockey]

Have a great time- let us know how you got on!