Traveling w/baby ? about bottles/diapers

[4nana]

Last minute questions about baby necessities

What provisions are there for warming baby bottles? Do we bring our own bibs? Also, soiled diapers? Disney says they no longer use the Genies. Are soiled diapers to be confined to your cabin? If out and about on the ship ~ is it like our Ped. office, bring your baggie and take it back to your cabin???
Thanx....I appreciate your advise.

 

[jel0511]

I didn't see any bottle warmers on the ship, but my son was 18 months old, so I didn't look for any. I'd recommend if you can, bringing your own, or using hot water to heat them. Also, I don't use the diaper Genie, I never liked it, so I use ziploc bags. It works great in keeping the smell contained and there never was a problem with those being in the room. Your room is cleaned twice a day, so they are emptying the trash pretty frequently. I'd bring a box of ziplocs, it will work!!!!

 

[SueEllen]

What provisions are there for warming baby bottles? Do we bring our own bibs? Also, soiled diapers?

1. Baby Bottles--you can warm the bottle in the hot water in your sink in the room. Your server can bring hot water to the table to warm it at your meals. Disney is very accomodating and you shouldn't worry too much about warming the bottles.

2. Bibs--yes, you will need to bring your own. We used the disposible Pampers Bibster bibs on the ship. Worked like a charm--bib gets dirty--throw it away.

3. Soiled Diapers--we just tossed ours in the trashcan in our room. Our room hostess kept the trashcans emptied constantly so it wasn't an issue. When we had to change him in the restrooms we just folded the diaper up and sealed it together with the tape, and tossed it in the restroom trashcans. That didn't happen often as we were usually in the room when we changed him--we found it easier and more convenient to do it that way.

Have a great cruise.

Sue Ellen

 

[dis4me]

We used powder and bottled water on our trip with our 7 month old.The baby food was more of a pain though. We had 36 mixed jars with us. We took seversal small diaper bags and stored them in one suitcase(carryon) so that we knew nothing was broken.
We only changed the baby in the room or on the beach so I just threw the diapers in the trash.No problems at all with smell.
If you have any other questions about travel with an infant feel free to email me. We just returned on Nov 9.
We also used the bibsters but I did bring a paint smock to put on the baby under the bib so his dinner clothes were protected.How old will the baby be?

 

[Gillian]

I use the Sassy diaper sacks for dirty diaper disposal. Yes, the trash cans are emptied frequently, but the smell depends somewhat on the age & diet of your child. The diaper sacks are just small plastic bags. I don't use them for wet diapers.

I never let DS get used to warmed formula! I'm a mean mommy! He did well with room temperature. When travelling we used powdered formula with bottled water.

Good luck to you!

 

[CamColt]

We just threw diapers in our regular trash in our room. I dont think we ever publicly changed a diaper on the ship, since we were always just a few minutes away from our room.

As for the bottles, this isnt the most economic way, but we found it to be very convenient and well worth the cost, in both WDW & on the ship. We bought those glass, ready to use, nursette bottles(the ones you get in the hospital) at Babies R us, before we left. All we had to do was pop on a nipple and it was ready. There was no mixing, measuring, keeping cold, warming up, washing/sanitizing bottles, etc... We carried the clean nipples in one zip loc, and we put the dirty nipples in another. When we returned to our room we only had to wash out the nipples. Despite the cost, I would do it that way again if I had to(which I wont ).

 

[dis4me]

Cam Colt
You were lucky to find enough bottles. I searched everywhere for them. By the time I contacted Similac about doing mail order it would have been to late to get them. I will next time if my ds is still on formula.
We used the nipple that the hospital gave us in the sterilized bag. That was perfect because they didn't need to be sterilized.I don't know if they sell them though:

 

[reveric]

We have a cruise booked for late September. I'm pregnant now with our third and he is due late February/early March. As long as he's healthy we'll be on the September 20th eastern Magic!

I'm really enjoying this thread - does anyone else have any thoughts or advice on cruising with a 6 or 7 month old?

We did get a verandah (had to with 5 even though 1 is an infant) but would have gotten it anyway. I'd be totally happy to spend 7 days sitting on the verandah eating room service all day! What were your experiences like cruising with an infant?

 

[dis4me]

Reveric
We had the same situation as you.My dds are 6 and 7 and my ds was 6 mos.We also booked cat 4. We had sailed cat 6 twice but with the infant needed the family suite. The room didn't impress me. Not much more room than cat 6. The service was great. They had a pack and play(with a sheet) set up for us when we arrived.We had brought our own so the host asked if we wanted theirs the promptly put it away. It was a graco I believe but not quite as sturdy as te one I have. If I hadn't brought my own I would have used it without a problem. We brought a case of diapers and came home with half a case. We brought way too much formula-I was so afraid to run out.
We brought a high chair helper( suggestion from this board) and it was perfect. The baby was able to sit in the high chair but had support since it was a long time to sit at dinner. We also brought our stroller to the dinning area everynight. One night our son fell asleep so our server told us we could bring it in. Some people brought it in every night but I didn't see the need. There is ample space to park it outside.
We did the Western Carribean. In Key West we just walked around. On Grand Cayman we did the semi sub. The baby loved it. My older girls said it was like snorkling without getting wet.:In Cozumel we took a taxi to Play Sol Great place good facilities. We forgot a bottle( good parents right) and realized it when we got there. They had them for sale right before you get on the beach for $2.50. Funny thoguh it said 2450$ which was for pesos. My husband actually thought they were charging 24 dollars for a bottle. Sad part was we would have had to pay it.:rolleyes
We only used Flounders once.My son soesn't do daycare and hasn't been away from me much so he was unhappy there. THe staff is wonderful though. I just couldn't bring him back again. The guilt factor killed me because they said he kept waking up looking around and crying.
They have swings and lots of age appropriate toys.If you have any specific questions let me know

 

[My~Rumbly~Tumbly]

Just sailed last week. The disposable bibsters worked great! They are super thin too, so they take up hardly any space and have a pocket at the bottom to catch droppings. My son is old enough to drink milk, and still nurses frequently, so I didn't have the concern for warming bottles. I do remember the water being quite hot in the bathroom sinks and the basin is stainless so I think that would aid in warming a bottle quickly. I'm certain that there must be a portable battery operated bottle warmer on the market. Maybe check out www.rightstart.com or www.onestepahead.com. They tend to have the latest in innovative baby products. I found the little bags that they line the waste baskets with in your stateroom to be quite handy for putting a soiled diaper in. They had a ton of extras stored in the bottom of our baskets, but I bet if you asked they be more than happy to provide extras. Everyone knows that a 17 month old can stink things up and we never felt overcome by the diapers.

Have fun! My only advice regarding Flounders or Oceaneers Club is to request them to test the beeper before you take it, and maybe tell them where you are going to be and instruct them locate you (by way of phone) if you do not answer the beep within a certain amount of time. That may sound ridiculous, but I learned the hard way that my son cried for two hours in Flounders. My beeper was defective and they made no effort to locate me in Palo. This is not said to deter you from going to Flounders. They DO have some wonderful staff there and I took my son there again after this episode. I just made sure to check in on him.

 

[SueEllen]

We brought a high chair helper( suggestion from this board) and it was perfect.

Best invention ever made for a baby! We couldn't have gone without one from about 4 months until about 10 months.

Sue Ellen

 

[4nana]

Thanx too all for your help! Our babies are 12 and 18 mos. and you have given me some great ideas!

 

[reveric]

What's a high chair helper?

Also, which dinner seating do you recommend? Early or late?

 

[dis4me]

High chair helper is a cushion which sits behind the baby to support him in the high chair.We bought our at Toy's r us for 19.99
We did early seating but you really need to judge by your baby's schedule. I found it easier to feed my son while we were eating because it kept him occupied.Luckily he ate dinner at 6pm at home.
Most babies don't start solids NOW until they are 4-6 mos especially breastfed babies.However My son is huge(23 lbs at 6 mos and started solids early so he was on 3 meals of baby food a day. Hopefully you will be lucky and not need all that food.
Have a great trip

 

[My~Rumbly~Tumbly]

My son is 3 days shy of turning 18 months and he doesn't even weigh 23 pounds, lol! He's very tall, but extremely thin!

 

[dis4me]

Yes Tammy he is.My dds wereabout 18 months when they reached 20 lbs.LOL Oh well. He is tall too. 30 inches. Not good for me as I am only 5ft.
Did your son enjoy Floubders? What did they do with his age group?

 

[My~Rumbly~Tumbly]

He hated Flounders, but he hates to be away from me anyway. I'm a WAHM, so he rarely goes to a sitter and when he does, it's his aunt or one of his grandmothers. He's also in teething hell, has a TON of teeth coming in at once (he's late), so he was even more opposed to being away from me. He found comfort in his blankets and the stroller while in Flounders. He was a blanket baby when he was very young, but then gave them up before he even was a year old. Now he's REALLY attached, often carting around 4 or 5 at a time, lol. Basically in Flounders he was okay as long as they didn't talk to him, look at him, touch his stroller or blankets (they told me that, haha). I really didn't see them doing much in the way of planned activities, just lots of playing with whatever they wanted to play with. And they had a large television. The children seemed happy playing, but it was rare to go in there not find at least one baby crying because they wanted their parents.

 

[dvarallo]

Hi,

I recently booked a 7 day Eastern Caribbean on the Magic. When I made my reservations for myself, a friend and our 3 kids, I originally planned on the family stateroom with verandah because nothing smaller will hold 5 people. My TA suggested getting 2 staterooms instead. You have to pay 2 adult fares for each stateroom, but it actually ends up cheaper than a Family Stateroom. Plus, you have much more room and 2 bathrooms! You can even use one of the rooms to put the kids down for a nap while you're in the connecting room. I also was concerned about having the verandah on the family stateroom because my 4-1/2 year old DS would probably figure out a way of climbing over the railing. We could have saved even more money by getting a category 9 or 10, but we opted for an outside stateroom.