Travelling with a baby

[WillowRain]

Hey all. This will be my first trip with a baby!!! He will be 7 months old, and still mainly drinking formula with some foods. I'm sure bringing bottles and formula shouldn't be a problem in the park correct? Am I allowed to bring an actual cooler and keep it in my stroller? I always thought they "made" you get a locker, which I don't really want to have to do. Mainly to keep the baby food and water in. Also, just in general how do you travel with bottles? DO you just pack all of them? Do you pack like 10 and bring dish soap and the bottle brush? It's going to be very different then cleaning and sterilizing at home!!!

Also, I have never been a baby wearer, but I feel like maybe I need to get a sling for waiting in line with baby. He gets wiggly and I don't want any of us to drop him! What rides are good for 7 month olds? My friend took her baby on POTC!!!! I don't think I will do that lol. Stick to FL and TT rides. Any and all info and advice on taking baby is welcome. Thanks!

 

[ashley0139]

I don't have a baby though I've been with a baby several times. Yes, you can keep a cooler in your stroller as long as it's soft sided. They don't allow hard ones in. You will have no problem bringing in the formula. I think a baby carrier would make things much easier when you are in lines. As for rides, most of the fantasyland rides are good. Winnie the Pooh and Jungle Cruise would be some in the other lands you could do.

 

[kathy040690]

I brought my then 5 month old on pirates lol

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I went with some friends recently, and they took their 4-month old on Pirates. There were no problems. Any family ride would work.

Don't forget about Baby Care at both Disneyland and California Adventure. If you need a nice, calm area to feed your baby or prepare the bottles you can do that there. They also have a nice area to change, if you need to do that. Be sure to take extra clothes in case your little one makes some kind of mess. My friends forgot about that, and didn't have a clean shirt to change their baby in to.

 

[kathy040690]

The only ride i dont like to take babies on that doesnt have a height requirement is i think its called roger rabbit (in toon town) and thats because baby HAS to sit on the seat there is NO lap sitting.. every other ride is great for all ages

 

[WillowRain]

LOL! My only concern with the baby are the drops scaring him on POTC. But otherwise I think he will be ok with the dark and stuff. Definitely taking him on HM!!! His sisters are pretty loud so the noises shouldn't bother him either. And yes I have read up on the baby stations. Most likely will be using those a lot because I hate using those changing stalls in the gross bathrooms.

 

[amyg1975]

Pirates is a great time to sit and bottle feed a baby! Some sort of carrier will be great to have. We took our daughter when she was 8 months old, and it was nice to have.

 

[smartlabelprint]

We love our Ergo and Tula baby carriers. Yes, our kids are that close in age.

Pirates is fine for baby! You know about rider switch?

We bought 50 bottles. Literally. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003I...gerber+first+essentials+bottles&pi=SX200_QL40

We put the formula in one bottle measured & sealed. The water in another bottle sealed & measured. East to mix! Never ended up in the baby centers this trip. But we took frequent hotel breaks.

 

[WillowRain]

@smartlabelprint Those are exactly the bottles I was adding to my cart just before I came back here! And that's how I do my bottles too, but I actually have this cool little separate compartment formula thingy that holds enough for 3 bottles that I will bring. I plan on taking the afternoon off and going back to the hotel, whether or not the family comes with me. And yes we know about parent swap!!! I can't imagine what hell it would be without that parent pass. I remember back when I was a kid we stood in line and I would wait for my parents at the exit. But luckily my sister is with us so we do have 3 adults, so 1 stays with baby and the other 2 ride. LOL good advice feeding him on POTC. Wouldn't have thought of that, but not a bad idea in case he does get fussy.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Hey all. This will be my first trip with a baby!!! He will be 7 months old, and still mainly drinking formula with some foods. I'm sure bringing bottles and formula shouldn't be a problem in the park correct? Am I allowed to bring an actual cooler and keep it in my stroller? I always thought they "made" you get a locker, which I don't really want to have to do. Mainly to keep the baby food and water in. Also, just in general how do you travel with bottles? DO you just pack all of them? Do you pack like 10 and bring dish soap and the bottle brush? It's going to be very different then cleaning and sterilizing at home!!!

Also, I have never been a baby wearer, but I feel like maybe I need to get a sling for waiting in line with baby. He gets wiggly and I don't want any of us to drop him! What rides are good for 7 month olds? My friend took her baby on POTC!!!! I don't think I will do that lol. Stick to FL and TT rides. Any and all info and advice on taking baby is welcome. Thanks!

If you are interested in using a baby carrier, check to see if there's a Babywearing International chapter near you. They allow you to try on different carriers at their meetings to find what fits best. The chapter near us (and likely other chapters too) also allow you to borrow carriers/wraps/slings for a month if you are a member. I would definitely do this to try a bunch of different carriers and find what works best for you.

DD was 8 months when we took her to WDW for the first time, and we weren't babywearers either..but wanted a carrier for the trip. If I had just bought online what I thought I wanted, I would have bought a ring sling. I ended up finding them very uncomfortable when trying them out. We ended up getting a beco gemini instead, and it has been a fantastic carrier for both DH and I.

Also, re: bottles - we brought enough bottles so that we wouldn't have to rinse/reuse while in the park. We also brought a large tupperware container (like this one), a bottle brush, and put bottle soap in a travel size liquid container (like the tube in this one w/the blue bottom). We brought a travel bottle rack so they could dry overnight.

Depending on the hotel you're at, you may have access to a microwave. If you do, look into bringing Medela Steam Bags in case you do want to sterilize anything while you're there.

Also, if your child likes bottles warm, this Tommee Tippee Bottle Warmer is awesome. You could use the coffee maker in the hotel to heat up the water in the morning, carry it in this, and it keeps the water piping hot for a very long time. We didn't find this until our second WDW trip with DD, and it was a lifesaver then. It's great for power outages too (if you think you might lose water, boil water, put it in, and it will still be piping hot the next morning).

Hope those thoughts help!

 

[Angel Ariel]

LOL! My only concern with the baby are the drops scaring him on POTC. But otherwise I think he will be ok with the dark and stuff. Definitely taking him on HM!!! His sisters are pretty loud so the noises shouldn't bother him either. And yes I have read up on the baby stations. Most likely will be using those a lot because I hate using those changing stalls in the gross bathrooms.

If you're holding the child, the drops should be fine We took our DD on Pirates at 8 months..she actually loved it! She's also the child that, at 3 years old, giggled in the stretch room of the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay. I was afraid the ceiling of the stretch room (the projections on it) would scare her, but she laughed instead. Kids will surprise you with what they're OK with!

 

[Nevada Jen]

As to how to deal with the bottles. Just dump them and rinse them immediately after use and call it good. I usually only bring 4 bottles on any length of trip and later rinse them in the hotel bathroom sink with no soap. I make up for the lack of sterilizing by bringing a lot of nipples and rings (which are really the part that get germy). Its been a while but the gerber bottles used to exactly fit the disposable nipples and rings. And you could buy a 50 pack of sterilized diposible nipples and rings in individual packages. If I am not using sterilized single use nipples and rings, I rinse well right after use and drop them in hot water from a coffee pot back at the hotel. Haven't killed a kid yet (or even gotten one sick). Also, I just carried a whole (small) can of formula in my backpack with the scoop in it (put the can in a sealed plastic bag though!). After many many babies, that seemed to be the easiest solution. Truthfully, I can't believe how long it took me to figure that one out! I mean, your going to bring the can of formula on the trip anyway, why transfer the powdered formula to something else?

 

[Belle83]

I don't sterilize between bottle uses (just once after purchase). You could buy those Medela microwave sterilizing bags to use in the baby centers though.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

I was told sterilization and boiling water before use wasn't necessary after baby was 4 months old

 

[ClaraOswald]

I only ever sterilized them after purchase. Not between uses. We would pre-measure the formula and put it into bottles. (Not at Disneyland, just in general. Never went with a baby.) Then we'd have water in a separate bottle to dump in and mix when we needed it.

 

[agamble]

Yeah on taking the baby! We took our oldest for her first birthday and our second when he was three weeks old. Our third will, sadly, be closer to two by the time we go again.

As far as bottles go I would bring however many you are comfortable with. As others mentioned you probably don’t have to wash them completely between each feeding and could do just a quick rinse and use a clean nipple. There is a nice Baby Center at each park where you can feed baby and clean bottles if you want to. Do you plan to bring in bottled water to make the bottles, or to pre-fill each bottle with water? Disney will have no problem with you bringing in the formula, and even snacks for your older kids and yourself. Just no glass.

I would get some kind of baby carrier. We have a basic backpack that can be worn front or back and used that with all of our kids. They’re pretty inexpensive if you go with something without all the frills, look at Target or Wal-Mart.

We also took the kids on POTC and anything else without a height requirement. As someone mentioned Roger Rabbit does not allow lap sitting, that is their height requirement and I wouldn’t take a non-walking child on the ride. Tea Cups are okay though J.