What's my 1 year old going to eat?

[Dallas_Lady]

I've been so excited about the fact that we have free dining for DH and I, that I forgot that my 1yo DD will need to eat something. How do you handle this for a child that is too young to be on the dining plan? Or, in general, what can I expect a 1 year old to eat while at WDW?

DD is 8.5 months right now and isn't that big on table food, she's still on breastmilk and puress. I have no idea what she will even want to eat when the trip comes around.

Here are our ADRs:
-Grand Floridian Cafe (princess dinner)
-Biergarten
-'Ohana
-Boma
-Chef Mickey's

 

[Hannathy]

You have several options. Bring in Baby food for her, order carefully yourself and give her stuff off your plate or order her a side of mashed potatoes or applesauce or pasta and pay for it separately. My DS was on table food by that age so I would just pay for a side or two he could eat or order carefully if available. At Buffets he can eat for free if there is something there that works.

 

[Mommymcgee]

We just took our 1 (almost 2) year old.

Under 3's eat free at the buffets. You'll have no trouble finding something at those.

At plated character meals, they are allowed something off a very limited menu, buttered pasta was the only choice we were given at CRT, but he was given a desert just like his older sister.

 

[SandrainNC]

My youngest will be 16 months when we go, but he is almost 11 months now, so I will name some things he is eating now to try to help. I wasn't sure if some of those are breakfast, so I named some breakfast stuff too.

Mashed potatoes
Mac and Cheese
oatmeal
spaghetti
grits
biscuit in teeny pieces/soft breads
soft veggies
yogurt
small pieces of cheese like cheddar

That is all I can think of at the moment.

Sandra

 

[Princess Roo]

When DS was that age we carried the small cans of pop-top vegetables. (They are with the regular canned veg in the grocery store.) He would eat that, some stuff from our plates, and then sometimes some Cheerios, bread, or crackers. Super-easy! It's definitely OK to bring your own food in for a child that young. It's hard to say what your little one will be eating at that time, though, until it gets closer.

 

[grlpwrd]

You have several options. Bring in Baby food for her, order carefully yourself and give her stuff off your plate or order her a side of mashed potatoes or applesauce or pasta and pay for it separately. My DS was on table food by that age so I would just pay for a side or two he could eat or order carefully if available. At Buffets he can eat for free if there is something there that works.

Ditto.

I'm usually a "natural/organic/no plastics freak" lol, but when traveling with a little one I brought those plastic baby food containers with me just in case (glass one's could break) and the fork and spoon in a plastic container pack I bought at the dollar store. Hey, they gotta eat.

Some folks bring disposable bibs because it's easier and more convenient and maybe bring some sippy cups if she'll be into it around that time.

I bf'ed all my kids, too, and when they were all about that age and we were traveling or just out and about I also taught them how to drink from a water bottle. I didn't want them dehydrated so I tried to get them to drink water, especially in summer, so they drank out of a sippy cup or water bottle. I just used the lid as a little cup, but now they sell the special lids for little one's.

GL!

BTW Dallas_Lady, I enjoyed your website...

 

[Jennygt]

I've been so excited about the fact that we have free dining for DH and I, that I forgot that my 1yo DD will need to eat something. How do you handle this for a child that is too young to be on the dining plan? Or, in general, what can I expect a 1 year old to eat while at WDW?

DD is 8.5 months right now and isn't that big on table food, she's still on breastmilk and puress. I have no idea what she will even want to eat when the trip comes around.

Here are our ADRs:
-Grand Floridian Cafe (princess dinner)
-Biergarten
-'Ohana
-Boma
-Chef Mickey's

My Ds is the same age and we will be traveling the same time! I guess we will have to see what they are into as it gets closer. DS is still on BM and purees. Also cereal and cheerios and some biscuts. I think that We can try yogurt soon. I hope to have him weaned by out trip. Our Md said I can start cows milk a few weeks early if I want. I am sooo looking forward to this trip, I bet you are as well! Have a wonderful time!!

 

[PiperPizzaz]

We went last year during free dining with our 11 month old. I brought baby food (mostly veggies) and he ate some things from the restaurants. Rolls, mac and cheese and other soft foods. We also had him on formula and milk at the time (I asked my doctor ahead of time) so he had formula in the morning and at night at the hotel and milk at the restaurants.

I would recommend getting some of the disposible baby spoons (they have them at walmart) so you can just toss the stuff instead of trying to take it back to the room to wash. I also had the dish soap wipes but, I don't know if they still make those. I did end up washing a lot of dishes anyway bottles and sippy cups mostly.

 

[Ellester]

My Ds is the same age and we will be traveling the same time! I guess we will have to see what they are into as it gets closer. DS is still on BM and purees. Also cereal and cheerios and some biscuts. I think that We can try yogurt soon. I hope to have him weaned by out trip. Our Md said I can start cows milk a few weeks early if I want. I am sooo looking forward to this trip, I bet you are as well! Have a wonderful time!!

Just a warning that cow's milk does sometimes upset little tummies when they first try it. You may actually want to delay it until after the trip to make sure you don't have any "digestive issues" while traveling. Personally, I found it much easier to nurse in the parks than try to find cold, whole milk or lug it around all day in a cooler bag. Just my $.02!

 

[Dallas_Lady]

Thanks for the tips (and by all means keep 'em coming!). I am hoping to only be night nursing by that time. She is not into the sippy cup yet, but I've got some time so hopefully that will be an option.

How "baby friendly" have you found counter service to be? Do they have highchairs? Are there simple options for little ones?

My Ds is the same age and we will be traveling the same time! I guess we will have to see what they are into as it gets closer.

When is your DS's birthday? My daughter's is 9/18. This is her birthday trip

 

[Ellester]

How "baby friendly" have you found counter service to be? Do they have highchairs? Are there simple options for little ones?

There are plenty of high chairs at each counter service (and table service, of course!). I don't think the options are that great in the kid meal department for babies. Most kid meals come with raw carrots and grapes, both prime choking hazzards and nasty sugar free gelatin for dessert. I think you'll be much better off sharing a few bits of your meal and packing snacks you know your little one likes. That's what we did until the kids hit about 2. Unless your little one is a huge eater at 1 I think you'll be throwing much of a kid's meal away. It sounds like she's going to have a great birthday! rincess:

 

[tinkandpan]

Another thing to keep in mind - there are banana's a plenty on buffet's and for snacks at many of the counter service restaurants. THose were a godsend to us the last time with my picky toddler.

 

[marimorr1]

My little one just turned one on our May trip. He did great with the buffets, but sometimes for counter service I would get him a kid's grilled cheese with applesauce for the side and he would have some of that. The kids counter service meals were pretty cheap and my son just started drinking from a juice box with help so it gave him a drink too. Most places had apple juice boxes for the drink.

Another great tip was to use snack credits for the cut up fruit cups. My resort had these and I always had one in the mini fridge. I brought cereal bars and he would have these with fruit for snacks or breakfast.

My son was still on formula, so I had one of those plug in bottle warmers that I used to warm up bottles and a few jars of cereal and baby food that I brought from home. He seemed to eat pretty well on vacation.

 

[Princess Roo]

Applesauce is now a side option in the kids meals. You get to pick 2, and I haven't had any trouble getting 2 of the same thing (2 applesauce, for example, if you wanted to use one at lunch and save one for later).

I'm not aware of there being whole milk in the parks. I think it's 1% everywhere which is not a great idea for a 11 or 12 month old. They do have whole milk at the resorts.

 

[slduck]

You may want to take along some of the Gerber soups or meals. My 1 yo will eat them. He likes to pick up the small piece. Spend some time practicing with solids first. My ds will also still eat baby food at time so be sure to pack some extra fruits and veggies. Basically anything that is soft and in small pieces, my ds will eat.

Think about things like baked potatoes, small pieces of meat (ie hamburger turkey or chicken...you can pull or cut these into tiny pieces) , cottage cheese, shredded cheese. Counter service will be a bigger issue. I think that there if fruit like bananas on sale at a snack stand in Toontown.

Good luch and have great trip.

 

[mhm]

We went to Hawaii a week after our oldest dd's 1st birthday. We started her on whole milk a couple of weeks before the trip, so we knew she was ok with it. Her pediatrician had also told us 2% was ok too. It made it easier in restaurants. We brought (or bought there) portable food she was used to--baby cereal, cheerios, Gerber toddler foods (diced veggies, veggie crackers, wagon wheels, etc.), bananas, applesauce, etc. This way we knew that if there wasn't anything appropriate at a restaurant, she wouldn't go hungry. At breakfast, we'd order eggs and whole wheat toast, and we'd chop up appropriate fruit. At lunch or dinner, we'd give her Gerber diced veggies, bread, rice or potatoes, and maybe a few very cut-up pieces of chicken or fish (I think we were giving her fish at this point--I don't really remember). We had started her with sippy cups of water at about six months, so she was a pro by a year, and it made it easy not having to fuss with bottles. We actually found it pretty fun travelling with her at one.

 

[kileybeth]

here is what has worked for us. we've taken several differnt age toddlers and infants into the parks.

due to the heat both you and DD will need a break anyway so I loved the nice cool comfort stations. I also found it fairly doable to b.feed in the parks discreetly. However, when our infants got to hot, they did not nurse well. I found bottled water and powdered formula to be the absolute best option. Just mix whenever needed! I would strongly suggest using only bottled water for any formula you mix tho. Water from strange city can be as bad as reg. milk in heat. My Pediatrician suggested we hold off on cow milk until after trip even tho it left DS and DD on formula a bit past a year.

I would also carry in cherrios, goldfish, and raisins. Easily transportable and nothing to go bad.

Yogurt (or gogurt) is a great cold b.fast item. Easy to keep in fridge at resort or even freeze to take into park.

and supplement with buffetts or ask the waitstaff if they have a pack of crackers or whatever, most will go out of their way to bring you something.

I love traveling with babies this age, they are so easy to accomadate as oppossed to my picky older toddlers and even pickier teens, did you hear that huge sigh!

Have a super great trip!

 

[AmyBWV99]

We've taken our son on 5 trips over his wee life and pretty much been able to get him something; ask if they can get you something else, i.e. fruit many of the restaurants share kitchen's w/neighboring restaurants and can grab something better for you w/o you having to run all over. When C was 11 months old on our 3/06 trip I took a container of baby food, for every meal w/us and then ordered 'filler' foods for the rest of his meal, side of fruit, side of mashed potatoes, 1 pancake, 1 scrambled egg, side of cottage cheese, etc. We packed snacks for him every morning, breakfast bars, goldfish, fruit puffs, cheerios, etc. Even the higher end TS restaurants will be able to do something for you don't rely on the menu to guide you. Don't think you have to haul tons w/you worst case you can always go to the nearest Baby Care Center and they sell foods in 1-3's and juices, it's not cheap but what's an extra $1 in the course of the day. We didn't carry tons w/us on any given day b/c we found he was much more interested in trying what we were eating 'big boy food' and then we'd be hauling 10lbs of food in the bottom of the stroller for a day.

 

[dsneygirl]

We just got back with our 11 month old and he is almost strictly on table food & formula. He's done with the baby food. Mostly he ate off my plate or sometimes DH and I would split and adult entree and order a kids meal for him. Some of his faves were
~hot dogs
~chicken nuggets
~waffles
~toast
~bananas
~rolls, bread

He was actually really easy to feed. The adult portions are huge and at a buffet you will have no problem. I also carried cheerios, and baby crackers with me for snacks.