New to cruising and taking my 7 1/2 month old

[tania7424]

We're cruising from Vancouver to LA on a relocation in September for 3 days on Golden Princess. We live in the Vancouver area, so I can take what I need, and will just pay the baggage fees when we fly home. We are staying in LA for 4 days and going to Disneyland as well.

 

Formula: I'm going to take a can and a gallon of water.

 

Bottles: How do I wash properly? I don't sterilize them anymore, and I use Drop Ins, but the nipples still need to be washed.

 

Food: DS will be on chopped table food by then. Should I take jarred? Does Princess provide food?

 

PNP: I'm taking my own since I have no idea what the hotel in Anaheim is going to have. Pay United the extra $50 to check it as special baggage, no biggie. It will be more familiar to him.

 

Stroller: I'm looking for a better umbrella stroller like the Chicco or Maclaren since I'll need it for Disney as well, and it can be gate checked. No way am I carrying ds through LAX security because I brought my full size stroller, and had to check it with our luggage. ;) He's only 4.5 mos now and 17 lbs. :p

 

Toys/Entertainment: HELP!!!

 

Swimming/bathing: I know that he can't go in the pool even in a swim diaper. I have read on here to take an inflatable tub or small pool for the deck, and then it can be used for baths. I'm not sure if we'll have pool weather at the end of September in PNW, but better to be safe than sorry.

 

Am I forgetting anything?

[mcfam5]

We're cruising from Vancouver to LA on a relocation in September for 3 days on Golden Princess. We live in the Vancouver area, so I can take what I need, and will just pay the baggage fees when we fly home. We are staying in LA for 4 days and going to Disneyland as well.

 

Formula: I'm going to take a can and a gallon of water.

 

Bottles: How do I wash properly? I don't sterilize them anymore, and I use Drop Ins, but the nipples still need to be washed. I would bring a bottle brush with the nipple brush on the end. Then you can hand wash the bottles and nipples in you staterooms bathroom sink. You could also order hot water (like you would for tea) from room service to rinse the nipples after you have washed them.

 

Food: DS will be on chopped table food by then. Should I take jarred? Does Princess provide food? If Princess does not provide, I would take some to fill in with the table food. Instead of jarred I would take some of the baby food that comes in plastic containers.

 

PNP: I'm taking my own since I have no idea what the hotel in Anaheim is going to have. Pay United the extra $50 to check it as special baggage, no biggie. It will be more familiar to him.

 

Stroller: I'm looking for a better umbrella stroller like the Chicco or Maclaren since I'll need it for Disney as well, and it can be gate checked. No way am I carrying ds through LAX security because I brought my full size stroller, and had to check it with our luggage. ;) He's only 4.5 mos now and 17 lbs. :p

 

Toys/Entertainment: HELP!!! I wouldn't over do it ~ just take a few of his favorite things from home and maybe a few new things. At this age, it usually takes so little to entertain them!

 

Swimming/bathing: I know that he can't go in the pool even in a swim diaper. I have read on here to take an inflatable tub or small pool for the deck, and then it can be used for baths. I'm not sure if we'll have pool weather at the end of September in PNW, but better to be safe than sorry.

 

Am I forgetting anything? HAVE A GREAT TRIP!

 

Hope this helps!

[crusinmama06]

To wash them - bring a small bottle of dish detergent.

 

Baby food, I brought some and ended up bringing it all home. There was so many fresh fruits, veggies, soft foods to chop/mash that I didn't need baby food.

 

No toys, or very few. The ship provides all of the entertainment you'll need for a baby. My daughters just sat and watched all of the activity.

[Baxter]

I would have assume our LO would be on chopped food by then, but would have nothing to do with it. Princess does provide jarred food if you pre-order. I would recommend pre-ordering just in case...

[PattyW]

Princess will provide jarred food. You must pre-order it by filling out a form.

 

If you are at all picky/paranoid about baby food, I would bring your own. You may only request categories of food: fruits/vegetables/meats/cereals. You cannot request any specific brand or any specific type of food in each category. For example for 7 days you might request 7 cereals; 10 fruits, 14 meats and 10 vegetables. That’s as specific as you can get. Clearly, Princess buys in bulk and they buy whatever they can get a good deal on - almost all the baby food we received was Italian (or at least the labels were Italian). I was a bit put off at first, but then I thought - well, Italian babies have to eat, too - right? Pureed peas are pureed peas.

 

We ended up not using all the food we ordered because our baby ate a lot of soups, breadsticks, crackers, scrambled eggs, etc.

[boulders]

At 7 1/2 months, the types of solid foods that a baby should be on should be relatively small. Babies should be on cereal and a few pureed vegetables and fruits at that age. A 7 1/2 month old baby might be able to nosh on a ripe banana, but might not. Here's a good website which gives a good rundown on introducing solid foods http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/solids.htm

 

A cruise is NOT a good time to introduce new foods to a baby. Food allergies or intolerances can make a baby very ill and can be fatal. A cruise ship is not equipped to handle an allergic reaction in someone so small. I agree with the poster who recommended bringing your own jarred food and cereal. At this age, your baby will most likely be eating only a couple of jars a day in addition to formula and cereal. Even if baby has been happily eating pureed peas at home for a month, there's no guarantee that another brand of pureed peas won't disagree with him/her or cause an allergic reaction.

 

One last point before I get off my soapbox, babies under a year should not be given eggs - of any form! Egg whites are very allergenic (allergy causing). Egg allergies are very common and serious.

 

I'm very passionate about food allergies. Besides having done research in and taught college immunology, I have very personal devastating experiences with food allergies. DS developed a peanut allergy at daycare after a 10 month old :eek: brought in a peanut butter sandwich and ds came in contact with it at 8 months of age. DH died of a rare cancer 2 years ago :( Although the reason isn't known, it's suspected that his multiple food and other allergies may have played a role.

 

Boulders

[Baxter]

Princess will provide jarred food. You must pre-order it by filling out a form.

 

Clearly, Princess buys in bulk and they buy whatever they can get a good deal on - almost all the baby food we received was Italian (or at least the labels were Italian). I was a bit put off at first, but then I thought - well, Italian babies have to eat, too - right? Pureed peas are pureed peas.

 

 

Our experience in December was that it was all Gerber food. But they only had rice cereal (which she wasn't eating at that time) and the same meat and veggie dinner food. It got old fast.

[PattyW]

At 7 1/2 months, the types of solid foods that a baby should be on should be relatively small. Babies should be on cereal and a few pureed vegetables and fruits at that age. A 7 1/2 month old baby might be able to nosh on a ripe banana, but might not. Here's a good website which gives a good rundown on introducing solid foods http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/solids.htm

 

A cruise is NOT a good time to introduce new foods to a baby. Food allergies or intolerances can make a baby very ill and can be fatal. A cruise ship is not equipped to handle an allergic reaction in someone so small. I agree with the poster who recommended bringing your own jarred food and cereal. At this age, your baby will most likely be eating only a couple of jars a day in addition to formula and cereal. Even if baby has been happily eating pureed peas at home for a month, there's no guarantee that another brand of pureed peas won't disagree with him/her or cause an allergic reaction.

 

One last point before I get off my soapbox, babies under a year should not be given eggs - of any form! Egg whites are very allergenic (allergy causing). Egg allergies are very common and serious.

 

I'm very passionate about food allergies. Besides having done research in and taught college immunology, I have very personal devastating experiences with food allergies. DS developed a peanut allergy at daycare after a 10 month old :eek: brought in a peanut butter sandwich and ds came in contact with it at 8 months of age. DH died of a rare cancer 2 years ago :( Although the reason isn't known, it's suspected that his multiple food and other allergies may have played a role.

 

Boulders

 

You are correct about the eggs - I should have made it clear that my daughter was about 2 weeks shy of her 1st birthday when she cruised - she just really liked baby food. We have no history of food allergies.

[scg1a0]

Last year we cruised with our 6 month old son. I would recommend bringing some baby food with you even though they supply some and there is fruit available. I liked bringing his 'snacks' like gerber puffs and dried fruits because they are great for the pland and when it is not easy to get the baby food out.

 

On strollers I would really recommend getting a Maclaren- we have the Triumph and love it. We bought it for the cruise and it has ended up being our daily stroller. It is easy to use, light and sturdy on grass etc .

 

We brought a few little toys and books for him to play with but the ship itself- like riding the elevator and meeing people- was much more fun for him.

 

Have a great trip!

[jkrislc]

Stroller: I'm looking for a better umbrella stroller like the Chicco or Maclaren since I'll need it for Disney as well, and it can be gate checked. No way am I carrying ds through LAX security because I brought my full size stroller, and had to check it with our luggage. ;) He's only 4.5 mos now and 17 lbs. :p

 

I'm just going to comment on the stroller, especially since you mentioned Disney. I'd really recommend a full-size stroller, or at least one that is not an umbrella stroller. While the Maclaren is a nice stroller, it's lenght was a big issue. While it collapse compactly, it was still long. In addition, must umbrella strollers don't have sufficient sun canopies, which you'll need/want at Disney. You might also miss the storage space as well.

 

We use an Options 3 stoller, which is jogging style. Considered lightweight, although it's about 26 pounds. It doesn't fit through xray, but the TSA doesn't require that. They simply hand inspect it and we use it in the airport and then check it at the gate. When we get off, it's there waiting at the gangway.

 

My son has about 18,000 miles under his belt (16 months) and we've never had to check the stroller as luggage, so I'm not sure what's going on here. Even American Airlines who has the worst luggage policy, charging for the first checked back even if you're flying first class unless you've paid full fair, allows full size strollers and they don't count against your luggage allowance.

 

Bring a bike lock for your stroller. We used one at Disney World as we've had friends whose strollers were stollen. Better to be safe than sorry.

[Kerry's Girls]

 

My son has about 18,000 miles under his belt (16 months) and we've never had to check the stroller as luggage, so I'm not sure what's going on here.

 

 

When I flew internationally, I was shocked that for the first time I had to check my full size stroller, as they only allowed the smalled umbrella strollers to go past the gate. This was a miserable surprise because once we landed it was NOT fun doing the long walk and wait through customs without it. Not sure what the airlines do between the U.S. and Canada, but it's worth pinning down.

 

Best,

Mia

[jkrislc]

We've only flown once internationally, but only to the Bahamas. Going there and back, gate checking the stroller was not a problem. We're headed to Mexico next week, so we'll see if that's a problem.

 

If you're looking for a travel stroller, I would highly recommend looking at the Mia Moda Ciello stroller. It's compact enough to carry on the plane collapsed and makes for a decent stroller--much better than the umbrella strollers.