Anyone Been With an Infant from UK

[trudster]

Hi Everyone

We're going to WDW in September DD will be 6months. With the time difference I was wondering how people have coped with the sleeping patterns ie do you try to get them used before you go. Or do they adapt pretty quickly when they get there. I feel the going is better than the coming back although you're quite tired when you arrive, is it the same for them??

 

[neilybealy]

bump.....

we will also be flying with our 7 month old niece

 

[BevS97]

I didn't take Katie to Orlando until she was 3.5, but I took her to New York at a year.

I basically just let her sleep when she wanted to - she was still napping a lot during the day anyway, so we just went with the flow. From what I can remember, the first night she woke up about 2am, and I had to bring her into bed with me to try and settle her back down.
I also let her stay awake later in the evenings than she normally would at home, but she settled into the US routine quite quickly - I can't remember any big problems after that first night,

coming home is much harder

bev

 

[kgarrigos]

Im your man on this one!!!!!!!!!
We took our 6 month old with us .
Heres my list of tips
Make sure you get to the airport early and ask for a SKY COT (it is like a hamock which plugs into the wall of the plane ,also gives you extra room)
We didn't take a bugy but went straight to walmart and got one unbelieveably cheap(you have to put up with no pram in the airport)but at least 50% cheaper than u.k good choice.
Look on park maps for the baby facilities , they are very good ,they even have free nappies if you run out
NO restaurant or fast food will heat up your baby food or bottle ,they will only give you hot water in a cup .
Use the" switch off " facility at All parks were you can all ride but with no double wait while the other minds the baby, they get straight on.
If you are hireing a car you must use a baby seat its law ( about $5.00a day)
But the main thing is you can still have a great time , so enjoy!

 

[neilybealy]

thanks for the info

 

[trudster]

Yes, thanks for the info. I had planned to go to walmart to get a buggy, I've been researching on the web it's about $40 for a Graco one with canopy, basket and it reclines, how good is that!! Well we do live in Rip Off Britain lol! The only thing I am taking with me is the car seat going to try and gate check it. By the way you didn't mention how your 6mth old did with the sleeping kev.

 

[BevS97]

just a couple of thoughts. if you don't take your stroller then you will have to carry baby and all your gear through the airport - we still use the stroller in the airport and my baby is 4! It just makes life so much easier.
If you decide not to take your stroller, then I would recommend a sling/backpack for the airport.

If you want a skycot, then phone the airline asap and request it, if you wait until you get to check-in you run the risk of the bulkhead seats already being allocated. I used one when I flew with Katie, and they are brilliant.

I am not sure why you would want to take the carseat to the gate, unless it has a chassis, you might as well just check it with the suitcases and get it in Orlando -one less thing to trawl through the airport.

I would try and get your baby used to drinking unwarmed milk, it will make life so much easier.
What we did was to sterilse the bottles, fill them with cooled, boiled water, and then put them in the bag. We measured the powder into a little pot we bought at Mothercare (has 3 compartments), or even easier, you can now buy premeasured sachets of powder, and then when we needed a bottle, we just dumped the powder into the milk and hey presto a room temperature bottle. My dd was quite happy to drink them like that.

This solves a lot of problems, you don't have to wait for the milk to warm up (and they definitely won't heat it for you, because of liability issues, although I think the hot water in a cup is even more dangerous but there you go), and more importantly, water won't go off, whereas milk will go off pretty quick in the florida heat, so you need to be worrying about cool bags, and ice blocks etc.

Speaking of strollers, and rip-off-britain, Mclaren strollers are superb for the parks because the recline and fold umbrella style, these are MUCH cheaper in the UK. The graco strollers are cheaper in the USA, but be aware they won't have a 5 point harness, and you won't be able to sell it in the UK once you have finished with it. I bought my first pram (a graco) in the States for about half the UK price, but I had no comeback when it broke (which it did quite quickly), the harness was rubbish, and when I tried to sell it to a 2nd hand shop they wouldn't touch it because it didn't have the right UK safety codes.

Saying that, the strollers are cheap so if you are happy with those issues, then they are a good buy.

For babys under a year (and probably older than that too), make sure the stroller goes flat or near enough, so that they can get a decent sleep while you are wandering around the parks.


Bev
(sorry it's long, just a favorite subject of mine)

 

[neilybealy]

thanks for that info bev

i'll print it off

 

[kgarrigos]

Jan

I don't know whether we were lucky but both our DDs have slept well all holiday , on the outward journey they have both been pretty good no major problems and coming home one slept nearly the whole journey in the sky cot I don't know whether the lights being dimbed had anything to do with it.
I also agree it is best to book your sky cot as soon as possible but add a little caution with that . On our 1st DDs we booked through our travel agent who then booked our sky cot but when we got to the airport they said they knew nothing about it(no booking fee no proof!),so coming back we got to the airport early and everything was fine. On our 2nd DDs (yes we were mad enough to go twice with infants) we phoned the airline direct but also got there early just in case.
On the point of requests I have heard that sometimes requests made here in the U.K for return journeys that the request gets lost in the system! so it might be just as well to either use your rep to double check while their or phone the airline youself , I know I know I am going on a bit but planning makes a better holiday and you will remember your holiday for all the wright reasons not for having an infant sitting on you lap for 9 hours.

 

[trudster]

Thanks guys
DH is phoning Delta as we speak or I type lol. Fingers crossed. Thanks very much for all the info it's very helpful

 

[babybelle]

Hi

we took DD at 17 weeks old (and she wasnt even the youngest on our flight!!!!) - if you are using formula milk a good idea for the outbound journey is to buy the little ready made cartons that are sufficient for about 1 feed. We bought about 6 of these for the outbound journey and they were great! (Especially as any formula must be unopened/sealed to be able to take it into the states)

Another point I would make about formula is that (when we last travelled) it was more expensive than at home as were disposable nappies - stock up well on these before going. When we changed formula we had to give DD nothing but water for a day so they were not mixing and making her ill (on advice of pharmacist).

The pharmacist I visited (at a Walgreen's) looked at me like I was mad when I asked for sterilising tablets/solution so take plenty of that too!!! We filled an ice bucket with bottled water every night, used sterilising tablets and covered it with cling film - hey presto a home made sterilising unit!

 

[BevS97]

that sterilising tip is a good point, they only sterilise in the states for a couple of months, and they don't use milton.

we used a rice steamer to sterilise bottles at my friends house, I figured 10 minutes of steam was good, regardless of where the steam came from, but if you are in a hotel , those disposable bags from Mothercare are excellent - it's a plastic bag with a milton tablet in it already - you just fill it to the line and pop your bottles etc in for 10 minutes - only thing is they are a bit messy, so we usually hung them in the sink in case they leaked.

Bev


just edited to correct my terrible spelling, you 'feel' it to the line... lol that could be misinterpreted...

 

[Scottish_Maleficent]

Hi,

Just been reading all the replies to your post.
I first travelled to WDW with kids in 2000. My boys then were 1 (exactly on the day of our flight) and not quite 2. As you can imagine the flight was tricky with both of them on our laps, but it wasn;t as bad as I imagined it would. They slept a lot. I took lots of snacks that they like for the plane, cartons of juice (.......just a note.....- the anywayup cups can be disastrous on a flight - lids pop off - juice everywhere - cos of the pressure in hte cabin....not fun).
We decided to take our own buggies which were a God send a the airport. We took them right up to the aircarft door, then they were put in the hold......the buggies, not the babies lol
We took our own car seats too - just checked them in with the bags. The airline were fine with 2 car seats and 2 buggies considering the little mites didn't even have a luggage allowance!!!
While doing the parks, the kids were great. The younger one wasn't walking so he spent 75% of his time in the buggy. The only thing that bugged me was the places that buggies and strollers were not allowed. i.e most of the attractions. Like the Land Pavillion in Epcot. I just found that bit hard work, especially in 98 degree heat of July.
The kids were fine with the heat....better than mum and dad.......
All in all, I think we had a reasonably successful trip. We had no trouble with eating out either.

 

[trudster]

Thanks again, very useful especially about the mothercare bags with milton in. To keep you updated, we got the skycot booked last night phew. Have started stocking up on the ready made formula