Disney with a 4 month old baby - opinions please...

[Traver Freeman]

Thanks for sharing your success story! I just hope we get a relatively easy baby and no colic. I'm sure either way that we'll be very tired by the time we travel but as you said, we'll just do things at a slower pace. I'm really excited!

I would caution you though, take extra clothes into the park! It only happened once but our son had a "blowout" while we were in EPCOT. Makes for a good memory...for grandma at least! Poor grandma was the one sitting out watching him while our whole party road Test Track. We come out of the ride and James is in different clothes and we were like "huh?" The stroller was a mess as well, so we had to clean that off before we could continue.

Still a great day though! Life just gets interesting with children.

 

[Lupeix]

I had 2 colicky babies. So my advice comes from the worst end of the spectrum(of healthy babies). 4 months is probably not that bad. Colic starts to go away at around 3 months. DD was the worst. She will cry non-stop from 7pm to 10/midnight daily and NOTHING will calm her. At 4 months it was much better but she will still get up multiple times a night to eat (I breastfed). I could not imagine going anywhere, but when she was 5 months I had to take a long trip to visit family and took her with me. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared. Actually it was much easier than having to go to work. No need to clean or cook anything at a hotel either (I could actually sleep when the baby slept!). This is my advice: GO! Plan on having to get up at night several times, hence don't book anything early in the morning (ADRs or fastpass or rope drop). Actually plan as little as possible in terms of schedule, take it slow. Go with the flow (and nap!).
I took DD to Disney when she was 9 months. Disney is very baby friendly, but It is always good to be prepared. Try several carriers before going and take the one baby likes. Get her used to stroller walks and take her stroller. Make her sleep in the same place she sleeps at home ..... ship many many boxes to your room (diapers and even extra clothes). Find out how much laundry costs at the Poly, you will need it. You don't need to sterilize anything. I brought my pump and bottles on my last trip, so I could leave a bottle for DD to go to bed early while I took DS to fireworks. I used the medela no scrub soap. All you need is a sink and hot water, and let everything soak for 5 minutes It's magic!.
I would not do a water park with a baby that young though.

 

[act1980]

I had 2 colicky babies. So my advice comes from the worst end of the spectrum(of healthy babies). 4 months is probably not that bad. Colic starts to go away at around 3 months. DD was the worst. She will cry non-stop from 7pm to 10/midnight daily and NOTHING will calm her. At 4 months it was much better but she will still get up multiple times a night to eat (I breastfed). I could not imagine going anywhere, but when she was 5 months I had to take a long trip to visit family and took her with me. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared. Actually it was much easier than having to go to work. No need to clean or cook anything at a hotel either (I could actually sleep when the baby slept!). This is my advice: GO! Plan on having to get up at night several times, hence don't book anything early in the morning (ADRs or fastpass or rope drop). Actually plan as little as possible in terms of schedule, take it slow. Go with the flow (and nap!).
I took DD to Disney when she was 9 months. Disney is very baby friendly, but It is always good to be prepared. Try several carriers before going and take the one baby likes. Get her used to stroller walks and take her stroller. Make her sleep in the same place she sleeps at home ..... ship many many boxes to your room (diapers and even extra clothes). Find out how much laundry costs at the Poly, you will need it. You don't need to sterilize anything. I brought my pump and bottles on my last trip, so I could leave a bottle for DD to go to bed early while I took DS to fireworks. I used the medela no scrub soap. All you need is a sink and hot water, and let everything soak for 5 minutes It's magic!.
I would not do a water park with a baby that young though.

Thank you! We plan to take things slow and just go with the flow. Will be hard not being able to plan fast passes etc but thats the way it will have to be. We have a baby carrier, it's cream so won't attract the heat but I am a little worried as to how cool it will be for her and I. We got at the end of November for 2 weeks so the weather should be a little cooler anyway with a bit of luck.

 

[KarenAylwood]

I skipped the middle pages of this thread. I had a VERY hard time as a first time mother. I'm due in May right now and am anxious about going through it all again and DS will be 4 in June! DS was not a sleeper- in a carrier, during the day, at night. Only at 6 months after sleep training did we all get some sleep. He was up 7 times per night at 4 months. I couldn't imagine going to Disney at that age with him, mostly because I was in a fog and could barely function. Chances are you'll have an easy baby but you also may not. I'd book everything and see how it goes. I had an emergency c section, DS had to be resuscitated, my C section incision got infected, breastfeeding was a nightmare (but we stayed with it through a year), he didn't sleep, I had PPD, you name it. I'm not telling you these things to scare you, just to give a little bit of perspective. My experience is NOT the norm. I have a friend with 9 who has had almost all easy babies (almost). Even with how horrible DS was as an infant, he's an amazing little boy and much better behaved than many of his counterparts at school. Maybe I paid my dues haha.

You can cancel without much penalty (or any depending on the timing!) so I would absolutely keep the reservations and plan to go. If things are tough, you can cancel or rebook for later. We took DS just shy of 3 and it was absolutely magical.

CONGRATULATIONS! I hope all goes well for you. I'm in the "I'm huge" stage of pregnancy and very much looking forward to meeting my second little boy

 

[kboo]

Thank you! We plan to take things slow and just go with the flow. Will be hard not being able to plan fast passes etc but thats the way it will have to be. We have a baby carrier, it's cream so won't attract the heat but I am a little worried as to how cool it will be for her and I. We got at the end of November for 2 weeks so the weather should be a little cooler anyway with a bit of luck.

We took YDD as an infant in early March and late April with a boba carrier that was black and purple - it was fine, the weather was gorgeous (70s and low 80s in April). In the evenings, I actually liked having the carrier on for a little warmth!

 

[kboo]

I skipped the middle pages of this thread. I had a VERY hard time as a first time mother. I'm due in May right now and am anxious about going through it all again and DS will be 4 in June! DS was not a sleeper- in a carrier, during the day, at night. Only at 6 months after sleep training did we all get some sleep. He was up 7 times per night at 4 months. I couldn't imagine going to Disney at that age with him, mostly because I was in a fog and could barely function. Chances are you'll have an easy baby but you also may not. I'd book everything and see how it goes. I had an emergency c section, DS had to be resuscitated, my C section incision got infected, breastfeeding was a nightmare (but we stayed with it through a year), he didn't sleep, I had PPD, you name it. I'm not telling you these things to scare you, just to give a little bit of perspective. My experience is NOT the norm. I have a friend with 9 who has had almost all easy babies (almost). Even with how horrible DS was as an infant, he's an amazing little boy and much better behaved than many of his counterparts at school. Maybe I paid my dues haha.

You can cancel without much penalty (or any depending on the timing!) so I would absolutely keep the reservations and plan to go. If things are tough, you can cancel or rebook for later. We took DS just shy of 3 and it was absolutely magical.

CONGRATULATIONS! I hope all goes well for you. I'm in the "I'm huge" stage of pregnancy and very much looking forward to meeting my second little boy

Congratulations to both of you, and I hope the 2nd goes better for you! I also had a very hard time as a FTM - also had an unplanned C-section, BF was difficult, she was colicky and I had PPD, etc etc. Also did not sleep until we sleep trained at 6 months ... luckily YDD was better in her first 6 months, though now she is 16 months and only rarely sleeping through the night.

We traveled extensively with both kids. DH did a traveling sabbatical so we took ODD as a newborn all over Europe and S. America - she traveled from 6w-12w, we coslept, and I would never have been able to join if I hadn't been on maternity leave. Traveling with a baby at that age was actually easier than being home alone during maternity leave, because your food needs are taken care of and they clean up after you at a hotel! I am so glad we had that experience.

That experience with ODD (and many other trips with her over the years) led us to choose to take 2 trips to WDW during my last maternity leave a year ago. Even though I had no assurances that it would be better the 2nd time around (it was), I knew I could handle it and being somewhere warm and fun and happy was going to be better than being home alone in NYC in the winter, and it was! There is lots of good advice on this board about logistics, but I don't think any parent who's taken their infant to WDW has regretted it. We made some really wonderful memories.

 

[kanadar]

I as well am due in July, and we booked a trip in November. Unlike you, we actually picked going in November AFTER we knew we were expecting. My family takes usually about 2 trips a year. I have some worries about going with a 3-4 month old (depends when he decides to make his debut ) but for the most part I am just looking forward to it. We already know it will be different but that's ok! We are staying at the Polynesian in a DVC room so I already know they will have small dish soap bottles. I planned ahead and already registered for a travel drying rack (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...UTF8&colid=4G91S85EJXWC&coliid=I16BRZM3CYQCA1)

As for washing clothes, if you really need to before you switch resorts, I would just plan to do it one afternoon. My family tends to go to a park in the morning, take a break in the afternoon, then another park at night. Doing something like this would be the perfect time to do a load of laundry! You can just throw a load of baby clothes in if necessary while baby naps.

I also plan to try to take baby out as much as possible before we go, so he is used to crowds and everything. We live in a college town so we go to football games and tailgates, so I plan to bring him along. Like you, this is all a plan, who knows how baby will be! Hopefully he is like my husband and a PP's child, and just loves to people watch And if not, we'll just enjoy the resort more! Since I'm in almost the same situation as you, I have just been researching traveling with a small child. Most people say it's easier at this age than when they get older, but I also understand it depends on the baby. We'll find out in a few months how our LO's will do!

 

[Lupeix]

Thank you! We plan to take things slow and just go with the flow. Will be hard not being able to plan fast passes etc but thats the way it will have to be. We have a baby carrier, it's cream so won't attract the heat but I am a little worried as to how cool it will be for her and I. We got at the end of November for 2 weeks so the weather should be a little cooler anyway with a bit of luck.

I carried DD on the parks in July when she was 22 pounds. I got hot but she was fine. She napped through and entire Star wars galactic spectacular on the carrier at NOON! The most important part is that the baby is used to the carrier you are taking, and for your sake that the carrier has lumbar support. If you end up breastfeeding learning how to do it while your baby is in the carrier is a life saver at the parks. You are all covered up and it guarantees your baby won't cry while waiting in line. I nursed the entire wait to pirates of the Caribbean and no one noticed.

 

[kboo]

I carried DD on the parks in July when she was 22 pounds. I got hot but she was fine. She napped through and entire Star wars galactic spectacular on the carrier at NOON! The most important part is that the baby is used to the carrier you are taking, and for your sake that the carrier has lumbar support. If you end up breastfeeding learning how to do it while your baby is in the carrier is a life saver at the parks. You are all covered up and it guarantees your baby won't cry while waiting in line. I nursed the entire wait to pirates of the Caribbean and no one noticed.

I could not for the life of me figure out how to nurse in the carrier with my older DD but did manage to do it with the younger one. I even nursed her on the whole walk from MK to BLT one night... not that I'd recommend it as a general practice, lol.