Cruising with a baby

[jeromedawg]

Hey guys,

Was wondering what advice you would give for cruising with a baby for the first time. It'll be our 3rd cruise but first with a kid and we'll be going to Alaska too. He'll be about 10-11 months when we cruise (this mid-July) and we are looking forward to it, but now I'm starting to think about what we might need to bring and I'm sure we could use some tips...

So far, the list includes:
- lightweight umbrella stroller
- formula, bottles, and thermos for hot/warm water
- ergo
- sunscreen for baby
- bibs
- spoons
- plastic containers and bags

The thing I'm really unsure of is baby food - we have a bunch of those small Gerber baby foods in glass jars. If we wanted to feed him that stuff every day, we'd have to bring close to 30 of them! That seems like a lot to lug around.

Any other suggestions on things that we might want to consider bringing or other things to consider?

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

If you work at teaching him AND if he does not seem to have allergies, he might be eating substantial solid food by then. Treat him like a second baby :-). My second child got his first peanut butter sandwich (cut up very tiny) at age ten months because I was tired of making him special food. And he ate dining hall food for dinner (we lived at a boarding school).

At the very least, he may be able to eat SOME of the food offered by the cruise--plain yogurt? Oatmeal? Breakfast cereal?

Another option to reduce the volume might be a portable food mill. I never tried one but some people love them. Chops up the food for you right at the table to an appropriate texture for an older baby. Cleaning might be a pain, though.

[jeromedawg]

If you work at teaching him AND if he does not seem to have allergies, he might be eating substantial solid food by then. Treat him like a second baby :-). My second child got his first peanut butter sandwich (cut up very tiny) at age ten months because I was tired of making him special food. And he ate dining hall food for dinner (we lived at a boarding school).

At the very least, he may be able to eat SOME of the food offered by the cruise--plain yogurt? Oatmeal? Breakfast cereal?

Another option to reduce the volume might be a portable food mill. I never tried one but some people love them. Chops up the food for you right at the table to an appropriate texture for an older baby. Cleaning might be a pain, though.

He definitely has allergies and we haven't tried recently some of the stuff we know he was allergic to when he reacted previously. We would be scared to give him peanut butter but I guess we could try a bit just to see. I'm not sure if he'll have a hard time with that though because of the consistency of it. Also, he just has his two lower teeth growing in right now so not sure if that would be an issue. We've been giving him alimentum and a number of processed foods that we know he's OK with lately but unfortunately, soy and dairy seem to be problematic. He does have rice cereal that we should be able to bring along. But we'll need to try some other foods I guess.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

If you work at teaching him AND if he does not seem to have allergies, he might be eating substantial solid food by then. Treat him like a second baby :-). My second child got his first peanut butter sandwich (cut up very tiny) at age ten months because I was tired of making him special food. And he ate dining hall food for dinner (we lived at a boarding school).

At the very least, he may be able to eat SOME of the food offered by the cruise--plain yogurt? Oatmeal? Breakfast cereal?

Another option to reduce the volume might be a portable food mill. I never tried one but some people love them. Chops up the food for you right at the table to an appropriate texture for an older baby. Cleaning might be a pain, though.

He definitely has allergies and we haven't tried recently some of the stuff we know he was allergic to when he reacted previously. We would be scared to give him peanut butter but I guess we could try a bit just to see. I'm not sure if he'll have a hard time with that though because of the consistency of it. Also, he just has his two lower teeth growing in right now so not sure if that would be an issue. We've been giving him alimentum and a number of processed foods that we know he's OK with lately but unfortunately, soy and dairy seem to be problematic. He does have rice cereal that we should be able to bring along. But we'll need to try some other foods I guess.

Yikes, that does complicate things. I've never been a cruise so you would know better than I would the kind of food they would serve and could try him on bits of, say, cooked veggies and meat. Scrambled eggs? Kid's food, like cut-up chicken nuggets?

With allergies being a concern, I would err on the side of bringing too much rather than not enough. I get that you want to use up your glass jars, but for stuff you bring on board, it seems like plastic containers and pouches would make more sense.

[lthenderson]

Back when mine were infants, someone gave us a Bullet blender that came with a variety of little cups. We loved that thing because we NOT ONCE ever bought any baby food for either of our kids. We simply blended up whatever we were eating with a little liquid if necessary and the kids loved it. It was small enough we could take it with us on trips and the cups came with lids so we could screw the lid on the leftovers and take it with us.

[Dicey]

Have you contacted the cruise line? They do this every day and might already have easy options in place. Worth an ask.

[jeromedawg]

Thanks all. Bringing a blender might be an option but all we have is a Blendtec lol.

Contacting the cruise line is a good idea - I think we'll do that. Has anyone heard of the cruise lines blending stuff up for kids though?

EDIT: just from quickly Googling around, it seems like RCCL can accommodate and puree food for babies, etc. They suggested contacting their "special needs" department so I found the email and sent over his dietary needs and restrictions. Hopefully they can accommodate! It would make things much easier.

[screwit]

My baby has been eating what we eat since she was 11 months old.  I just cut it up small.  In fact she usually refuses to eat anything unless it comes directly from my plate. There really is no need to puree everything once they're that age. And I'm sure the cruise kitchen has to deal with adults with allergies so it should be easy to get food.

[FLBiker]

My baby has been eating what we eat since she was 11 months old.  I just cut it up small.  In fact she usually refuses to eat anything unless it comes directly from my plate. There really is no need to puree everything once they're that age. And I'm sure the cruise kitchen has to deal with adults with allergies so it should be easy to get food.

This is similar to our experience.  She's now 14 months, and she definitely wants what we're eating.  Of course, being a baby, she's somewhat...inconsistent in what she will and won't eat from day to day.  She'll eat virtually anything, some of the time. :)

[Beriberi]

A side note - you might discuss allergies with your pediatrician. The most current recommendation is to feed highly allergenic foods early and often (but that can vary for certain kids, so talk with your doc).  We now know that getting peanuts early might make the difference in food allergy vs no food allergy.

We cruised with a 9 month old to Alaska. The hard part was being stuck in our room at bedtime every night.  Bring some books and wine (the cruise line we went on allowed us to check a mixed case as a piece of luggage). 

[COlady]

Hey guys,

Was wondering what advice you would give for cruising with a baby for the first time. It'll be our 3rd cruise but first with a kid and we'll be going to Alaska too. He'll be about 10-11 months when we cruise (this mid-July) and we are looking forward to it, but now I'm starting to think about what we might need to bring and I'm sure we could use some tips...

So far, the list includes:
- lightweight umbrella stroller
- formula, bottles, and thermos for hot/warm water
- ergo
- sunscreen for baby
- bibs
- spoons
- plastic containers and bags

The thing I'm really unsure of is baby food - we have a bunch of those small Gerber baby foods in glass jars. If we wanted to feed him that stuff every day, we'd have to bring close to 30 of them! That seems like a lot to lug around.

Any other suggestions on things that we might want to consider bringing or other things to consider?

I'd go with pre-mixed formula. It's much more expensive than the powder but is much easier to deal with.

[SimplyMarvie]

Have you contacted the cruise line? They do this every day and might already have easy options in place. Worth an ask.

I was under the impression most cruise lines do this. Carnival certainly did for our littlest when we took him through the Caribbean in 2013 -- he was about exactly that age. He wasn't into purees, though... he wanted chunks of things he could gum up and there were plenty of options; lots of fruit all the time, crackers and toast, little bits of rice and veggies cut up into finger-feeding sizes -- he had no problems at all keeping fed. :)