US mums ....please help

[Newbi]

We will be travelling to the us soon ( traveling around the Caribbean and doing our first cruise). Due to limited space i wont be able to pack al my baby essentials and the plan is to buy most of them at wallmart.

 

Most of the stuff like shampoo, creams ect - i dont mind the brand... But i really need help om the nappy department... What is a reliable brand and product range. I use pampers on my little one at home - but on the wallmart website, the pampers range is totally differt. I need a nappy that wil keep h dry at night.

 

Anybody know if you get individually packaged porriage meals? To take of during port days?

 

I cant find my formula in the us. Might be problematic... ( we are there for 5 weeks)... My little one is just over a year and she is able to drink cows milk but i still prefer formula. Any advise on a formula?

 

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

[kandjrolls2]

You know what, the SAMs club diapers always worked well for us. Reasonably priced. Before that we always used Pampers. I've never used formula so I am no help there.

[Gatrcruzer]

We used Enfamil formula, and that worked well for my daughter. If you can find it in the single serving packs, that makes it very convenient for travel. You might also want to think about getting the bottles with the disposable liners so that you don't have to worry about cleaning bottles on the ship. We used 7th Generation, Huggies, and Pampers diapers - they are all fine. For a night-time diaper we really liked Huggies - they make some specifically for nighttime. My daughter usually took the larger end of the spectrum, so if the range was 26-35 pounds, and the next range was 32-40 pounds, we would go with the larger size if my daughter was 32+ pounds. You will likely need to convert your child's weight into pounds in order to pick the right diaper size.

 

I'm not really up on the pre-packaged meals, but I know they make them. They also have babyfood in nice non-glass containers (like tubes) for easier transport. My guess is that your child will also be eating solid foods, which you can probably take from your own meals.

 

Triple paste is really good for diaper rash, if you are looking for a diaper cream. Make sure to pick up infant medications (Tylenol and Advil, which are fever reducers, and you might also want Benadryl in case of allergic reaction, Vick's baby vapor rub, ointments, etc.) just in case you need them, and bring or buy a thermometer for baby. Often they don't have baby formulations available on the ship, so good to bring your own, just in case you need them.

[Newbi]

Thanks, just another question....any dedicated baby chain stores ...wallmart or k mart my only options?

[Chicky2181]

I actually don't really like pampers for my daughter and they are the most expensive in the US. I prefer LUVS. She never has any blow outs and we've been using them for a year and a half now. Walmart will have pampers, Huggies, luvs, and their own brand. They will also have several varieties of powdered and ready to feed formula. Mainly similac, enfamil, and gerber good start. Walmart also has their own brand.

 

As far as your formula delema Is concerned....here's what I would do. I would buy any brand of formula. My daughter also got a combo of cows milk and formula until recently (she just turn two). I strictly gave her similac at six months when I was done breast feeding. After a year I didn't care what brand. I know several pediatricians so I got a lot of free formula and I gave her what ever I had in stock.

 

If your daughter does not have a sensitive tummy, then just buy what ever the store has. My doc and all my doc friends have told me that there really isn't much difference in the brands.

 

Btw....you should be able to find premade meals by gerber at Walmart as well.

 

Hope this helps.

[Chicky2181]

As far as the sizes......I've noticed that all diapers come sized in pounds and kilograms. So you should be able to easily find diapers in yours babies range.

[Chicky2181]

Thanks, just another question....any dedicated baby chain stores ...wallmart or k mart my only options?

 

Babies R Us

 

And

 

Buy Buy Baby

 

 

You'll get better buys at Walmart.

 

Target will have good buys as well, and a great baby section. They have their own brand and the diapers are pretty good. I still prefer luvs over any brand. They are just about the cheapest and super absorbent. As another poster said about Huggies night time diapers, they are very good. We used them for a brief period.

[flhokie]

We've always used Pampers. They have an overnight diaper too that has worked well against leaks at night. Usually Walmart or Target tend to have the best prices on these.

 

Grocery stores (and Walmart & Target) sell Gerber prepackaged toddler meals (require 20 seconds in a microwave). We don't use these often, but keep a macaroni & cheese with peas & carrots in case we need something for DD on the go. They also have lots of packages of food. We love the pouches of applesauce (you don't even need the baby food ones for this). They also have pouches of different fruits and veggies. The pouches are very easy when you are on the go.

 

We found boxes of shelf stable milk this past summer and plan to take some with us next year. Since they don't have to be refrigerated they are good to take with you (they come in a box with a straw, but we poured it into DD sippy cup). For formula we started with Enfamil and went to Similac (DD had less gas with Similac). One thing I loved about Similac was their premade shelf stable bottles you could buy. You just need to buy a set of Gerber bottles to get the nipples to screw on the Similac bottles. They are more expensive, but it might be helpful to have a few to take onshore. They also sell powder in individual packets that can be mixed.

 

Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby are the big baby stores. As others have said, prices are usually better at Walmart or Target, but if there is something baby specific that you need (& can't find at the other stores) they would be your best bet.

[Loggra]

Also in most of the ports we've gone to there has been Walgreens and/or CVS which are pharmacies we have here in the states and they carry a lot of the brands mentioned!

 

Happy Travels!

[Cruisin' Chick]

You know what, the SAMs club diapers always worked well for us. Reasonably priced. Before that we always used Pampers. I've never used formula so I am no help there.

 

Sam's Club is a membership club, so it really wouldn't be a good option for someone who will just be in the US for five weeks (unless there's one near where she lives). It's parent company is the same as Walmart, which may be the OP's best bet (along with Target and Toys R Us/Babies R Us).

 

One thing about formula is that some infants have a preference. I just stuck with two brands (the two more popular ones) and found Carnation to be problematic -- my girl refused it. I was glad when my girl turned old enough to stick with milk.

[martikus]

I can't imagine switching formula brands. If you have one that works stick with it. We phased DS over to cow's milk (whole milk) at age 1 and never looked back - so much cheaper! Any chance you could ship over the formula to an address in the US (even your first hotel of the trip)?

 

We liked Huggies for our boy. They make Huggies overnights which are super absorbent. They have pampers here too so as long as you can convert her weight to pounds you should have no problem.

[sjb.illinois]

We found with my daughter that the Target brand were the best diapers, whereas with my son only Huggies kept him dry and fit well. Echoing others' posts, WalMart is likely to have the best prices and selections.

Both of my babes were breastfed, so I can't speak to the formula - but I would also have to agree with others who recommend not switching. Especially with travel you don't want an upset tummy ) =

Regarding essentials like lotions and shampoos, keep in mind these might be in more than one location in the store; most WalMart's have a section dedicated to baby needs where you will find baby products, but you might find 'adult' products you like better (Nivea lotions, etc.) in the adult health and beauty section. Definitely make sure you have a full 'pharmacy' as well, with baby ibuprofen and acetaminophen.

I think you will have a wonderful time! Even though my kids are now 7 and 10 and just going on their first cruise, we traveled extensively when they were infants and little, and they and we loved the experience. Just take (or buy at the port city) EVERYTHING you could possibly need. For sure when traveling with little ones it's best to over-pack (=

[SonicHedgehog]

Hi!

We are flying from Europe to our third cruise :) (it will be in January). It will be the first cruise for our baby who is now 6 months old (so, she's about 8 months at the time of the cruise). Although it will be lots of luggage for us, we'll be bringing her car seat, stroller, baby vitamins/paracetamol, thermometer etc.

 

I just got some good advice for the diapers which we can buy in the US, thank you all for those tips! I wrote those down.

 

At the moment, the baby is fully breast-fed so no need to bring any formula (thank goodness! it will be 2 weeks holiday for us). We are about to start the solid foods for her soon, so I would like to know are there any organic baby foods available in the US? Also where we live, babies less than 1 year shouldn't have any added salt or sugar (also some spices) so I would like to follow that during our vacation also if possible.

 

The baby cannot sit yet but I hope she'll learn that before the cruise. So we'd like to have her in highchair at the main dining room (we'll be onboard Carnival Liberty) while we eat. Has anybody asked for some fingerfood for the baby? I bet she would be happier and sit still if she had her own food at the same time as everyone else is eating. Would it be OK if I printed a list of possible fingerfooods for the baby and asked the kitchen staff to bring 3-4 of those on the list for the baby every evening? I mean for example cucumber, carrot, apple, banana, mango, tomato, steamed broccoli etc. Nothing would require extensive preparations, mainly cutting, slicing, some boiling.

 

I worry it will be very messy :rolleyes: because she is just starting to eat on her own but what can I do..:confused: I hope nobody will be upset if there are pieces of vegetables on the floor, table, highchair etc.

 

Has anybody brought their own electronic kettle onboard? Is it worth it? I mean I could bring her own "porridge stuff" (I'm sorry I don't know the correct word for this) from home and make her baby porridge every morning and evening. It needs boiling water - the ships tap water isn't drinkable, is it? Are we allowed to buy some big water container from Wallmart in Miami and bring it onboard?

 

So many things to consider when travelling with a baby - but I'm sure it will be worth it :o

[Muumuu]

We just returned yesterday from 7 days on the Dream with our 6 month old.

She was great, no problems at all.

As far as diapers it is a to each his own as she does better in Target brand and we tried them all. Highchairs are available in main dining room and on Lido deck. You have to ask

for them and they come with the tray having gone through a dishwasher and wrapped in plastic. Thought that was great. We brought a carnival blue towel to help support her in the highchair.

As far as food she had many new ones. I know you are suppose to introduce only one every week but she did fine. We brought Gerber baby oatmeal and in the morning mashed up banana, peach or pear from breakfast bar in it. Really her number one hit was Cheerios.

She loved them and was able to pick them up from the tray and feed herself. Also at dinner she loved tiny pieces of the inner soft rolls as again she could pick those up and feed herself

With a baby a mess is expected and no problem. Staff really spent a lot of time with her as some had children the same age that they had not seen in a while or some not at all yet.

The ships have either cribs or pack and plays. We brought our own as we drove to the port.

Consider that some foods are high allergy foods like mango and tomato

Some are high gas producing like cucumber, broccoli

In the dining room they have carrots, peas and potatoes (baked) that they will

gladly cook to a softer stage as some vegetables are al dente

Main dining room also had many soups that she loved pumpkin, sweet potato and a couple of others. Yes these are seasoned but I always found low on salt.

Many tried to tell us not to take her but we are a family of cruise addicts and she just

needed to start her new addiction too. By the way she needed to be 6 months to cruise

and she was 6 months and 2 days when we boarded.

Hope this helps you and do enjoy.

Any other questions just ask.

[notentirelynormal]

Hi!

We are flying from Europe to our third cruise :) (it will be in January). It will be the first cruise for our baby who is now 6 months old (so, she's about 8 months at the time of the cruise). Although it will be lots of luggage for us, we'll be bringing her car seat, stroller, baby vitamins/paracetamol, thermometer etc.

 

I just got some good advice for the diapers which we can buy in the US, thank you all for those tips! I wrote those down.

 

At the moment, the baby is fully breast-fed so no need to bring any formula (thank goodness! it will be 2 weeks holiday for us). We are about to start the solid foods for her soon, so I would like to know are there any organic baby foods available in the US? Also where we live, babies less than 1 year shouldn't have any added salt or sugar (also some spices) so I would like to follow that during our vacation also if possible.

 

The baby cannot sit yet but I hope she'll learn that before the cruise. So we'd like to have her in highchair at the main dining room (we'll be onboard Carnival Liberty) while we eat. Has anybody asked for some fingerfood for the baby? I bet she would be happier and sit still if she had her own food at the same time as everyone else is eating. Would it be OK if I printed a list of possible fingerfooods for the baby and asked the kitchen staff to bring 3-4 of those on the list for the baby every evening? I mean for example cucumber, carrot, apple, banana, mango, tomato, steamed broccoli etc. Nothing would require extensive preparations, mainly cutting, slicing, some boiling.

 

I worry it will be very messy :rolleyes: because she is just starting to eat on her own but what can I do..:confused: I hope nobody will be upset if there are pieces of vegetables on the floor, table, highchair etc.

 

Has anybody brought their own electronic kettle onboard? Is it worth it? I mean I could bring her own "porridge stuff" (I'm sorry I don't know the correct word for this) from home and make her baby porridge every morning and evening. It needs boiling water - the ships tap water isn't drinkable, is it? Are we allowed to buy some big water container from Wallmart in Miami and bring it onboard?

 

So many things to consider when travelling with a baby - but I'm sure it will be worth it :o

 

Bring whatever medications you think you will need for the baby, including teething gel etc. Much easier to pull out a baggie with the stuff then hope you can find it on board when the shops are open or waste your entire port day looking for stuff.

 

Yes they sell organic baby food at the grocery stores. When you stop to buy the diapers you will probably find the baby food at the same stores (Walmart for example). Not sure about your cruiseline, but I know on Princess you can order jarred baby food on board as long as you do it in advance. You just contact the special needs department. I'm sure other lines have the same service, I'm just not sure if they charge extra for it or not.

 

Also, they will cook any food item on the menu for the baby and you can smash it yourself, carrots for example. They will gladly bring you a bowl of finger food.

 

The water on board is very drinkable. Probably better then most bottled water you buy on land. You can either order a cup of hot water through room service or quickly run up to the buffet and get a cup. You don't need it "boiling", just hot. If it's hot enough for coffee it should be hot enough for the porridge.