Swings and solids...

[YOWzers]

We are travelling on HAL over Christmas with our daughter who will be just over 6m old at the time of the cruise.

 

Two issues...

 

We are pretty dependent on her swing for naps during the day. Can anyone suggest a portable low cost alternative that we can pick up in FLL if she doesn't naturally break herself of this habit before then? I am trying to get her to nap in her crib but it isn't going so hot!

 

I can't really think of anything that would work other than just rocking her or swinging her in her car seat. Or maybe hoping that the motion of the ocean will do the trick?!

 

We are also starting her on some solids over the next little while. I don't want to introduce her to anything new on the ship so are there any that you guys would suggest trying with her in the next few months that would be easy to get on board?

[cb at sea]

Bring the swing...really...I'm serious. If it works for her..BRING IT! My kids LIVED int that damn swing..and thank God for it!

 

Rice cereal is usually the first solid introduced...followed by applesauce, mashed potatoes, peas...anything mashable. Wait on peanut butter until they're around 2...

Edited November 1, 2015 by cb at sea

[kitkat343]

The dining room and buffet staff are very helpful for bringing food items out for children. Our son sailed on the Ryndam when he was 3, and all day long we were able to ask for yogurt, which was one of his favorite foods. They would bring it in for him if you ask (it is in the refrigerator during lunch/dinner of the buffet, but the employees were helpful about giving it to us at times other than breakfast.)

 

Perhaps others could describe if HAL would be willing to make you purees out of vegetables in the main dining room; otherwise bananas are really easy to mash up for a child.

 

I can't remember if a 6 month old would be eating cereal (my son started cruising at 2) but if so, there are a lot of individual small cereal boxes at breakfast. These were perfect for taking on excursions and whenever my son got bored or whiny I let him pick a cereal and he was all happy again. Princess had a wide variety of healthy cereals, but not cheerios on board, so you might want to ask on the HAL board to confirm if your child likes cheerios.

 

Please note that ship regulations may not allow you to take fresh fruit with you off the ship.

 

 

 

cb at sea, there is very recent research that recommends introducing potential allergens early, so you might want to discuss this with your pedi. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/23/feeding-infants-peanut-products-could-prevent-allergies-study-suggests/ Our youngest started on peanut butter at 4 months, and I had an epi pen on standby just in case he developed any allergies. We've been lucky so far. I was told by a MD/PhD friend before this research came out that his theory was that exposure to peanut oils without actually ingesting peanuts is what may encourage allergy development. There is no current research to support that theory, but it might be worth trying to avoid peanut oil around a baby who cannot yet eat any peanut butter (this means washing your hands thoroughly after eating peanuts, and more stressfully making sure older siblings wash their hands carefully after eating peanut butter).

Edited November 1, 2015 by kitkat343

[YOWzers]

I would bring the swing...if it was easy to transport by plane from Canada... :(

[kitkat343]

Our first needed the swing to sleep, and we slowly weaned him off it for naps, and then for overnight. a lot can change at this age, but if your child still needs the swing at Christmastime, I'd bring it.

[gi_pam]

Rent one!

 

https://babysaway.com/reservations/reservations/Ft-Lauderdale

 

They have a swing and a sleep/swing thing on the website.

[YOWzers]

Does anyone know what brand of swing Babysaway carries? I can email them but if anyone knows that would be helpful!

[ocwine04]

I know Disney would puree anything that we wanted, I would imagine HAL would do the same. At 6 mos we were doing rice cereal with BM. I would bring the rice cereal and formula if you are not nursing. We kept with BM/nursing for 1 year, so I relied on that for our cruise (our daughter was 10 mos, so a little older than yours), they would warm up the bottles (I think I also brought a bottle warmer for the cabin). We did not try cow's milk for 1 year (yogurt was not introduced yet). I would make sure you bring bottles, formula, bottled water (to mix the formula), rice cereal, baby spoons, bottles, dish soap and a bottle brush (I was washing bottles in our cabin every day!). For food, make sure you introduce your baby to the standard veggies that you can get and they can steam and puree, carrots, potatoes, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, apple puree and pear puree. Bananas can just be mashed as well as avocado (if available), so that requires no prep. I also brought "puffs" with us, don't remember if I introduced that at 6 mos though. I would probably bring some jar baby food for the port days. Don't know where you are travelling, but that is where I would be more concerned about not having options.

 

Also, don't forget the pacifier!! Our daughter wasn't really into it, so we had 1 on hand (that we never used, but it was in the diaper bag), but they like to give her that at the kids' club/nursery. Of course, it got lost, so we had to get the kind the ship sold (which wasn't the same style). Anyways, it would have been easier if we would have thought to bring extra. Good luck!!

[mdjohn5]

You can get the small boxes of Cherrios at breakfast, I would imagine that if you ask in the lido they will bring you some at any time of the day as well.

 

6 months may be too soon, but one trick we found was dinner rolls. At 1yr, my son loved the round dinner rolls they serve in the main dining room. They are about baseball sized, hard on the outside and soft on the inside. They were big enough for him to grab and slobber all over....would keep him entertained for 10-15 mins.

[wampuscat7]

Google the Comfort and Harmony portable swing. No frills but folds up small (can probably slide it under the bed) and is cheap. :)

 

A lot of pediatricians recommend starting with other foods, like mashed avocado, rather than rice cereal. We started with pears, avocado, peaches, banana, sweet potato, and peas. Bananas would be a good one because I'm sure they have them on the buffet and you can pick one up to keep in the room for later. (Never been on HAL, just my gut saying that since bananas are a go-to for hotel buffets, etc.) If you are going the baby food route, you can pick up the plastic Gerber containers before the cruise.

Edited November 3, 2015 by wampuscat7

[YOWzers]

Thanks all. That is very helpful!!!

[notentirelynormal]

Google the Comfort and Harmony portable swing. No frills but folds up small (can probably slide it under the bed) and is cheap. :)

 

A lot of pediatricians recommend starting with other foods, like mashed avocado, rather than rice cereal. We started with pears, avocado, peaches, banana, sweet potato, and peas. Bananas would be a good one because I'm sure they have them on the buffet and you can pick one up to keep in the room for later. (Never been on HAL, just my gut saying that since bananas are a go-to for hotel buffets, etc.) If you are going the baby food route, you can pick up the plastic Gerber containers before the cruise.

 

Maybe the newer peds but I can't think of anyone who didn't feed their kids rice cereal at the beginning of solids back when I was a younin. Rice cereal with mashed bananas is even better :D

Edited November 4, 2015 by notentirelynormal

[wampuscat7]

Maybe the newer peds but I can't think of anyone who didn't feed their kids rice cereal at the beginning of solids back when I was a younin. Rice cereal with mashed bananas is even better :D

 

 

My ped said that it's not the optimal choice. I have read a lot of articles that question the digestibility and nutritional content of rice cereal. But I know it used to be the norm. To each their own.

[Ashland]

Rent one!

 

https://babysaway.com/reservations/reservations/Ft-Lauderdale

 

They have a swing and a sleep/swing thing on the website.

 

Babysaway was amazing when we traveled to the Hamptons and then on to NYC this past summer with our two toddler grandchildren....They made it so easy for all of us with their delivery and pickup to two different locations.

[Love.NCL]

 

 

We are also starting her on some solids over the next little while. I don't want to introduce her to anything new on the ship so are there any that you guys would suggest trying with her in the next few months that would be easy to get on board?

 

Will solid be her main food source when she turns 6 months? I introduced "solids" to my little one at 6 months. We started with maybe a tablespoon of the starter cereal (NESTLÉ® GERBER® Cereal Oat, barely etc.), yogurt, mashed banana, avocado, broccoli puree, cauliflower puree, but breastfeeding was still his main food source at 6 months.

 

When we cruise back in April our little one was 14 months. I brought starter cereal as well as PC Organics Strained Baby Food Pouches. These don't take up much room and I'm assuming she won't be eating lots at this stage so you wont have to take a lot with you.

[anonmom]

Maybe the newer peds but I can't think of anyone who didn't feed their kids rice cereal at the beginning of solids back when I was a younin. Rice cereal with mashed bananas is even better :D

 

Yup, definitely used to be the norm, just isn't recommended now.

 

I would suggest BLW, there is another thread on it on this board. Basically, you just give baby easy to hold solid real foods, like a broccoli floret or a strip of toast or a slice of bell pepper or a strip of chicken (not a chicken strip, just cut a strip of meat off of your chicken breast, or steak, or pork chop or whatever). They chew on it a bit, play with it, learn that food is for eating. Super easy.