Baby Bjorn?

[agridealer]

Anyone use a baby bjorn on a cruise, either on ship or in port? We are taking our 10 month old in about 30 days and am wondering whether it would be worth a shot to take it and use it, or not even think about it. She seems to like it, although honestly we have used it very little. It doesn't hurt my back, on the contrary, after about 45 minutes of wearing it today, it actually straightened my back out! Any info/thoughts/ideas are appreciated.

[flexiblefine]

We cruised with our 7-month-old son earlier this month. We brought a full-size stroller and our Baby Bjorn. We regularly go for walks with him in the Bjorn, so he's downright enthusiastic about it. (After taking the full-size stroller along, I'm going to pay serious attention to umbrella strollers before our next trip.)

 

If you carry the baby, your arms get tired.

If you put the baby in a stroller, you can't use the stairs.

If you use a Baby Bjorn, you can't use your hands up close (eating, for example) unless you want the baby involved. (Of course, you can always take the baby out when eating.)

 

We carried him on the one shore excursion we did with him, but that was a bus tour.

 

My advice: Start using the Baby Bjorn now, so your little one gets more used to it, and take it on the cruise. If nothing else, it gives you more flexibility about how to get the baby around, and it's easy to pack.

[agridealer]

Thanks, sounds like that's what we'll do. We have an umbrella stroller as well to take, but the bjorn may be an alternative at times. I'll let you know how our strollers work. We have a Silver Cross Micro and my sister has a Combi, her son is 18 months, our DD will be 10 months. We'll see which one works better. The Silver Cross is super light, but doesn't recline. I wouldn't even try it with a baby too much younger than ours because of the head support it doesn't have.

[BeachBar]

I'd say definitely take it. We're going to be going on a cruise in January and our son will have just turned one and we're afraid he'll have outgrown it by then. We're really hoping to be able to use it.

 

The Baby Bjorn will be much easier to use around the ship, and even in port if you go shopping, because many of the stores can have pretty tight quarters for a stroller.

[njcruisingmom]

When my oldest was four months old, we went on a long vacation to a city to visit family. We had the stroller and the baby bjorn. She spent a lot of time in the baby bjorn. When she was awake, she loved facing out and watching the world go by. When she was sleepy, she could nestle against me and doze or sleep in her stroller. We did take the full sized stroller on that and on a later trip -- big mistake. It was difficult to transport, difficult to carry, and difficult to get on and off public transportation. As we became more experienced parents (and the children got a little less "infant floppy" we switched to an umbrella stroller. I can see a full size stroller being very cumbersome on a ship. The combination of the Baby Bjorn and small, portable stroller sounds like the very best option.

 

Happy Cruising.

[OsirisShotDown]

We're going on our first cruise in March '06 and taking our DD (11 YO) and DS, who will be 11 months old at the time. DS never really got into the Bjorn for some reason, so I'm going to take my favorite carrier: a Hotsling. It's basically just a wide ring/pouch of fabric that has a bit of stretch to it. I can use it to carry him in a hip carry position, which he likes because he can look out at what all is going on while still being able to cuddle with Mommy. I like that it's totally comfy, they've got great patterns, and they take up a lot less space than the Bjorn ;) I'm also going to take an umbrella stroller for when he gets tired of the Hotsling (and vice versa). Have fun!

Heather

[CASkippr]

We LOVED our Baby Bjorn!

 

If she likes the Bjorn, then I would definitely bring it along. We used it when we travelled with our youngest and it was one of the best items that we brought with us.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

Leah