Portable DVD player from what age?

[Mercury]

I have read on these boards how useful it is to bring along a portable DVD player. My daughter will be 20 months old when we cruise in July.

 

She enjoys watching her Baby Einstein DVDs from time to time and I was considering buying a portable DVD player to bring along on the cruise. However, my DH and I were thinking that my DD may be to young for it: The screen is obviously much smaller than a normal TV screen and we are not sure that she would be happy to wear earphones.

 

Does anyone else have experience with a portable DVD for a child of this age?

 

TIA!

[smoothy]

We bought 2 cheapie players for our 2 boys to use when on the plane or for long car trips. DS#2 used his for the first time just after his 2nd B-day, he enjoyed it and had no problems with the ear phones (got the older model style that sit outside your ears, not the newer 'buds'.) We put some tape over the volume button so he wouldn't blow his ears out by accident playing with the control, but we learned the hard way to also put a piece of tape over the button that opens the disk door (he opened it and ended up scratching beyond repair one of his Thomas DVDs)

[boulders]

My ds is now 33 months. At 24 months we took several long plane flights. He was not interested in the DVD player at all. By 29 months, he would watch attentively.

 

You don't say whether you are thinking of a DVD player for a flight or while you are in the stateroom. Our DVD player has very good sound and volume controls. Headphones aren't necessary in the stateroom.

[AJI2596]

We are bringing ours and DS will be almost 2 then.

[Onessa]

Get the over the ear head phones and make certain that your child has a chance to get "used to them" prior to the trip.

[PHXscuba]

We had some long flights going to/from Jamaica when our youngest was 19 months old (not sure what I was thinking when we did that). The DVD player totally saved us! If your daughter is used to watching the Baby Einstein videos, I would bring a few favorites for sure, and maybe something new.

 

You might even be able to do it without headphones if she totally refuses to wear them. It's just classical music, so if the volume is kept low, most passengers would probably rather hear that than a crabby toddler!:eek:

 

Good luck. Even if you don't use the DVD player a lot, there's always that one time you'll really appreciate it.

 

PHXscuba

"You can't have everything -- besides, where would you put it all?":D

[Mercury]

Thanks for all your helpful replies! I plan to use the dvd player on the plane and in the dining-room of the ship so I will try to get DD used to the ear phones before we go!

[mousecrazy]

Have you seen the Video Now Jr? It's not made anymore, but you can find them on ebay and consignment stores (I paid $8 at a consignment store). They are sturdy, made for preschoolers and can stand some abuse. They play special Video Now disks...but there's a decent selection of Nick Jr shows like Oswald, Blues Clues etc. And best of all, your toddler will be able to hold it herself (and if you get the case, she won't be able to access the controls).

[mjmalino]

Actually, if you are looking at using the portable DVD player in the stateroom, you can get adapters that can be plugged into tv to be shown on the larger screen. We did this a couple years ago in Hawaii, and it worked great. Honestly, at this point, I don't remember if the adapter came with our DVD player or if we bought it separately, but I do remember using it with the headphones on the plane and on the tv in our hotel room.