Food Puree and the Beach?

[CruisingCatherine]

It has been a while since I traveled with an infant. I have been scanning the boards. I found one thread that mentioned the kitchen would puree food for the baby. How does that work? What kind of food? Any opions to its success or failure?

 

My son will be 11 months old when we travel. We are not planning any "excursions" per say. In Labadee we are planning to just hit the beach, in Jamaica we are going to hit Margaritaville and the shopping center, in the Caymans we will be renting a car to tour around, and in Cozumel we are going to shop, see a museum, and hit Paradise Beach. As you can see a lot of beach time. Any tips to taking a baby to the beech at this age? How did you keep sand out of their mouths? Is a beach tent a must have? My son has already been to the beach twice, once at 6 weeks, and again at 5 months. He wasn't mobile yet so I am clueless!

[Mack2]

Baby powder.

 

 

When the kids are all wet or sweaty (or drooley). Baby powder makes the sand fall off.

 

They WILL learn to keep the sand out of their eyes and mouths, whether by trial and error, or constant adult vigilance. It's a chore... maybe some sandy eyes that you have to wash out with some water... but they'll "get it". Doesn't take long.

 

Still, baby powder helps.

 

 

Oh yeah, sunscreen helps, too!

 

 

edit:

Oh yeah... Caymans has the turtle farm (which they have named Boatswains Park -or something)... They have a nice pool there.

Just make sure you have hand sanitizers since turtles need Salmonella in their bellies... but humans DON'T.

[CruisingCatherine]

Thanks for the tip. I just put baby powder on my paking list. A little Natural Tears in the diaper bag wouldn't hurt either.:D

[decoste45]

We cruised HAL with a 6 month old and we would call Room Service and request a serving of pureed fruit and a veggie. I brought my own small containers that I would fill with the puree and put in bottle bag that would keep items cold. The bag was like a small purse and it would hold a couple of small containers and a couple of bottles of milk. The servings that Room Service brought were HUGE. Every day the fruit changed which was great (you can always get applesauce).

 

At breakfast you will be able to get oatmeal at the buffet and they may also have applesauce. We didn't bring any food - only his formula and never had a problem getting what we needed. Just ask

 

At the beach, I agree with the PP the sand is a "live and learn" thing. As soon as we woudl get back to our cabin from the beach it was shower/bath time for baby and I.

 

Have a great cruise!!!

[dreaminofsun]

I never used pureed jared food for my kids when they were infants. Babies just don't need "special" food. It's a marketing ploy (not to mention it's full of additives). So I never really worried about packing food for them, aside from some of their favourite snacks that may not be available (cheerios, etc.). All you have to do is mush up whatever you are eating (well the healthier stuff like fruit and veggies not your buger and fries). At 11 months you shouldn't even need to puree it (although as others have mentioned they will do it for you on the cruise if you ask), you can just cut it up small or mash it with a fork. One of the previous posters made a great suggestion about packing some small containers and a small insulated bag for taking stuff to the beach.

There is also a really neat product out there called a baby safe feeder (different brands have different names) for babies that aren't quite ready for whole food. It is basically a little mesh bag with a handle. You put whole food in it and then the baby just chews on it until the food mushes up small enough to pass through the holes in the mesh. I have used it with frozen fruit when the kids were teething and they loved it! This would probably be a great thing to bring along on a cruise.

Hope that helps,

[Ula]

Regarding taking food off the ship, double check the agricultural restrictions for the area you are visiting.

[cb at sea]

On Labadee, there is a BBQ lunch that's part of your day...you won't need to bring food with you...they'll have plenty on the beach! Fruits, potato salad, hot dogs....stuff like that that is easily "mushed" if you need to.

[sas80]

Agree with all posts. Jarred baby food is probably ideal if you are going on excursions and need to feed baby. That way you know it wont spoil.

 

Otherwise you can have the ship puree or mash table food.

[CruisingCatherine]

Sorry for the confusion I think my title has thrown everyone. I was actually asking about two seperate issues. I was wondering how the dining room handles food for babies and then as a seperate question, any tips on taking a baby to the beach.

 

I wouldn't dream of allowing baby to eat food at a port and I know that there are restrictions that don't allow you to carry open food off the ship. Have no fear....baby food will be taken to port.

[sas80]

Sorry for the confusion I think my title has thrown everyone. I was actually asking about two seperate issues. I was wondering how the dining room handles food for babies and then as a seperate question, any tips on taking a baby to the beach.

 

I wouldn't dream of allowing baby to eat food at a port and I know that there are restrictions that don't allow you to carry open food off the ship. Have no fear....baby food will be taken to port.

 

Yes, RCCL will puree food for your baby. Keep in mind that the food they puree is going to have spices, butter, salt, etc in it. They simply puree what they have already cooked. If you speak with your head waiter you can arrange to have pureed food brought to the dining room for your meals. You can also arrange to have room service deliver your pureed food to your stateroom X times a day.

 

You can call RCCL and ask to speak with the "special needs" department to make sure the request gets forwarded to the ship. When you speak with them, simply say that you need to order pureed food for a passenger with special needs. Dont say baby food. If they ask you what the nature of the special need is just say the passenger has no teeth ;)

[chapichapo]

Yes, RCCL will puree food for your baby. Keep in mind that the food they puree is going to have spices, butter, salt, etc in it. They simply puree what they have already cooked. If you speak with your head waiter you can arrange to have pureed food brought to the dining room for your meals. You can also arrange to have room service deliver your pureed food to your stateroom X times a day.

 

You can call RCCL and ask to speak with the "special needs" department to make sure the request gets forwarded to the ship. When you speak with them, simply say that you need to order pureed food for a passenger with special needs. Dont say baby food. If they ask you what the nature of the special need is just say the passenger has no teeth ;)

Why not? Is there a problem with asking food for the baby?

[sas80]

Why not? Is there a problem with asking food for the baby?

 

No, there is no problem asking for food for the baby, just dont ask for "baby food". The response they tend to give is "we dont make baby food" I think they are just trying to CYA. People tend to assume that "Baby Food" is free from additives, preservatives, spices, oils, butters, etc.

 

As I said, RCCL will happily puree you food from what they have, but they don't specially prepare a chicken breast to puree for your baby. Ask them for pureed veggies and you are going to get pureed veggies that are probably from a can and have salt and butter in them.

[chapichapo]

Oh, ok. Thanks. That won't do for my 7mo then. I have already packed her food but I'd prefer to serve her "real" food, as long as it's not from a can, of course. hehe I'll probably give her some apple puree which is generally available, a banana, it's easy to mash... other than that she's still breastfeeding and I'm taking the "plastic baby food", milk with cereals for the bottle, that sort of thing. :o