What's your top items to bring for under 1 year old?

New parents; we will be taking our son on his first trip ever as a 4 day cruise when he is 10 months old.

What's your top suggestions for items that I may not be thinking of?

An inflatable tub/blow up paddling pool

Watering can for playing in above

A sling is a must have in my opinion for tours, bring one suitable for the baby's age

Baby cutlery

Extra nappies and wipes - bring more than you will think you will need

All in one swim wear, saves having to put cream on every inch of baby!

Zip-lock type bags with different small toys eg one with crayons and paper, one with duplo blocks, one with tea set items

Stacking cup type toy

Small bag that's easy to carry with baby essentials rather than large changing bag

Easy fold up lightweight pushchair that reclines

Pushchair cover for sun/sleeping, I bought one on Amazon

Sudocream and any medications like calpol

Hope that helps!

Any and all medications your baby may need (tylenol, motrin, etc.)

Extra diapers and wipes, extra formula

These above items will be very difficult or impossible to acquire on the ship or in port.

Blow up duck tub for bathing and splashing on balcony or on open pool deck

Any food or snacks your baby must have. I found plenty for my baby to eat on board and the MDR pureed food for my 9-month old at dinner.

Cross pack the important things in case one suitcase doesn't make it. I would carry some formula or baby food and diapers in your carry on.

Go to Babies R Us and buy a diaper thingy (don't remember what it is called) for disposing the diapers. Helps keep odor out of the room.

does your kid walk/stand? if so, big foam puzzles with magnets on the back to play with on the door. my dd, 14 months, LOVED that.

A quiet/busy book (google), a few small toys, whatever he needs to sleep with at the time. I pack dd's pillow case (but not her pillow) and put it on a cabin pillow, bring her blanket and whatever stuffie she has/wants.

I wouldn't bring the duck, pool or tub, baby can shower with you or splash in the shower. just put a wash cloth over the drain and let an inch or so fill up. rinse with shower knob (detactable), wash, and rinse. easy.

best tip. pack diapers/wipes (if disposible), bibs (disposible if you use them) in a diaper box. check in with your luggage. you'll use most of the diaper, ditch the box, pack the few left overs.

at 10 months, I don't think bringing food would be needed. I did for my three year old, only so we'd have something at port and sometimes it's nice to have something you're used to (she'd eat an apple pouch in the am, before breakfast). Tip-on your first day, get extra boxes of cheerios/any other your kid can have to keep in the room as a snack and as a snack for ports (perfect while waiting or delayed getting back to ship)

SUNSCREEN.

we bought a cheap umbrella stroller we use on cruise, though dd could walk, so we only used it boarding and port days.

Diapers and wipes. Then pack more!

New parents; we will be taking our son on his first trip ever as a 4 day cruise when he is 10 months old.

 

What's your top suggestions for items that I may not be thinking of?

Helpful grandparents ;)

However it's us (grandparents) that brings them :D

Have cruised with our little one three times (yes, she's a spoiled girl). She was 10 months, 22 months and 2.5 yrs on each. The blow up inflatable bath tub mentioned above is essential for your time on the pool deck. The only item not mentioned above that you may want to consider are Baby Banz ear phones. Our DD still uses them. We simply put them on her, put her in her stroller with blankie and off to sleep she'll go whether we're on a noisy pool deck or walking around in port.

Cross pack the important things in case one suitcase doesn't make it. I would carry some formula or baby food and diapers in your carry on.

Agreed. In fact, with our twins at 7MO I carried all their formula in a backpack. It was a bit of a pain (literally), but not for a long duration and not something that you want an 'oops' with on a cruise.

Go to Babies R Us and buy a diaper thingy (don't remember what it is called) for disposing the diapers. Helps keep odor out of the room.

We always brought plastic grocery bags. Many have small holes in the bottom, but they wrap around a couple times and work just fine. Frankly, the kids stink up the room much more now than they ever did with diapers. :eek:

Definitely disposable bibs. That's my biggest suggestion. Also, we brought leftover cellophane goodie bags from her first birthday party dirty diapers. They were a super cheap, a great size, and definitely helped with stinky diapers. You just need some sort of bag that you can tie off and throw in the trash.

We brought a blow-up tub last month and she HATED it. She hated the shower, too, but at least we didn't have to spend all that time blowing it up......

I will second the suggestion of disposable bibs! DS was 10 months when we cruised. He ate a fair amount of table food, but I did also take some baby food and Cheerios/puffs with us for convenience and to have something ready to give him at whatever random times he decided he was hungry. I used our Ergo a lot on that trip, though we did take a stroller too. And we took our own sheets for the pack n play since I had heard our cruise line just put a big folded sheet in them.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Make sure you bring dish detergent so you can wash sippy cups in your room.

We would pack outfits together in zip lock bags and then re-use the bags for poopy diapers.

Make sure you scout out the best places to get milk on your first day. We always found room service didn't really work, when our kids wanted milk....they wanted it NOW....not when room service got around to bring it :)

We took our daughter when she was 7, 9 and 15 months old (and going again next month month). The 7 and 9 months cruises were great; at 15 months she was a bit of a handful so we took a year off! IMO 9 or 10 months is a GREAT time to take them, they're so entertaining! Anyway on to your question. Here is my .02

Definitely take the disposable bibs. They're a life saver.

We took a small inflatable pool which we used on the pool deck for her to splash around in. That was a great success. It only took 3 or 4 trips with an ice bucket to get it full enough for her to play in. We never used it as an actual tub. Our first 2 cruises we had a tub and by the last she just used the shower.

My biggest thing that we enjoyed is to forget the powdered formula. Who wants to mess with that? We brought a case of pre-mixed bottles (we used similac but I"m pretty sure enfamil makes them too). We put the case under the bed and just pulled out bottles as we needed them. They don't need to be refrigerated. We also brought the individual powder sleeves of formula that are pre-measured to pour in 8oz of water. (think those flavored drink things you pour in bottled water). We stuff a few of those in the backpack for excursions "just in case".

IMO this was so much better than messing around with powder and tubs and shaking etc.

Obviously bring plenty of diapers and wipes. I found wipes on each ship i've been on but never saw any diapers. Never needed any but I always looked just for kicks.

Oh and at 10 months definitely bring some teething tablets and ibuprofen!! A teething toddler does not make for a fun cruise mate!

Enjoy your cruise! The cruise we took when DD was 9 months has been my favorite out of the nine we've been on. I hope you have the same experience!

Sailed with a 2 year old last April. If your little one needs milk first thing each morning; order it via room service the night before and store it in the fridge in the room. This way you have it on hand first thing with your little one wakes up.

Oh and zip locks were a lifesaver. I would pack fruit from the buffet to take off the ship with us on port days. Just remember you cannot bring the fruit back on the ship!!! I almost forgot once lol.

Sailed with a 2 year old last April. If your little one needs milk first thing each morning; order it via room service the night before and store it in the fridge in the room. This way you have it on hand first thing with your little one wakes up.

 

Oh and zip locks were a lifesaver. I would pack fruit from the buffet to take off the ship with us on port days. Just remember you cannot bring the fruit back on the ship!!! I almost forgot once lol.

It's illegal to take fruit off of cruise ships, or any non prepackaged food.

It's illegal to take fruit off of cruise ships, or any non prepackaged food.

Really??? I didn't know that. I read it on cruise board it was a suggestion for individual with small kids. I've even read where you can request a bagged lunch via room service to take off the ship. Perhaps we won't do that again lol.:D

You've gotten lots of great advice so far. We took our under one on a week-long cruise this year and had a blast.

I have a photo review in my signature from our family cruise in January with some tips for travelling with little ones.

Bring kids yogurt too. It doesn't need to be refrigerated so it's a good thing to bring into port if they get hungry. There's plenty of regular yogurt on board but that's needs to be kept cool so not a good choice to bring into port.

Thank you... Following for more ideas- I will be cruising with my 1 year old in January

this is great. bumping for more ideas

I've never actually cruised before, so you can take my advice with a grain of salt. However, I have 3 kids under 5 and I have traveled extensively with them, sometimes flying alone. I always challenge myself to pack exactly what I need, and nothing more. 1 plastic bib- that can be rinsed and wiped and folded up in your purse. 1-piece outfits (like rompers) so that you don't have to worry about matching and losing pieces. 1 drinking cup or bottle. Use their sheets and blankets. Order your diapers if your cruiseline allows. Sure, it's a bit more money, but one less thing to lug around or pay to check (depending on your airline). At 10 months, you really don't need toys, aside from their absolute favorite one, as they can entertain themselves with random objects from your luggage (or if there's a toy library- as I hear many ships have). If you kiddo is still on pureed food, I would try to experiment with getting them into more table food so that you don't have to deal with baby food jars/pouches. The only thing I would pack in excess is pacifiers of you kiddo uses them. They're small and very important!

I've never actually cruised before, so you can take my advice with a grain of salt. However, I have 3 kids under 5 and I have traveled extensively with them, sometimes flying alone. I always challenge myself to pack exactly what I need, and nothing more. 1 plastic bib- that can be rinsed and wiped and folded up in your purse. 1-piece outfits (like rompers) so that you don't have to worry about matching and losing pieces. 1 drinking cup or bottle. Use their sheets and blankets. Order your diapers if your cruiseline allows. Sure, it's a bit more money, but one less thing to lug around or pay to check (depending on your airline). At 10 months, you really don't need toys, aside from their absolute favorite one, as they can entertain themselves with random objects from your luggage (or if there's a toy library- as I hear many ships have). If you kiddo is still on pureed food, I would try to experiment with getting them into more table food so that you don't have to deal with baby food jars/pouches. The only thing I would pack in excess is pacifiers of you kiddo uses them. They're small and very important!

On Princess you can order baby food in advance.

Know your cruiseline and ship too : ) rcl has a baby play area (im talking big playland) on oasis and allure. All their ships let you check out toys. The freedom class and oasis class ships have swimming areas for babies (double check since they are doing reno this summer but they did with our baby). Rcl and ncl (and probably other lines, those 2 i know firsthand) have toddler play times, art times, music times, etc. our little guy turns two in a month and he's been on 5 cruises lol. I will say a sling is a great idea if u dont like people touching your baby (and y do they always touch the hand they chew in?) lol. It never bothered me because I know people miss their own families, but if you prefer them not to be touched by strangers a sling or wrap is nice : )

Oh- and at 6months, 9 months, and 11 months (freedom, oasis, allure) they all offered to make kiddo fresh babyfood each meal. Our kiddo was pretty much ebf so we didnt take them up on the offer but friends did and that was super nice. NOT a guarantee they will offer but it was sweet that they did : ) if ur baby does babyfood i would pack it though and not rely on that : ) and if your baby is prone to ear infections id pack stuff to prevent that if swimming will be happening- sick kiddos are no fun!