Cruise with a 10 month old

I'm not sure for me personally, that taking a young infant who hasn't had all their immunizations on a large crowded vessel with thousands of people would be smart. At 10 months of age the baby won't be able to do a lot of "activities" so if you are prepared to sit by the pool most of the day then go for it.

Well we took an extended family type cruise when my oldest was 9, middle was 4 and the 1 year old stayed home with Grandma. It wasn't the easiest with the 4 year old. DH and I missed out on most of the later at night fun stuff. I certainly wouldn't want to deal with diapers, highchairs, etc. So my advice is either skip the cruise or leave the baby home with grandparents (if that is an option).

As odd as it sounds I'd take a 5 month old before I'd take a 10 month old.  At 10 month most babies are mobile to some degree and have a drive to move it move it move it.  They aren't happy confined to long stretches in a stroller, pack or being held.  Younger than about 5 months are pretty happy being carried, sitting in the stroller or laying on a blanket.

But, being at floor level crawling they can find the smallest pill dropped by a previous cabin occupant that has missed being vacuumed up 20 times. It is the age they have started to pull up.. on seats that have been sat on by people who many not have the cleanest personal habits.

You will have to interrupt your fun for feedings that don't match the local meal times and nap time and baby's early bedtime...

I'd either plan on leaving baby with someone or waiting until baby is over the age of putting everything in his/her mouth and putting mouth on everything too big to put in it. 

Honestly that sounds like my idea of hell.

The baby will be mobile and fidgety and will not enjoy being still or contained for any period of time.

Nothing will be baby proofed.

The baby won't be able to go to the kids club and you won't be able to do a lot of activities with a baby along.

The baby probably won't be able to even get in the pool as most cruises have an all swimmers must be potty trained rule.

How could that be any fun for anyone?

Exactly what I was thinking. 

The kid won't be old enough for kids club but they usually have a separate daycare (which you would have to pay for) for babies.   If you were comfortable with those services, you might get you might get to dine with the adults at least.     

You'll likely have a pack and play for the baby to sleep and cruise rooms are so streamlined that I don't see that baby proofing is a huge problem,   Also, baby won't be allowed in the main pools but there is usually a small kiddie pool and baby could go in the ocean if the beach is on your itinerary.    

We also did very family-friendly activities like trips to the an aquarium, Atlantis, and were meant to go to tour some ruins (although I ended up getting sick and kept the baby back as a result).   

I don't think it would be that different for the baby....some of it may come down to your parenting style (can you role with it or does the baby need to be on a schedule?) and the baby's style!

I wouldn't do it. Especially when at this point, you don't know what type of personality your child will have. Will she be sleeping "through the night"? Will you still be nursing or will you need to bring formula? After a day or two, where will you feel comfortable hanging with a baby that isn't crowded/noisy or lonely?

Plus the whole issue of baby getting sick and having to leave the boat mid-way. My MIL/step-FIL had to leave their cruise after FIL fell. It was not an easy trip home. They didn't even get to go back to the boat to pack. The crew packed (or threw everything they could find in their suitcases) for them. It was horrendous. I can't imagine having an issue where one had a baby too.

Is there anyway you could just meet the boat at one of the ports?

Becoming a parent tends to change priorities and I will say our girlies were almost 4 before we took at trip that didn't involve staying at the house of family or friends.

No comments on the trip, but I just wanted to say congratulations.

Personally, I would, and here's why:

The biggest regrets I have with the kids are the things we didn't do because they were too small, or "we'll do it when they're older". We had a chance to take DD1 to Disney when she wa s10 months old. We didn't because she was "too small to remember anything". By the time we went she was too old to believe in the magic. We didn't go to NY because we thought a stroller would be too much trouble - we have never been since. The trips to Alaska and to Las Vegas were wonderful memories, even though they were young.

Get trip insurance, just in case. Make sure she is up to date on her immunizations and then wear her in a front pack so she is not contacting as many people. Plan ahead with your pediatrician. If she's prone to ear infections, she'll get one while you're gone. Plan ahead for it. Bring a pack and play, formula or food that she's used to, and the arsenal of baby Tylenol etc. You won't be partying all night, and you'll spend a lot of time napping in the room or by the pool, but it will be good. For us, 10 months was a good age. They were happy and sociable, and happy to sit at a restaurant with crackers or Cheerios. Schedule the early dinner seating and be ready to take her out if you need to.

If I could go back in time, I would take them everywhere we could.

To me the hardest part would be sleeping in the same room. At that age, if my kids woke up and saw us sleeping in the same room, we would ALL be awake after that. Ask me how I know.

If it were just a regular beach vacation, I'd say go for sure. A cruise seems like it would be difficult to manage with a baby, especially one that could be starting to be mobile.

Nope. They're crawling and pulling up and cruising furniture at that age. I would spend the entire trip terrified that my baby would fall off the boat. Also, babies that age tend to be more aware of their surroundings, and can have more trouble sleeping if they are in an unfamiliar environment. And if baby's not sleeping when it's tired, then baby will be crying. And a crying baby in a tiny cruise room does not sound like fun.

We took our DD on a Disney cruise when she was not quite 3 and it was fine, and she probably would have been fine to take her at 10 mos as well but she was an exceptionally easy baby. She slept through the night early on, would sleep anywhere, napped pretty regularly by then and she wasn't even really trying to walk yet and loved being wheeled around in her stroller. So I would say it really depends on the kid. The only thing that would concern me a little is that babies aren't able to be fully immunized at that age, and there are some really nasty bugs that can be picked up on cruise ships. We have pretty much taken her everywhere we go out of necessity.

The Disney cruises have 24 hour nurseries on board for a fee (maybe some of the others do too, I don't know), so for a cruise like that the parents can check their kid in and go have a nice dinner by themselves. The nursery was for babies/toddlers up to age 3, the youngest kid's club was for kids around 3-8 years old and they had to be totally potty trained to go there. Since our kid wasn't yet 3, she couldn't do that but she really enjoyed all the shows and other entertainment (and behaved herself), she had fun in the splash pad, she totally loved all of the character meet and greets and that kind of thing. We took her to Disneyworld last Christmas at 4.5 and that was awesome, it was pretty much the perfect age to take her and she loved every minute of it. I think if it's a cruise line that caters to kids and families, it would be fine since there will be other families with young kids there doing the same thing.

On a somewhat related note, very young children don't have a good sense of equilibrium developed yet so you shouldn't have to worry about them getting motion sickness under the age of three or so. At least that's what our pediatrician told us, and we didn't have any problems with it.

We took my daughter on an Alaskan cruise at 9 months and it was fine. My parents were along and there was always someone to push her around the deck in her stroller or play with her. She even got an ear infection but the doctor was able to medicate her. We took her on another cruise before she was 2. My son had been on 4 cruises before he was 4 yrs old and we managed to have a great time on all of them. I think by taking our kids everywhere we go they learned extremely early on how to adapt and behave in many different environments. It may not be everyone's idea of a good time, but we never regretted bringing the kids on vacation with us.

I think you might get cabin fever. In the cabin when the baby naps, in tne cabin when the sun is too intense. In the cabin when the baby is cranky. It wouldn't be the vacation I would chose right now.