Young toddlers and meal times

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

How have you dealt with feeding and cleaning up after young toddlers in Disney World? My daughter is 14 months, and I've been thinking about what to bring for utensils, straw cups, and bibs for meal times. Ive been asking myself these questions. Should I bring disposable bibs, spoons, and cups and throw them out after each meal? Save them and wash in our hotel room sink each night? Should I bring dish soap? I don't like to be wasteful, but I also don't want to spend a lot of time washing things and having to carry around extra stuff all day. What do you do? Thanks!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

I would bring small travel size dish soap and wash in room as you will be looking at 3 or 4 cups. each day. I would use throw away bibs. one thing you didn't ask but remember no plastic straws at AK. no juice box straws allowed and it includes straws that are not attached to sippy cups. if it comes off to clean you will not be able to bring in park. for room cleaning of cups I would bring small bottle drying rack to keep things together

 

[ny0090]

That's a good question. This is my first time taking my daughter to Disney World and I'm planning to bring a bib with me and a plastic water bottle. I figure that restaurants will provide extra plastic spoons. A small amount of dish soap would be a good idea so you can wash the water bottle out.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

I just got back from a trip with my 15mo old. We didn't bring any bibs, as they just make her mad. Instead we brought extra clothes, but never really needed them. One thing I URGE you to bring are child size forks and spoons. My daughter will NOT eat unless she is feeding herself, so her fork and spoon were a life saver. Regular utensils are too heavy and too long. I was so glad I brought them. I put them in a Ziploc bag and I'd wipe them off before putting them back. We also had several snack cups. These were also LIFESAVERS. We got on a couple things and she was totally bored, but once she had her snack cup, she was busy with that for awhile.

 

[Mdieter]

We took a travel size dish soap with us and washed their sippy cups at the hotel. We also took those disposable table mats (they have Mickey and Minnie ones) to use during meals.

 

[ruthies12]

I like to use the take n toss cups and throw them away each day, but when it isn't going to be too long between her drinking out of them, I will rinse them out and reuse the same cup for more than one drink so I'm not being too wasteful.

I buy a thing of quart size ziplock bags. In each bag I place one disposable bib, one bendy straw (cause my toddler does better when doesn't have to tilt the cup towards herself, some of those lids leak), one disposable place mat that can be colored on (you can buy these on amazon), one or two crayons, two individually wrapped sanitizing hand wipes (1 for before and 1 after), and a snack of some sort like a couple crackers or small pack of fruit snacks. I then bring one Ziploc bag with me into each restaurant and we are ready to go.

 

[branv]

I guess I'm lazy bc often when we eat out, I just forgo any expectations of eating civilized. As in, I bring just disposible stick-on place mats to use as a plate, and order him food that can be cut to bite size by me that he can eat with his hands. No plates, bowls or silverware. When he was under 18 months, we did a sippy with a tether, but now if I forget the sippy I don't sweat it. I just go with the kids cup the restaurant supplies. He still can't be trusted not to squeeze the snot out of a juice or paper cup, so I keep it out of reach, and hold it for him when he asks for a sip or I deem he should be drinking more. I figure I'm not compromising his development in eating skills for doing this a few meals a week, or heck, even one vacation. I probably will pack his thermos sippy of cold water for the park, which I will just give to him at meals. I'll just wash those in the room at the end of the day.

So ultimately all I need is a disposible place mat, maybe a sippy, and wipes for his hands. And of course any snacks I bring into the park in case the food is taking too long.

As for bibs, either bring them or bring a change of clothing. Unfortunately, disposible bibs got shredded by our DS, so they were a no-go for us.

Your one issue might be non-pouch yogurts, applesauce. You can always snag some disposible spoons from your resort or a TS restaurant, or just load a regular spoon and hand it to them. Though I know the latter is more work.

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

Thanks for the helpful tips, everyone!

 

[Lois Lane]

If you are trying disposable bibs for the first time, only buy a few and try them before you go. I bought a 20 pack before our first trip and my son hated them. I had only brought a few regular bibs, so I made them stretch for the entire trip. I did bring a small bottle of dish soap and a bottle brush as well.

 

[amylevan]

At that age, we did without plates & bowls and used the plastic sticky placemats that the pp mentioned. We'd just place the food right on the mat and let them have at it. They're sanitary, easy to carry around and disposable. Like these: http://www.amazon.com/Disney-Topper...EeplypL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160,160_

I carried toddler utensils and just wiped them off with a wipe after eating and washed them at night. (I have a travel set that holds a couple in a little plastic container.) To be honest, most of the time I did finger foods at that age though. It's just easier when traveling.

Sippy cups I just washed at night back in the room.

And even though they are more expensive, the squeezable pouches of apple sauces are a life saver when traveling. No utensils needed.

 

[tmh43]

I'm going to be the rebel here and say we have never really brought anything when on vacation for meals other than a cup for water and soap to wash it out at night. But I bring water bottles for the whole family because I hate anything that's sole purpose is to be thrown away.

My son started real food right away, we never did baby food, so we just get an extra plate and pile some of our food onto his plate. Sometimes he uses utensils... Sometimes not. But if we're eating out he's usually pretty hungry so it's direct entry and less mess. We bring wipes to clean up.

This may not be helpful at all to you but I just wanted to chime in with my two cents that you don't really need to pack a bunch of extra stuff unless you want to

 

[Lupeix]

When DS was 2.5 I only brought 3 extra things: a placemat/plate combo, a sippy cup and a small bottle of dish soap
I like this silicone placemat that also serves as plate and has its own storage box:
http://smile.amazon.com/Graduates-M...1444619172&sr=8-4&keywords=plate+and+placemat
You can use pacifier wipes to clean it between meals if you are not going to your room.

I brought regular sippy cups, so I didn't have to deal with the AK straw issue. They are easier to clean also
I did not bring utensils, I just gave him food he could eat with his hands.
Bring lots of wipes as well!

 

[BadgerGirl84]

I took my daughter at 14 months. We had a great time. For meals at the parks, we brought our rubber bib (Summer Infant Bibbity model--super compact but has a pocket for food to fall into) and those disposable placemats. She wasn't super into silverware at that age, so she ate with her hands or used the adult silverware if she wanted. We brought her a straw cup for water. At restaurants and CS, she would just drink water with a straw.

I didn't bring soap--I'd just wipe off the bib with a wet napkin and call it a day. A disposable bib wouldn't have worked for us--we needed something with a pocket to catch the drips and crumbs.

 

[VbChristy]

We've gone 5-6 times with my some now 2.5. His first trip was at 5 months. We LOVE the disposable bibs. But with everything maybe try it at home. We also bring our own toddler silverwear because my son has historically been a good eater and there are more options with a fork. We used to bring the disposable place mats but now he eats off plates. So for your age, I would bring them still. And his soppy cups. We use 4 a day so we would bring one water one and then 3 of his milk ones. We usually being just over a days worth for milk and then wash them in the room with our dish soap. Then we just use a towel in the room and lay it out to dry on a dresser. Easy peasy.

 

[cbreg1]

Hi. I'm going with my 14 month old grandson in two weeks and these ideas are really helpful. I am packing a trial/travel size package of bounty towels infused with dawn dish soap. Never tried them before ,but figured they might come in handy for end of day washing of something that needs to be reused. Packing toddler sized plastic spoons and forks, and a sipper cup with handles to tether to the stroller. I forgot about the AK no straw rule- so sipper is even more important. Also planning on using a sport water bottle that can open/close when not in use. I have a reusable vinyl table mat with a hanging type bib pocket for spills. It may or may not be useful.

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Thanks for the helpful tips, everyone!

Your trip is getting close! We'll be going in February with our DD, she'll be 14 months then. I would be interested to hear how your trip goes and what you decide to do and even what you would do differently if you could, once you get back!

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

Your trip is getting close! We'll be going in February with our DD, she'll be 14 months then. I would be interested to hear how your trip goes and what you decide to do and even what you would do differently if you could, once you get back!

We had a great trip! In terms of meal times, we used a combination of disposable and reusable items. We bought a pack of Cheap Take and Toss straw cups and carried 3 with us each day. At the end of the day I washed them in the hotel room sink (I had brought a small container of dish soap). I was glad we had brought the cheap cups because we accidentally lost two of them in the parks (fell out of our stroller). We brought lots of fruit/veggie pouches, puffs, and teething crackers, which were great to have. I brought some disposable baby spoons and tossed them after each use. I took the remaining spoons back home where we now reuse them. I brought disposable bibs, which unfortunately were not water proof, so my daughter would get all wet when she would dribble water out of her mouth. I had to put another layer under the bib to keep her dry. I also brought plastic disposable placemats which stick to the table and reduce germ exposure from table/mess from baby. Those were great! I think the only thing I would change would be to spring for the better quality disposable bibs.

 

[ban26ana]

You can definitely tell the difference between my first and third kids lol. We took my oldest to WDW when she was 14 months old. We had sippy cups, disposable placemats, toddler sized utensils, snack cups, disposable bibs. You name it, we had it. Now my youngest is 16 months and we're getting ready to go to WDW. I just let her drink out of the regular kids cup with a straw. I might take some disposable placemats. We don't use bibs. I usually hand her a regular utensil and she's good to go. I always swore I wouldn't be one of those parents that treated their kids drastically differently, but there you go lol.

 

[quagmire0]

For our younger kids, we usually just packed a bib and a spoon in the diaper bag. Depending on their age, we'd either just mash up the food that was available for them, or we'd have the servers heat up pre-made frozen baby food for us. We'd also bring a screw cap sippy cup (as opposed to the take 'n toss that we use at home - they don't survive a drop from a table or stroller very well ) We stayed at a condo, so we had a kitchen sink/dishwasher to use at the end of the day, but I don't think it would be hard to quickly wash a spoon and cup every day in a guest room.

 

[Winnie23]

I think I learned this here about 10 years ago and have done it every trip with all four of my kids! Before our trip, I put together little meal packs in a quart sized ziplock bag (one ziplock=one meal)-a disposable placemat, a disposable bib, a couple of spoons, a few straws, and some individually packaged wipes. When we leave our hotel each morning, I grab two bags, one for each meal in the park. Everything is right there in the bag so you don't have to dig through your backpack to find it and it all can be thrown away when you're done, and I have extra spoons and straws so I don't have to be running somewhere during meal to get extras when they get dropped on the floor.