NYC with crawling 9mo- tips please!

[Ellie78]

Just that... We're taking our non-sleeping crawling 9mo to NYC. We booked this back in October when I still had money abs optimism. Now I kind wish we hadn't.

Anyhow. We want to make the most of the holiday but can't expect him to be ok in the buggy for huge stretches.

Any tips for baby friendly places? Soft play areas? We're staying in manhattan. We've got a long list of stuff we want to do but I don't want to assume he's going to be ok just to tag along...

[nymom]

Children's museum of Manhattan

Brooklyn Children's museum

South Street seaport to see boats etc

Imagination Playground (near s s seaport. Great playground)

Central Park

[Kate08]

I don't know anything about taking a small child to New York, but I would say that our overall experience with the states has been that it is incredibly child friendly, lots of high chairs, places to change, waiting staff engage with the child and happy to have them there. I would guess that you will actually have an amazing holiday and will be very pleasantly surprised about how easy it all is.

[simonethebeaver]

I took a one year old to NYC. Do you use a sling at all? Can be a godsend as the subway is not particularly baby friendly.

The Children's Museum is for older kids from what I remember.

[Ellie78]

Thanks everyone. Never quite mastered a sling- we're going to experiment with a ring sling once we are out there.

I'm a wee bit worried we're just going to have to try to imitate our life over her. Quite determined to do all the things we want to do.

[nymom]

I am pretty sure the children's museum has a good under twos area and also it is free for babies under 12 months. Also some ice playgrounds and the water nearby,

[Convex]

I really recommend trying to borrow or hire an ergo baby type sling. We went travelling for 2 months when my son was 10months and it was an absolute godsend. Very comfortable and he was able to nap in it (he just got so tired he had to!)

We also bought a phil and teds wriggle wrapper which can attach to a chair, so if no hgh chair it's no problem, you can put them I'm a chair or even strap them in on your lap. (Our baby is a climber and won't stay in High hair unless strapped in)

[simonethebeaver]

Nymom, your username suggests greater knowledge than my distantly remembered three years ago visit!

[Saffron]

Echoing Convex's comment about Ergo sling. I can also recommend the wrap-style Wilkinet sling. By the time my LO was around 9 mo, I would have struggled to carry her any distance in a ring sling b/c of the uneven weight distribution. If you're somewhere like an aquarium or museum, your bubba might not like being down in the buggy. A sling puts Baby at adult height. My daughter loved the forward-facing front carry position in the Wilkinet. I once took her to the aquarium w/o it. I then spent most of the time carrying her and pushing an empty buggy!

[Ellie78]

Crikey! Can anyone lend us an ergo sling?

Seems like we need one!

[njc97]

Brooklyn children's museum as already mentioned has a soft play area. Central Park Zoo is brilliant. FAO Swartz (toy shop with giant keyboard from Big).

We went for a week with a 14mo. TBH he just loved going around in the pushchair looking at things (which was good, since it was very cold and snowy, so not best for him running about).

[Jellybeanz]

Sounds amazing, I'd love to see new york

[bishop]

ellie, I have an ergo you can borrow! PM if interested (disclaimer; it needs a wash....)

[campanal]

Hi Ellie,

I'm originally from NY and we visit every year with our daughter. Our first visit with her was when she was 8 months old. It was hard because I hadn't prepared quite as well as I should have and it was blizzard weather so getting around with a pram was impossible, so any help I can impart I'm happy to! October should still be reasonably good weather so if you're happy to walk a bit and there's two of you then taking the pram on the subway won't be an issue. The main stations have lifts (you just have to hunt for them a bit) and you can get the pram up and down the stairs, it is a bit of a faff but it's no different to the tube. We actually found it helpful to have the pram because we just put all our bags in there as we acquired more and more shopping... Maybe take a sling with you and you can see what's best.

What area are you staying in? I'm mostly familiar with downtown, there are amazing parks wiht playgrounds all over NY. Central park would be great and definitly the Children's Museum of Manhattan, we were just there in January and there is tons to do for under 2's. My tip about the Museum is that its very crowded with Nanny's in the mornings, so if you can go during lunchtime it clears out significantly when the kids go home for lunch and naps (you can take advantage of jet lag here!) FAO schwartz is good and most Barnes & Noble book stores have storytime, you can check their website. We went to the Brooklyn children's museum and found it was ok but there's more to do for the older kids.

Most restaurants are child friendly, but in the evenings you might want to stick to the larger places or call ahead to make sure it's ok to bring a child. My best tip, although it's probably too late for you now, is to not stay in a hotel and do Airbnb instead. Airbnb is people posting up their own apartments when they aren't there, so you can stay cheaper in someone elses home (some have kids so they already have all the stuff you need). That single thing has transformed our time in NY because we don't have to take so much stuff and we can get a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment to have friends round for dinner after we put our daughter to bed.

If you're breastfeeding I found it really hard to find appropriate places to feed, but if you're bottle feeding you will be fine anywhere. You can take powdered formula and get hot water to mix it at any coffee place. Changing places were a bit harder to find, most large stores have them.

In terms of the plane I found it invaluable to pack individual ziplock bags with a nappy, small pack of wipes and a change of clothes in them. That way I wasn't hunting all round the nappy bag for a nappy and change of clothes, you just grab and go! Feed your child on the way up and way down in the plane so the air pressure doesn't bother them so much. Mine was always fine with that.

Probably the best reason to bring a sling is that you won't get your pram back at the airport on the UK return until baggage. You will have to carry your child and all your bags through the airport and waiting in line at customs. If you don't plan ahead for that it's a nightmare!!! On arrival in the US though you'll get your pram when you get off the plane. You can also use the sling in taxi's. There are no child seats in taxi's so you take a risk with having to hold them on your lap. I found if I put my daughter in her sling (forward facing sling, not one on my back) and I put my seatbelt on under the sling (not over her or she would have been crushed if there were an accident) it felt a bit safer than no seatbelt at all. That was a tip from a NY resident friend.

Hope you enjoy your trip! It will be fine, do what you want to do and have some activites planned for your little one. Just be prepared for an early wake up on the first day due to jet lag. My daughter was ok when she was 8 months, but this time around at 2 1/2 we had a few 3:30 am starts to our day...