Those who have traveled with a six month old or under (regarding strollers) About This Page:

[sweetyface77]

Hi there!

I'm trying to get prepared for our upcoming trip and wanted to know if those of you who traveled with infants used a full travel system (car seat and stroller) or just a stroller. My little one will be six months old when we leave for WDW and DH and I can't decide if we should bring the whole travel system or not. We "assume" he may be sitting up on his own at that point (won't know til we get closer) and that using a regular stroller is possible (without the carseat). Just wanted to get ideas. It's been a LONG time since DD was that age! Thanks!

[Carousel96]

I'd do the carseat part. I don't think a 6 month old would be much more comfortable that way than sitting in a big stroller for the long days at Disney.

[SarahJ]

We have taken children as young as 8 weeks and 9 months old. Both times we took both the infant carseat and the stroller. The carseat we only used on the airplane since we bought a ticket so that we could strap the carseat & baby in for the 6-hour flight. Also we needed it for the towncar from the airport to WDW and back. But we never used the carseat portion when touring the parks. We only used the stroller around WDW.

If you take a stroller that has a flat recline, your baby will be fine whether they can sit up on their own or not. I believe it's actually much more comfortable for them since they have more room in the stroller than they do in the car seat. You'll also find that a lot of pediatricians don't recommend that babies stay in their car seats for long periods of time because it can cause health/growth issues. That's one of the reasons we only ever used our infant car seats for car and airplane travel. We never used them as a seat around the house, strolling the mall, WDW, etc.

[disney_duke]

When our DD was 11 weeks old, we brought the infant carrier (of course ). We used it on the plane, and in our rental car. I'm pretty sure we tried using it one day in the parks, and it was too big and bulky and annoying. So then we just used our stroller. We buckled her up, reclined it about halfway, and used blankets to prop her up on both sides so she wouldn't wobble too much. It was so much easier than the car seat. I don't recommend to bring that into the parks. :

We also went when our DS was 7 months old and left the infant carrier in the car again. Since he was so much bigger than our DD was on the last trip, skipping the carrier was an obvious choice. He wasn't sitting on his own yet, so we again just reclined the seat a little bit and padded the sides with blankets because he inevitably would fall asleep a few times a day. So just make sure the stroller is comfy for when his head falls over!!

[Principessa_di_Fata]

I brought DD when she was 7 months old. She just used the stroller part, we ended up leaving the car seat part in the room. I found she didn't like being in the carrier in the parks because she was too interested in sitting up and looking around. She LOOOOOOOOOOVED being in the parks, though, and seeing all of the interesting sights.

[daddyof2princessess]

We went the laying down flat route

[SARH7]

When DS was 4 months we did just the Pirate and Princess party, so it was only about 7-8 hours, rather than days on end...but we put him in just the stroller...reclined a bit. He loved being able to see everything. He was so good....just watched everything that went on around him

[Cinderella072004]

I am going in a few weeks with a 3 month old and I am using the carrier/car seat on the plane and ME bus but in the parks I will put him in the stroller or bjorn carrier. The only down side I can think of is when we eat where will I put him without the carrier?

[SarahJ]

Originally Posted by Cinderella072004

I am going in a few weeks with a 3 month old and I am using the carrier/car seat on the plane and ME bus but in the parks I will put him in the stroller or bjorn carrier. The only down side I can think of is when we eat where will I put him without the carrier?

Most resaurants have an infant seat available which is basically like an infant carseat on legs. You can also ask if there is room to bring your stroller in. In the past we were rarely told no and they would just seat us at an out of the way table.

[eff051102]

I would certainly bring the car seat for the plane but then leave it in the room.
As long as your stroller will recline all the way you should be fine.

[mad4mickey]

We traveled with our little guy when he was almost 10 months old. Our guy was about the size of a 6 month old at the time since he was a preemie. He was sitting up on his own, but we did take the infant carrier and used it quite a bit. Our little guy preferred to be *snuggly* and we discovered that he preferred to be in the infant seat for naps. There were times that we jammed it into the bottom of the stroller and used just the stroller (we have a really big basket) or dh would just carry it empty if ds wanted to be sitting up.

Anyway, I do think it depends on your little guy. Is he comfortable in the stroller itself and would he sleep that way? Would he prefer to sit up and see what's going on or is he ok watching the world go by from the reclining position of the infant carrier.

I will say, we did have dh's family with us and a lot of the time if ds wanted to be *up* and looking around there were plenty of volunteers to carry him. I did bring our bjorn carrier but I can't remember that we used it very often.

Do you use a sling or infant carrier? If you could get ds used to something like that then you probably wouldn't need the infant car seat in the parks at all.

[AbbysMom]

Originally Posted by Cinderella072004

I am going in a few weeks with a 3 month old and I am using the carrier/car seat on the plane and ME bus but in the parks I will put him in the stroller or bjorn carrier. The only down side I can think of is when we eat where will I put him without the carrier?

They have infant seats on wheels that sit table height. I would just recommend bringing a small recieving blanket to put down in it.

[AbbysMom]

I'd skip the carseat in the parks. Last year my son was just 6 months when we went. Honestly I carried him strapped to me in a carrier mostly. It worked great for rides, I rarely had to take him out. It also free'd my hands up for my other 2 kids. I think the stroller is better to because it will have a better air flow so he won't get too hot either.

Also just so you know you can go through airport security with him strapped to you. If he is in the stroller they will make you take him out and fold the stroller up.