NYC and Boston with 8mo... Mostly food advice needed please!

[Mamanua]

Hello all,
I am on the cusp of booking the above for 10 days in May with husband and baby. I've been to NYC many times before so know what to expect. I would be grateful for any advice on the following :

1. Food- this is my biggest concern! I am a first time mum so have no idea what my baby will be needing around 8 months. Should I bring a travel steriliser, my own travel kettle, what water shall I use to boil for the bottles... I really know nothing! Would it be best bringing a tub of formula and some ready made formula for ease? Do they sell aptamil in North America and is it the same properties as the UK?

I know that his food will still need to be pureed etc however I can't see it feasible to bring 10 days' worth of Ella's kitchen pouches.... Not just for bag room but also don't want baby to get too used to the ready made stuff!! I am interested if others have any experience of city breaks with baby - struggling to get a nice decent and central accommodation with some cooking facilities - plus the whole new law with nyc means most air bnbs are out of the question! At the moment I am feeling a hotel more for security and means we can also have a central place/lobby to relax in the evenings even for an hour before bed as I know the hotel room may get a bit dull! I can find plenty of info about what to do with a baby in NY, baby friendly museums, baby friendly brunch spots and how to travel with a baby but there is little to no information on the practicalities of feeding them!!

1. Sleep and jet lag - I am not too worried about going home as flight is shorter and overnight. However going over is hard! What does one do with a baba that is ready for bed time at 2pm in the afternoon (when mum and dad are ready too)

1. Any other tips please are most welcome!

I am not anxious about the flying or moving about as such- I know to feed him at take off and landing to help and an afternoon flight should be bearable enough. Its the food situation & going back to his own room after sleeping again with us for 10 days which concerns me.

Starting to think a week or two closer to home may be better lol. Thanks in advance :)

Don't have any advice on milk but the weaning is easy , go the baby led weaning you're and see how you get on with it . We did a mixture of purée and finger food and my little one loved the ginger food side of it !

That way you can just share your meals with the baby without worrying about purées .
As you said you've been to New York lots so you will know there's lots of food/ pharmacy shops like Duane reade , I'm sure they will sell baby purée if your not comfortable with baby led weaning .

We went away for a weekend at 7 months and just used boiled kettles to sterilise the bottles

Thanks for your response ☺ I am going to look more into baby led weaning and the whole process overall as I know I'm probably stressing over it!

If you will need boiled water you should take a travel kettle and an adaptor. Many US hotel rooms have no tea and coffee making facilities and those that do it is usually a coffee maker rather than a kettle. Tap water is fine to drink, but at least here in Boston, it doesn't taste very nice. You can buy large bottles of drinking water for very little in a pharmacy or supermarket.

Every second shop in Manhattan seems to be a pharmacy, so getting baby food should not be difficult. Boston is not quite as well supplied with pharmacies but they are still there, there are many CVS branches and at least one big Walgreens store in the centre of Boston. Larger CVS stores have grocery sections where you can buy most essentials.There are also supermarkets, a largish Star Market just beside the Prudential Center, for example.

Some hotels have laundry facilities with coin operated washers and driers, when my children were small they were useful. I'm not sure about city centre hotels, we were usually out in the sticks.

Ella's Kitchen is widely available in the US. I'm pretty sure there's no Aptamil but there are lots to choose from. Similac rings a bell?

Tap water is fine to boil for bottles.

I moved to the US last year with my 8MO so hopefully this helps!
With regard to sterilising, personally I gave up at 7 months during a holiday to France as we didn’t want the hassle. If you are still doing it (I know the UK recommends it for the first year) cold water sterilising with Milton tablets is probably preferable to dragging the steriliser with you. Or take a trip to somewhere like target, buy one for under $30 and chuck it and the end of your trip (I know that’s terrible for the environment but sometimes practically wins out).
Formula brands are different, we went straight from Hipp to Enfamil with no issues, but if you want Aptamil then you’ll need to bring your own. Be prepared for your travel kettle to take an ice age to boil because of the different voltage.
As others have said, Walgreens/Duane Reade and CVS are practically everywhere and have tons of baby food options. If suitable you can also give a bit of your meal as finger food but any lunch/brunch place will be happy to do some toast for the baby. Grilled cheese and scrambled eggs are also popular baby brunch staple for us!
Mine have never slept that well on planes so timing our arrival so it’s bedtime when we land hasn’t failed us yet with regard to jet lag.
I’d definitely reconsider getting a hotel over an apartment though, unless you’re going to spring for a suite. We did this once and following a miserable evening of sitting on the bathroom floor drinking wine out of plastic cups, we cracked and upgraded!

My advice, having come out the other side of this some time ago with 2 kids, is try not to anticipate what might happen. Just react to what is happening.

So, if she’s bottle fed: take some of your powder with you, or get Enfamil ready made bottles while you’re here. Or the powder. Any hotel or Starbucks or whatever will give you hot water for your bottle (or a jug of hot water to warm a pre-made bottle). She will ultimately take whatever you give her. This is the city of plenty. You’ll be overwhelmed by the choice.

If she’s hungry: feed her. Whatever. If she likes your food: give it to her. If she wants pouches: given them to her. If she wants just milk: give it to her. No stress.

Nothing major is going to happen in 10 days, other than A LOT of tiredness. She’ll probably be the least tired of you all! Babies know when routine is broken, she’ll get back into her regular routine just fine when she’s home in her own crib with familiar sights and smells.

One piece of advice: get solid health insurance. Actually, another one: try not to feed her obvious allergens. Abroad in the USA is not when you want to discover she has a nut allergy

Ella's and many other similar quality brands are readily available in the US at supermarkets and drug stores. You should not pack 10 days worth of pouches. Take 3 days worth and then hit the shops when you arrive.

US restaurants tend to be very accommodating of dietary requirements and will happily provide no salt dishes that you can feed your baby as finger food. When I took my 11 month old to the States they had no problem making adjustments for us.

Take enough formula for the whole trip and enough food for a couple of days. You wont find aptamil in the US and changing brands can cause a stomach upset, so its just not worth it. You can get loads of baby food and Ella s kitchen is one of them. Def use milton tablets for sterilising if that is what you want to do. Im pretty sure someone sells a travel cold water sterilising kit with a special bag etc, maybe google it.Most rooms only have coffee makers, you can take a dtravel kettle that is dual voltage, or order a US one on amazon to be delivered to your hotel (in fact you can do this for baby food too). IF you have a skinny travel cot, you might be able to squeeze it in the closet. Then you can pull the door mostly across in the evening and open it back up when you go to bed. The weather in May is lovely, expect UK summer temps and lots of sunshine

No aptamil in the US; bring enough of this for the whole holiday (it can be packed into your suitcase).

Only absolute advice I have to share/you must do (!) is to make sure you have enough milk in hand luggage incase you’re delayed - we got stuck in no mans land at JFK- the post passport control but before you leave immigration/luggage areas have no food available when we were there for 4 hours with a baby- and we saw a family wait much much longer.

On the jet lag front, we actually found going out to the US pretty easy. What time is your flight? We put DD down at 2pm US time, 7pm UK time, for a nap, then woke her and carried on with the day. We actually went swimming so she had something fun to do. Then an early bedtime. She adjusted really quickly.
Coming back was harder!