NY with a 7 month old

[Gem13]

I will be accompanying my husband to NY in March. I've been before but now have a 7 month old son to entertain for a couple of days before the 3 of us go on holiday out of the city.

Any advice/suggestions for things to do, getting around, places to breastfeed, good brands of organic baby food, eco-friendly disposable nappies, stroller/carrier advice, etc. will be gratefully received.

No tips but just to say I'm very jealous...

hello gem13, you could try having a look at this site or posting a message there!

alternatively, you could try this one .

hth.

My only tip is take a sling for immigration (unless you're a US citizen)!

Last summer it took us just under an hour and a half to clear immigration at Newark (standing up the whole time) - HUGE queues and no buggy til we got to baggage. I've flown into/through NYC tons of times and it's never been so bad so I can only assume they've tightened up recently.

Dd (9.5 months at the time)adored NY, just loved pottering around, looking at shops, hanging out in the park, eating in diners. We didn't really do anything special and we gave up all thoughts of organic food and ecological nappies for the holiday (it is possible to get both but easier if you just get whatever at the 7-11!). She started crawling at Newark airport so it must have been inspiring.

You will have a great time!! And you won't have any trouble finding anything you want in the way of organic/eco-friendly etc. pretty much on every corner. The only slightly complicated bit is transport. There are 3 ways to get around busses (very very slow), taxis and the subway. The problem with taxis is the lack of a carseat and the problem with the subways is that very few of them have elevators or escalators. If your ds is still small enough to fit in a car seat that snaps into a puschair, that might be the easiest way to go so that you can use taxis. Otherwise bring a very very light folding stroller so that you can carry it and ds up and down millions of stairs. Despite their reputation, I have always found new yorkers very friendly and helpful when it comes to babies. And most places (cheap or fancy) will have high chairs.

Thanks for all of your tips. I had thought of the stroller but not about hanging around at immigration and in the luggage hall without it!

I was excited and anxious about it initially but now I'm just excited!

We had a few days in NY as part of a tour of Boston, New England & Cape Cod, when ds was 8 months old (he is now 9) - to be honest I don't recall a problem with nappies - may be worth ensuring you have enough for a few days to give you time to find some. Ds was a very good eater by then so baby food was not really an issue - it may be worth trying to get him onto to mashed food by then if possible. I did expect to be able to buy Weetabix (or very similar) but didn't find any - if I had known I would have taken some with me - he survived quite well with some baby grits and soon got a taste for muffins etc. I tended to order things when eating out that he could share like pasta or I would order a chunky soup for him which he coped with very well. I was bottle feeding so no idea re. breastfeeding places, I took a travel kettle with me so I could have a supply of boiled water (many hotels don't seem to have tea/coffee making facilities.
I took a lightweight buggy and a good waterproof for him to wear if necessary - I took the buggy up to the plane without any problems.
To get around NY we used the tour bus which IIRC you paid for the day and you can get on and off as you wish.
One thing I would recommend while you are over there is the wash and fold service offered by laundrettes, drop off a bag of washing, they wash, dry and fold it really quickly - their folding is so good that no ironing necessary - this was the best advice given to me before we went as it meant we could cut down on the amount of clothes we needed to take. Enjoy yourself - wish I was going again, fantastic place.