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Baby CanTravelTM

NEW YORK CITY

A TRAVEL GUIDE MADE FOR PARENTSBy Celine and Dan Brewer

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Baby Can Travel: Paris

Baby Can Travel: Barcelona

Baby Can Travel: London

Baby Can Travel: Anywhere

OTHER BABY CAN TRAVEL EBOOKS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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PLANNINGYOUR TRIP

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One of the great things about travelling with an infant isthat you can pick the destination based on what youwant to see and do. Your baby will not have an opinionabout seeing the Empire State Building vs. the EiffelTower - they just want to be with you! That said, thereare still important things to consider for your infantwhen picking your destination:

þ Is it safe?þ Does it have access to good health care?þ Is the weather appropriate for your baby's health

(e.g., not too hot or too cold to be outside)?þ Does it have good transportation options?þ Is it a walkable city? Can you push a stroller on most

of the city streets?þ If your baby is breastfed, does the local culture accept

breastfeeding?

Fortunately, New York City is a great choice as adestination for travelling with a baby!

þ NYC is a safe city.þ They have a good first world health care system. Be

aware of your coverage or lack thereof before youleave home.

þ The weather in spring and fall is warm, but not toohot. Summer may be off-limits though.

þ It has a great public transportation system.þ It is a very walkable, stroller friendly city.þ It is baby & breastfeeding friendly.þ There are enough world-class attractions to fill a

week or two of your time.

One potential downside to consider is that petty theftcan be troublesome (pickpockets, etc.).

NEW YORK CITY IS A GREAT CHOICE

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The first step in planning your trip is to think about theneeds of all the travellers - including both the baby andthe parents. Having a solid idea of each of your needswill help you make thoughtful decisions about your trip.

It is fascinating to watch infants grow; their skills andpersonalities change so rapidly. For these reasons, youneed to spend a bit of time anticipating what your childwill be like on the date you travel, as they will certainly

change from the time you book your trip. Will they beeating solid food? How long will they nap each day?Will they be crawling? The table below providesguidance on what your child may be like at the age oftravel. Every baby develops at their own pace, so treatthese as guidelines only.

PREDICTING YOUR BABY'S NEEDS

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By considering what your child may be like at theproposed time of your trip, you can plan accordingly.The key elements to consider are sleeping and feeding:

Amount & Location of SleepYour baby's need for sleep will be one of the biggestfactors in how much time you will have sightseeing atyour destination. Very young babies tend to have themost naps, but are generally able to fall asleepanywhere and anytime. As they become older, theybecome more aware of the world around them and mayhave more difficulty falling asleep on-the-go, especiallyif your destination is very stimulating. As they get evenolder, their need for multiple naps dwindles andbecomes less of a factor in your daily planning.

Feeding MethodVery young babies are easy to travel with - you can feedthem on-the-go either by breastfeeding or by bottle. Asyour child transitions to solid food, feeding them takesup more of your day. The months after they start eatingsolids are especially slow going as they are just learningto eat - they play with their food, eat half, rub the otherhalf in their hair, clothes, the carpet, etc. As they getmore skilled at eating, the time it takes generallydecreases and will become less of a factor in your dailyplanning.

When planning your trip, factor this time into yoursightseeing aspirations. How will you feed them? Whatwill you feed them? Where will you feed them? Andhow long will this all take?

Generically speaking, the most challenging age to travelwith an infant is between 6-11 months. They typicallyneed two naps per day and may have difficulty sleepingon-the-go due to the exciting world around them. Theirnewfound appreciation for, but lack of skills to eat solidfood may also slow you down.

TIP

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NYC is a world-class tourist destination. When planningto take your infant there, you need to factor in two mainthings:

► It is very easy to get around NYC, but it is big and takestime to get places. You can count on 1 minute ofwalking for each north-south block and 5 minutes ofwalking for every east-west block. A typical subwayride from Midtown to the Financial District will take30-40 minutes each way.

► NYC is one of the most exciting (and noisy) cities in theworld and as a result can be very stimulating for yourbaby. If your baby is just starting to become aware ofthe world around them, taking them from theircomfortable home to NYC puts you at risk ofoverstimulating them.

Despite some of the potential challenges you may face,you can take a baby of any age to NYC and have awonderful time. Just start with a clear set of expectationsto avoid being frustrated during your trip.

HOW DOES NEW YORK CITY FIT?

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OUR EXPERIENCEOur daughter was 10 months old when we brought her to NYC. Before leaving for NYC she wassleeping around 11 hours per night at home and was taking 2 naps per day (around 3 hours total induration). She was eating solid food, but was a very slow eater.

We started our trip with the assumption that she would have her first nap of the day while we wereon-the-go and then we'd go back to the hotel early afternoon for her second nap of the day. It took usa few days to catch on that she was not sleeping easily or very well for her first nap of the day. NYC isvery interesting for a baby her age.

She was also taking 30-45 minutes to properly eat solid food. The combination of needing to be inthe hotel for her naps, plus the time to feed her solid food required some changes to our plans:

1) We stopped going out first thing in the morning. We would feed her and let her play a little, beforeputting her down for nap #1.

2) We typically had 3-4 hours of sightseeing time after her first nap. We would feed her solids whilewe ate lunch and breastfed her on-the-go as required.

3) We would go out for another two hours after her afternoon nap. This gave us time to have herhome, feed her and let her play a little before bed.

We had a great time in NYC, but we found it to be a little challenging with a 10 month old. The time ittook to get places reduced the time we had to enjoy the sights. The level of excitement also made itharder for her to sleep. To make the most of our time, we continually monitored how she was doingand adjusted our approach as required, making sure her needs were met first.

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NYC ATTRACTIONS -OUR ITINERARY

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TOP OF THEROCK

“...the Top of the Rock is afun alternative to the

Empire State Building.”

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A three story observation deck on the 67th, 69th and70th floors of 30 Rockefeller Centre, the Top of the Rockis a fun alternative to the Empire State Building.

EASE OF GETTING THERE

WalkingTop of the Rock is found within Rockefeller Center, so ifthis is your starting point, no walking is required!

SubwayThe nearest subway stop is "Rockefeller Center" (LinesB, D, F and M).

Ho HoCitySights NY Downtown Tour and NY SightseeingDowntown Loop.

STROLLER ACCESSIBILITY

The Top of the Rock is fully stroller accessible, howevertheir rules state the stroller must be collapsible.

EATING NEARBY

There are countless restaurants both within and aroundRockefeller Centre. You will not go hungry for sure!

PLACES TO BREASTFEED

The most convenient place to breastfeed in this area isto go to a restaurant. There are also many plazasaround Rockefeller Centre which have places you cansit, but be prepared for it to be very crowded.

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OTHER INFORMATION

Official Website

Time & Money Savers:You can skip the line by buying yourticket online and selecting what time youwish to go to the top. Selecting the exacttime may be difficult for most parents ofsmall babies, but the option is availableif you are confident in your arrival time.

If you are also planning a tour of theRockefeller Centre, you can buy a comboticket which gets you the tour, plus Topof the Rock at a small discount.

The New York Pass entitles users to freeadmission along with the ability to skipthe line, while the New York CityPASSentitles users to free admission. Top ofthe Rock can also be added as a freeattraction to the New York Explorer Pass.

Nearby AttractionsNBC Studios, Museum of Modern Art, St.Patrick's Cathedral, Radio City MusicHall and Times Square.

INTERESTING FOR INFANT

If your infant is old enough to notice that they are up high, thenthere might be a slight chance this attraction will appeal to yourbaby. Most likely though, they will not notice what the big dealis.

TIPTop of the Rock has a free iTunes app whichcontains a free audio tour and a visual guide ofthe sights from above.

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OUR EXPERIENCETop of the Rock was one of our secondary attractions. Our 'must see' for the day was theBrooklyn Bridge walk, which we did earlier in the day. After the bridge, we went back to ourhotel so our daughter could have a decent nap in her crib. Once she woke up, was fed andchanged, we went out to take advantage of the remaining time in our day.

As luck would have it, our daughter began teething a few days before our trip and as such shehadn't been sleeping well. We really wanted her to have a good sleep on this night, so we decidedto have her back at the hotel by 6PM. By the time she was up from her last nap of the day it wasaround 4PM, so we needed to go somewhere close and that wouldn't take too long. Thankfully,the Top of the Rock was one block from our hotel and was a fairly straightforward attractionwhich we could control how long we stayed. This is a good example of picking an attractionwhich fits your schedule best.

Thankfully the ticket line wasn't very long. We were on our way in about 5 minutes, but we weresoon faced with another line-up (this one to get a souvenir photo taken). We weren't interested,so we tried to bypass the line. One of the security guards tried to stop us, but another guard sawour baby and let us pass. Never underestimate the power of a cute baby!!

The elevator ride up to the 67th floor took less than a minute. Once at the top, the incredibleviews are everywhere. They have thick glass panels from the floor which you can look through toget unobstructed views of NYC. Rockefeller Centre's ideal location provides sweeping views ofCentral Park to the north, the Empire State Building and the new World Trade Centre to thesouth.

After having our daughter in a stroller all morning, we elected to take her up in our carrier, whichenabled us to easily get around the attraction.