PREGNANT travelling to India - Tips?

Bumsie

Hi,

We'll be travelling to India at the beginning of December for a month. It will be our 1st time and we are both very excited.
We fly to Delhi, and then we'll decide where to go from there.
By December I'll be almost 4 months pregnant.
I was wondering if anyone else had travelled there during their pregnancy and if they had any tips...food, travel etc.
The only precautin I can think of is to only drink bottled water and not to eat meat...
I'm not too worried but given I've never been pregnant before I would love to get tips from people that have been in this situation before.
Thank you!

Ruprecht

I don't see why you wouldn't eat meat. Chemicals yes, but meat in general? Unless you're vegetarian

DianeN.

Well, there are obviously a lot of pregnant people in India who do just fine. However, I would be rather cautious...it would be better to err on the side of caution here. You could pick up any sort of infection there (well, anywhere for that matter). I had a friend that came back after a lengthy stay in India with a loooong tapeworm and hepititus. Have you gotten all of your vaccinations already? Or do you need to get them done from now (not a good idea in an early stage of pregnancy). Are you going to be travelling in a semi-luxurious manner...or on a shoestring budget that would require a lot of stamina and fortitude? If you get diarreah (and you will) will you be able to take the medicine in order to recover? If you get it bad enough the diarreah could kill you, never mind what the drugs could do to your baby. What if you have a problem and become in need of a hospital...would you be near a city where there would be a hospital you would be willing/trust to stay in?
I don't have a lot of experience travelling in India at all, and I'm sure that there will be people who say, why not? However, if it were me and my baby I think I would put the holiday in India on hold. I'd pick a destination that would be a lot less difficult. You'd never forgive yourself if anything happened that could have been prevented.

Just my two cents worth....
Diane

LaContessa

Mmmm. Without wanting to be a killjoy, I concur with the above post, it's not a destination I'd go to during pregnancy. I've been to India, when in good health, kept myself as healthy as I could, did all the sensible things regarding eating, drinking and general health procedures, and got both dysenty and pneumonia which resulted with me ending up in hospital.

edwardseco

Don't catch malaria..

Merchant

India seems to be able to take care of millions (literally) of pregnant women at any given time. Why would you not go?

LaContessa

Also not the best destination if you happen to be suffering with all-day morning sickness.

LaContessa

Yes but for the millions of native Indian woman who are pregnant it's a slightly different matter.

For a start I'd imagine they have a slightly better level of immunity to many of the illnesses that we travellers so easily catch. They can drink the local water, eat the food, the heat may not affect them in the same way...

There are also probably many Indian women who die in pregnancy too due to contracting diseases such as malaria, dysentry, cholera....

cyberhippie

Not really my area of expertise but I'll do my best
Normally I would just say go for it but Diane's post set my alarm bells off, so I decided to take a look at what impact antimalarials and antibiotics have on pregancy.
The results were incouraging, it seems that some antibiotics, and antimalarials carry little risk to the unborn baby and the risks that exist are somewhat lessened after the first trimester.
So at least you can use the right medicine should you get sick
Vaccinations for polio, hepatitis, tetanus seem to be safe to use as is the oral vaccination for typhoid
Though the following are not reccomended during pregnancy
Measles, mumps, rubella, Varicella and Yellow fever
Here are a couple of links I came up with!!

Malaria

Antibiotics

vaccinations

Typhoid

Vaccinations not be used in pregnancy!!

Of course talking it over with your doctor is the best thing to do before making a decision about taking medications.
Arm yourself with as much info as you can from recognised sources and you should be fine!!
There are millions of women in India have trouble free pregnancies. So with good advice the risks can be reduced!!

I hope that helped

Happy Traveling

Bumsie

Thank you for your responses!

Well, I've been in Europe for over 10 years but am originally from Zimbabwe...so I'm pretty "3rd world wise" for lack of a better term. I feel ok about going and will be very careful.
I just would like to hear from anyone who has been there whilst pregnant.
I have a number of friends that have travelled there, and most have ended up with the shits!! I've travelled through most of southern Africa and have been lucky enough to have never gotten ill (TOUCH WOOD!!!!!)...but I am still open to hear other people's experiences and wise words. Other people's opinions are always valuable.
My best friend is getting married in Delhi - it is important for me to be there. We wont be travelling on a shoestring...also not luxuriously. We can afford to stay in a nice hotel. We'll avoid rougher places. I believe Dec is also a bit safer in terms of mozzys (mosquitos).
I'd like to know if there are places I really ought to stay clear of...and general advice.

ps: and any tips on a nice place to stay in delhi??!! not too expensive but nice and clean.

Cheers

Ruprecht

Regarding 'the shits', my understanding is that this is caused by an imbalance in the flora of the intestines, which occurs after eating food the body isn't used to. It can be avoided by not eating any random food you happen across, or by taking enzyme or bacterial supplements. Most people don't pay attention to what they eat, although sometimes it is unavoidable.

melglo

Bumsie, I am going to India with my husband for 4 weeks this Nov/Dec too. I'll be just over 13 weeks when we leave.

I think we will be fine. I'm going to check and make sure i have all the vaccinations that i CAN have, i'm going to bring medecine that's safe to take in case i get diareha, i'm going to wash my hands A LOT, drink only bottled water, and only eat hot, cooked food.

i've been wanting to go to india FOREVER! and i'm not cancelling because I'm pregnant.

don't worry! and let me know if you hear anything I should know.

Bumsie

Dear Melglo,

I posted that message last year....so we've been and have lived to tell the story (all 3 of us!).
What you mention on your post is pretty much all you need to do.
We had a fabulous time. We went to Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Jaiselmeer, Ahaemebad (spelling...capital of Gujarat), Diu (gorgeous little Island in Gujarat), Udaipur and back to Delhi. We were away for 6 weeks.
All these places were fabulous.
We did stay in nice little hotels - not at all expensive (never more than 900 rupees a night for a double). Finding a clean hotel on a low budget can be quite a mission. We found that tips from other travellers were much better than our travel guide.
Before leaving I had to get a typhoid vaccination. I was concerned about it, but the risk of typhoid was much higher than any problems I could possibly get from the vaccination. It all went prefectly fine.
Before leaving I had decided to avoid meat, but we were staying with friends in Delhi and it was difficult to fuss about food...especially when it tastes SO damn good!!!!.
A lot of the time I just went by gut feeling. In some restaurants I'd eat chicken and in others I didn't.
One interesting thing I discovered was that I seemed to have a kind of sixth-sense of food that my belly may not be able to handle. In the 1st week we were travelling with a bunch of friends that had flown over for the wedding (Europe and USA), and the bride and her family (all Indians). Well on 2 occasions everyone (literally EVERYONE) got ill after a meal except for me. We had been to 2 restaurants that I somehow did not 'trust'. I stuck to plain rice and lentils, whereas the other 15 people feasted on all the specialties......
Well...in the middle of the night the hotel toilets were in full use every 5 minutes...right up till the morning!
After those 2 occasions everyone stopped fussing about the pregnant woman!
I could go on and on....sorry.
If you want to hear more .... as you can tell I am more than happy to share my travel stories (-:

Well...I did not get sick once. The only thing I can add is to take it easy. We travelled by car, train and bus (bus rides are a death wish) and being a seasoned traveller I thought it would be a piece of cake. After one trip I'd be exhausted for at least a day or 2. Depending on how well you feel I suggets you take it easy and rest a lot so you can really enjoy the holiday.

Where will you guys be travelling to?

Greetings from all 3 of us,

Bumsie

ps: we had a healthy baby girl on the 20th of June....she loves the smell of inidan food (and I'm not joking!!).

sudheer poppa

A few points you may need to keep in mind

- Avoid bumpy rides in buses for more than 60/90 mins.
- Buy branded food items for the land journeys from the metros
- Get a kit of medicines

Rest should be ok, avoid crowded places like a temple entrance at a opening moment/festival time, where crowd may be a bit unexpectedly unmindful.

I have travelled around when my wife was pregnant and this was our modus operandi !!!

__________________
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melglo

bumsie, you had the typhoid vaccination WHILE actually pregnant? do you know how many weeks you were? i am trying to figure out if i should get it or not. your baby was fine? i know another woman who got no vaccinations but she was primarily staying with her in-laws. how did you decide to take it? your dr. recommended it? was it a shot or oral? thanks so much for any info - that is the one thing i'm struggling with right now!