Travel to India with 8 month old baby

lindsayc

Hello,
Ive read quite a lot of the posts on here with interest about travelling to India with infants, and have picked up the advice about travelling with wipes, ditching the car seat and making up feeds. Ill try and keep my post to the point instead of rambling on.
I have 2 weeks experience of India; Pushka & Delhi. My partner has lived & travelled all over India for the last 15 years. While hes a great dad, I do worry that hes not thinking practically about travelling with our little girl. He is against jabs, tho' Daisy will have had her first 3 lots before we go, just not the MMR. I breast feed and hope still to be doing so then (March '10). We plan to go for 4 months. Initial ideas from the dad are Rishikesh & stay in an Ashram.
Please can you give me any suitable advice (is this a good initial area, what are essential items, coping with a long flight, language, facilities, etc etc). I am scared to be honest for her safety, athough relish the idea of a natural and beautiful experience for my daughter.
Thanks for taking the time to read this & respond.

__________________
Lindsay C

Nick-H

Do not ditch the car baby seat

Take one with you, to be on the safe side: just make sure that it can be fitted using just a normal 3-point seat belt, and does not require anchorage points that may be standard on UK cars but are probably not available on most cars in India.

Do not listen to advice to the contrary. Yes, a lot of Indian babies survive to adulthood, despite being carried in their mothers' arms on the back of a motorbike. What you have to remember is that India leads the world in per-head-of-population road deaths.

That is the single most important piece of advice I have for you towards going home with a live, healthy, un-scarred child.

obione980

At 8 months all your baby needs is good food, plenty of sleep and good health.

Of course Indian babies thrive - though not as high a proportion of them as in the west - but most Indian babies are securely set in the middle of that very supportive domestic arrangement - an extended family.

The risk to your baby lies in the makeshift facilities you will be using in the middle of a country foreign to you in many ways.

I wish you all well if you go ahead.

kalikaleidoscope

Hi,
We are also going to India with our 11 month old this November. Although this is our first time with a baby in India, we have both traveled extensively there for many years.
Here is some advice from a friend that took her baby when he was 5 months and again when he was 18 months, as well as some precautions that we are taking:

Probably the most important thing...KEEP BREASTFEEDING! It will keep your child hydrated and give him your immunity. You can usually find good doctors and medicine quite easily in India, but this is the best precaution you can take.

1. Take a pop-up travel cot that has mosquito netting. They are quite lightweight and can be used at the beach as well to block out the sun. I think its good for babies to have the same bed to sleep in every night even when traveling. Get them used to sleeping in it before you go.
2. About nappies/diapers: they are available in cities and tourist places, but you will have to burn them yourself if you are in a smaller place, which is not too fun. We are planning to let our son be naked as much as possible and use cloth nappies the rest of the time. Again, hope to get him used to this before we leave.
3.Take a small umbrella stroller for the airport and some walks, but mostly we will use a backpack carrier.
4. We plan to stay in one place for most of the time. If you are in Rishikesh, you should just rent an apartment with a kitchen and cook most of your own food eat or in busy restaurants that have a high turnover. In March Rishikesh will probably be ok, but you might want to plan to head north into the mountains when it gets hot. It becomes unbearable there in the hot months.
5. Babies thrive best with a routine...try to keep them on their nap/sleeping schedule as much as possible, again, staying in one place and having an apartment is a good idea.
6. Reserve a bassinet for the plane.
7. We are still undecided about the car seat idea- we have booked a taxi to the village that has a car seat, but most cars will not have one. it might be more comfortable for your child for long trips, but a pain to carry around. you can book an express day train from delhi to Haridwar and then a taxi on to Rishikesh.

It will be a great experience for all of you. Most Indians love families and babies, ENJOY!

Nick-H

Car seats are not about comfort, they are about staying alive.

kalikaleidoscope

Yes, of course car seats are for safety..but if the car does not have a seat belt the car seat cannot be securely fastened into the car! Even so, it is probably safer than just holding the baby.

aliciap

We will be traveling with our 7-month-old in January, and have discussed travel health with our pediatrician; here are the recommendations we received:

The CDC recommends only an additional measles shot for immunizations for kids under 1 year. Doctors in the US (not sure about UK) can get a vaccine that has only measles so your baby doesn't have to have the other components if you'd prefer. There is measles in India so it would definitely be worth doing.

The other CDC recommendation is to give immune globulin -- pooled human antibodies -- to protect against hepatitis A (and presumably other diseases as well). This is another injection and the protection lasts for a few months. It has to be given at least 2 weeks after the measles shot.

This year you might also consider getting the H1N1 flu shot.

And finally, you can talk to your pediatrician about getting malaria prophylaxis medications for your baby. In general, mosquito precautions (bed nets, etc.) are important, not just for malaria but also for dengue and chikungunya.

LinaMol

Great advice guys, thank you.

We're bringing our (will be) 19 month old to Kerala (rural and Cochin) and Bangalore in February 2010. Looks like we'll be flying into BLR and out of Cochin.

Any advice on where to find a car seat in India? Cousins have told me they are available, just not widely used. I absolutely refuse to go without one. Risk vs. ridicule, risk wins.

Also, is there such a thing as a Pack N' Play or portable crib available over there? We're going to need something portable that the lil' monkey cannot escape from... plus it's just what she's accustomed to, and trying to keep things from being too jarring.
(plus I've heard one bad story too many of cracked baby heads after rolling off of mum's bed)

Thanks in advance!!