Taking toddler to india

spar28

Hi! I know this issue has been raised at least 1x before, but I have some new questions.

We are taking our 2 1/2 y.o. to India (Mumbai & Pune) in a couple of weeks (Dec.). We are going for only 2 weeks. We are staying at a local hotel in Mumbai and with relatives in Pune. We are taking a train from Mumbai to Pune.

I have some general questions:

1. What kind of milk do they have in India? I hear they have cow's milk, but it needs to be boiled and it doesn't taste the same. My concern is, we are staying at a hotel...how can we trust that the hotel will boil the milk before they serve it? I have also heard of Parmalat...what is that? Is it boxed milk?

2. Alternatively, should we just take powdered milk from the U.S. (like Carnation) and just mix it with bottled water?

3. Our child is potty-trained...where could she use the bathroom when we are out shopping?

4. Do they allow batteries on planes in india? I have had mine taken away 10 years ago, but i'm not sure what they do now. We will be relying on our MP3 player for our child and I would hate for them to take the batteries away.

5. We are planning to take our umbrella stroller (mainly to use in the airports)...we would like to take it shopping too...is that recommended?

6. Would you boil the bathwater (or at least put iodine drops in it) before bathing your toddler? Ours tends to lick the water.

7. Anything else you can think of to take...any other advice?

Thanks!

iyou

1. You can buy packaged milk in the "dairy stores", which are the shops that sell yogurt, lassi, milk, etc. It's also found in regular food shops. I don't know about Parmalat, except that it's an Italian company, but Nestlé and Amul make packaged milk in those tetrapak containers. As far as trusting hotels to boil milk, I wouldn't expect them to, unless you're referring to hotels in the Indian sense of the word, meaning restaurants, in which case, yes, the milk will be boiled.

2. You could do that. Certainly it's easier, since you'd only have to deal with small amounts of milk. The containers are one liter in size.

3. Public toilet blocks are located on busy streets, and of course many fancy stores will have toilets for customers. You'll have fun finding them sometimes, I'm sure, but hey, it's India. Anything's possible. You can always take her behind a tree like the Indians do (if they're not letting their baby pee right in the street). It's not a problem.

4. Don't know.

5. Strollers are tough to pilot in cities. Uneven sidewalks, obstacles like trees, holes, broken bricks, beggars, dogs, crowds, vendors, and so on. I'm sure the localites would enjoy watching you try. In fact I think a stroller might draw a crowd. Indians love babies, and would be thrilled to see a stroller. Bring it.

6. if you boil the bathwater make sure to let it cool before pouring it over your child Seriously, this one is your call. Iodine will be easier, for sure. A drop or two of bleach would accomplish the same objective.

7. Yes! Don't forget to have a great time!

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ddevadatta

Won'yt repeat sound advice already provided by previous poster. I took my infant (some 12 years ago) which is no 2 1/2 but went well. Years later took my two children as well. We too had our concerns but all in all we faired well. Expect to get sick: that is part of teh course. My daughter was ill and got treated, inspte of all the precautions we took. Please do take precautions with water etc.

But I must say that all in all it will be fun. My children bug me so often to return to India. Well worth it and so try and relax and not worry too much. Good luck!

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Nick-H

Indian milk bought in plastic bags (you snip the corner off) is pasteurised. It tastes much the same as UK milk.

My fiance (a native of this city) told me that I mustn't drink it without boiling it first ---but I do.

I've never had a problem (UK/India) with batteries for things like cd-players, mp3 players etc. Lots of people use them.

My thought is that the worst risk your child will face is coming back fat from all the sweets etc that your relatives and their friends will give!

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raos

I just came back from 7 months in India with a toddler and can try to answer a couple of your questions (did not go to any place you will be going). For milk, we never ordered milk in hotels and restaurants, we simply bought the pasteurized packets -- usually Mother Dairy, but sometimes Amul. The milk in cartons like Nestle is fine but I think it's just reconstituted from powder. Milk in India is generally BUFFALO milk. It is a bit different and our son didn't take too to it very well i.e. he stopped drinking as much.

It is hard to imagine being able to use the stroller, but you're welcome to try if you want to lug it around. We used a backpack carrier (which elicited a lot of stares and smirky smiles) or carried him.

Our son was not potty trained at the time and, frankly, I was glad not to have to deal with public bathrooms. I'm sure they exist (though not in abundance), but if you're worried about bathwater I'm not sure you'll want to use them. You'll probably want to find some chain fast food restaurant to use the bathroom -- for the small cost of an Aloo Tikki burger (or some-such thing) it'll be worth it.

About bathwater, we never boiled or put in iodine in the bathwater. Just so it's clear, we hardly ever had the opportunity to give our son a western bath as there were few western bathtubs. We just used the bucket of water and cup method (dunking him with water from the cup). He pretty much did fine the whole time we were there. Since you're going to be there for a shorter time, it won't be as much of an inconvenience for you to boil water (though how you would do it in a hotel is unclear), but it will still be an inconvenience. Your relatives will likely be incredulous, though likely won't say so (not that I would forsake your sense of safety and health for your child on that basis). I guess iodine is the better option if you're going to do this.

The rumor is that you still can't take batteries on flights in India. It is truly one of the great mysteries of the world.

Be prepared for possible dismay or disinterest in your female child. We had some friends with girls who constantly got comments about having girls (assuming you don't have another, male, child).

I can't think of anything out of the ordinary that I would recommend bringing (FYI we did not bring a car seat -- few cars have seat belts!). Based on the reaction of my son, I think your daughter will love India, just with all the things to see on the street. Have a great trip!

J&M

I can only help with the batteries question.

When we were there earlier this year they did not let us carry loose batteries on the plane. We had ours taken from us. BUT they left the batteries in the digital camera. Strange. I can only assume it would be similar with an MP3 player etc.

Have a fab time

Nick-H

Oh! Amazing... Is this regional, or have I been drinking Buffalo milk without knowing it?

I don't think I could tell the difference between Chennai milk and London milk. But then I've never had them closer together than about 12 hours.

dhans

MAby I should stop reading Indiamike. I didn't know we would have to boil the bathwater AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

Hans (off with the kids to Chennai in 7 days time YES )

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cyberhippie

I don't think the packet stuff is buffalo milk............India is the biggest milk (cow) producer in the world apparently.

Strange thing is I've never seen a dairy farm?????

Red1973

How exciting for you. You will have a ball.

We took our daughter earlier this year- she was 19 months old. We are now in the process of our planning a second trip in January. Can't wait! I can't help you on the milk questions, my daughter was still breastfed at the time which was a huge help. It will be different this time- I hadn't even thought about what to do about milk. I think we might take some of the UHT stuff we buy here in Hong Kong. You can buy small packets (about 200ml) so we could potentially take one for each day- we're only away 12 days.

Toilets- hmmmmmm. Hadn't thought about that either. I agree with whoever said it is easier when they are in nappies. I guess it will just be a case of frequent stops in fast food joints or restaurants. Make sure you have always have wet wipes on you. (But as a parent I know I don't need to tell you that! )

Batteries- Wow! I hadn't heard that before. Bizarre. [shr]

I don't know how 'big' your daughter is but do you have a sling? We didn't take a stroller last time. We "made" a sling from a long piece of fabric and it was brilliant. She even slept in it.
http://www.peppermint.com/girasolcarry.htm
This time I think we might take our umbrella stroller just because she is so tall and heavy and our flights are at weird times so she is going to be jetlagged. A friend from Mumbai said the stroller would be ok for walking along Marine Drive etc but elsewhere, I'm not so sure.

Hmmmmm had never even occured to boil the bathwater. We just watched her like a hawk and tried to ensure she didn't drink it! Good luck!

It is interesting that someone suggested that people might not be interested in your daughter. I had wondered if that might be our experience too but it was EXACTLY the opposite!!! The amount of attention our daughter attracted was nuts!!!! We have photos of her at Jama Masjid in Delhi being followed by a crowd of at least 30 people trying to pinch her cheeks etc. That went on throughout our entire trip. It was mayhem- worse than China which is crazy but nothing like this. By the end of the trip she had learned to scream "NO!" and put her hand out when she saw people coming towards her! It was quite exhausting for her but lovely that for us that she was so welcome wherever we went.

That said, she really loved India. The wildlife was fabulous! She loved the monkeys and the elephants in particular.

We did take a lot of little snacky-type foods- rasins, pretzels, banana chips, craisins. I might have found those things in India but I didn't want to spend my time grocery shopping when we could be sightseeing.
I also took lots of those little alchohol wipes which was great. I was probably excessively paranoid- having been heavily pregnant in HK during SARS has done that to me!! BUT, NONE of us got even slightly sick so it paid off.

Have a fantastic time!!!!!

raos

I don't know about the packets (though now that I think about it, isn't there a picture of a cow on the Mother Dairy packets?). I originally posted that milk in India is generally buffalo milk because I had read it somewhere. Decided to do a little more research out of curiosity. It turns out about around 55-60% of milk consumed in India is buffalo milk, the remainder cow's milk. In some regions, it's as high as 80%.

I'm just guessing this, but I don't think India is the world's leading producer of *cow's* milk. It is clearly the leader in Buffalo milk, which is rarely used outside of Asia, and I think newly the overall leader in the production of milk generally.

dhans

We wont be boiling the bathwater, but are alcoholic wipes for sale in India, or should we bring them from Europe?

Hans

raos

You can buy "baby wipes" in any major city. We took a bunch anyway because the quality you find in India is not very good.

Nick-H

Thanks raos... I'm fairly sure my chennai milk is cow, but I couldn;t find out for sure even though I found the website of one of the cooperatives that produce it.