6 months with newborn,ashram

namaste canada

Hello,
i m expecting a baby in Sept. 2008 would love to have it in India but i m not sure
i plan to go to India in November with my family. 2 adults, a 4 year old and one new born
We are seeking higher learning and we are looking for a place for our family

We plan to stay 6 months, because of visa but would love to stay for a while as my wife is a elementary school teacher. and we would love to also volonteer time during our learning experience

Nick-H

Welcome to the site!

Not one of my areas, really, having babies --- but I would say that having one anywhere requires extensive research of facilities and doctors available.

Suggest you read the article on this site by dhans on traveling with children in India, and the comments there. You should get some useful information. Health care is one of the greatest concerns, especially for the very young, and discussing this with your local doctors before leaving is advised.

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dhans

Thanks Nick,the link is below.

Hans

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Tips for trips to India with (young) children: India with kids
Stories about our travels in India: Journal

Nick-H

Woops! Thanks; I meant to include the link in my my post

atala

I think you are asking for trouble in a number of ways. First of all travelling with a newborn baby. If you care for a wholistic understanding then you might consider the insight that Ayurveda provides about a custom that, it seems, is well respected in India, that is that a newborn baby is not exposed to out-of-the house experiences before it is six months old. Not 100% sure about mothers, but that might be obvious that new mothers would not leave the house either.

Also, you would give your child a head-start into insecurity and instability which the child will pick up, drink so to speak and in truth, with the mother's milk. An ashram is not a place where you can create conditions for "nest-warmth". Since an ashram is a place where many people gather for an external purpose, the needs of the child would necessarily take a back-seat, while his or her expression thereof in the form of crying could cause you a lot of unwelcoming vibes from other people who seek the quiet and the retreat from family life.

Another point of view is the time you want to be in India. November is a nice time of year in the North, but it is also close to the beginning of the cold season. Most ashrams do not have glass windows, only wooden shutters. Ashrams are also in rural areas, where it is normally a bit colder than in cities. It could be cold a lot for a baby, also in private housing, not much heating appliances available, if any at all.

If you went down South, Tamil Nadu would be out of the question until end of the year, because of the monsoon prevailing there until about mid-December. So Karnataka or Kerala would be the "only" warmer option, perhaps Southern Andra too, IMers from these places will know better. I am not so sure about Karnataka around Bangalore (and other places) because of its higher altitude. But Kerala is worth your further inquiry to focus on. Or Goa?

And as a conclusion: If anything at all, go for a private house in a kind of protected environment.

namaste canada

Thank you so much for all the info,
I asked my question without anyone knowing me, I have just decided on an early retirement to be home for the kids full time,
I have travelled to many countries such as thailand, dominican republic, Morroca where we stayed with local people for lengty duration of over a month. We plan on staying on one spot mainly, if need be as per your advise in a housing near ashram.
I visited India twice(alone) and really felt like going back. My spouse receives 1 year off work , so we intended to do as we would at home fpr time with our child but in India, as for being home for 6 months, i had in mind to go there for the baby delivery for that reason. However for us in the west, they show India as endemic for many desease however our forst one was breastfed for 3 years, which boost their immune system. and i guess when you had malaria risk, dengue fever etc... it does sound dangerous for a child at first glance We normally adpat well to local culture, but we lack understanding about health risk on new born for India, However people in India have baies, and i doubt with common higiene that their baby die of malaria etc.... I would really love to live in India as i loved the poeple , philosophie, food etc... so much but we have a max of 6 months with visa, but we hope my spouse could one day teach and volontueer for longer. Our way with kids, in regards to babay attachment, is what we did with the first one, for the fist 2 years,,, 18 months or up, a baby does not know its own permanence yet, and at one point goes back and forth. so the baby needs the mother to appear when requested, which will give him all the security and confidence etc... for the rest of is life, they learn to trust life, not using any defense mecanisim at a too young age. So our plan is to have the mother present at all times and we see today the results in our child of 4 years old. no baby sitter in today s world in Canada is rare so is a family together all day which provides for a lot of security. I hope we can profit from our time and go on learn yoga, meditation, and slowly live in India enviroment that way In a sense my spouse would feel more secure in Thailand in regards to higiene and vaccination etc.... but the spirit of India to me would be of interest for our year away from Canada. She also plans of 2 years away so it would be possible next year as well but i feel drawn to India and would not want to miss it for preconceived idea from the west. But may be it is risky with new born. and the south would be nice butmore mosquito decease then the north

all your info is helpfull

Regards all

Michel

Nick-H

I was going to say more, but realised that you are not first-time parents. so you know very well what is involved in child care.

Please don't under-estimate the risks to health. Yes, a glance at India's population shows that it is hardly a rare thing for a baby to survive! But it is also not a rare thing for it not to survive. Quite a few don't survive the various forms of negligence or incompetence that they meet in the hospital!

It is a concern for many of us who have come to live in India that we should be close to good medical care. Maybe it's more important for the very young even, than for us older ones. You may dream, for instance, of a rural idyll, but might be better advised to be within an hour's drive of a city top private hospital. The traffic does not give way to ambulances here!

namaste canada

I had in mind to go either in Mysore or kodaikanal for kodai the weather is a little colder in winter but nothing compaed to Montreal!! and with cool i thought the mosquito risk is less i was told Hospital in Mysore and Madurai are good, however i cant picture it in my head in regards to facilities to have the baby there

Haze

Hello Michel

Like everyone else here, I would caution you to think long and hard before transporting your children to India for a long period of time. I am a single parent of two girls and we spent last summer in India. My daughters were 3 and 5. We had a wonderful time and will go back again for a longer period in the next year or two. My children, however, are half-Indian and my eldest was born there, so I think that provided an advantage.

If you are determined to have a young baby with you for an extended period, I would suggest that the baby be born there. While this may sound odd to many non-Indians reading this, the reason is that a child's body and immune system etc. are 'colonised' so to speak, by the first set of bacteria they come into contact with. If your wife gives birth in Canada, the baby will be exposed to Canadian germs and will be 'shocked' by the germs it encounters in India - making the possibility of contracting diseases there greater. Of course, having a homebirth rather than a hospital birth is safer in 80% of births no matter which country you're in (both mine were homeborn in Asia, so I'm not just being glib here).

Like others who have replied to you here, I must wonder at the wisdom of taking a newborn into an Ashram. A baby's needs will not be consistent with the needs of others there and I would wonder if it would, therefore, be a more stressful experience than you're hoping for.

I would respectfully suggest that you wait until your child is at least two years old (and therefore, in possession of a fully-formed immune system) before considering spending any length of time in India.

HTH

Hazel

namaste canada

Thank you again,
I enjoy the exchange on this Forum, which is the idea behind my inquiry , as to reach to other people experiences and knowledge.
I f we decide to wait a year we would then search an area like thailand not many place or books describe Asia for travelling for example on long period and trying a good place for homeborn Do you know good place in Asia

atala

Kodaikanal is pretty cold in winter too; houses do have fire-places though. The cold is different in India compared to the West, because insulation is virtually unknown there. I often wonder myself what is easier to accept, the cold or the heat. Often you get really warm only out in the sun, in over-cast days really difficult. This year I was really surprised to see so much pollution in the air, even in rural areas, from fires all the time, the smog hanging around low like fog that it becomes really a hazard breathing such dirt all the time. In winter with additional fog you have to wait a long time until the sun is high enough that you actually feel the heat of the sun on your body.

In addition to tropical germs and diseases you should consider the quality of air and food that your baby gets there for a starter (thru what the mother gets in her food). Your environment should be as clean as possible which is hard to get with all these fires burning all the time (particularly the burning of plastic bags and other garbage along with dry leaves ). I think you would be better off near a beach in that respect. in Kodai being so cold in winter, you will have lots of fires burning. People sometimes burn tyres and the like.

Another country to consider is Malaysia. You automatically get a three month visa at entry, and just need to go to Singapore or Thailand at the end of the period to get a new stamp when you return. Penang would be a good option to stay because it is a peninsula in the Ocean; the Chinese population gives it an air of modernity compared to the Muslim majority that does not speak English elsewhere in the country.