Would you to travel abroad (to India) with a 5mo infant?

[Anonymous]

Screaming child? Malaria? Death? How many of you posting here actually went to India in the recent years with or w/o children and stayed with family that is very tuned to your needs? I am not saying these don't exist at all but why are you trying to say it is just don't go situation for OP? Shouldn't we be prepared rather than just shun new experiences?
OP, I took my 8 month old recently. At that young age, they mostly sleep on the plane. We bought a seat for him and requested the bulkhead. He slept mostly and when he was awake and the seat belt sign was off, I put him on the floor on a blanket and gave him some toys. He did very well. Like you, we have family that knows very well how we live here so they made sure we had everything we need. All the relatives came to visit us. I was breast feeding and I also took some store bought purees with me. Yes mosquitoes are a problem but we tried our best to keep a fan around him and use a net when sleeping. Talk to your ped about what immunizations are needed. Our family was crazy about DS and they were absolutely thrilled to see him. Our ped talked to us at length about the precautions we need to take but she never said 'don't do it if you don't have to'. DH (Indian) and I never took any shots or tablets for any of our trips to India. It may been wise to take them but we didn't.
There are plenty top notch hospitals and doctors in India and many of the doctors are US trained who went back to India.
And for the naysayers, gasp...we did a trip within India for a week...staying in hotels and sight seeing. DC did just fine and we all lived to tell the tale.
There is a difference between 5 months baby and 8 month baby. I am posting my experience here to assure you it is not crazy. Talk to your ped and family in India and if you want to do it, go for it. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

PP, I think the main difference between a 5 month old and an 8 month old is that a 5 month old hasn't had any real immunizations (no MMR, no flu shot even). That and you can't give a 5 month old very many fever reducers if they do get sick, and the younger a baby is, the more serious the fever is. OP didn't say if she is staying in a city with good access to health care, or if she's going to be staying with relatives in a small village somewhere.
We talked about going to India with my now toddler when she was younger. Our pediatrician said that in our case he would advise us not to go based off of where we would probably be (if we went we would stay with my grandmother in a small village, the nearest hospital is 2 hours away). He said that if we were staying in Delhi or Mumbai that would be a different case, but the access to health care would not be good enough where we were staying. He said he would wait until DD was at least a year (she was 4 months when we brought it up, we were thinking of going around 6 or 7 months) so that she would have been immunized against more things. He's of indian descent so I don't think he was trying to scare us or dissuade us from going.
OP is a FTM and really has no idea about the things you worry about once your baby is born. She may not be able to successfully breastfeed, so then understanding that she needs to be able to ensure that she has a lot of bottled water is very important. Everyone is just trying to make sure that she first talks to a pediatrician before making real travel plans, understands the risk that she could be putting her child in, and finally understands that traveling at that age may not be a particularly memorable experience for the baby and not a particularly pleasurable experience for her or her husband.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HELL NO, with a caveat. I lived and worked in India and loved it so that's where I am coming from. The caveat is if you are willing and able to fully vaccinate your child before leaving AND there is a suitable malaria drug for infants (I don't believe there is though). There are MANY health and safety issues with taking children to India. Firstly, health - even adults get extremely ill from food and water in India. What if you child does? The hospitals aren't exactly top notch. Secondly, cars and accidents are another equally bad issue. It is very dangerous to travel by car in India and carseats aren't all that common. If you go you need to be aware of those dangers and going back to the first issue should something happen poor access to medical care.

This person seems best qualified to offer advice on this issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - I think a lot of the answers you're getting are from people who (a) don't travel overseas a lot and (b) don't understand what it's like to visit family in India. Talk to your pediatrician about the vaccines, etc.. if that is what you are concerned about and please don't listen to the advice of complete strangers on the internet.

This....

I don't think I'd have a problem with it if I was visiting family and staying with them. If you were not going during the summer (high malara season) and you were going to stay with family, it should not be a major issue. I would visit my pediatriction and also maybe call the CDC hotline just in case re: vax for infants. I don't think I read in your post, but are you going to be in the south or north? You'll need to make sure (since you are breastfeeding) that you have access to lots of bottled water - as YOUR health is also important.

Otherwise....HAVE FUN!!! India is amazing and you will have lots of fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Screaming child? Malaria? Death? How many of you posting here actually went to India in the recent years with or w/o children and stayed with family that is very tuned to your needs? I am not saying these don't exist at all but why are you trying to say it is just don't go situation for OP? Shouldn't we be prepared rather than just shun new experiences?
OP, I took my 8 month old recently. At that young age, they mostly sleep on the plane. We bought a seat for him and requested the bulkhead. He slept mostly and when he was awake and the seat belt sign was off, I put him on the floor on a blanket and gave him some toys. He did very well. Like you, we have family that knows very well how we live here so they made sure we had everything we need. All the relatives came to visit us. I was breast feeding and I also took some store bought purees with me. Yes mosquitoes are a problem but we tried our best to keep a fan around him and use a net when sleeping. Talk to your ped about what immunizations are needed. Our family was crazy about DS and they were absolutely thrilled to see him. Our ped talked to us at length about the precautions we need to take but she never said 'don't do it if you don't have to'. DH (Indian) and I never took any shots or tablets for any of our trips to India. It may been wise to take them but we didn't.
There are plenty top notch hospitals and doctors in India and many of the doctors are US trained who went back to India.
And for the naysayers, gasp...we did a trip within India for a week...staying in hotels and sight seeing. DC did just fine and we all lived to tell the tale.
There is a difference between 5 months baby and 8 month baby. I am posting my experience here to assure you it is not crazy. Talk to your ped and family in India and if you want to do it, go for it. Good luck.

I was in India last year. I said go....AFTER she talks to her doctor, but I'm also concerned about WHEN (summer - no; winter - yes) and WHERE - (Goa - probably not that young; Dehli - sure!!)

[Anonymous]

Wow, I hadn't checked back in a while, and I see there are a bunch more responses to my thread. Thanks for all the feedback, everyone!

We would be staying with family in a city in South India (Kochi) in the winter (Christmas-time). FWIW, DH's family is quite well off and live in modern, clean housing with servants that spend their day boiling water and ensuring safe food. I would think there are excellent hospitals, etc., nearby, but I will check with my FIL (a doctor) to be sure. I've been to India twice during that time of year; both times, the family took excellent care of us and we didn't get even remotely sick. We will not be traveling, eating out, or exposed to tons of mosquitos (I barely remember any, and mosquitos looooove me). We would stay put in the house largely, and family would come to us. If I'm not breastfeeding, I can bring plenty of jarred formula/food with me -- so Baby's food will be tightly controlled.

It sounds like I really need to talk with a pediatrician (I like the idea of finding one of Indian descent) about timing this best to make sure Baby has all of his/her needed vaccines and can safely take the important medicines. And that will make my decision for me.

It sounds like 5 months is a good "travel age" for most babies, so that is nice.

As for the rest of it ... I appreciate everyone's thoughts and things to think about, but after reading the responses, I still believe that vaccination is the only thing that will really factor into my decision. DH and I are pretty laid-back about the rest of it, and I doubt that will change -- but we won't book tickets until after Baby is born just in case.

[Anonymous]

You sound like a reasonable and cautious person, OP. I'm sure you will do what's best for your family. Have fun when you go (whatever age). I love love love! taking our kids back to my husband's home country and hanging out with the relatives. I wish we could do it more.