traveling to China with a 7 mo. baby - any tips??
Jul 23rd, 2008, 10:57 AM
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traveling to China with a 7 mo. baby - any tips??
Fodorites are always the best source of information. I am traveling with my parents, brother, husband and 7 month old baby to China for the Olympics. Friends think we are brave/crazy, but I am sure we are not the first people to do this. Does anyone have tips regarding the following topics...?
* Adjusting a baby (who currently sleeps through the night) to a 12hr. time difference (we live in Washington, DC).
* Do we bring the car seat? I have heard that no one uses them in China.
We are super light packers and will be taking only carry-ons. The baby will be in clothe diapers that I can wash out while there.
Thanks for any help you can provide. My husband and I are seasoned travelers, but this will be our first international trip as new parents with a baby.
* Adjusting a baby (who currently sleeps through the night) to a 12hr. time difference (we live in Washington, DC).
* Do we bring the car seat? I have heard that no one uses them in China.
We are super light packers and will be taking only carry-ons. The baby will be in clothe diapers that I can wash out while there.
Thanks for any help you can provide. My husband and I are seasoned travelers, but this will be our first international trip as new parents with a baby.
Jul 23rd, 2008, 02:06 PM
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- I wouldn't try to adjust the baby's sleep schedule. It may make for some nights that you are kept awake because the baby is awake, but you can't reason with a 7 month old.
- I'm not up on the latest with car seats, but I think there are car seat/stroller combos available. You'll need a stroller so if you can purchase a combo item you've knocked off two things at once. Baby is always safer in a car seat.
- I admire your use of cloth diapers, but...for this trip I would bring at least some disposable. If the baby gets any kind of a gastrointestinal bug you may go through cloth diapers faster than expected and may wish to discard certain diapers rather than washing. Your choice, just bring extras of either.
- Bring your own infant meds like Tylenol. You're assured of its authenticity and you won't have to waste time finding it in China if it's needed. Talk to your doctor if other meds are suggested, like Benadryl, etc.
- Bring more baby food than you think you will need. If you decide to check at least one bag I'd bring a bottle or two of Pedialyte in case of diarrhea.
- Bring comfort things like snuggle blankets, small stuffed toys, small picture books, basically anything you can pull out if baby has a meltdown in transit (a pedi dose of Benadryl can help here too).
- Sunhat and light clothing to protect skin from sun.
- Protect baby from mosquito bites.
- Everything else is probably already on your list like diaper wipes, hand sanitizer, bibs. The amount of stuff you pack for a baby varies inversely with their size!
Luckly you're traveling with several others so you can pass the baby around so to speak (I mean that in a nice way).
Good luck and have a great trip.
- I'm not up on the latest with car seats, but I think there are car seat/stroller combos available. You'll need a stroller so if you can purchase a combo item you've knocked off two things at once. Baby is always safer in a car seat.
- I admire your use of cloth diapers, but...for this trip I would bring at least some disposable. If the baby gets any kind of a gastrointestinal bug you may go through cloth diapers faster than expected and may wish to discard certain diapers rather than washing. Your choice, just bring extras of either.
- Bring your own infant meds like Tylenol. You're assured of its authenticity and you won't have to waste time finding it in China if it's needed. Talk to your doctor if other meds are suggested, like Benadryl, etc.
- Bring more baby food than you think you will need. If you decide to check at least one bag I'd bring a bottle or two of Pedialyte in case of diarrhea.
- Bring comfort things like snuggle blankets, small stuffed toys, small picture books, basically anything you can pull out if baby has a meltdown in transit (a pedi dose of Benadryl can help here too).
- Sunhat and light clothing to protect skin from sun.
- Protect baby from mosquito bites.
- Everything else is probably already on your list like diaper wipes, hand sanitizer, bibs. The amount of stuff you pack for a baby varies inversely with their size!
Luckly you're traveling with several others so you can pass the baby around so to speak (I mean that in a nice way).
Good luck and have a great trip.
Jul 26th, 2008, 07:04 AM
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Regarding the car seat, I'm not sure if you are planning to use it in a car you are renting yourself, or in a car for which you will have a driver. Traffic and driving is awful in Beijing, and I wouldn't want to be driving in it at all. The car and driver we had for some excursions from our hotel were fine, and I'm sure they would accommodate car seats.
When we took taxis, there were no seat belts, and we came close to getting into accidents several times.
Also, you say that you and your husband are seasoned travelers. I'm assuming that means you've traveled to some non-first-world countries with Communist governments before? Because if you haven't, it is a very different kind of travel. I was a seasoned international traveler before going to China last summer, and none of my previous travels prepared me for this.
I myself would not want to have had a baby with me on this trip, but that's just me. Make sure you have all the medicines you will even think you will need.
Good luck!
When we took taxis, there were no seat belts, and we came close to getting into accidents several times.
Also, you say that you and your husband are seasoned travelers. I'm assuming that means you've traveled to some non-first-world countries with Communist governments before? Because if you haven't, it is a very different kind of travel. I was a seasoned international traveler before going to China last summer, and none of my previous travels prepared me for this.
I myself would not want to have had a baby with me on this trip, but that's just me. Make sure you have all the medicines you will even think you will need.
Good luck!
Jul 26th, 2008, 02:54 PM
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Are you watching daily temperature highs in Beijing these days? Already into the 90s. How much importance do you attach to your baby's health? We were in China two months ago, so we know the on-the-ground sanitation conditions. Not good.
Jul 27th, 2008, 07:58 AM
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I think you might get some good advice on these two forums - I found I got some sound positive advice on travelling with a small child:
1) Lonely Planet Kids To Go board: It is by far and away the best site for advice on taking children (and toddlers/babies) abroad and can be found at: http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/ca...s.cfm?catid=37. It is highly likely there will be people with extensive experience of undertaking a trip such as the one you are proposing and, having done it themselves, can give you a realistic and informed opinion on the merits of such a trip and excellent planning advice. The board is not specific to Asia so you will find experience there of lots of different countries with kids.
2) Dea Birketts Travelling with Kids forum - http://www.deabirkett.com/.
As regards adjusting to time differences - we found our toddler adjusted to the 7 hr difference between UK and Thailand much quicker than we did as she had daytime naps and slept when it got dark. We always find it is harder when coming back to get the routine back - normally takes a week.
My other tip as a seasoned traveller who has also taken a trip with a small tot is to let them take it slow. We travelled - like you - with extended family and that really helped as usually someone was happy to stay back at the hotel with our 2 year old.
BB
1) Lonely Planet Kids To Go board: It is by far and away the best site for advice on taking children (and toddlers/babies) abroad and can be found at: http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/ca...s.cfm?catid=37. It is highly likely there will be people with extensive experience of undertaking a trip such as the one you are proposing and, having done it themselves, can give you a realistic and informed opinion on the merits of such a trip and excellent planning advice. The board is not specific to Asia so you will find experience there of lots of different countries with kids.
2) Dea Birketts Travelling with Kids forum - http://www.deabirkett.com/.
As regards adjusting to time differences - we found our toddler adjusted to the 7 hr difference between UK and Thailand much quicker than we did as she had daytime naps and slept when it got dark. We always find it is harder when coming back to get the routine back - normally takes a week.
My other tip as a seasoned traveller who has also taken a trip with a small tot is to let them take it slow. We travelled - like you - with extended family and that really helped as usually someone was happy to stay back at the hotel with our 2 year old.
BB
Jul 27th, 2008, 11:26 PM
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Please don't let the negative types scare you from bringing your baby to Beijing!
You will find everything you need for baby at such stores as WalMart, Carrefour(French WalMart) or Jenny Lou's.
I also concur about NOT using cloth diapers on this trip! Disposables are easily purchased in China It would take a long time to hang dry your diapers. I also suggest rather than a cumbersome stroller that may or may not be permitted in some venues, you use a baby frontpack. That way the baby is up and out of the crowds and less of a hassle if you are riding subways. Have fun at the games!!
You will find everything you need for baby at such stores as WalMart, Carrefour(French WalMart) or Jenny Lou's.
I also concur about NOT using cloth diapers on this trip! Disposables are easily purchased in China It would take a long time to hang dry your diapers. I also suggest rather than a cumbersome stroller that may or may not be permitted in some venues, you use a baby frontpack. That way the baby is up and out of the crowds and less of a hassle if you are riding subways. Have fun at the games!!
Jul 28th, 2008, 03:12 AM
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Are you planning to bring a stroller or is your baby on sling/BabyBjorn? Babybjorn is easy to carry though you may feel hot and get sore shoulders. Stroller gives your child a good napping space.
Jetlag: In our experience, it took 2-3 full days to get our kids adjusted to Asian time. Not much you can do about it. Much depends on how much sleep everyone can get on the plane.
Diapers: I assume you have sterlisation tablets/chemicals... The only thing is, I would use disposables during the flights. Washing soiled diaper is probably not the first thing you want to do after 10hr+ flights/connection.
For flights, make sure you bring enough snacks (cereals, boiled pasta, fruits, cheese sticks etc). I'm not a big fan of bananas which tends to get squashed in luggage. Also make sure to put additional diapers and change of clothes in your carry-on.
Ask your hotel concierge to write basic phrases (like "boiling hot water"--useful for rinsing utencils at restaurants, "extra fork/plates", "add no salt"
in Chinese characters.
Jetlag: In our experience, it took 2-3 full days to get our kids adjusted to Asian time. Not much you can do about it. Much depends on how much sleep everyone can get on the plane.
Diapers: I assume you have sterlisation tablets/chemicals... The only thing is, I would use disposables during the flights. Washing soiled diaper is probably not the first thing you want to do after 10hr+ flights/connection.
For flights, make sure you bring enough snacks (cereals, boiled pasta, fruits, cheese sticks etc). I'm not a big fan of bananas which tends to get squashed in luggage. Also make sure to put additional diapers and change of clothes in your carry-on.
Ask your hotel concierge to write basic phrases (like "boiling hot water"--useful for rinsing utencils at restaurants, "extra fork/plates", "add no salt"
in Chinese characters.
Jul 30th, 2008, 01:43 PM
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Thanks tons for the positive posts. To clarify a couple of points:
My parents actually lived in China recently for about a year and have many friends there. Also my good friend and neighbor is Chinese and returns often. She has also given advice about conditions.
I asked about the carseat because we plan to take public transportation. I live in DC and use public transportation and they don't even let you on with a carseat. Additionally, my neighbor said that taxis generally don't have seatbelts in China. When I drive my own car on rare occasions, I always use the carseat as my daughter is most precious cargo. BTW - the weather in Beijing is the same at DC so we are OK on that front.
As for cloth diapers, I don't want to clog up the landfills of other countries just as much as I don't want to clog my own. I have used cloth from day 1 so that is not a big deal to me. I am pretty good at it now. I do have a couple 7th Generation diapers I plan to take as a back up, but I have already travelled with the baby and used cloth without issue. Besides, she gets terrible diaper rash the 2 or 3 times I used disposable, which I feel is even less desireable than washing cloth diapers.
I will be bringing my Ergo carrier which I plan to use to walk around the city. I use it everyday at home and can carry her in it for hours without a problem. Besides, there will be 5 other adults with me who are willing to carry her too.
One other small clarification: My baby is actually just over 6 months old and I breastfeed her. So, I decided to wait to feed her solids until she is 7 months to avoid the food issue (pediatrician approved this in case anyone was wondering).
Thank you to all who provided helpful information about their kids and time differences. I am feeling less worried about that. Also, thanks to Bella for the helpful websites! Thanks again for everyone's info and opinions.
My parents actually lived in China recently for about a year and have many friends there. Also my good friend and neighbor is Chinese and returns often. She has also given advice about conditions.
I asked about the carseat because we plan to take public transportation. I live in DC and use public transportation and they don't even let you on with a carseat. Additionally, my neighbor said that taxis generally don't have seatbelts in China. When I drive my own car on rare occasions, I always use the carseat as my daughter is most precious cargo. BTW - the weather in Beijing is the same at DC so we are OK on that front.
As for cloth diapers, I don't want to clog up the landfills of other countries just as much as I don't want to clog my own. I have used cloth from day 1 so that is not a big deal to me. I am pretty good at it now. I do have a couple 7th Generation diapers I plan to take as a back up, but I have already travelled with the baby and used cloth without issue. Besides, she gets terrible diaper rash the 2 or 3 times I used disposable, which I feel is even less desireable than washing cloth diapers.
I will be bringing my Ergo carrier which I plan to use to walk around the city. I use it everyday at home and can carry her in it for hours without a problem. Besides, there will be 5 other adults with me who are willing to carry her too.
One other small clarification: My baby is actually just over 6 months old and I breastfeed her. So, I decided to wait to feed her solids until she is 7 months to avoid the food issue (pediatrician approved this in case anyone was wondering).
Thank you to all who provided helpful information about their kids and time differences. I am feeling less worried about that. Also, thanks to Bella for the helpful websites! Thanks again for everyone's info and opinions.
Aug 1st, 2008, 12:03 AM
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We have experience with this as our DD was born in China and lived her first 12 months there. We were NEVER without her carseat when we were in a car/taxi. Driving is just too erratic and aggressive. There are some crash test videos on YouTube showing what happens without a car seat. Not to scare you, but what happens next is you go to a Chinese hospital and ambulances often aren't given way. It's just safer in a car seat.
Whenever we flew with our infant we strapped her into her Graco SnugRide carseat. Airlines often gave us a free seat for her. The carseat has a place where you can strap the plane or car seatbelt across the seat so it's secured. I put hand sanitizer on the belt part that she could touch and wrapped a towel around that. Last month flew roundtrip business class between Singapore and Chicago with our now 15 mo and were hating life because we didn't take carseat on board. You could bring the carseat for the flight and worst case you leave it in the hotel. After you see the traffic I think you'll end up wanting it. You probably know this but the Sit n Stroll is a carseat with retractable handle and wheels to make it into a stroller. Seems it would be too hot though.
We did take DD and her infant carseat to Beijing too. We also took her MetroLite stroller which snaps onto the carseat but never used it.
The taxi from Beijing's airport happened to have seatbelts so we were able to strap her in. (In Shanghai the Mercedes taxi's had seatbelts. Not sure re Beijing.) Other taxis didn't though so we wedged the carseat rear-facing between the taxi's back and front seats so it was more secure than baby on my lap.
I'll echo a PP by saying at that the baby adjusted to the time change pretty easily as she slept a lot at that age. During the flight we fed her whenever she was hungry as we didn't want her dehydrated and moved to the new feeding times upon arrival. Sunshine did help the transition.
A few other things I'd mention are that breastfeeding in public is not taboo; you'll be lucky if you ever see a diaper changing table; imported baby food is available at expat grocery stores. May need mosquito netting (beds and strollers in Shanghai were sold with it and it was definitely required from early June thru Sept-ish.) Importantly, be aware that you may (probably will) be mobbed with locals wanting to see/touch/hold/photograph your baby. Our blond, fair, big-eyed DD drew crowds a few people deep. To brag, she's the July cover baby on China's Smart-Kids magazine.) We even had people try to take her out of her stroller without asking permission. Extremely common. They mean no harm -- they just love babies and don't see so many due to the one child policy. HTH
Whenever we flew with our infant we strapped her into her Graco SnugRide carseat. Airlines often gave us a free seat for her. The carseat has a place where you can strap the plane or car seatbelt across the seat so it's secured. I put hand sanitizer on the belt part that she could touch and wrapped a towel around that. Last month flew roundtrip business class between Singapore and Chicago with our now 15 mo and were hating life because we didn't take carseat on board. You could bring the carseat for the flight and worst case you leave it in the hotel. After you see the traffic I think you'll end up wanting it. You probably know this but the Sit n Stroll is a carseat with retractable handle and wheels to make it into a stroller. Seems it would be too hot though.
We did take DD and her infant carseat to Beijing too. We also took her MetroLite stroller which snaps onto the carseat but never used it.
The taxi from Beijing's airport happened to have seatbelts so we were able to strap her in. (In Shanghai the Mercedes taxi's had seatbelts. Not sure re Beijing.) Other taxis didn't though so we wedged the carseat rear-facing between the taxi's back and front seats so it was more secure than baby on my lap.
I'll echo a PP by saying at that the baby adjusted to the time change pretty easily as she slept a lot at that age. During the flight we fed her whenever she was hungry as we didn't want her dehydrated and moved to the new feeding times upon arrival. Sunshine did help the transition.
A few other things I'd mention are that breastfeeding in public is not taboo; you'll be lucky if you ever see a diaper changing table; imported baby food is available at expat grocery stores. May need mosquito netting (beds and strollers in Shanghai were sold with it and it was definitely required from early June thru Sept-ish.) Importantly, be aware that you may (probably will) be mobbed with locals wanting to see/touch/hold/photograph your baby. Our blond, fair, big-eyed DD drew crowds a few people deep. To brag, she's the July cover baby on China's Smart-Kids magazine.) We even had people try to take her out of her stroller without asking permission. Extremely common. They mean no harm -- they just love babies and don't see so many due to the one child policy. HTH
Aug 2nd, 2008, 06:19 AM
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Hi Shanghainese. Yes, been quite busy with the relo to Singapore so haven't been able to check out what's been happening here. I did send a reply to your email... maybe it got put in your spam folder. Have a good trip and look us up whenever you're in Singapore!
Aug 2nd, 2008, 10:16 PM
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We took taxis everywhere in China and many had no seatbelts. I wasn't very happy about that, even though my kids were older at 11 and 13 years, since the accident rate seems high. Drivers were very erratic and we just did not feel completely safe without seatbelts. However, that was they way it was, so we decided not to worry about it.
With a baby, I'd feel very uncomfortable getting around. Hopefully public transportation is better.
Other than that, I wouldn't hesitate to bring a baby to China.
I was wondering about washing out cloth diapers. It is recommended not to drink the water, so would it be safe to wash out diapers with? Maybe a dumb question - it's not like drinking it. Personally, I'd bring disposables just in case the local water was a concern.
With a baby, I'd feel very uncomfortable getting around. Hopefully public transportation is better.
Other than that, I wouldn't hesitate to bring a baby to China.
I was wondering about washing out cloth diapers. It is recommended not to drink the water, so would it be safe to wash out diapers with? Maybe a dumb question - it's not like drinking it. Personally, I'd bring disposables just in case the local water was a concern.
Sep 5th, 2015, 09:05 PM
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My husband and I are interested in a trip to China next Jan for about 6-9 weeks. We are debating whether to go on an organized tour or whether to travel independently. We don't consider ourselves pro travels but we are concerned about the language issue. Any suggestions?
