India with baby
 

I have the opportunity to go to India to attend a wedding ceremony. The groom's family is planning a weeklong trip for us to major tourist attractions and all the logistics are taken care of.

My wife would like to come along, but we worry about our 9 month old baby. Should we bring him along?. Anybody with experience who can give us advice on travel with babies to India?

Your advice will be appreciated.

Forget it. The sanitation in India is not what it is in the US or Europe. I would have serious doubts myself. You could also ask the pediatrician for advice but I would wait. Have you considered the flight and transit time as well? Pretty tough for all of you I think. JM2C.

absolutely not. your child will not have built the necessary immunity to fight off the germs and disease it will encounter.

I would preface my comments by saying there is almost no place I would take a 9 month old that is further than about a 4 hour flight and involves grandparents at the receiving end. I wouldn't take a 9 month old to Europe, so this is no prejudice against India, which is one of my favorite places, the "dangers" of which are vastly overrated.

I have not traveled with infants to India but have done so with toddlers (2 year olds and not my own so I could just observe and leave the room when I couldn't take it any longer). Assuming you are coming from the US, it is hard to judge how they will react to the long flight, they may not sleep at all. The jet lag affects them much more than it does adults, they will be awake all night for the first few days and will want to sleep all day. It is not uncommon for kids to pick up colds on long flights and so may be sick for most of their trip. A new bed every night can be difficult to adjust to, not to mention different food, water, etc. (If the infant is breastfeeding, then sanitation is not such an issue so that would be less of a worry to me.) While medical care in major cities is OK, in more remote places and some tourist centre like Agra, it is not very good.

The final question is what time of year is the trip and what part of India are you going to. I am assuming you are going during the cool winter season when most weddings are held, which is OK although you still have the above issues; but if you are going at any other time, say mid-March through November, it is very, very hot in most parts of India, making dehydration a real threat for a baby, not to mention making travel exhausting for you.

You do see people traveling with infants in India, but given the choice I don't think it is the greatest idea. The child will certainly never remember it.

PLease tell us what part of India and what time of year.

Your woes will start the moment you board the plane. Unless you are extraordinarily lucky, the child will be cranky for a certain portion of the flight (you have two long haul flight EACH way to boot) and it makes for a miserable situation for both the parents as well as your fellow travelers.

Taking a 9-month old child weaned in the West to India is perfectly okay (many Indian parents do it routinely). But you are going there for a brief period and as someone has mentioned, your child will almost certainly not have immunity to Indian conditions. You don't want your time there to be blanked out tending to the child's woes. My recommendation: don't take the baby.

This is another no brainer- faaaaagetaboutit!
Or do you like to live on the edge?
Apply common sense and you will see that this a nightmare waiting to happen!

Also consider how the long flights will affect the babies earsinre to alteration in air pressure. At this age this could be very rough on the Eustacian tubes and could very painful.

Having traveled widely in India and farther east, I can only shake my head and wonder what on earth you are thinking. Your little son will have no vote in this question, and so you must do both the voting as well as the thinking.

DO NOT TAKE HIM!

I wouldn't even consider taking a 9 month old baby..Not even a 5 year old..But that is my opinion..

Jestevez,

It sounds like you have all of the feedback you need regarding the baby.

Putting all of that aside, I do hope that you find a way for your wife to go. It sounds like a wonderful, once in a lifetime opportunity. One that I'm sure she would enjoy.

Dude what are you thinking?! I'm getting ramped up for my trip there in a little while and as an adult I have to get 4 vaccinations for the place.

Leave the kid at home!

Actually, as malaria medication is highly recommended for most parts of India as far as I know, I don't think you can take a baby since I don't think they can take the medication.

I think people here are overreacting.

They may be right but it's not a "no-brainer". We're in the same boat, contemplating taking a trip to India with our son who will be 7 months old at the time. As I see it, the decision of whether to go with him or leave him at home ought to take into account whether your child will be OK with you suddenly disappearing from his life for 10 days (or however long you're going) vs. tagging along with you in India and running the risk of getting sick and/or being a major pain.

Naturally, he won't remember or enjoy the trip... but I could see long-term lasting detrimental effects to his self-esteem and trustfulness if his parents were to vanish for 10 days. (I haven't been able to find any research that addresses this separation issue). And that is assuming you can put him with a trustworthy guardian like a grandparent who he's comfortable with.

In general, my wife and I like the idea of living our lives as we want and finding a way to bring our kid(s) with us, learning to cope with the inevitable hassles and risks. Within the bounds of common sense, we like the idea of incorporating our kids into life's adventures.

That said, we haven't made up our minds about this for ourselves. At the very least, I certainly wouldn't give too much credence to all the previous posters urging you to dismiss the idea so reflexively. I don't.

OK lets see if we are all over reacting- many people get a series of shots before going to India... hmmmmmmm maybe there are real health issues to contend with. So we can risk leaving the baby home- probably with a grandmother or other close relative who will love and care for the baby- or bring'em along and hope that the baby won't get sick. I'm guessing here that the baby would be too young for all of those shots- so while Mom and Dad get protected maybe junior might not? Ok now let me think this over....... sorry its still a NO Brainer. Do what you like but my baby never sets foot in India.

OK there is a third choice here folks (assuming the original post is genuine)- Dad or Mom stays home with junior!!!!

As a mother, that would be my choice. Stay at home with the child. Unless it was close family wedding - which it doesn't appear to be here - I think the bride and groom would understand such a decision.

However, I do know friends of Indian heritage who took their young baby to visit grandparents and other family in India - the mother was breastfeeding so the concerns re. food and drink intake and sanitation were not as problematic as with a 9 month old.

I have no idea why my reply to this was deleted. Editorial arbitrariness I think. It was far tamer than many others I have seen on this board and I'll say it again. This idea of emotional trauma to the child for short term separation at age 7 mos. for 10 days is nonsense. That is why you can't find any research on it. BYW in Hindi "pah gul" means just that.

ttt