...to think it's possible to go on holiday with a 6/7 month old?

[naranciata]

Expecting DC1 in April. Friend getting married in India in November and has invited me, DH and baby to be. I am very keen to go and have wanted to go to India for years and years. DH is trepidacious (understandably) but he's naturally much more risk averse than I am. I think it will be hard and scary but mainly an adventure. DH is Googling stats on road traffic accidents in India and saying I should go on my own.

Can I have your experiences of holidaying with small babies?

[Semaphorically]

I travelled long haul to a very hot country with DD when she was four months and it was fine. Babies are very portable at that age and the heat was entirely manageable.

But I wouldn't go to India before the MMR jab, and also I would want to avoid anti-malarials if at all possible in an infant given the association between antibiotic use and allergies (since I suffer from horrendous allergies myself).

[naranciata]

Thanks all!

IF we go, def will take car seat and hire car including driver. Am quite familiar with South Asian mad driving.

We will be in 5* resort in big city with good rep for healthcare and aircon everywhere. Not backpacking and hostelling.

Flights are daytime and direct and hopefully a 5.5 hour time difference shouldn't be too awful. We'd arrive a day before the wedding starts.

It would me be and DH and baby. Or I'd go alone and leave DH at home with baby. But then I would feel doubly awful about leaving baby and going to India without DH as he's always wanted to go as well. But he is massively risk averse and panicking about the whole trip

[malvinandhobbes]

By 6/7 moths you should be recovered from birth and even fussy babies have settled. My baby is 7 months now and we ave done long haul twice with no trouble. It's a lovely age, still snuggly but sociable and robust. We've done long haul with all three kids before 6 months and they were all fine (to various degrees). Toddlers are much harder to travel with than babies. Baby jet lag isn't fun, but doable.

It is fun to travel with babies this age. I have no experience with India. You need to separate out the issues of travel from the issues of travel to India. If you're not worried about illness, than the travel itself should be fine.

Can you wait until the baby is about 3-4 months old and decide for sure then? That will still be far enough out to book plane tickets, and you'll have a better sense of who you are as a mother. If you end up being a routine person or need to bottle feed, you might find it more challenging.

[RyanStartedTheFire]

By 6/7 moths you should be recovered from birth and even fussy babies have settled

^Eyes 11 months old.
^
Hahahahahaha, no.

[BarbarianMum]

Anti malarials are not the same thing as antibiotics! Malaria kills babies really easily and yes, dead babies don't suffer from allergies, but please OP, give anti malarials if the region /time of year mean your doctor recommends them.

[BertrandRussell]

"But I wouldn't go to India before the MMR jab, and also I would want to avoid anti-malarials if at all possible in an infant given the association between antibiotic use and allergies (since I suffer from horrendous allergies myself)"

Anti malarials and antibiotics are completely different things.

[cheeseandpineapple]

Bit early for your husband to be panicking about the whole trip!

You could probably reserve your accommodation at this stage without penalty, just check the cancellation policy.

Re the flights, check through a travel agent like STA travel if you can reserve flights. You may have to put down a small deposit to hold flights but not pay until a few weeks before the date of travel.

Beyond that would shelve the discussion until after the baby is born and you've got the lay of the land. My husband was anxious about stuff before our first was born so any suggestions I was making about things we could do post baby he wasn't receptive towards as he was clouded by his pre-conceptions. He was more adventurous again once the baby was born and we were in the swing of things.

Keep us posted on what you decide OP!

[brasty]

Agree, take medical advice about what your baby needs to go to India, not people on the internet.

The links I posted are of people who backpacked in India with a young baby. In a 5 star hotel you will be fine. Biggest issues will be long flight and how settled or fussy your baby is.

[brasty]

One of the links I posted recommends taking pouches of food with you. If you did that plus bottle fed or formula fed, it should be fine.

[villainousbroodmare]

I think that an awful lot depends on the temperament of your OH and you're saying that he is very risk averse, while you come across as naturally optimistic and breezy.
I wonder if his risk averse nature would make him unhappy or anxious while on the trip, or whether having made the decision to go, he'd be cheerfully upbeat, and roll with the inevitable ups and downs. How has he behaved in stressful scenarios in the past where you have to grin and wing it? I've travelled with a few sulkers and it's awful.
You could certainly do it - and I would want to do it - but I think you would spend 80% of your time just making sure your baby is happy rather than experiencing the wedding, chatting to friends, sipping G&Ts and getting henna designs drawn on your hands, so you might feel that it wasn't worth it.

[Llanali]

I completely would.
I took a 10 week old to Malaysia; she got a chesty cough from the air con so we popped to a superb doctor and got her sorted. No big deal.

I'd consider delaying weaning, and then consider taking pouches with me if I wanted to wean. You're going to a 5 star in a metropolitan city, not a flooded shanty town.

My LO is three and has been to Penang, Singapore, KL, Shanghai and New Zealand. Do it! You'll love it. And if god forbid little one got poorly, you'll deal with it.

[JennaRainbow]

I absolutely would, I've been to India 4 times and never got ill, one of the times was with my then 5 month old baby and it was wonderful. Was breastfeeding which made everything easier. Take all medication with you you might need, dioralyte etc. Boil everything if you're going to give water but you shouldn't need to if breastfeeding. You could take all sachet food with you for the duration too if you've started weaning by then to play it even safer. I got all appropriate vaccines and the baby had things from here www.phytob.com/frame.asp. I think you'll have an amazing time, you just need to be as prepared as possible before you go!

[Screwinthetuna]

I took mine aboard at 10 weeks and again at 6 months. To Spain though, not India. I think I'd be too worried to go to India, tbh

[Screwinthetuna]

Abroad ^

[minipie]

You could certainly do it - and I would want to do it - but I think you would spend 80% of your time just making sure your baby is happy rather than experiencing the wedding, chatting to friends, sipping G&Ts and getting henna designs drawn on your hands, so you might feel that it wasn't worth it.

Yes this.

[BillSykesDog]

Bear in mind OP, you'll have absolutely no idea how you will feel at the time either. There are so many variables: will the baby be a good sleeper; will you get PND; what will the baby's bowels be like; will they be an unsettled baby; will you be able to breastfeed?

Hopefully none of these things will be an issue, but do bear in mind that if you have a bad sleeper or PND the last thing you might feel like is travelling long haul. Or if you have a refluxy baby or one who does exploding poos or is very unsettled you may not feel like travelling is going to be such an easy proposition as they're not things which are easy to deal with in airports or hotel rooms.

[IckleWicklePumperNickle]

DS1 was nine months for a 3 week trip to Africa.
DS2 was seven weeks for a 2 week trip to the States.

[R3ALLY]

I did a really really long haul flight when DS was 6 months and a package holiday when he was 8 months and both were fine. Mind you he was a gem of a baby... his brother caused difficulties just going to the supermarket! Be super careful about hygiene, try to BF if you can at all and make plans in advance for the nearest English speaking doctor. As someone else said, bf is all they need but YOU might need lots of food and water if babs feeds more

[preciouspig]

I went to Hong Kong with my 4 month old there very easy to travel with pre-crawling stage

[Craigie]

Oh I don't think I'd be going to India with a very young baby if I could avoid it. I've got a very strong constitution, but even I got Delhi belly when I was there - we were staying in a VERY luxurious fort palace, not necessarily the sort of place you might've expected it! I couldn't have coped with sleepless nights & tiny child as well. The flight is also really long, and even when you arrive in India, the distances you have to travel between airport & "resort" can be enormous and all forms of public transport are grim there. I've travelled abroad with my kids since they were just months old, but I wouldn't make the trip you're proposing.

[al110488]

I took my LG on holiday when she was 3 months old and it was fine but we went to Spain and stayed in a villa so like a home from home. We were actually invited to a family wedding in India last December and we didn't go purely for reasons that others have listed....it's a long flight, high temperatures and without being offensive it isn't the most sanitary of countries. I personally know two people off the top of my head who have ended up hospitalised in India from stomach upsets both of whom were adult men, I wouldn't and couldn't have risked my 6 month old baby contracting illness and I wouldn't recommend anyone to take a baby to India. I'm all for children experiencing different cultures and will be taking my kids all over the place but when they are older and more resilient.

[Obsidian77]

Anti malarials and antibiotics are completely different things
Not necessarily, some medications like doxycycline are used both for prevention and treatment of malaria.
The very prospect of taking a young baby on a trip like that would make me want a lie down in a darkened room (clutches pearls)
op seems to have done a lot of research and be happy with her decision. Can you ask your friend about hiring a nanny to help you?

[brasty]

Even in a luxurious place you need to be careful what you eat. No ice, no salad, no unpeeled fruit.

[kimann]

best age to travel IMO - took my daughter to dubai and then singapore when she was that age. Fully breastfed too so no problems with food. We were just starting to wean her but just one small breakfast meal a day. She was great on the plane, and unable to crawl yet, so i didn't have to chase her down the aisle's.

Going to Singapore soon again with her (now almost 3) and my son (5 months) - and i know it'll be fine.

Good luck!

[solittletime]

Maybe you should post this in living overseas if you decide to go, there will be plenty of expats living there with babies who can advise you?
Its doable, I've done 2 African countries with babies out of necessity.
But it's only doable if you both have a positive attitude, not if one of you will be freaking out at every moment... That wouldn't be fair on the positive parent or even on the nervous parent, who would have equal right to be as nervous as the other isn't.
Try to convince your dh but trust me it will not be worth it if he ends up not wanting to leave the hotel. Then you might as well go without him.
You could go just you and baby?