holidays in India with a toddler

[charliebix]

has anyone travelled to India with a one/2 year old? We are going for 2 weeks and cant imagine carrying all the baby food from UK. We are staying in posh hotels, but still worried about baby catching bugs...any suggestions?

you could read 'kerala on a shoestring' by dervala murphy. she traveled round southern india with a small child and survived.

if you are careful with water adn don't eat meat or uncooked foods you should be ok.

My friend was going to go to india last year with her (then) 12m old.
her GP said a child that small can't have the jabs or take the malaria tablets. So they decided to go when child is older and can be fully protected.

we traveled with a 9 month old. he was given the bcg jab as it was the only one extra they could give. i took tinned food with me, but generally fed him stuff we ate ourselves if it was homemade.
we also wetn when he was two and a half. no new jabs. bottled water, and lots of coca cola. i figured it was so acidic, it wouldnt be able to harbour any germs. we were at a wedding, there was a huge mix up, (polite term) famliy ruckus,(not so poilite term) and we had to stay in hotels which we hadnt been planning on. he ate whatever we ate.
just make sure you always have bottled water. and the bottle is brough tot your table sealed. otherwise should be absolutely fine. enjoy!

never been to india but when to cambodia to see temples when DS 2 1/2
If you are in good hotel no pbs.
Stick to bottled water NO ice cubes. Thouroughly grilled and stewed meat and boiled/steamed rice. Kids that age love fruit so make sure it's got it's skin on and peel it yourself.

One trick is to take a mini kettle and buy noodle packs. Lifesaver for those evenings when very fussy and can't wait for room service. keep packs of dried fruit for snacks.

Do not forget mosquito repellent and do not forget to slap it on. It's dengue fever season after the moonsoon. and get sooting balm.
BCG vaccine recommended and talk to your GP about malaria tablets.
DS took them. They have a pediatric version and it's only 24h befor you go/during stay/3days after you come back.

Main thing to worry about is dehydration so keep fluids running and pack dioralyte just in case

whereabouts in india are you going charlie? I travel there quite a bit with work - I was in Kerala in March.

I stayed at top hotels there as my company pays for them to keep us as safe as possible, but, to be honest, the standards are nothing like in the Uk - it is a poverty stricken company and hygiene is not good. I ate the food there, but followed all my colleagues advise to stay away from rice - it is cooked in non bottled water and lies stagnant in it and is reheated - many people who went and did eat rice were ill, the others weren't. I only had a dodgy tum once while i was there last time, but when i came back i was quite ill and tests discovered i had a bacterial stomach infection.

Also, not wanting to put you off, be careful with the swimming pools, I've had 3 ear infections from them.

My friend recently went to Delhi with her dd aged 2, and they were fine though. She did take most of the food from the UK.

Drink lots and lots of bottled water as you dont realise how dyhyrated you get there.

Really hope i havent put you off - just wanted to warn you as I'd hate for you or your dc being poorly. I can tell you lots of lovely things about india though, as its really an amazing place.

for two weeks you should be fine. I went with dd1 when she was about 11 months old and at the crawling stage, we went for a month and she fell really ill, but she was treated very quickly and very well by the local doctors.

If we'd have gone for two weeks we'd have been fine.

Whereabouts are you gong, it's monsoon season at the moment...take lots of mosquito spray.