China with a 1 year old?

[Maveta]

..from spain..

does anyone know what vaccinations are needed? I´ve tried looking up various websites (WHO, CDC) but they don´t have any specific advice for babies and I´m not sure if this means there isn´t any, or if I´m not looking in the right place.

One thing the sites seem to be saying is that all basic vaccinations including MMR should be up to date and he is not due to have his til 15 months (he would be). Does anyone know if this is right?

Message withdrawn

Not sure. We are off the Beijing in May and all the literature I have had does not mention any vaccines and nothing about babies needing anything in particular as far as I can remember. We're not travelling with DC so have not been particularly on the look out for this

Is there a China embassy website?

Wouldn't have thought that you needed any to travel there. I used to live there - well Hong Kong, and my dd had to have every jab under the sun before we went, but it was specifically because we were going to live there.

Try looking up the British Embassy to see if they have any guidelines.

Shit icod! you're so right. what would we do without you? I was actually going to see if a MNetter could administer any necessary vaccinations too, do you think that's a bad idea then?

I seem to remember the usual jabs plus things like yellow fever from when I lived there as a child (HK), but most of the tropical disease ones are for older children (I think I was 5 or 6). Whereabouts are you going? In some places typhoid is very important but that's in with the obligatory jabs anyway, isn't it?

We'd be going to shanghai and up to beijing. From what I can see they recommend the usual like typhoid and hep b which I think he's had but also say you should have the MMR up to date but he is not due to have that until he's 15 months and I'm not sure we'd want to get him to have that early just for a holiday.

seeing the doctor soon anyway for his 9 month check so will see what they say, just wanted to see if anyone had any first hand experience.. thanks for the help/advice..

I think hep is the biggie.

I am in Shanghai so let me know if you have any specific questions. Both Beijing and Shanghai are pretty civilised these days but don't eat anywhere that doesn't take Visa - that's a pretty good indication of a place with decent standards of staff hand-washing, toilet cleaning etc.

Very true.

I saw a poor little blond toddler at the Shanghai Grand Prix in a pushchair festooned with Finnish flags. There was actually a queue of people waiting to have their photo taken with him.

People may try to feed him too - it's all well meaning and even though it's exasperating you should never, ever lose your rag in public in China. Even if it is the 30th time that day some old lady has tried to put a monkey nut in his mouth, smile politely and shake your head.

Yellow fever
Hep A
Hep B

We were there last year with 5 & 2 year old.

It was ABSOLUTELY INSANE

There were some points on our trip when our kids were total tourist attractions.

There was a crowd of 50 plus in Beijing queing to have their photo with our kids.

The Great Wall was weird beyond belief. It took us three times as long as normal to walk the route because so many people (100's) stopped to talk, photograph and touch our kids.

It was fun at first, but I promise you it soon lost it's appeal.

The food in China is not at all nice. I do hope your child is not fussy.

Overall, I am really glad to have visited China, but I will forevermore stick to my opinion that it is most definitely not a destination for young children.

HTH

BTW this was our itinerary:

Beijing 10 days
Overnight sleeper train to X'ian 3 days
Flight to Guilin (River Li)
4 days in Guilin
Overnight train to Guanghzhou (Sp?)
Transfer to ferry and Hong Kong

Hong Kong and China are worlds, no, galaxies apart.

wow, I wouldn't really have thought of that. I can imagine it gets very full on. We were planning a pretty sedate 10 days mostly in shanghai (as my sister has just moved there) with an overnight train to Beijing for a couple of days.

But I think all things considered we will wait til next year or later to go. I think we also have to balance the fact that it may not be an ideal place to go with small children with the fact that if we don't go while my sister is there, we may never go. And maybe if we are prepared for that we can factor it in to time scales for doing things?!

It's by no means impossible with small kids but would require some planning.

One thing you will need to watch out for is that taxis don't have seat belts or anchor points for baby capsules. You can hire a people carrier & driver for the day for about 50 quid, though.

Agreed Ninedragons.

We just did our best to ensure our DS's who were a little older were adequately seatbelted up.

Sometimes it required us flagging down several taxis to find one with proper seatbelts in the back.

My DH goes to China on business and hasn't had any specific vaccinations.

I think you can pretty much go along with your own national schedule, and not worry about any tropical diseases.