Egypt with 18 week old

[Margot1029]

Anxiety ridden mum here 😂
Going to Egypt in March when my son is 18weeks old.
I am wondering / panicking about how I wash, sterilise bottles over there. Can I use their tap water to wash the bottles? Can I use their tap water to boil and use to
mix with formula? Been told not to use bottled water?
I’m at a point where I either want to cancel or actually considering buying single use sterile bottles and litre cartons of formula, as just seems easier?
please help!

where in egypt?

Bottled water only in the mouth is what we are always told (and we've been a lot). Teeth brushing etc all with bottled water.

You WILL get ill otherwise.

Staying in sharm.
I was under the understanding bottle water even for teeth brushing but for a baby bottled water is unsuitable…. Due to sodium content etc?

You must be joking, there is no way I'd take an 18 week old baby there.

They have babies in Egypt.

Why? It’s been booked for a while 😭

I wouldn’t take a baby there either sorry! Everyone I know has been really sick after.
if you do go I would use bottled water for everything but find a low sodium one. I would be very very diligent with hand washing and where they play - I’d be worried about the pool too incase there are other people there poorly (sorry!).

I've been twice.
First time when I was pregnant great time no probs at all.
Went back when baby was 4 months old. Dh was the illest I've ever seen anyone with sickness and the runs. The baby got really badly bitten my mosquitoes. I took a net but one accidentally got trapped in the net with her. I felt so bad. I felt rough but wasn't actually sick. If I'd been as ill as dh I don't know what we would have done.

This was in a 5* resort. Never been back and I'm sorry but there is just no way I would risk it.

Would you get your money back if you cancelled?

I wouldn't use the tap water in Egypt. Use bottled water. Make sure you use low sodium water. A lot of countries will have water bottles with pics of babies or bottles to indicate the bottle is safe for formula. If you can't figure out which one is best then get Evian as that's lower in sodium than most.

If you're staying in a family friendly resort then see if you can request a UV sterliser there. If not then milton tablets are the best. I'd prob use bottled water for washing and sterlising too if you can but if not don't stress as the milton tablets sterlise the water.

Honestly i found that age the easiest to take my daughter away, it was much easier than i thought. she was doing longer stretches at night but also slept most of the day so we could just sling her in the travel buggy and away we went.

Just make sure you apply for a passport in plenty of time

I'd be reluctant with such a young baby too. I've been twice and once was fine but the second time there wasn't enough Imodium in the world. Young babies dehydrate so quickly.

(I am well aware there are babies in Egypt but they will no doubt have some immunity to some things from the womb and their carers will be well aware of how best to manage hygiene in that environment.)

Have been to this area, I wouldn't take a bottle fed baby as no access to treated water, boiling and sterilising safely and having to milk powder etc. ir even taking ready made bottles as they would fill a small suitcase alone. if breast feeding I would consider it more practical.

Oh dear OP, any way you can get your money back? Or pay to transfer to another destination?

I wouldn't even take myself to Egypt never kind a small baby.

This thread won't have helped your anxiety! Have to say though, I agree. I wouldn't want to risk my baby getting a bug. Only been to Egypt once (Sharm) and more than three weeks later I still had diarrhea, samples at the GP, antibiotics etc. It was horrendous. I would cancel, even if it meant losing money.

I assume you'll be in a holiday hotel? With lots of facilities for families?

Why take such a small baby there?
Theres really no need

I would absolutely cancel.

Theres no way I would take a baby there. No way.

Join any of the Tui or other facebook holiday groups and you’ll find so many posts of absolute holiday disasters in Egypt in supposedly luxury resorts. It’s completely put me off ever going.

Not a cat in hells chance I would take a baby to Egypt. Can you change it??

Just to add; I am not against holidays with children. My 3 have been travelling, including long haul, from young babies but I would never take them to Egypt.

Do you really have to go there now? Of all the fun places to go on holiday, that wouldn't be my choice right now with a small baby. I am assuming you booked before you were pregnant in which case you may be able to get a refund or at least switch to somewhere slight easier to manage with a little one.

Admittedly this a Daily Fail link but this was on one of the groups I’m in -

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11095319/amp/Family-tell-dream-1-700-easyJet-getaway-Egypt-turned-holiday-hell.html

It’s Sharm too.

One of the difficulties people have talked about is how their health and hygiene ratings / expectations are so much lower than ours.

I thought Sharm was a shithole so for that reason alone I wouldn't go.

I'm all for travelling with babies as they're so portable but not somewhere with poor safety and sanitation.

Big fat no from me. You are exposing the baby to a new environment full of germs and illness that in the uk we haven't had the same exposure too. Marry that with sterilising issues. Not worth the risk.

What about Eilat (Israel). It's on the Red Sea and you could do a day trip into the Sinai. Not sure if you can fly direct now. Perfectly safe.

This was my first thought too!

absolute horror of a place let alone with a tiny baby!

I lived in that country for a number of years. Ds was 6m old when we went. Agreed I never set foot in a hotel, but I know that hygiene isn’t anywhere on anyone’s radar in Egypt. The comments from holidaymakers is not IF you’ll get food poisoning, but WHEN.

you can’t risk that happening to you when you’re looking after such a small baby. You can’t risk this happening to your little one. Public Hospitals are NOT good. Private ones ain’t great either.

bottled water IS the only water to drink. You’ll know it’s not bottled if you get given it. It smells. It also stings you when you shower. Cuts, mosquito bites, eyes. All sting.

you can rinse your teeth etc, but you can’t trust it for general washing of baby’s bottle. Before using the washed bottle, sterilise it with boiled water.

Don't do it . I was so sick, I could barely move. If that happens to you, who is looking after the baby ?

And routinely babies die in Egypt. 7 people a day are said to die on the corniche road in Alexandria. Nobody does anything about it because people literally don’t matter.

The level of ignorance in the population is staggering. Giving honey to newborns, looking at you like you’ve got two heads for refusing to allow them to give your toddler a packet of crisps.

everything is over salted, over sugared, spicy, badly prepared, they don’t know anything about the need for refrigeration of certain foods.

in carrefour the staff used to switch the store’s freezers off at night. Only found that out when I bought ice cream (sandy) and smoked salmon (stank) and when we complained they told us.