Hotels/Areas in Dubai to stay in for up to 3 weeks with a 4-6 week old baby

[roundtable]

Hi, I originally posted this in travel but it was suggested that I repost in this topic for the attention of people who live Dubai.

Found out that my DH will most likely have to go to Dubai for work, possibly for up to three weeks at the end of October. I am currently 39+3 weeks pregnant so when he goes our baby will still be quite young.

I'm debating whether or not to go with him but wondered if anyone had any experience of travelling with a young baby and staying in a hotel. Is it practical so soon after birth? (He would be between 4 and 6 weeks old) Am I deluding myself and should I just stay at home? I would rather go with him and he would rather I came with him too.

What do you think? Any advice would be great.

Some good points marco.

Should be able to get a passport in time, we might have to pay more to fast track it though.

If I need check ups or I am not feeling/healing well then I'll stay at home.

Vaccinations I will check with the gp/doc when he is born.

We've got medical insurance as part of our bank account, was going to ask to add baby on or take out a separate insurance.

Hopefully baby will be born sooner rather than later. Currently sat with the tens machine on so fingers crossed it develops into full labour! If not I'm booked in for an induction next week so he should be 6 weeks old.

A meet up sounds great if I do go, that would certainly make the days go by quicker and I can find out about baby friendly places to go. Thank you :)

marcopront, believe it or not, we do have healthcare here

....and fantastic healthcare at thet

Roundtable
I don't think you can fast track a new passport.

I don't know what happens in the UK but I had a check up at six weeks and I think she had a vaccination at six or eight weeks. I couldn't add my daughter to the medical insurance until she was a certain age.

LaLa and Barbie
I am sure you have fantastic healthcare but that doesn't mean Roundtable can use it for routine check ups after giving birth or to have vaccinations following the UK schedule.

I've just checked you can fast track (one week) but not premium (four hours).

I'm sure the ladies in Dubai could suggest a decent paed for OP to connect with for check ups etc but there are no health visitors etc there.

Again, my issue would be loneliness. Wondering Festival Mall might get a little wearisome.

TheBride, your post is typical of people who don't live here anymore. Yeah, it's hot and boring at times, but there is loads that she can do apart from walking around malls. Apart from anything else, she'll get to spend the evenings with her DH and DS as a family.

I don't think Dubai's boring at all. I really liked it. There's loads to do- golf, tennis, yoga, boot camp, go camping, Friday brunches. However, none of these are baby friendly. I'd also say it's a good place to have a baby- lots of help, lots of mums groups/baby classes etc. However, the Op is not going to be able to take advantage of those benefits/ have time to get involved in those sorts of things.

I mean, what is she going to do all day apart from sit in the hotel room/apartment? I really think the not being able to go for a walk for most of the day will grate. Babies are pretty difficult between 4-9 weeks, and just being able to get out and about on foot is such a godsend.

Hi, I'm back from a break (well I was having a baby!) and I am definately coming to Dubai on the 25th October. I'm going to be there for about a month. Bit nervous about travelling with him, especialy as it is before his innoculations but I have taken advise from various medicals and they seem to think it'll be fine as long as I am careful making up feeds and only use boiled Evian water.

My husband has booked a hotel, Clover Creek Hotel Apartment. It looks alright. So now I just need advice on what to do, where I can by baby things like nappies, formula, Evian water etc. I've got a microwave steriliser so I'll make sure I pack that.

Thank everyone :)

I don't think the Clover Creek Hotel has a bar? Surely that has to be a consideration.

I hope I am wrong.

We are not in Dubai, but Muscat Oman, so I am sorry I cannot help you with the essential details that you will be desparate to learn.

(Our DD1 was born in Saudi Arabia, we certainly did not boil Evian water)

Thanks complex can I ask what you did if you made up formula feeds?

Yes I've noticed Clover Creek doesn't have a bar, luckily the hotel is not booked but reserved through a site so I'm going to have a look and see if I can find another for a similar price. I find the lack of a bar a bit shocking too! :)

Congrats on the birth of DS!
OK, I've looked up Clover Creek and I see it is right by the Creek, near Deira City Centre. You can get everything you need at Deira city Centre Mall. It's a pretty good functional mall with a big Carrefour, so no problem there.
The Creek is the old area of Dubai and you are near such things as the spice souk etc and you are not far from Festival City and not too far from Creek Park, but.... Traffic round there can be horrendous and you certainly won't want to be walking anywhere with a tiny baby. Even though the mall is quite close, you will need a taxi, because of problems crossing roads etc with a buggy. It's also well away from the beach and the main areas where western expats hang out, as it is a business/shopping/apartment area. There are some hotels by the Creek, but not what I'd call family oriented ones. You need to be aware of this.
Don't know if your DH is driving in Dubai, but staying here, I think driving a hire car if you're not used to Dubai would be "adventurous"! Also, taxis will not have child seats, so take your own.
Re medical care,as you probably know, essentially, expats use private healthcare and you can walk into any practice and get attended to. Also, where you are staying is not far from Rashid Hospital - the main government hospital which has an excellent a&e department and you are also quite close to Healthcare City, where the American Hospital and the City Hospital amongst others both offer a high standard of care and the American Hospital always has a paed on call - even for non emergency cases. You can go to their "GP" clinic in the outpatients building. The only issue is the insurance cover of course. A simple consultation can cost about £50 - £100.
Good luck on your travels.

Thanks for your reply Matey.

We've got insurance for him, passport should hopefully arrive on Friday and we leave on the 35th October.

Just had a few more questions if anyone could help me. Do you need to have a car seat in taxis in Dubai? trying to work out if we will need to take the carrycot part of the pram and the car seat.

Also are babies allowed into resturants/bars in the evening? Is there a cut off point at anypoint?

Would anyone know if a buggy is additional to hand luggage? We're flying with Qatar.

Finally, a meet up was suggested by LaLa, if the offer still stands LaLa, that would be brilliant as I'll be there for such a long time.

Dubai taxi drivers will not care tbh about car seats

I'd take o e though traffic is mental here

Check faqs on Qatar airlines

35 th ?

25th sorry!

Thanks words

My dc s are older so not sure on the restaurant/ bar scenario

I have seen teeny babies in mall cafes but they re usually accompanied by the ever present maid

Eid is coming up soon 1 st week in nov
So hopefully your dh will have a few extra days off holiday

I really would re think the dry hotel ... You can't just pop to an off license/ supermarket here !

Congrats on the birth btw

hmmm most places pretty baby friendly, you'll probably get lots of attention (local ladies kept wanting to cuddle mine when they were little, and take pictures) but not sure about bars/upmarket restaurants? generally there are babies/small kids out and about until pretty late.

I never had any trouble bf in public , would just sit in the corner of a coffee shop and be discreet, but there are some designated facilities around if you are feeling shy.

You don't need to use Evian, look for local 'Arwa' water (it has the lowest sodium levels of any of the waters available here including Evian, and is fine in all other respects - and not imported from half a world away)

Good luck :)

Thank you for the advice desertgirl, especially about the water. :)

If you don't use a car seat in taxis, the alternative is to just use a sling. If you do this, make sure you put the seatbelt between you and the sling/baby, and not round the sling/baby as well.

Re restaurants, it's kind of like the UK really. Pizza Express type places= fine. Buddha bar at 8pm on Thursday night= not fine. Dubai has far more unlicensed restaurants than the UK. This is because, generally, only restaurants in hotels are licensed (although sometimes restaurants in malls attached to hotels, such as the Souk Al Bahar) are also licensed. In the evenings, you tend to mainly see children in the unlicensed restaurants, although that might be because it's mainly locals who take their kids out in the evening and they don't drink en famille.

ps, an alternative to microwave sterlising is Milton cold sterilising tablets and a washing up bowl. I use these when we're on holiday.

Thanks bride :)

Another question, sorry! What are the regulations on taking formula milk on board coming back from dubai? Will I be able to take unopened cartons on? Can I buy cartons of formula in dubai or do I have to take powder?

I 'veread a thread and am going to ring heathrow boots and order some cartons airside, just not sure what to do on the way back!

You can buy most formula in Dubai, cartons included...spinneys supermarkets tend to carry pre made cow and gate and a few others. I have a 19 month old so please feel free to pm if you need any baby things or just want someone to have coffee with etc.

What formula is your baby on? If you let me know I will have a look which supermarket stocks it here for you...saves you a bit of ground work. Be warned the supermarkets here can be a bit hit and miss, sometimes stocking things you need and the next you won't find it anywhere. So my advice would be to stick up on it when you come across it. You can take opened formula back with you but be prepared for a long wait if either of the airports decide to open it and test. I would leave it behind to be honest, and just be pre made cartons for the return journey home.

Thanks barbie that's really kind of you. He's on cow and gate formula, knowing where to go straight of would be great as we're going to do a supermarket shop the day we get there so we can just go straight to the one that sells formula.

I will pm you about a meet up, that would be great. Not sure what hours/days my husband will be working yet so I'll get back to you. But thanks very much! :)

I'm a bit clueless re formula is there a certain cow and gate one? I'm off to the supermarket in a minute will check for you

word would you know any apartment hotels that aren't dry that won't cost the earth? We rang the hotel who said we can take it in but would have to hide it!

I think we can buy 4 items each on duty free when we enter the country. Does this sound right? I'm a bit about a dry hotel too!