GothAnne - which part of Syria? My DH is from Damascus.
I've taken DS twice now - once when he was 10mths and then again when he was nearly two. What you take with you depends on what the family over there already have. Because DH's siblings are a lot older than him, there was no baby stuff knocking around..except the offer of an old cot at which I privately shrieked to DH about lead paint, second hand matress, SIDS etc..bear in mind DS is my first child and so I have PFB (Precious First Born) syndrome!
So, we took a travel cot and a car seat to leave over there...or you could ship it over in advance - worth leaving there for future children, Insha'Allah.
As you are probably aware, the whole car seat issue over there is very much of the Insh'Allah nature and I was at this, so insisted on a car seat, much to the amusment of DH's relatives.
As for food - if you are breastfeeding, then you won't need to worry about milk. I was FF so I took three cartons of Aptamil - well wrapped so they didn't bust in the hold. One in each suitcase so if one got lost, still had spare. For sterliisation, I took milton cold water tablets - 1 tablet for 5 litres of water and just sterlised everything over night. Only drank bottled water and made sure DS only had bottled water as the tap water there can have a funny effect if you aren't used to it. They have pasteurised milk there and DS was fine with it for his second trip when he was on cows milk. It doesn't cook very well though - cheese sauce made with Syrian milk was just weird!!
For DS's first trip, I took quite a few pots of the plum baby food - he liked this and its lighter than jarred baby food (again, well wrapped!). Of course, there is veg over there that you can puree up but be aware its more seasonal than over here. There is a new shopping mall in Damascus (assuming you are going to Damascus!) called Cham Centre and this has a big supermarket with all familar brands - Heinz baby food, johnsons etc, although the formula brands are different to over here. Pampers are very well known over there and you shoudn't have any trouble finding them BUT, they seem to potty train earlier over there and so the heavier weight nappies ie for toddlers, are not so common. What I did, was jam nappies in every available nook and cranny of the suitcases, plus in the mummy bag, DH's carry on bag etc and then I didn't feel under pressure to find a shop that sold the right nappy size right away! I use Huggies, which are not so common in Syria so I used Pampers in the day time and saved the Huggies for the heavy, night time nappies
I took medications with me - baby calpol, neurofen and rehydration sachets - for adults and babies. It may still be sunny in November so I would plan to take a suncream and sun hat just in case.
We took the buggy with us - the pavements in Damascus are a pisser - potholed, very high off the road to stop pavement parking etc, so you need a lightweight buggy. We took our Maclaren with us and it did the job a treat. If you have a fancy expensive bugaboo or similar, leave at home and get a cheap stroller instead! Take reins as well if toddler is walking - roads are manic over there.
You will need to be prepared to be more flexible with the baby routine. Our friend's toddler, who is just a few months younger than DS, has a bedtime of 10pm at the earliest and they don't think twice of taking babies out late. DH's family were bemused by our insistence on routine and being back at the house at a certain time, but because Syria is two hours ahead, a 7pm bedtime there is 9pm here so it worked out very well and we got a lie in (7am wake up = 9am in Syria! Result!!)
If your child is blonde or very fair looking, there will be lots of attention from people - head patting, cheek pinching etc. Take this in your stride - its the norm over there.
They love fat babies and DS was a chubber when we first went and so he had lots of looks and a shop assistant even left the counter, kissed him on the cheek and said ooh I like him so much!
I've really waffled on here haven't I!! I just know how stressed I was on my first trip with a child and would have appreciated this kind of advice! Oh, and one last thing - give calpol 30mins before take off - helps to stop the ears from hurting
Anything else, just give me a shout!