Traveling with baby

[Diane Wu]

Hi all,
We are both AOW divers and we just had our first baby boy in September last year. We are planning our first trip this summer to south east Asia. We are looking for suggestions of where to travel with a 11 month old baby? For example which dive resort provides good quality baby care?
many thanks!
diane

 

[Hintermann]

Have you considered a liveaboard? That way, the baby is always close to you and you'll worry less about how he is being looked after. There are 4 dives a day and you could dive alternately if you so wish. Also, since the boat is already at the dive site, the dive director might be flexible enough to allow the two of you to dive one after another with other buddies (if available) where there is not a great deal to travel between sites.

 

[diver 85]

Have you considered a liveaboard? That way, the baby is always close to you and you'll worry less about how he is being looked after. There are 4 dives a day and you could dive alternately if you so wish. Also, since the boat is already at the dive site, the dive director might be flexible enough to allow the two of you to dive one after another with other buddies (if available) where there is not a great deal to travel between sites.

I'd miss the trip before I'd bring a kid(less than 1 YO) on a live-aboard........1st of all------------would that even be allowed(by the live-aboard)???.......(2)If I were on the trip I'd not want a baby on there---???sleeping well @ nite, sea-sickness???.(3) much less something happening to the baby, physically---like falling overboard?????????-------.no thank you, I'd pass on that one.........JMHO....

 

[nimoh]

A liveaboard might work if you are booking the entire boat, but other divers on the boat might not enjoy the sound of a crying baby at 2am. Also, there is no guarantee that the baby will be able to sleep while at sea.

Another option is to take a friend's teenager on the trip for the purpose of babysitting all day. It's probably more than you are used to paying for a sitter, but you will know who is looking after your baby.

 

[Wingy]

I would also not recommend a LOB with a baby. A few months back I did a LOB trip with the owner of the boat having a toddler - big difference as the lil fella has grown up on the boat and has an entire crew of uncles watching over him. My spot on the trip became available after another couple cancelled due to not wanting to be on a boat with a baby. Personally I enjoyed having the little one around although I did not have to look after him.

Bali and Thailand upper market hotels with kids clubs should suit you, there are plenty to be found. Id settle first on a destination then look at a dive op and communicate with them regarding the possibility of hiring a nanny for when you are diving or ask them for a recommendation for a nearby hotel with kids club and nanny service.

 

[RJP]

I would also not recommend a LOB with a baby. A few months back I did a LOB trip with the owner of the boat having a toddler - big difference as the lil fella has grown up on the boat and has an entire crew of uncles watching over him. My spot on the trip became available after another couple cancelled due to not wanting to be on a boat with a baby. Personally I enjoyed having the little one around although I did not have to look after him.

Bali and Thailand upper market hotels with kids clubs should suit you, there are plenty to be found. Id settle first on a destination then look at a dive op and communicate with them regarding the possibility of hiring a nanny for when you are diving or ask them for a recommendation for a nearby hotel with kids club and nanny service.

Most kids club programs have a min age... and a potty-training requirement.

 

[Wingy]

Just a general trend ive noticed RJP - if a hotel has a kids club there is a fair chance they can organise nanny services for babies. I have friends who have used these people to look after their 8 month old daughter with nothing but glowing reports Bali Nanny Babysitting Babysitter- Balis Best Nanny Australian Owned! - a quick google and talking to local businesses you intend to deal with shows it isnt that unusual or difficult. The travel site I moderate also has had good mention of this place in phuket The Nanny Agency - Phuket | how to hire a nanny, maid, babysitter, cleaner - potty training not a requirement.

 

[drrich2]

Very young children are quite small and their immune systems haven't been exposed to build a resistance to all that many diseases. So they get sick often. And their little bodies can get debilitated under the strain. Further, they don't have the knowledge & perspective to understand whether their symptoms are minor or severe, of a common illness or something serious, and they lack the capacity to communicate effectively beyond whether & to what intensity they shriek.

So it's common for new parents to phone & visit the Pediatrician pretty often. And the possibility of a sick child needing medical care may lead many parents to stick to places where modern high-quality health care is close at hand.

That is not a live-aboard. That's not even some Caribbean islands. We've got a little daughter a bit under 2. We've taken her cruising. We've taken her to Key Largo and Jupiter, Florida. On one cruise she got acute bronchitis and needed an antibiotic and nebulizer treatments.

Think long and hard about where you want to be if your young child gets sick. And what you want quickly available.

Richard.

 

[charlier]

My wife and I traveled extensively while our daughters were very young. We found that by trial and error, six months was a bit young to camp out in remote beaches along the western Mexican coast. Later, when our daughter(s) were about a year old, we camped out in remote beaches in mexico, traveled to the Caribbean, hiked and camped in remote mountain settings, etc. Our experience was that while out daughters were really young and still breast feeding, they had excellent resistance to many diseases. Bottles gave us even more freedom, in particular if you can hire local help. Even when my wife (and I) had giardia or dysentery, our children were fine. We carried adult and kids meds with us. You might consider renting a small villa in eastern Bali hire a nanny for the morning, so you both can dive together. FYI, many (but not all) local medical clinics in Bali are good and have helped many expat children. I agree with the many of the posters that a LoB is not a good idea at such a young age, unless you are chartering the boat with friends. After years of traveling to remote areas around the world, my daughters are fearless and safe travelers.

 

[Doc]

.... by trial and error, six months was a bit young to camp out in remote beaches... while out daughters were really young and still breast feeding, they had excellent resistance to many diseases... Even when my wife (and I) had giardia or dysentery, our children were fine.... many (but not all) local medical clinics...are good and have helped many expat children.... my daughters are fearless and safe travelers.

Similarly, my cat is not the least bit fearful of my 1911 pistol, either. But, the above quote was a resounding accolade for the survivability of some infants. Your results may vary.

.... the possibility of a sick child needing medical care may lead many parents to stick to places where modern high-quality health care is close at hand....

It may, indeed. More likely not.

In that the OP related to SE Asia, I can best relate to the specific information I know about our back yard of the Caribbean. If I had a very sick infant, which Island would I fly off to seek treatment? (I'm thinking Long Island, the one in New York) Okay, if you really want to know? Cayman, Nassau, ummmm, that's about the end of the list.

I arrange and lead trips for some of the 1%. I provide them with very specific estimates of the time required to get from "here" to Miami or Houston via air-evac ambulance, buying insurance for that. If nothing else, I ask them what kind of time & space proximity they want to maintain to their own private family aircraft that they last saw at our island of embarkation. Some folks have no concerns, some are quite proactive. On the far end of that pro-active scale are the grandfatherly hosts of the family outing who have two or more generations of offspring aboard. They get really pro-active in terms of security and medical.

But- the beauty of parenthood lies in the plain fact that the parents have the freedom expose the child to whatever situation, both known and unknown, relying upon their guide, or simply The Jenny McCarthy School of Medicine, University of the Googles.

Somehow, the most of us survive, and at least we survive to tell the tale. Others, not so much.