traveling with baby

[becca31]

Thanks, all! If I go it will be in April, so he'd be 8 months by then and eating solids. I wouldn't need to bring a pack n play since BA has a crib. Unfortunately grandma and grandpa aren't an option and my sister can't go as she has very limited vacation days and she's got her own family. I don't have any friends that dive that I could trade off diving/babysitting with.

I've asked BA if they have any babysitter recs. I also have a friend there that I will get in touch with if BA doesn't have anybody. Thanks for the tip on that.

deepsea - yes, your points are considered as well and I might not do this trip because of that (or other logistical reasons).

Thanks for your responses!

 

[Queen Triggerfish]

Perhaps you could also find a pre-arranged diver who loves vacationing in Cozumel and loves babies, who might partially subsidize his/her vacation with some babysitting money! You could do the morning or afternoon dives, and that person could do the afternoon dives. Not sure your timeline would work for me - and I realize that you don't know me - but I speak as someone who may be interested in an arrangement like that.

 

[Skittl1321]

Have you thought about using a more full service hotel like the Presidente, Melia, or Iberostar that offers in room babysitting? (I'm sure others do too.)

Certainly, pre-arranging a sitter would be way less expensive than a fancier hotel, but it gives you options.

Except the babysitting issue (we used one for the first time this week in LA), we traveled a ton with my little one (now almost 2), and it has always been wonderful. Babies are hard on vacation, but they are hard at home too!

 

[becca31]

Queen Triggerfish - sent you a PM
Skitt - another good idea. While I love staying at BA, I would definitely consider that.

 

[deepsea21]

I guess the idea of taking an infant out of the country to an area where there are known bugs in the water and bad bugs carried by mosquitoes (though mosquito transmitted sicknesses are relatively uncommon there) just freaks me out and no one wants to bathe an infant in DEET mosquito repellent... My parents probably did and look how I turned out! Obviously people take infants to coz all the time and 99.99% of the time everything is just fine but is it worth the risk of being the 1 in 1000 or 5000 or 10,000 that has something go seriously wrong?

On one stay I watched a local babysitter hired to watch some tourists' kids that were probably 7-9 years of age. The kids were playing by themselves in the pool with no lifeguard on duty while the babysitter sat turned away facing the sun playing on her smart phone with earbuds in the entire time never looking at them. She then went to sleep! Management had to come over and wake her to tell her the kids can't be climbing the fountain in the shallow pool and jumping off of it. The kids looked like a couple of monkeys climbing around and jumping off the thing. She obviously hadn't read the posted sign that said said no climbing it in English and Spanish or didn't care. Had it been one kid he could have broken his neck and drowned long before the babysitter would have ever known something was wrong. An 8 month old isn't going to be doing that but the same degree of inattentiveness could certainly be present. The various scenarios in which something could go wrong just spook me personally. As a kid as soon as I could reach up over my head and push the lawnmower (no safety devices on them back then) my father had me mowing the yard. If I had ever fallen backwards and pulled then mower back at me my feet would be gone. That never happened but I sometimes wonder what the heck my father was thinking having me push that thing around at that age. Today someone would call the police if they saw that. After than as soon as my legs were long enough to reach the clutch of the riding mower with blocks of wood strapped to it to let me reach it I was mowing the lawn on that. Different times back then I guess.

 

[Trailboss123]

Thanks, all! If I go it will be in April, so he'd be 8 months by then and eating solids. I wouldn't need to bring a pack n play since BA has a crib. Unfortunately grandma and grandpa aren't an option and my sister can't go as she has very limited vacation days and she's got her own family. I don't have any friends that dive that I could trade off diving/babysitting with.

I've asked BA if they have any babysitter recs. I also have a friend there that I will get in touch with if BA doesn't have anybody. Thanks for the tip on that.

deepsea - yes, your points are considered as well and I might not do this trip because of that (or other logistical reasons).

Thanks for your responses!

I would have ZERO hesitations about taking my infant to Cozumel for health reasons. I have been multiple times and just got back 3 days ago. If you can find a local sitter, definitely go for it. Finding a reliable sitter would be the only concern I would have. The drive from the airport to Blue Angel and back or into downtown from Blue Angel is very short; hold your son in your lap- car seats are not mandatory- so as long as you are comfortable without one, then go for it. My parents drove me 1500 miles back and forth from So Cal to Oklahoma every summer (through the 60' and 70's) before seatbelts were mandatory- much less baby car seats. Maybe I am old and jaded- I don't know? I know I am a risk taker, but I don't see much risk in Cozumel.

My wife and I traveled with, raised and gave birth to 5 children outside of the USA-- going back to the early 80's. In places like Calcutta, India, Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and rural Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and the list goes on. We worked with Mother Teresa in her house of dying in Calcutta. 30 hour bus rides on old broken down US blue bird, hand-me-down school busses filled with chickens and pigs, no suspension and holes in the floor board.

2-3+ day train rides across India packed in like sardines. I could go on and on... All 5 kids are now adults and healthy and happy and probably have better immune systems as a result of the places they have been and experienced. We moved to Guatemala when our oldest was 3 months old and spent the next 5 years there. We gave birth to our 2nd in Guatemala City. My wife traveled half of her pregnancy with our fifth throughout Thailand, India and Bangladesh and then gave birth to her in Pokhara, Nepal in 1996 in what most people would consider medieval conditions.

At the end of the day, anything could happen and we should always be wise, prudent and educated-- but I can't see a reason for you to skip this trip unless you can't find someone reliable to take care of your son while you are out diving. Wife and daughter looking very healthy and happy in Cozumel last week @ Punta Sur-- Christmas Day!

 

[ggunn]

I would have ZERO hesitations about taking my infant to Cozumel for health reasons.

I don't think the OP is concerned about taking the baby to Mexico, but rather leaving it ashore for hours while she goes diving. The issue of a minor crossing international borders with only one parent is a valid one as well; she may have to prove single parent custody to the airline.

 

[ReefHound]

Just don't let the dingo eat your baby...

 

[becca31]

I don't think the OP is concerned about taking the baby to Mexico, but rather leaving it ashore for hours while she goes diving. The issue of a minor crossing international borders with only one parent is a valid one as well; she may have to prove single parent custody to the airline.

The birth certificate only shows me as the parent, as I'm a single mom by choice. I shouldn't have issues with that since I'm the only one listed. (I've checked the requirements on that).

Thanks, Trailboss!

 

[Zman96]

First of all good for you. We took our son last year at 8 months old to Cozumel with us. We used store bought bottled water for his formula. Mega has a huge selection of baby foods and diapers if you need them, we did since we were there for 10 days. We did bring his car seat (it clicked into his stroller) with us. While it maybe legal to not have the car seat, I would want it. The car seat and stroller do not count on most airlines for your baggage allowance. We had him out and about with us all the time. We had no hesitation about medical care there since it is very good on the island. If anything was bad we had travel insurance to get us home quickly if something was serious. Cozumel4you on Facebook might be a better place to look for a sitter, there is a huge population of expats and locals on there.