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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Babies, travel, and vaccines
If you had a baby in another country, how old was the baby when you first took it home (to your country, not your physical abode)? Had he or she had most or all of his/her shots when you went? If the baby was pretty young, did the lack of vaccinations scare you at all?I was thinking about this today. I know the conventional wisdom on this board is that the younger a baby is, the easier it is to fly with them. Because of that H and I were thinking that we should plan home leave for 2-3 months after a kid is born. But then today I was thinking about the growing trend of not vaccinating children in the US and am wondering if we should really be taking a child too young to be vaccinated against a lot of things into a place where he or she will be unnecessarily exposed to an otherwise preventable disease. Am I over thinking this? As a parent, would you rather fly with a younger but unvaccinated baby or an older one (9-12 months) who has been vaccinated?
Re: Babies, travel, and vaccines
I think you are overthinking it personally. We took Finn abroad the first time before he was 3 months, then back to the US at 4 months, again at 7 months, and again overseas at 12 months. At 2-3 months your baby should have had one round of vaccines already.
And I would absolutely prefer taking a younger baby than an older one. Traveling between 9 months and like 2 years sucks big time.
I agree with frlcb you're over-thinking this and it's WAY easier to travel with a baby when it's young, once they are mobile, it's a pain.
We took our first trip with M to HK when he was 6 weeks and moved to France when he was 2.5 months, then travelled to Canada at 5 months. By then he had already had quite a few vaccines.Now M is to date on all his vaccines until 6 years old. We decided to get him vaccinated against meningitis though, because of so much travel.
At that age, your baby probably wouldn't really be interacting with other non-vaccinated kids. Don't all kids need to be vaccinated in order to start school in the US?
I agree with the others - travel between mobility and 2ish is awful. We are not travelling abroad with M until then (largely becasue of finances, but also just the hassel of it all - and the fact that the Olympics are our holiday next summer!).
Anyway, our rec from M's consultant was to not travel before her first round of immunisations, but that was because she has a compromised immune system with her kidney system (!). But, that's at 3 months here, so we would have been good to from that point. (And honestly I wouldn't have had my head together to travel before then, as easy as young babies are, it was more my adjustment to motehrhood, you know?)
In terms of immunity/etc, there are pockets everywhere of non-immunised children and people. And M could get the mumps from someone at Tesco or from the airplane or from someone from Target. You can't think through every eentuality or you will never leave thee house with your baby - even after they're immunised, you'll find another reason to be overly cautious, you know?.
Does the vaccine schedule in your country vary from the U.S. schedule? If it does vary, can you still get the U.S. schedule if you choose?
I kept BabyD on the U.S. schedule since we go through military medicine. The only variance has been specific to here. He had an additional immunization at age 2 because of our location. In our day-to-day experiences we can come into contact with many people with a wide range of vaccines, or more likely not. The best I can do is keep the little guy on schedule, use good hygiene, and feed him a good diet so his little body is healthy.
I agree with not over thinking it. As a parent you strive to do your best. There is so much that still has to get done. You need to be ok getting out of the house as a regular part of life just for your own sanity.
They can't make you..
http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/law.htm#Religious%20and%20philosophical%20exemptions
#1-BFP 08-22-09 ~ M/C 08-31-09 at 5 weeks 6 days
#2-BFP 08-6-11 ~ Due 04/18 ~ born via c-section April 22, 2012
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Cole actually received his 6 month shots in the US while we were home.
Overthinking, I think.
Even if you took a 6 month old that you were vaccinating on schedule (or even a 9 month old depending on what vaccine you are takling about), they might not be fully immunized because many of the immunizations come in a series.
Also, I traveled by plane with V at 2, 3, 6, 8 and then 9.5 months. While I agree at 2 months they seem more vulnerable, they are totally within your control. By the time she was 6 months she was crawling, eating, touching everything, and there was no reasonable way to stop all that. I let her crawl on the floor of airplanes and airports despite an actual lecture from a stranger because honestly, stopping her would have only been possible if I wanted to hold a screaming, flailing, confused baby away from all germ sources.
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This is such a good point. Even at almost 7 months I wear Lila everywhere, but she always wants to be down crawling and pulling herself up, because she can. But when she wasn't I could wear her all the time, no one could touch her, she wasn't close to anyone but me, and it made life so much easier.
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Honestly, if it is at all possible, get her her own seat. Our flights with Finn at around those ages were the worst because he didn't watch tv yet (we are bad parents and all tv 'rules' are out the window on an overseas flight), but he didn't want to sit and read or play. We started getting him his own seat at this age. However, it is a toss up, because if you have the car seat it puts them at just the right angle to kick the seat in front of them, so you either have to rear face it or not have a car seat.
But, at the end of the day, you will get there, you will never see the people on your flight again and everyone will make it
We do have a seat for her on the ride home, but we were just talking about that since we didn't bring a carseat o ver here with us I'm thinking we need some kind of harness or we can use it really? I guess just as a buffer between us and others maybe?
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How old will she be on your way back? If she is 1 and a certain weight (22 lbs I think) she can use a CARES harness, but that is the only harness approved for flights. You don't have to have anything, it isn't required.
She'll be 16 months, but I'm not sure if she'll be 22 pounds by then. This shoudl be interesting!
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This. My pedi told me they aren't actually immune to all of the stuff in the first vaccines (diphtheria, tetanus, etc, etc, etc) until after the 3rd of 4 vaccinations (at around 6 months). The MMR series doesn't even start until they're about a year old because they're protected by the antibodies they got from mom until around that time. She told me we wouldn't be allowed in the US if she didn't get her first MMR on time, though (we're planning on flying when she's about 8 months and again when she's almost 1). I doubt it's true since DD is an American citizen, but it might well be true for foreigners trying to bring their little kids to the US.
I have to say there is no way I can see this being true. We will be here when V turns one, and won't be getting her MMR until we get back when she is about 16 months. What if you had to delay based on medical reasons, or if that vaccine wasn't given in the country you were in during that time frame? Or if you just refrain from or delay vaccines? Vaccines are a condition of PR procedure I realize, but are not a requirement for those born as American citizens.
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I think Virgin is the only airline that doesn't allow car seats, but they provide their own. You have to have an FAA approved car seat but most of them are. It is easier until they can kick the seat in front of them!
Totally untrue. I don't even know why your pedi would say that. If someone is getting a green card to move to the US they have to have updated immunizations but they would never ask for them at immigration from someone visiting the US, a citizen or not. There are many, many families in the US who don't do MMR at all.
We flew with DD for the first time when she was 11 days old, we flew from CO to ME. I wasn't too worried about it. It was May for one (so cold/flu season was mostly done) and she was (still is) nursing. Plus she pretty much was with me the entire time. We flew to ME again at 2 months after she had just had her 2 month shots and then we flew to Europe on her 4 month Bday. Pedi had suggested we get her 4 month shots prior to that trip so we did that a few days prior. At that point she really did not leave my side as I had her in my Ergo anytime we were on the go. Once in Europe I wasn't too concerned about passing her along to family but it was usually just a few people, no large gatherings and no one was sick. I never even thought about the MMR even though I guess the measles has been more of a problem in France (where we flew into) and Europe compared to the US. My pedi didn't push any shots way early just because of travel but if it was within a week or 2 we would go ahead and do it.
As far as traveling with a toddler...so far we have been lucky.
We have flown a ton with her, most of it within the US (mostly East Coast) and for the most part she does really well especially if we leave on early morning flights. She has been a lap child every time and even when she became mobile I as pleasantly surprised by how well she did.. maybe it's because she's a total momma's girl. She will be very busy and trying to get into anything and everything but is usually content just standing right by me rather than wanting to take off...
We just flew to Europe about a month ago when she was 16 months old. We had gotten her a seat because we could not be guaranteed an upgrade to business when booking the flight. The way out was a bit challenging but that was partly my fault. On our first flight to DC she fell asleep on me nursing and after 30 minutes I tried to move her into her car seat which was a big fail....she woke up and would not go back to sleep. She pretty much was on me the whole flight and did not want to sit in her car seat (which is never a problem in the car), but I had the extra space and she was happy climbing in and out of it. ONce in DC she slept in the Ergo for about 45 minutes so not really good. On our flight to Paris we did get upgraded at the very last minute (we were already settled in our seats) but it was only for 2 seats but we took it anyway. I was very glad that I am still nursing because she was very fussy and just couldn't settle down because of her screwy naps that day. She was pretty much attached to me the whole flight but it worked out. Then she proceeded to sleep the whole ride to Holland...
The way back I waws dreading...we were on a continental flight without economy plus and only one aisle. She actually did wonderful on theat flight. Slept for an hour at the beginning and the last 2 hours of the flight. The rest of the flight she was very busy again (never sat in her car seat but liked climbing on it a lot) and never actually wanted to walk. She was awake for the layover in DC and then slept in her car seat for most of the flight to CO (about one hour on me). So it really wasn't as bad as I was ready for.
You should be able to take a car seat on the plane. I admit with all the flying we do I hardly ever see anyone on the plane with a car seat. CARES harness wasn't an option as she did not have thelower weight limit yet. Plus I'm not sure she would be able to sleep well if she was just sitting in the seat.
I would have loved to have rear-faced the car seat but that is only possible if you are in business or first class...otherwise whoever is in front of you cannot recline their seat. It was sort of a pain to carry the car seat onto the plane (we have the GoGo baby and that works great except the car seat doesn't fit through the aisle (at least not on any of the planes we were on) so you have to carry it onto the plane). Eventhough she did not sit in her car seat for a lot of the flights it did give us extra space at least. My hubby was traveling with us but she pretty much wanted to be attached to me on the flights so even though he wanted to help oftentimes she wouldn't let him.
I have also come to realize that toys are pretty much useless for DD. She pretty much wants to play with everything but toys. I haven't tried a DVD yet (I was ready though with my netbook) but she really has not shown any interest in watching TV). h and on the way back I had stocked up on mini baguettes from the hotel because she loves baguettes...that kept her busy for awhile as well. I had bought the little organic pouches with meals for toddlers for on the plane...didn't want to have anything to do with those.
Like someone else said, in the end you will likely never see anyone again and all flight come to an end eventually. I was ready for disasted but was pleasantly surprised how well she did. She did nurse a lot so that was definitely a lifesaver...
Sorry about the novel but I thought I'd share my (mostly)positive experiences for those who are looking at traveling with a toddler soon
Oh , and EnidFalcor, my daughter has that same cute outfit!
We have rear faced in coach, it is possible and yes it may tick off the person in front of you but you have to be allowed to do it. I will try to find the link to this but there is something that says if the seat can be rear facing in a car it can be in a plane as well (as in the airline has to allow you to).
she was 3 months
she had her first set of vaccines before we went, there's no way I would have travelled with her before that was all done - just in case
I actually looking into whether we could get her second set of shots in the states if we were there over the 4 month mark, and the shots are basically the same and in the same order - so I would have done that if the timing had been necesssary (but it wasn't in the end)
I personally wanted to wait til after the first set of vaccines - which here is at 6-8 weeks
and I would definitely recommend flying before they learn to walk - I flew the last time to the states when she was 11 months, just before walking and it was fine - would be so so so so much harder once they want to just run up & down the aisles!!
also - we did rear facing - and it was even on a domestic US flight - it was a TIGHT fit - but it did fit (with a sit'n'stroll)
to be honest though -that thing was SO heavy and didn't fit down the aisles (so I had to carry it) - I dunno if I'd want to travel with it again. It was convenient to roll it through the airport - but SUCH a tight fit on a domestic plane