Travel to South Asia with un-vaxed baby

[Bennoch]

I'm planning to travel to south asia (nepal) with my un-vaxed 4 mo old (well, she'll almost be 6 mo by the time we travel). She is EBF. Anyone else done it? Any advice? We are planning to vax (selectively) just waiting a while....

[Noelle C.]

Hate to break it to you, but some vaxes are absolutely required to travel to certain parts of the world, no exceptions. This is to prevent bringing back certain illnesses that are erradicated here. Look into what is required to travel to S.Asia as well as what diseases are rampant there but not required for vaxes, and then weigh the risks of vaxes against those diseases versus the actual risk of getting the disease.

[Noelle C.]

Okay, a quick look brings up this:

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/nepal.aspx

Nothing is REQUIRED, though obviously several things are going to be suggested.

It looks like the specific recommended list is mostly for people traveling to rural areas or who will be spending a lot of time outdoors.

In your shoes, I'd really just look to see what's going around in the specific area of travel, ad weight risk/benefits from there, but based on what's recommended, I wouldn't worry about those things.

[SAmama]

Don't vax. We live in south Asia, in a very rural area with questionable hygiene to say the least. My daughter has been vaxed and has the injuries to prove it. Now I am pregnant with a new little one, who will hopefully be born in the nearest big city (where there is an American midwife) and not be vaxed. I researched all the diseases (after I realised that we don't have a choice but to not continue vaxing) and they don't scare me anymore. We still have the plague here and no-one is vaxing for that. So we eat healthy and learn about what to do to keep our immune systems strong.
If your babe is breastfed I really would not worry too much. I tried to have my dd get chicken pox (which she was not vaccinated against, we stopped before that) several times while she was nursing (not so much even, she was already two) and she was still getting enough immunity through me.
Take probiotics, drink clean water and enjoy your trip. Oh, and do what the locals do... here they eat fermented veggies with meals and eat a lot of yogurt and cheese. All probiotic foods that keeps the bad bugs under control.

[MamaMaria77]

Hello there..I'm wondering if you've returned from Nepal and how your experience there with the baby was...We're planning a trip to No. India in January with our baby daughter and we're having trouble deciding on the vaccinations question.  Any information is greatly appreciated..

PS I used to live in Mt. Pleasant ;)

Maria Hughes

[MamaMaria77]

Hello there,

I'm curious about the "injuries" your daughter received from vaccinations??  My husband and I are taking our baby girl to India in January and absolutely CANNOT decide whether to vaccinate her for tetanus, diptheria, and polio (the minimum recommended vacs from our anthroposorphic Dr. here in Germany.  Any information is greatly appreciated!

Maria Hughes