Tropics with baby inside and outside of the belly

Honestly, Vathsan has no idea why the hell am I actually writing this post. He is from the tropics, he was born and raised there, if you ask him he will tell you there is absolutely nothing abnormal about pregnant women and babies hanging out in such a climate.

Yes...but...well yeah, but no...I mean, at least for some people, it is not that obvious. For some people who have never been to tropics, it sounds more like a place with : hepatitis, mosquitoes, malaria, dengue fever and snakes. Which is also true, but we have to always put things in to the right proportion. That is why I decided to share with you some thoughts. In both countries where I have been living : France and Poland, it is advisable to go and see a special travel medicine kind of a doctor. He will have a quick chat with you about where are you going to travel. He will double check some maps, charts and some statistics, based on which he will tell you which shot of vaccine you should get, are you going to be at risk because of malaria, as well as he will share with you some general tips about hygiene. He will most likely see everything in a bad case scenario, and will try to explain to you how possibly bad things can go if you catch some tropical disease. I have been to such a doctor, when I was 20, before my India- Thailand trip. I came out terrified, and ended up taking heaps of vaccines, as well as some malaria preventive medicine after which I lost like 20% of my hair! Luckily, I also spent years 2008 - 2011 mostly in Asia, and the more I was living there, the more I learned to take better perspective to what is told in these weird travel clinics.

When I got pregnant in China, a Singaporean doctor was taking care of me. We liked her a lot, as she seamed very reasonable in her approach to the pregnancy topic. She was also really chilled when we told her we were planing to go and travel to Malaysia and Indonesia. She gave us her e-mail address so we could message here whenever we were concerned, which turned out perfect, as few times we were actually a bit puzzled, and she gave us a proper advice, relevant to our particular case scenario.

The story went a little bit more dramatic when I was pregnant with Bruno.

A NZ's doctor was equally relaxed when I told him I will be taking 1,5 year old Yana, and going pregnant to Vanuatu. Unfortunately, as an old practice, I also told my parents to go and check with a travel doctor in Poland ,what is needed for them, before they joins us in the Pacific.

Doctor couldn't believe that I was really planing to go there with two babies, one inside, and the other one outside of the belly. He said it sounded almost like a suicide for both me and my babies. He was telling my mum to somehow convince me to cancel the whole trip! Of course we went there anyway, and for my mum and dad, it was like an eye opener, once they got to that potentially dangerous Vanuatu, they understood how the whole freak out was a bit out of proportion.

Tropical countries can be sometimes a bit challenging, but every single responsible traveler and parent should make his own research. There are always these more tough regions, with more mosquitoes, malaria, crime or coco nuts falling on tourists heads...But you shouldn't been crossing out the whole climate zone, only because it sounds dangerous and exotic, nor a country only because is fully or partially situated there. Rather try to stay smart , and make your mini choices, based on regions.

And now, a brief list of what you actually should watch out for, when traveling

pregnant or with baby:

If pregnant:

- avoid cats because of toxoplasmosis

- don't eat hot fruits in public. In some areas, people believe that mango, pineapple and durian generate heat in your body which can lead to miscarriage.

It is not medically proven that such a think will happen, so you can eat them, just try maybe to do it in your room? A lady spotted me eating a durian in Indonesia and got really concerned.

- watch out for bumpy ride. Some roads are better then others, the least bumpy the better.

- watch out for water, buy bottled one or drink boiled.

- don't buy pre-cuted fruits, as you don't know how clean was the water someone was washing his knife before cutting

- try to avoid malaria regions...but if ended up in one, in the evening : wear long sleeves, long pants , spray face, hands and feet. Mosquito repellents with Deet are more effective but chemical...

citronella more pure but sometimes not enough...Spraying on belly is a bad idea, but on your feet and hands is sort of ok. I was using for both me and Yana the spray with lesser deet in it, the one for kids. Sleep under mosquito net, always try to catch these few mosquitoes who somehow

made it under the net, get ride of them before you fall asleep.

- you shouldn't be lifting weight, but caring a small day pack is fine, so try to ask someone to put a back pack on your back, if you think it might be getting heavy ( funny, this rule does not really apply when you have small kids already, these guys you keep on lifting, even if pregnant! : )

Babies

actually same rules apply, Just it's better if they stick to only boiled

water. The bottled one has too many minerals.

#tips