It is pretty exciting to come back to my country after four years of being away from my parents and siblings when I finally decided to move to Belgium with my husband. Now, having a baby is another story. We would like to be very careful, for she is born here and with all the atmosphere we have in the Philippines for a toddler from another country-we decided to have a consultation at the Children’s Hospital, here in University Hospital, Brussels.
Laia has completed all her Kind en Gezin vaccines and there are a lot of questions in my mind a new Mom with regards to precautions that we have to face travelling with a toddler. Good thing that we have a chance to do this before we leave the country.
Are Vaccines all in order?
What are the necessary vaccines for travel? Well, there are so many sorts of vaccines for toddlers like anti-polio, anti-tetanus and more which has Laia have completed with Kind en Gezin. That we could consider as in order. Surprisingly, children have to be protected as well with Hepatitis A, and a person with this sickness can spread it out through breathing. A child inhales the air with the disease, the child can be contaminated with. There is the advice of the doctor with us is to have this series of vaccines. Laia had:
2 sets for Hepatitis A (which I have explained above why get one)
2 sets for Anti-rabies, in case she’ll have problems with all sorts of dogs, cats, monkey and other animal carrying rabies.
1 more set for Hepatitis A after 6 months, which she will get in January 2019
I know there are parents against vaccination, for their own personal reasons, but we as parents are supporting this for the protection of our child. We have all our different ways of protecting our kids, for us, this is our way of doing it and being secure when we travel.
Food Safety
Absolutely no raw meat and sushi and vegetables. Everything has to be cooked. And no tap water from the faucet to drink. Luckily, we have Evian water in the Philippines which is the one she is drinking with her milk and water. No, heated left over to be fed, everything should be freshly cooked and newly prepared. This way, we avoid gastro related sickness and diarrhea. Frequent hand washing both parents and the child plus the people around where you stay.
We also have Enterol with us, in case she will have stomach problems to avoid dehydration. We don’t hope that she will have blood with her faeces but as a precaution or being ready we have an antibiotic prescribed by the Paediatrician here in Belgium.
How can bad mosquito bites be?
The doctor showed us the map and asked us where we are going? Pointing to the places, like Manila, Makati and Cavite, big cities. And Bohol, another island where we’d be staying for a week. The doctor explained that there are this 4:
- Dengue
- Meningococcemia
- Malaria
- Zika
How bad are they? They are all deadly mosquito bites that make both adults and kids sick. In connection with these four, we then have to use a mosquito repellent with DEET which will protect your child with all sort of biting insects. Do not overuse it, but it must be applied at least every 4 hours should be spread all over the skin.
This is a maximum, protection you can do. Of course, you are free to use natural kinds of mosquito repellants for those who are using bio and natural products.
No to sunburn, drink more water
We are fairly browned skin, but we should also avoid getting burnt. We have prepared, sunblocks for kids, after sun cream for face and body. Laia has a UV protection hat from Décathlon. To make sure that her skin is well hydrated, drinking water is a must. Offering water to your toddler will help, fruit juices that are freshly made are perfect too! Sunglasses is vitally important too, those little eyes must be protected from the rays of the sun.
That’s about all of it. Make sure that no one from the family would get sick during a big vacation. And prepare everything, if you think your child has travel sickness, bring travel medicine against nausea. Also, balms to make them feel comfortable like Vicks vapour rub, extra plastic if they vomit, extra shirts for Mom and Dad!
An Oh! I am very proud to say that Laia did not cry with all her vaccines that we did 2 consecutive weeks and she was happily prepared by my constant repetition and explanation of what will happen at the hospital. At home, she did not even have any fever! Happy Mom I am!
Here are some Amazon summer favourite products that we enjoy!
9 Comments
This is an awesome little checklist. I don’t think most people think about taking a visit to the doctor before going out of town and maybe we should.
Hi Natalie, thanks for dropping by. This is a major travel overseas with 18h flight. It will be not easy, wish us luck. We are flying this week. 💕
This is a great list!! We should definitely get our little ones checkups before traveling. You never know what’s in other places that could get them sick.
Great tips! Have a fun and safe trip to our beautiful country!
Thank you Carmela! 💕
This is so important and something that many people may not think about before traveling. Thanks so much for sharing!
So many people are not even caring to do this. But with a child we cannot risk. Thanks for dropping by and reading me.
Lots of useful information and very thorough! I don’t think I could’ve thought of half of that.
Yes, this is indeed. We should take care of our babies and our self before traveling. It’s good to check out weather conditions of the place you are going to visit. So we can bring some home remedies and extra medicines in any medical emergency.