Having a Hard Time Adjusting to HK with 11 months old baby

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diannemarinescu

Registered User
I am a stay at home mom to an 11 months old baby boy. We came to HK from central Europe, where we had almost no crowds and the forest plus walking paths, basically at our doorstep. My husband hated it there, but loves it here. I'm exactly the opposite. Although I have some good things to say about living here, such as career opportunities, posh shopping malls and the seaside, I find it very hard to fully settle here. The crowds are giving me a headache, especially when I'm strolling with my LO. The air is sometimes impossible, due to pollution, and during those days I stay indoors all the time. Shopping is not my thing, although I've started wasting money on things I don't need or use, out of sheer boredom. It's not a stroller friendly place and my baby is too heavy to be carried around in a sling. Beaches and nature paths are often inaccessible by stroller. There's very little to do that's entertaining for both mom and baby (I know some of you think babies don't care where you walk them, but when we go to places that are somewhat green, he's a lot happier and more excited than at the stupid mall. An outing in 'nature' takes a lot of prepping and both parents, because one needs to carry the stroller up and down steps, while the other takes care of the bags. I don't have a car yet, so I have to rely on the MTR (kind of annoying by stroller, due to the crowds and lifts, steps, etc) or taxis (the taxi drivers are so crazy, they always go so fast and squeeze into traffic, they get me really nervous. There's not much fresh meat to buy around my place (Tsim Sha Tsui area) and so we've all but become vegetarian (my son cannot eat street food, so naturally I cook for him. I have to give him the 1 year vaccination, but I don't know if the government facility is going to accept me because he doesn't have a HK ID and cannot get one since he wasn't born in HK. I don't even know how to enroll him with a pediatrician, as it was the system in Europe. If something goes wrong with him, who do I call? And how do I know something is wrong since nobody's checking my son's development? I took him once to a private pediatrician when he had a cold and the overall experience was very good, but he hasn't been checked since. We have health insurance so I don't worry much about money, yet my biggest problem is that I don't understand this system.
I buy formula only in Watson's or Mannings because in the Chinese pharmacy shops they sometimes sell fakes (as one of them told me, after asking why the same formula had different prices in 2 shops. Who would fake baby formula for goodness sake?!
The heat doesn't even bother us anymore. It's the other things that are unnerving.
On the other hand, my son seems to be doing fine, eating well, growing up, etc. I don't know how well he's doing on a deeper level. I only know he seems fine, as I feel as a mother. But I feel very uneasy and even unsafe. I even refused going on a holiday around here, because of the possibility of the baby getting stuff like dengue fever, etc. I'm trying very hard to make this place work for me, but so far I feel confused and I fear, spiraling into a depression.
Any advice?
 
Lots of concerns but I think you need to talk to more people - perhaps join a playgroup in your area so you can meet other stay at home mums? Just a thought
 
You live in TST and HK is a small place where travelling anywhere takes no time. You need to look a bit harder
 
Hi, I've just arrived in Hong Kong for 2 months and I have 13 months old baby boy. My baby is vaccinated in his first birthday in HK at Health Centre in my district near my apartement. I think it's easy enough if you want to register your baby to Government Health Centre and give him vaccination in his 12 months old. Just come to the Health Centre, and show your baby's passport and bring you or your husband IDcard. The officers will proceed your baby's data and you will be invited to meet nurses to have some interview about your baby development. After that, you will get appointment slip for vaccination schedule.

Fyi, I suggest you to come couple weeks/ a week before your baby's getting 12 months old to make an early vaccine schedule appointment. So, when your baby is 12 months old exact, he will get his 1st year vaccine on time.
 
Oh, thank you so much, that's a sigh of relief! I hope we'll have no problems, because they kept asking for my boy's ID when I booked. No, I booked the vaccination 1 day before his birthday, but I don't think he can get it that easily because he has allergies, including to egg and in such cases they send people to the hospital (at least that's the rule back home). Anyway, I asked his former pediatrician about the timing of the vaccine and he said it's normally given between 12 and 15 months, so I shouldn't stress about it. If everything goes well and the government facility is not sending us away, it's all good. If not, I'll go to a private clinic, where I took him before when he was sick.
Still it's odd. Do they have that vaccination card here? Or a booklet with all the vaccinations and each check up? And do children here go regularly for check ups till they are 2? I'm curious, because in Europe, we had to go almost monthly. After the 1 year mark, I think there are less check ups, but I reckon a minimum of 2...
Thanks a lot for the intel. I'll tell the nurses if they are giving us a hard time.
 
I found such groups on the HK island, not in Kowloon. No, I don't find it easy at all travelling here with the stroller. It's impossible with all the steps and obstacles, so if I can't find anything in TST, I'll wait until the baby can walk, by which time I'll probably go back to work and not have time for such meetings anyway. Such is life
 
I'd say give it a time. Things will get better.
I felt the same in my first year here (though no kids nor married then), 10 years later I call Hong Kong my second hometown.

Having said that, I don't think I could survive the last ten years if I were living in TST. That place is the concentration of all the negative aspects of Hong Kong. Have you visited other places that are relatively more "relaxed" and somewhat westernized such as Sai kung, Discovery bay, Stanley and so on? Hong Kong is a small city but not all about TST and you'd be surprised to find many different faces of it.

On a separate note, I can understand why your husband likes it here. I thoroughly enjoyed going out and trying out the new hot spots before I didn't have kids. A life with kids can be quite different from the one without. I'm sure you'll find here like home in the next couple of years once your son starts his preschool or kindergarten. You'll get to know with a lot of moms and that would give you a sense of community. You could also find moms with similar aged kids on Facebook if you're on it? There are quite a few groups like HK playdate matching and play, tumble, laughs, etc.

I wish you a good luck!
 
I would recommend you consider getting a baby carrier and strap your baby in it than using a stroller now that your boy is 11 mth old . I used to rely on stroller too when my child was an infant, but realize the carrier is much more feasible getting around, and it's also good for him to see what you see when walking around.

There are stores like Mothercare, BumpsToBabes that sell authentic/genuine products, 360 supermarket in The Element even has fresh meat, organic products for adults and infants. There's a Kowloon Park right in the middle of TST you can stroll around. There is the HK Park just above Central, Victoria Park at Causeway Bay.... all accessible by MTR. As the weather gets a bit cooler, hiking is another activity you can consider.

As for shots for your boy, I'd rely on private clinic than government facility given your situation. I'm sure any private clinic can offer you those 12-mth, 18-mth, 24-mth, scheduled shots. If not, private hospital has "package pricing" for infant routine shot + checkup, etc. Make sure he has all the recommended shots as compared to a HK born baby (e.g. BCG for tuberculosis) and take advantage to travel to nearby countries before your son turns 2 (he needs to pay full price thereafter).

I know it's tough to live in a totally new and strange environment, but take the best of it and stay positive. You'll be fine.
 
kazkm said:
I'd say give it a time. Things will get better.
I felt the same in my first year here (though no kids nor married then), 10 years later I call Hong Kong my second hometown.

Having said that, I don't think I could survive the last ten years if I were living in TST. That place is the concentration of all the negative aspects of Hong Kong. Have you visited other places that are relatively more "relaxed" and somewhat westernized such as Sai kung, Discovery bay, Stanley and so on? Hong Kong is a small city but not all about TST and you'd be surprised to find many different faces of it.

On a separate note, I can understand why your husband likes it here. I thoroughly enjoyed going out and trying out the new hot spots before I didn't have kids. A life with kids can be quite different from the one without. I'm sure you'll find here like home in the next couple of years once your son starts his preschool or kindergarten. You'll get to know with a lot of moms and that would give you a sense of community. You could also find moms with similar aged kids on Facebook if you're on it? There are quite a few groups like HK playdate matching and play, tumble, laughs, etc.

I wish you a good luck!
Click to expand...


I agree with you
 
Hello again, everyone, and thank you for your kind words and advice. I guess it's just a matter of being patient and giving it time, totally agree with you there. Since my first post, I found some cool strolling places here, towards Wampoa and the promenade, probably next year we move to that area. We've been to the other side, Admirality park, etc. It's nice, but so artificial (well, what can you expect, it's a large city, not my usual small town surrounded by forests LOL). The trip would have been very difficult, if not impossible without my husband, however. Yeah, it's the stroller again. Especially when there are lots of people around, it's really hard with it and inside the park, not everything is accessible due to steps. But it was ok with my hubby's muscle power (best gym for him, too haha). I have a carrier, but I can't carry my son anymore :(. He's over 10 kg and naughty, keeps bouncing and I have a mighty hernia post-partum. I know, carriers are the best and when he was smaller, it was something I did often, taking him along for walks. But these days even my husband complains of back pain when lifting him.
I booked a boat trip to Stanley, so I'll see that side soon. I've heard it's nice and stroller friendly. My stroller gets really small when folded, so it's easy to take it on board.
I vaccinated my son at the government clinic and I have mixed views about the process. They check the baby's health, but not as thoroughly as they do it in Europe. Here they only check the height and weight and then the nurse interviewed us and checked his development. In Europe it was a lot faster and more in depth (head circumference, abdomen, intimate parts, etc) The entire process of registration and vaccination took us exactly 3 hours here! In Europe it was never more than 15 minutes. Here we had to see the pediatrician too, because my son suffers from allergies, so vaccination wasn't as straightforward as for other kids. Perhaps this added some waiting time to everything. But the pediatrician was very nice and good professionally. Overall, I liked the facility and the staff, but I'm not sure the ill kids and the healthy ones were separated. My son caught a respiratory virus and now he's got a runny nose and he's coughing and I'm pretty sure it's not the vaccine. He's also low on appetite which is very uncharacteristic for him. I'm sure he'll be fine in a few days, but I'm just saying. They registered us without a fuss after showing them his passport and both our IDs and they offered us vaccination the same day, which was nice. We are due for another vaccination which is not given in Europe (at least not where we lived) next month. I think I'm going to keep the government facility for vaccination and go private for everything else.
 
Altough my husband goes a long way everyday; we are living in Tung Chung. Yes its far from the city , but its green and there are lots of parks&playgrounds and also playgroups that you can easily participate. No need to say its not crowded like the city.
 
I agree with you, natural environment is best for kids. Yeah, next year we are also going to make the move to a more nature-filled place
 
Hi!
I live in Hung Hom/Whampoa. I'm a stay at home mum and my daughter is 13 months old. Please feel free to send me a private message if you would like to get together for coffee or walking.
Cheers
 
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