Travelling to Canada/US

T

tkn

Registered User
Hi. I amtaking my 9 mo old to Canada in a few weeks. Car seats are mandatory for babies, so wondering if anyone has had experience with this. Did you take a car seat with you? Can you rent one for the time you are there? We have a Peg Perego car seat with a very heavy base, and I can't imagine the hassle of having to carry it around and then take who-knows-how-long to strap it in taxis!

Any other advice for hotels (do they have sterilisers, etc?) would be greatly appreciated!:banana:
 
no sterilisers in hotels, take tablets.

yes, car seats are mandatory. you will need one to even leave the airport, unless you travel by bus/shuttle.

don't know where you can rent one.
i have a feeling you'd be far better off renting a car and then attaching the car seat so that you don't have to keep putting the base in and taking it out.

besides, renting a car would probably be cheaper than taking a taxi...have you ever been to canada before?
 
When you rent a car in the US through Avis, etc. you can also rent a car seat through them. Don't know how much it costs though.
 
Yes you can rent a carseat through car rentals in the US. However, my friend told me the carseats tend to be quite dirty. I don't have any personal experience with renting them though. When I spent 2 months in Canada last summer, my parents bought an extra carseat for us. If you have friends there, you can see if you can borrow one if their kids have outgrown theirs. Or you can bring the carseat on the plane with you if you have a seat for your LO. My cousin always bring the carseat on the plane with them when they come back from the US.
 
we shipped our car seat just as another piece of odd-size luggage last time around. much better than paying $5-$10 per day to rent from car rental places AND to deal with all the dirty carseats. it's really not that big of a problem, just another piece of luggage, amongs the dozen you have for the baby anyways :)

i wrapped the whole thing with bubble paper and duct tape to protect it a little from all the throwing around the car seat has to endure.
 
We took our carseat for a holiday to the US. We covered it with a huge plastic bag and just checked it in. Ours was a maxi cosi so not very heavy. Perhaps you can borrow one from a friend?

HTH.
Rani
 
We take ours with us (having seen the condition of some of the rental ones). You can buy bags that fit the car seats in or the airliunes usually have large plastic bags at check-in if you have not brought your own. The other advantage is that the straps are adjusted to your child's size - it can take a while to get a rental seat 'just right'. The only problem is that carrying 2 car seats takes up a whole luggage trolley, so when I'm flying with children and without husband, I can usually justify hiring a porter (have not figured out how to push 2 trollies and a stroller on my own).
 
Travelling back to HK in June

Hi all,

Me and my husband are bringing our 6 months old daughter Hazel back to HK for the first time in June. Since I'm very inexperienced in travelling with a baby, here are few of our concerns, please advise on the following circumstances as much as possible, many thanks!

1) Hazel has acid reflux and she's on thickened Enfamil and medicine, how should I bring/prepare formula for her in HK while we are out? Should I use bottled water or I should boil and bring a big pot of hot water everyday when I go out? What about the formula, has anyone heard about it and know where to get it? (It'd be great if anyone know if there is the liquid form of the AR/thickened in HK)

2) What about the bottles? Should I bring along all 3 feeding bottles while I'm out? Or how I can accomodate that thickened formula and use those roll-out bottle-bags (if anyone know what I mean)? ps. that thickened is really hard to be stirred well and lumps always clog the nipples......

3) She just started on solid a few weeks ago, how should I prepare her food and utensils in HK?

4) I'd be staying with my parents in HK in a pretty decent place with mircowave, should I bring along the sterilizer tablets/bags?

5) Should I bring along a travel cot? Any recommendations? Does anyone have experience in having babies unwilling to sleep in a new cot/environment? What should I do if that happens?

6) What can I do during flight if baby is fussy? Any help in adjusting jet lag when we arrive? (we'll be in HK for about 2.5 weeks)

7) My baby always needs a nap, either I pat her to sleep at home or she's in a car ride? Since we'd be going out alot duirng the day in HK and won't be riding in car for a long journey like we used to here in Toronto, any tips to put her to nap in such a crowded and noisy environment?? (she's usually a happy and calm baby, but particularly fussy when she's lack of nap time.....)

8) I'm actually 4 months pregnant and it'd be for me to travel with a baby, it's lucky that my husband is with me, but please let me know what I should/can ask for in the flight, we are travelling by CX. I don't wanna have Hazel disturb others and look at me like I won't do anything to calm my baby down......

I know there are lots of questions, since I'm sooo.....nervous, I just wanna have a good time with my family and have Hazel meet everyone while trying my best to keep her happy and healthy while in HK, please advise me on ANYTHING that I should be aware of, once again, thousands THANKS !!
 
Hi there, I am from Toronto too!

1) I am not sure if they have your formula here in HK. You can check out the Enfamil website to see if they have it. Last summer when we went back to Toronto for 6 weeks, my daughter had already weaned from breastmilk and was on formula. I took the 7 cans of formula with me because I did some research and found out Toronto does not have the Nestle Nan HA formula that we used here in HK. I always took a thermos of hot water with me to mix the formula. I took that on the plane too.

2) I took all my bottles with me to Toronto since we were there for so long. Since our fomula is not thickened, I just did what we did in HK. I am not sure if the bags work better for your type of formula. I guess just do what you do in Toronto.

3) Since you will be living with your parents, you can prepare her solids in their home? I cooked all my toddler's (she was 14 months then) meals at my parents' home.

4) I lived with my parents and they bought a sterilizer for me. Since you are here for just 2 weeks, I think you can use sterilizing tablets.

5) My parents also bought a cot for my DD because they figure they will have other grandchildren staying with them in the future. The first few nights, DD woke up at 2 am and because the cot there is much bigger than the one we had in HK. After a few nights, she was fine. I think it took about 5 days for her to get over jet lag.

6) Nothing much to do to prevent fussing on the plane. For ear pressure during and take off and landing, I gave her a lollipop to suck on. Yours is too young, so you can give her a pacifier (if she uses one) or a bottle. Bring some toys to distract her. Walk around if she is crying but if the seatbelt sign is on, you can't do much. I had people stare at me too but I just stared back.
To adjust jet lag, I did the same routine at the same time as we did in HK, but adjusted to Toronto time. In the first few days, she would not want to wake up from her afternoon nap, but I still woke her up at 4 pm and then fed her dinner at 6 pm. She would get cranky but better to get her adjusted to the new time than for her to sleep til 10 pm and be very awake in the middle of the night.

7) I think babies can sleep anywhere? Mine can nap in malls or at a noisy restaurant at that age. I'd put her in a sling or stroller and she'd fall alseep when she was tired.

8) You can ask CX for a travel cot and place you in the first aisle. Don't mind if people stare at you. Those with kids will understand and those who don't, you don't need to mind what they think. They will know how difficult it is when they have kids.

Good luck and I hope it all goes well with your travel. Congrats on the pregnancy!!
 
Thanks everyone for your car seat advice. We'll bring our own car seat and check it in. Will report back on how it goes.
 
Thanks Mintycat for the fast response, it's all helpful and informative.

I'd definitely bear your experience in mind.

My major concern is her feedings (esp with her acid reflux) as well as jetlag, since coincidentally, her spit ups are much less whenever she sleeps well during the night.

Though bringing my daughter back sounds adventurous for us, I still look forward to visit my parents there.

Thanks again for the info.

ps. I realize there are strict rules in bringing baby food/bottles with liquid to the airports, any tips or anything that I should be aware of?
 
Bunbunng, you would be better bringing your own formula with you, as thickened formulas aren't readily available in HK.
I have people bring them in for me, from Australia.
 
I haven't traveled with my DD since the new rules have been implemented. I would think its ok to bring along baby formula and water, otherwise what is your baby going to eat? Better call and check with the airline just to be on the safe side.
 
you can ONLY take water if it is in less than 100mL bottles... you CAN get boiled water on the planes though. and you CAN buy water once you clear immig/customs/security checks.

the same holds true for any gels or liquids (including lipstick etc.)
 
i brought my boy (1 yrs old at that time) to toronto and i had the same problem with the car seats. Too big to bring along but rental car companies charges on avg 10 bucks a day (our vacation was for a 3 week so it will be quite expensive). Luckily, I used a chinese pickup service (and told them i will need a car seat when they pick us up from airport) and this driver agrees to "rent" his car seat to me for much less. (he happend to have a daughter and he has 2 car seats!!)Forgot what i paid but i think was around 100 for the 3 week period. I asked for his service to drive us for our return trip so it was really convenient. :). let me know if you are interested in his service and i will see if i can dig out his numbers again.
 
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