I went through the baby clothes yesterday and thanks to lucky guessing, I think we already have enough clothes to get us through China. The only thing I still lack are a pair of winter overpants and shoes. Since I don't know her shoe size I'm tempted to get some fleece slippers or something like that and take her shoe shopping in China.
I'm also wondering about travel toys -- I was planning on teething toys but she'll be past that. I'll need something without removable parts, easily portable/packable, interesting, and quiet (for the plane).
And my two big mystery areas: diapers and formula. My wonderful brother, Matthew, recommended Pull-Ups. Will those be available in China or should I pack plenty? As for formula, an American baby would be just about off of it, but I don't know about China. I suppose I'll ask the pediatrician.
They make formula now for older infants/toddlers. We kept our Emily on formula until she was 15/16 months old. The ped said to expect her to be a mit malnourished, and said there was no problem continuing the formula for that long. (of course that was 4 years ago!) Talk to your ped, but I think if you plan on it you won't be surprised. Congrats. She's beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteThe formula they use at WuWei is very good quality. We were able to buy it there and I bought enough to last for a couple of weeks at home, just so I could transition my daughter off of it here. The fewer changes to her digestive tract while you are traveling, the better!
ReplyDeleteThe hotels have electric teapots in the rooms and so making the formula was ez! I brought the playtex bottles with the drop-in liners. EZ! Don't forget a small bottle of dish soap to wash the nipples and disposable bibs! EZ!
Bring American diapers! Set aside 15 for your travel day back. I brought pull-ups, but did not use them at all! My 17 month old had been in split pants, but arrived in diapers. So, we stayed in diapers.
I kept Sarah on formula until she was almost two! I kept her on the bottle even longer; just for better attachment.
It looks like your cutie-pie has a pacifier. Both of our WuWei babies had pacifiers at their foster homes, but did not arrive to us with anything! (We figured this out at a later date) You may wish to bring a couple of different ones.
Also, I brought sippy cups...which were too big for my daughter. Our guide bought us a little 'bottle' style cup for water. Sarah drank a ton of water!
Mary
Congrats on your new daughter. Our daughter was 15.5 months on adoption day and was on formula and diapers. We continued formula until she was 2.5 to try and help with weight gain, she is still tiny. Totally agree with using American diapers on way home and traveling around. they seem to hold up much better than the Chinese ones.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to following along on your journey.
We got back in August with our son....nearly 2 yrs. You will need diapers and all the kids there were on nestle formula that we bought in China because they add more sugar to it and they will not like ours. I brought six packages home with me and now he is weaned on to regular milk. Everything you need can be bought in China including stroller....seriously it is cheaper and you will have enough to carry! Good luck and all the best with your new little one. Oh yea you cannot pack enough Cheerios.....they love them and will be quite while you are sitting waiting for appointments. They were the best advice we got!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the great, helpful advice! I'm going to put all this advice into practice. As far as moving the baby around, I have a harness carrier so I'm hoping to avoid the need for a stroller. Granted, I'm mentally prepared for that to not work out.
ReplyDeleteWe brought a bunch of size 3 diapers, you can use the CHinese diapers but definitely have AMerican diapers for the plane ride home :) Our daughter was 13-14 months when we were there and wore size 9 month clothes, if you bring a selection of 9-12 months I bet you will be fine. There was Nestle formula given to us by the Wuwei staff (we could also buy the same formula in the store there), our pediatrician recommended leaving her on formula for a few months at home to bulk up her nutrition so we did, then changed her to whole milk :) With all the cobblestone sidewalks and croded streets in Lanzhou, a stroller would not have been helpful to us, I think. We found the carrier invaluable and I think you will be just fine with that! It is also good for building attachment, our daughter didn't care for me very much at all at first, but she would tolerate me if I was feeding her, or we were out and about in the carrier - it really helped!
ReplyDeleteI have heard that stacking cups, bubbles, and blow up beach ball are big hits.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't do pullups with a one year old. They're pricier than diapers and most one year olds aren't ready for potty training so there's no real benefit. I'd take diapers for the first day and diapers for the plane but buy diapers there for most of the time-- just saves you on packing space and lugging around a two week supply. I would also plan on formula and sticking with the brand your beautiful girl is used to. You can slowly transition her to whatever your pediatrician recommends once home-- but anything to reduce tummy troubles while traveling!
ReplyDeleteWe are waiting to travel-- not sure if the stacking cups will work well on the plane but we will definitely take them for the hotel. A pack of the extra fat crayons and a pad of paper could work on the plane-- if she's interested. A couple of "touch and feel" board books (touch and feel animals)-- I haven't met the 1-2 year old who doesn't like those. I wonder if they'll let us blow bubbles on an airplane? I'm taking a couple mini containers of play-doo, but my little one is a year older than yours. Can you find a baby toy with buttons that doesn't make too many annoying noises? Or a stuffed animal that plays music? Maybe some big, simple beads that can be threaded onto something and taken off (over and over).
I'm going to make my best guess on shoe size, take one pair with us, and shop for shoes there. I've heard China has incredibly cute kid shoes and it's hard to guess shoe size (a high arch could mean she needs a wide shoe or a larger size but a regular could fall off a narrow foot-- no way to know those sorts of things till we get there).
I second disposable bibs. They're tiny so they won't take up much space to pack and you won't be wondering around China with food-caked bibs. At home I go with greener options but in this case, I'm packing disposable.
Congratulations and enjoy the preparations!!!!
annika
I second Bridgette. Thanks to all who have spoken up with advice. Your experience will help us a lot.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your daughter! I my daughter was 13 months old when I brought her home. She did not have any teeth yet. Her report said she had 4 teeth and that was wrong. Shoes are cheap in China so I would do the fleece slippers and buy some there.
ReplyDeleteDana
Congratulations! We have been home with our twins for 4.5 months. Most likely, the orphanage will sell you formula. I would definitely stick with whatever she is already used to. There are so many changes she will already be experiencing, no need to change that too. Make sure you bring several different types nipples for your bottles. We had a hard time getting our girls to take the bottle from us and wound up cutting larger holes in nipples which did not really work either. Also, use the drop in type of bottles. Since the water in China needs to be boiled I would not trust bottles I need to clean. We just put everything in the bathroom sink and poured soap and boiling water over it - the hotel provides the hot pot. Tommy Tippy bids were great since they are plastic and easily washed.
ReplyDeleteYou can get diapers in China, we only brought one pack with us since they are bulky. The diapers there are not great but do the job. Toys we just brought a few, turns out they were not really interested. Books would be a great choice in retrospect.
Also, she may be smaller than you think. All the clothes we brought were too big. Bring a a variety.
Most of all enjoy the journey!
Congratulations on your smiley daughter....she's lovely!
ReplyDeleteI would join the vote against pull-ups. Remember that you would have to entirely undress your daughter every time you need to change her! (also, from experience (albeit 3 years ago) they are VERY hard to find in China)
Enjoy the next stage of your adventure!