Traveling Without Baby, Correct Decision?

Go with what your gut is telling you. In my experience that is the right answer. This would be a hard decision. I am sure father wants to see her as well as the rest of the family. Obviously you originally planned to take her, but if your gut is telling you not to, don't take her.

I liked Diane's answer about following your gut instinct. Does your husband have to go with you? If I were in your shoes I would ask him to stay with our child and I would go by myself or ask another family member to accompany me if I really didn't want to go by myself.

I am very sorry to hear about your dad. Best of luck to you.

I wouldn't take her, but it'd be hard to leave her too so I understand your dilemma.
I'd be more worried about her health then missing her however.

Because of the lack of vaccines against any of all of those ills you mentioned, I would not take her. You would never forgive yourself if she became sick.

Also, just the flight itself would keep me from taking her. We took a five hour flight to Hawaii with our 14 month old and that was long enough!

Good luck...no matter what you decide. I hope you get some quality time with your father.

Which would make you feel worse - leaving her behind for 2.5 weeks, or having her get very very sick taking her?

IMO, not a risk worth taking. I'm sure she'll be fine with your in-laws.

Good luck!

This truly needs to be a decision made by you and your husband........ Do what you guys feel right and are okay with.

We can only give what advice WE would do in your situation. My husband and I take our children with us everywhere. If they can't go, we don't go. I would take her with. I would want some pictures of her with her Grandpa. I would want my father to meet her. (Our children have NO vaccinations and I would STILL bring her with...... I'd just make sure to take EVERY precaution possible to keep her healthy and safe!)

Good luck on your decision. And safe travels.

A nobrainer IMO-don't take her. I can not think of any good reason to bring her. And make sure that you have a will done-BEFORE you leave for India if you don't already have one. In the rare chance that something would happen to you guys you do not want the courts deciding what to do with her and your estate. Also-make sure to give your inlaws a medical consent form if they don't already have it. You want them to be able to get medical care for her if need be.

I'm sure your family will be disappointed in not seeing her but the nature of your visit isnt under the best conditions anyway. I think you should leave her with grandma.... your points for not taking her are more than valid.

Go w/ your husband and make wonderful memories. I lost my father recently and it will be a tremendous gift you give yourself to be there and to be able to be 100% there for him . As you know - it may be your last chance to do so.

Make sure you have your will done, JUST IN CASE anything happens to you, baby will be taken care of. I know this sounds drastic, but you need to think of it....This was brought to my attention when my son was little and we travelled to CA without him. It is a good idea to have a guardian established legally just in case. She will be fine. It is normal to worry. Your reasons are valid for leaving her at home.

It's your decision to make. But just FYI, I left my oldest son when he was 2, with my in-laws for 11 days when my husband and I went to Australia. My son was fine. We planned/suggested a few things to do to break up the time (i.e. go to an indoor play area, etc), but they really just took care of it all. We made suggestions for things to eat, foods my son liked, etc., and made a general schedule for them. But it all worked out well. He only had maybe 1 or 2 times where they felt he "missed" us...he was usually too busy and occupied with grandma and grandpa to notice. If your daughter is comfortable with them now, she will be when you are gone, too, if you decide to leave her. It's harder on the parents, I think, than the kids!

Personally I would find it way too diffucult to leave her behind but considering your circumstances I would say that you dont have much choice here. I would say that it would make me feel much more at ease if my husband stayed behind with my daughter. Im sure you would like to have him with you but I would feel better if he was at home taking care of business while I was off doing something that had to be done
Good Luck with whatever you choose

I am in agreement with some other posters...go with your gut. If you are not completely sure that bringing her with you would be healthiest for you, then don't do it.
So sorry to hear about your father's poor health!

You have valid reasons not to take her. If you aren't comfortable, then you will spend the whole time worrying about her. Would your father understand that you'd rather focus on him? I realize this is a tough call, but I can't fault you for not wanting to expose her to diseases you can't vax against.

On one hand -it would be VERY hard to leave that age of child for that length of time, but given the distance and the very real possibility of disease for which you can't vaccinate (and as you know, we're not talking about a 24 hour bug -malaria and encephalitis are nasty and sometimes deadly) -I would leave her here with your inlaws. Since they're great with her and willing, I could deal with it if I were in your shoes. I'm all for taking kids traveling and exposing them to the world, but because of her age, I would leave her at home this time.