children in Mexico

So I realize that I haven't said to much about what its like to raise Alana here. Sure I haven't been here long but I see the differences already. First off I want to go back to when we visited when she was a baby. I know Iv mentioned this partly in other blogs but I wanted it to have a Title that someone could find if they were looking into having to bring their children here.
I wasn't to nervous about things like formula with our first couple visits because I nursed Alana then. But I was also pumping so Issac could feed her. So this brings into mind needing to boil the bottles. And although some here may tell you differently if they don't drink the water I don't use it even if I am to boil it first. So know that you may have to spend some extra bucks on bottle water if you will need to boil bottles and pumps. As far as formula when I was feeding Alana formula I use to bring our formula in the suit case. I have since found that this was a useless. They have many of the same types of formula here and even if not the same Brand name they will have one with the same properties. Once Alana was eating baby food I was making it on our own. As much for the price difference as for the health benefits. Jared baby food has a lot of dye and salt. And I'm sure other things I don't want to know about. But if you do choose that rout, which in a bind we did sometimes, The baby food here is the same as in the States. Funny because before I came once I looked online for something like the blog I'm writing. On Yahoo answers I think it was someone said not to trust the jarred baby food here. Everything that is boxed, canned, packaged ext. is the same here as there. Granted some of the stores leave it out past the expiration date, so you need to be sure and check that before buying. And as usual never buy anything that is dented or cracked.
If you want to make your own its so easy just take what ever type of fruit you want to make, wash it well in drinking water, peal, and puree. To make extra put in ice trays and freeze. To give the baby some protein when they are ready for it instead of mashed up meat in a jar (YUCK) you can put some tofu in the fruit mix. Now Tofu isn't something Iv found here yet but I'm thinking they may have it due to the amount of soy items I find.
Car seats and seat belts are rare in Mexico. When I have seen babies in car seats they are just sat in the car seat and not buckled in. With this in mind know that if you are to take a cab you need to ask if they have seat belts available. They may look at you strange and have to pull the seat up to get to them but most have one hidden. Other than that I have found all the other baby necessities here.
One thing is if you will have the money to buy them. A plastic high chair that you may buy in the States for $40usd in the states runs about $500+peso here. Most of them come close to the equivalent of $60. I have found that this goes for most baby furniture here.
The one thing you will miss here is all the wonderful safety items. I think the states comes up with new things every year to keep our babies and tiddler safe. Safety is the first step towards protecting your child. You will have to be creative here in Mexico. So far I did find in one of the towns Iv been to the outlet covers, but not here in Tepa. Forget about finding cabinet door locks, handles for room doors, ext. But as far as that goes a little creativity and a closer eye can go a long way.

Alana is now 2 so we are not worried about such things for a bit until the next baby is a bit bigger.
She was sick recently with the stomach flu. A few things were a bit harder her than when I have dealt with this in the States. For example the wonderful BRAT diet. Sure bananas, rice and toast no big deal. But I have never actually found jarred Apple sauce. No big deal right just puree some apples and add sugar. First off that's not that easy when your child wants nothing but to sit on your lap. Also for some reason seeing me make it made her not want it. She kept looking at it like gross mom what did you do to my apples. She wouldn't even taste it when in the States she would eat a whole jar if I let her. Also the whole thing of not being able to just water out of the Tap. The worst thing in this situation is for the child to get dehydrated right. Well we ran out of water one day and Issac was already at work and not to be home that eve. Usually no prob I would just walk up the street and get a couple 2L from the store. But not with a child that's pooing out of her diaper and puking every time she takes a bite of anything. Luckily we had a little pedialite (not really that brand but same thing) left.

So that's all for now.