Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

My husband has been offered a position with a company in Dubai, we are due to have our first child in Australia in the middle of March next year. I would love to hear from anyone who has experienced moving to Dubai with a very young baby. How young is too young to travel? What health care facilities are available over there? What are the social opportunities in Dubai for a mum with a young baby?

look here, this may be of benefit to you.

http://www.expatmum.com/

this is very long, seemingly pointless and very disjointed (and the spelling is pretty crap!) but bear with me.....

march is the end of the cooler months here and the start of the summer. june, july and august being about the worst of it - it is not a pleasant time of the year to go out! having to care for and move a baby around in this type of weather is not fun - i know (well my wife does ) they dehydrate very quicky, and are very unsettled by the extreme temperature and humidity. moving between hot and humid (outdoors) and air-conditioning is not good - most adults get sick because of this; young children are particularly suceptible!

now you could say... well we'll just stay indoors.... not going to happen! you will either want to murder your husband by the end of the first month, or want to move back home. this definitly has a huge impact on your own personal life, social life and well being!

(my personal favorite!!!) couple your husbands new job with sleep deperavation for four or five months - it is not a pleasant, happy person who gets out of bed in the morning!

you can join a "support" group, there are a number of groups catering for new mothers, this is an oppertunity for you to develop your own network of friends as well as provide stimulation for your child... again the weather plays an indirect roll as during summer the schools close for 3 month period, and most expat wives and children go "back home" on holiday. many of these social activities are suspended over this time.

health care varies, i've had both good and bad experiences. some doctors are brillaint, others i wouldn't even employ in an abatoir! generally private healthcare is the way to go (again there are still mixed experiences!).

if i were in your position i would allow your husband to come over and set things up, stay in australia with your "support system", then towards the end of summer (september) come over to join him. the problem with this is obviously that he misses out on a lot of the developmental months, unless he were able to travel fairly regularly. i suppose there are pro's and con's to both sides of the story...

prehaps i've made it sound a little harsh, but these were very real and practical things that i have had to contend with.

additionally if you were to remain in australia and joined later you would need to ensure that your baby is inocculated in accordance with what the local health (UAE) requirements are - as i don't think these are standard innoculations in australia, but are required when you apply for residency.

i'm done

We moved to a developing country with our first child from Australia -I trailed my husband and she was 4 weeks old. Make sure you get the passport organised when he is there because even though my husband had signed the application he was overseas and they wanted to speak to him personally/face to face
Anyway this is an easy move-you can get everything you want or need here. The weather when we arrived in July and then August is foul but every shop, taxi and house has air con, so it is not a big deal- the humidity sucks at that time of year and it is correct that kids dehydrate-I b/fed all mine when we were in humid countries which was absolutely fantastic because I never had to mix anything , wait for an airhostess to heat a bottle etc (and b/f while taking off and landing stops their ears popping!) so if you can it is a huge bonus as far as convenience goes. All my kids have travelled as soon as their passports have been processed after being born-they are so easy to travel with on the plane!! Honestly!! and I've travelled with all three by myself and yes, that flight from Australia is a long haul!
Health care is great-there is a brilliant paedatrician(South African guy-absolutely fantastic) here in the medical centre behind Mcgrudy's and the dentists are great too-found great ones with kids.
My kids are older now and we have been here for a short time and love it-easiest posting ever!! If you want any more info give me a hoi!