Mexico with Kids

I've been to Cancun and Isla Mujeres (island off Cancun) four times. I've never gotten sick. I took my 9 year-old daughter there last March and we didn't get sick. We only ate at tourist restaurants, no street vendors or restaurants that the locals frequented. We did brush our teeth with the water. You can buy a fruit wash, to wash any produce with.

My ex, however, got somewhat sick the first three times we went together. We ate at the same places, similar foods, etc. So, I could only assume that some people are more senstive to travel and changes in diet. My mother got diarrhea every time we traveled within the US!

I talked to a Mexican man who said that we come there for vacation, eat much more than normal, different food than normal, and lots of alcohol, then we blame the water!!

We go every year with my FIL and I take a probiotic for the kids...start them on it about a week or so before you go so they aren't pooping every 5 minutes when you get there. That will help to fight off some of the organisms they will come in contact with from the traces of water and sand that will get into their systems. I brush the kids' teeth with bottled water. Also I used extremely hot water to wash my little one's sippy cups then rinsed in bottled water before she drank out of them.

This is from 6 years in SanDiego, and some intermittant travel between the states and meso and south america.

Yeah... the vegetable and fruit farms often fertilize with human waste because it's cheap. So there's lots of things (e.coli, enterococcus, etc.) that ends up on the produce and can't be washed off. Make sure ALL your produce is cooked (don't eat salads, fresh veggies, etc. Make sure you stick with grilled veggies, etc.). And the water (ice, juices made from concentrate, waterbottles filled with a hose and sold as Evian or whatever, showers, sewage in the ocean -at least twice a year our beaches when I was in California would get shut down becuase the current was bringing up the ocean water from Mexico and it would have been like swimming in an open sewer, etc.) can be pretty hard to avoid. Fortunately, it's mostly just e.coli and worms that can be dealt with fairly easily. It the amoebas that can really do a number on your system.

Go to your doctor ahead of time and get meds for your family to take down with you that are specific to the region. This is something I *always* do, whether it's Asia, latin america, EU, wherever. I get vax'd a couple months out if I have the warning, and I bring a med kit with antibiotics, deworming meds, antimalarial if I'm in mesoamerica, (but I think cancun is north enough not to worry?), etc.

One of our greatest tips is order all drinks with "no ice". Several people I have traveled with, who have been really diligent about the food and water forget and get sick from the ice. It is the same as drinking the water. Also some of the soda fountains do not use filtered water so try drinking from a bottle. Lemonade is the same. The produce should not be a huge problem just peel it.

I've heard sometimes farmers inject melons with water before they sell them by the pound. When DH and I were in Guatemala he got very sick and I didn't, and melon/ canteloupe was the one food he ate and I didnt. He was fine in Mexico despite brushing his teeth with the water! I would take Listerine to wash toothbrushes and rinse mouth unless the hotel has filtered water -most resorts do!

We just got back from Cancun with our 2 kids we all had a blast we have been there before with no problems. I was very worried (first time there with kids). But it was amazing!