China with a baby or toddler: prams, nappies, car seats, food and where it actually works

Taking a baby or a toddler to China is easier than most Australian parents expect and harder in two specific ways. Easier because Chinese cities adore small children: strangers help with the pram, restaurants bring a high chair and a bowl of plain rice without being asked, and hotel staff coo. Harder because car seats are not a cultural habit, and because the big sights involve stairs and crowds. This is what we tell families booking a day guide or the Shanghai essentials tour with children under four.

The flight and the clock

Melbourne to Shanghai is about ten and a half hours with a time difference of only two to three hours, which makes it the gentlest long-haul flight a baby can take: no real jet lag, just a long day. Book the daytime departure so you land in the evening and everyone sleeps in a bed, rather than the overnight flight that lands at 6 am with a child who has not slept. Request a bassinet at booking for infants under about 10 kg; the Chinese carriers and Qantas all have them in the bulkhead rows. The flights guide covers airlines and timings.

Prams, carriers and the city

Bring a light folding pram and a carrier. The pram is fine on Shanghai’s wide footpaths, in the parks, in malls and in Pudong; it is a struggle on the Bund steps, in the old-town lanes around Yu Garden, in the water towns (stone bridges every fifty metres), and on the Great Wall. The carrier does those.

Metro: most central stations in Shanghai and Beijing have lifts, usually at one exit only; look for the lift sign on the station map. Staff will help lift a pram on an escalator if there is no lift. Trains are crowded between 7.30 and 9.30 am and 5 and 7 pm; avoid those hours with a pram.

Malls are the secret weapon: every big mall has clean nursing rooms, change tables, lifts, air conditioning and food courts with high chairs. In summer heat or a rainstorm, a mall is a planned stop, not a surrender.

Car seats and getting around

This is the hard part. Taxis and DiDi cars do not carry child seats, and Chinese parents mostly do not use them; a taxi driver will look puzzled if you ask. Three options:

1. Bring your own travel car seat or a compact booster (for over-fours) and install it in each taxi; some parents do this and it works, with patience.
2. Book a private car with a child seat. We supply forward- and rear-facing seats in our cars on request for day-guide and tour bookings, fitted before pickup; say the child’s age and weight when you enquire. This is the simplest answer for the airport transfer and the day trips.
3. Use the metro and walk for the city days, which is what we plan for families with small children anyway, and save the car for the longer trips.

Do not plan on a pram in a taxi boot plus a child on a lap for anything longer than a few minutes; the traffic is the reason.

Nappies, formula and the pharmacy

• Nappies: Pampers, Huggies and good Japanese and Chinese brands are in every supermarket and convenience store, in sizes matching Australian ones. Bring two days’ worth and buy the rest there.
• Formula: Aptamil, a2, Bellamy’s and other Australian and European brands are sold in the baby sections of big supermarkets and in specialist baby chains (Kidswant, Babemax), often at higher prices than at home because they are imported. If your child is on a specific formula, bring the whole trip’s supply; it is not worth the risk of a different batch or a counterfeit. Hotels will boil water and sterilise bottles on request.
• Baby food: pouches and jars exist but the range is smaller; congee, steamed egg custard, soft noodles and mashed vegetables are on every restaurant menu and are what Chinese babies eat.
• Medicines: bring your own paracetamol and ibuprofen for infants, a thermometer, rehydration sachets, and any prescription items in original packaging. Chinese pharmacies are good but the brands and dosages are unfamiliar. For anything beyond a cold, the international clinics (United Family, Parkway) have English-speaking paediatricians and bill insurance directly; the safety guide lists them.
• Sun and heat: Shanghai from June to September is hot and humid. Mornings out, afternoons in, a hat, a battery fan on the pram, and water constantly.

Hotels

Ask for a cot (free at almost all hotels), a high floor away from the lift, a kettle (standard) and a fridge for formula and milk. Rooms in Shanghai’s older boutique hotels can be small; a four-star international chain room in Jing’an or the French Concession is a better fit for a pram and a travel cot, and the where to stay guide explains the neighbourhoods. Connecting rooms exist but are rarer than in Australia; a suite is often cheaper than two rooms. Pools are common in the big hotels and are the afternoon reward for a morning of sightseeing.

Eating out with a toddler

Chinese restaurants are the easiest in the world for small children: high chairs are standard, dishes arrive quickly and are shared, plain rice and noodles are always available, steamed egg, tofu, fish and greens are soft, and nobody minds mess or noise. Order a plain dish first so the child eats while the rest arrives. Hot tea on the table is the main hazard; move it. Breastfeeding in public is uncommon but tolerated; the nursing rooms in malls and large stations are excellent. The food guide has the dishes.

Days that work with children under four

• Yu Garden early, then the old-town snack street before 10 am, when the lanes are quiet and the pram still fits.
• The Bund by ferry. The cross-river ferry is a two-minute boat ride a toddler loves; the Bund promenade is pram-friendly along the top.
• Parks: Fuxing Park in the French Concession (playground, retirees dancing, a lake), Century Park in Pudong (huge, flat, boats), Jing’an Sculpture Park.
• A water town boat at Zhujiajiao: go at 9 am, carrier for the bridges, boat first.
• Shanghai Natural History Museum (Jing’an) for a rainy day; dinosaurs, pram-friendly, lifts.
• Disneyland works from about three; under that it is an expensive walk. The Disneyland guide covers ages and the Baby Care Centre.
• Beijing: the Temple of Heaven park in the morning (flat, wide, retirees with ribbons and birds), the Summer Palace by boat, and the Great Wall at Mutianyu in a carrier via the cable car, which is fine for a baby and a strong parent, and not for a pram.

Plan one outing a day, not two, and keep the second half for the pool or the hotel. Nap time in the pram in a park is a legitimate itinerary item.

What a guide and driver change

For families with a baby or toddler, a guide and a car with a child seat turn a trip into a holiday: the car waits at the gate while you finish, the guide carries the pram up the Bund steps and explains to the restaurant that the custard should have no salt, the nursing room is found before it is needed, and the day ends when the child does. Our day-guide bookings for families are planned around nap times rather than opening hours, and on the tours we swap the longer walking days for parks and boats. Tell us the ages when you enquire and we plan from there.