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[Rei-Azalia]

excellent idea! i know a ton of people who get sick at the cons! i'll add a few small ideas in too.

[Rainbowgasm]

Follow up on the preventing sickness thing... Taking Airborne for a few days to a week before a con, and during, REALLY helps, I'll be starting up on it the Monday before Con-G to give me a boost, go off it for a week and a half and start up again a few days before MTAC...

[Rei-Azalia]

Airborne? :O where can this be purchased?

[Rainbowgasm]

Originally Posted by Rei-Azalia

Airborne? :O where can this be purchased?

Your local Pharmacy... I've seen it at WalMart, Shoppers, Rexall... cheapest is WalMart though... its not prescription and I'm pretty sure its in the open area (not the part with the doors that close after 8pm XP)

[Rei-Azalia]

alright. i'll add it when my page stops being such a primadonna. i might have to put it in another category as tips is all filled up. D:

[DireKitty]

Something that should be added is that AN is not the place for newborns. I have seen many Facebook posts suggesting they want to take their newborn to AN. Common sense suggests this is a bad idea (for many reasons besides the following...). I'm not sure why people think its a brilliant idea because newborns do not have the immune system to handle the various illnesses around. It is very dangerous when infants become sick. Last year in May there were tons of illnesses going around. It is not worth the risk. Wait until your child is 3 months old and has built up some immunity. Feel free to take your baby to the park, to your friends house etc. but keep them away from 25k people swarming around in close quarters.

[Rei-Azalia]

YES! THANK YOU SO MUCH, DIRE!!! That is a great social rule. <3

[ShinobiXikyu]

Originally Posted by DireKitty

Something that should be added is that AN is not the place for newborns. I have seen many Facebook posts suggesting they want to take their newborn to AN. Common sense suggests this is a bad idea (for many reasons besides the following...). I'm not sure why people think its a brilliant idea because newborns do not have the immune system to handle the various illnesses around. It is very dangerous when infants become sick. Last year in May there were tons of illnesses going around. It is not worth the risk. Wait until your child is 3 months old and has built up some immunity. Feel free to take your baby to the park, to your friends house etc. but keep them away from 25k people swarming around in close quarters.

Plus the problems of strollers. The small sit-up collapsible ones that you'd put a 3-5 year old kid in would probably be fine, but there IS NOT ENOUGH ROOM to haul along your giant four-foot full-sized baby stroller. Especially indoors.

[DireKitty]

Originally Posted by ShinobiXikyu

Plus the problems of strollers. The small sit-up collapsible ones that you'd put a 3-5 year old kid in would probably be fine, but there IS NOT ENOUGH ROOM to haul along your giant four-foot full-sized baby stroller. Especially indoors.

Strollers yes and (the ones you are referring to are umbrella strollers and are very convenient for places like a convention or public transit), being tired with a newborn that needs to be fed 8-12 times a day, the fact that a newborns ear canal is much shorter and they are more prone to hearing loss (think of how loud that stage is outside....).

I could go on.

[AJ the Collector]

Oh lord, yeah, think of the outdoor stage. Friday of last year's AN, my ears were hurting from all the way at the water tower. It was awful. And I'm a grown man, so imagine what that'd be like for a small child or a baby.

[Ani_BEE]

Originally Posted by DireKitty

Something that should be added is that AN is not the place for newborns. I have seen many Facebook posts suggesting they want to take their newborn to AN. Common sense suggests this is a bad idea (for many reasons besides the following...). I'm not sure why people think its a brilliant idea because newborns do not have the immune system to handle the various illnesses around. It is very dangerous when infants become sick. Last year in May there were tons of illnesses going around. It is not worth the risk. Wait until your child is 3 months old and has built up some immunity. Feel free to take your baby to the park, to your friends house etc. but keep them away from 25k people swarming around in close quarters.

Plus a 3 year old can enjoy it more. Your infant, you are bring along to come to this for your benefit and not theirs. If you really want to go get a baby sitter for that day.

You couldn't bring a bay to amusement park unless you had a horde of kids and one parent would be with the baby at all time to watch them away from the crowds. Large cons kind of have the same rules in that regards and a Con is nothing but large crowds. lol



As to getting sick. I've only caught one thing is the during the 11 years of going to cons and that was during FanExpo last year. There was some serious bug going around at that time and i got hit pretty bad with it on the Sunday (to the point I was worried about passing out).

I fallow the same rules in the service industry. Before you touch anything like food wash your hands and open the door with you shoulders or hips. lol If your no where near a bathroom then make sure to use wrapper/tool to eat your food with and don't touch your food with your body.

Airborn pathogens doing the above helps as well.

[darth_horo]

3 months? Hell, wait until they're three years old is more like it. I know there's a thing about immersing kids into a new environment, but they'll easily get scared at that age, and I don't think it'd leave a good mark on the kid. Plus, bumping and close proximity to lots of other people - there's no telling how easy it'd be for a kid to get injured.

[DireKitty]

Originally Posted by darth_horo

3 months? Hell, wait until they're three years old is more like it. I know there's a thing about immersing kids into a new environment, but they'll easily get scared at that age, and I don't think it'd leave a good mark on the kid. Plus, bumping and close proximity to lots of other people - there's no telling how easy it'd be for a kid to get injured.

Well 3 months is the bare minimum before their immune system can handle things like being around a large group of people. I personally wouldn't bring a child until they are a few years old and can handle being dragged around for part of a day because even at 3 months you are basically in the hotel room feeding for a fair chunk of the day and staying away from the TCC due to the sound barrier (giant headphones for airplane peoples? lol).

.... but I have caught 2 posts from mothers-to-be on the AN forum asking about bringing a newborn to the con (1 thinking they would need a wheelchair..... so assuming this baby will basically have the gunk cleaned off and then dumped in a sea of 25k people).

[ShinobiXikyu]

Wow, that's ridiculous. Heck, new mothers should think of their own body, too- a scant few weeks after having a kid you're going to be exhausted, still healing/bleeding/sore, and probably with a problem of dealing with milk flow if you didn't bring the baby along (and everyone sensible knows that's a bad idea).

[GoddessDigi]

I won't even bring my 3 year old, much less my 1 1/2 year old. Use AN as a break from the kids (it's the one time a YEAR I get more than a few hours away from BOTH of them). lol Just imagine how hard it is to keep them out of trouble on a normal day, then multiply that times about..10. Not gonna be fun.


Anyway, tips..

Water bottles are nice, if you have a way to carry them (I know some cosplayers don't like extraneous items with them). There are water coolers throughout the con, though they do run out at times and the lines can sometimes be long.
Sewing kit, for quick fixes.
Try not to bring bags, if you can help it. The indoor Rave last year, you had to check bags (and my bag was just a tiny one, big enough for my camera, some cash and my ID). I didn't feel safe checking it, so couldn't go in. Maybe sew an inside pocket for your cash? That's sorta my plan this year..