Altitude sickness and children

Small children are more prone to altitude sickness than adults.

A note on baby travel to regions at high altitude (over ~2500m, or ~8000ft).

I never thought about this before until a friend, who happens to be a guide in Ecuador (with notoriously high-altitude areas), gave me the heads-up about the hazards associated with bringing B to Cotopaxi volcano that would involve a hike to base camp at 4800m (~15780ft).  Quito itself (the country's capital where the airport is) is at 2800m (~9350ft).

To summarize a lengthy report I found online and details received from our friend, children experience far worse symptoms of altitude sickness than adults.  Deaths have been reported on occasion.

This link from the Wilderness Medical Society based out of Utah states that a slow, graded ascent allows acclimatization among children, with a recommended rate of 300m/per day for elevations above 2500m, and a rest day every 1000m.
High Altitude and Children - Wilderness Medical Society based out of Utah

and an actual scientific journal examining infants and altitude:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17584005

This would explain B's rosy cheeks at the Columbia Ice Field, 3000m (~9850ft), in the Canadian Rockies at 3.5 months old, and her rosy cheeks and fussiness at Papallacta hot springs, 3300m (~10850ft) in Ecuador at 5.5 months old.

B & C at base of Columbian Ice Field, AB (3000m)

Free Day Out! (aka: Ooops I forgot my wallet at home)

After packing up kid 1 and kid 2, snacks, water, stroller, extra diaper, merchandise to be returned, and self, we headed out for the mall.  As a side note, those who know me realize that this is a huge effort.  I really don't enjoy the whole mall scene.  It's dry, crowded, and I spend most of the time there wrangling my children (exhausting) or spending money (I'm cheap).  Not exactly my idea of a good time.  But today was a rainy one, so I figured it'd be a good opportunity to head indoors & be productive.

It wasn't until we got to the store counter to return some merchandise (that had arrived to my doorstep via an internet order ... praise be to internet shopping!) that I realized I was missing my wallet (& credit card), and was therefore unable to return my order.  Awesome.  So there we were, in the middle of the mall with no cash, ID, or ability to waste funds.  No biggie, scratched "being productive" off my list & explored the mall from a 3 year old's perspective ...

1st stop:  elevator!  As a bonus, it's a glass one that, when descending, you feel as though you're going into the fountain ... which brings us to the next stop ...

2nd stop: water fountain!  Who knew staring at a water fountain could be so much fun!  Had I actually had my wallet and all the no-long-in-circulation pennies weighing me down, we could have kept busy making wishes, but instead we practiced counting to see how long it'd be before the next blast of water would shoot skyward.

3rd stop:  mall rides!  You know, the ones that you feed $ into and they turn into noisy, bucking machines?  Having no cash is actually rather ideal in this situation.  Kid 1 is terrified of such craziness, but more than willing to get lost in the land of make-believe while riding on the unactivated safari car.

4th stop: vending machines!  Situated conveniently next to the rides are a bunch of shiny, flashy buttons on some huge machines.  So much fun to push.

5th stop:  photo booth!  Superman's booth?

6th stop:  halloween store!  Conveniently, t'is the season of spooky halloween stores.  It's like travelling to a free funhouse with a 1- and 3-year old.  Not only go some sweet costume ideas, but had the pants scared off of us!

7th stop:  Chapters!  The kid's section of this book store is fantastic, with toys out to play with, chairs to sit on & read, and books, books galore!  This actually worked well & saved us a no-wallet/library card trip to the library.

8th stop:  Jewellery store windows!  Seriously, what 3-year old girl doesn't love shiny things?

9th stop:  Lush handmade soap store!  Staff in this store is super friendly, and if you time it right they'll let your kids play with a bath bomb in a bucket of water.  Messy fun!

10th stop: Apple store!  The staff probably dislike me immensely, but the kids just love touching every single device in the store.

So there you have it, an easy way to spend a few hours in a mall with empty pockets.  Kids get exercise, you get social interaction with other humanoids, and no funds lost!