UCB Parents Advice about Going Places
Travel to High Altitudes with Kids
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Advice about Going Places
Nov 1999
Since recent posts have gotten people thinking about traveling with
toddlers, I wanted to add a request. We're going to travel to La Paz,
Bolivia, elevation about 12,000 feet, and have wondered about the
altitude effects on our toddler. We asked her pediatrician and she said
she couldn't really find anything specifically about this, so probably not
much of an issue. Anybody else have experience with this? Thanks.
We took our two and a half year old to Ecuador and stayed in the Andes
the whole time. I was pregnant then and it took me longer to adjust than
my husband or her. She seemed just fine, and had no problems. Have a good
time!
There are two separate issues, short-term and long-term. Long-term (1
week +) your child will adjust, just like all the native-born children do.
Short-term, anyone who travels quickly from sea level to 12,000 feet
is very likely to experience altitude sickness (tiredness, dizzyness on
standing, lack of stamina, loss of appetite), which is debilitating
but not life-threatening. A few people who travel rapidly to 12,000 people
will experience high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE), a life-threatening
disease which must be treated immediately. The treatment for HAPE is to
increase oxygen intake. The traditional means to do this is to go down in
elevation. The emergency way to do it is by use of oxygen breathing
equipment or a device called a Gamow bag, either or both of which would be
available in a La Paz hospital. However, prevention always beats treatment.
If you can spend some time (1-2 days) at an intermediate elevation before
going to La Paz (e.g., a stop off in Mexico City at 7500' or Cuzco,
Peru at 10,000', that will help. The plane flight itself will give some
acclimatization, because planes are usually pressurized to the equivalent
of about 6000'. In La Paz itself, you will find that the city is laid out
along a steeply-sloping hill, with the ritzier neighborhoods at the bottom
where the air is thicker. The airport is on the plateau abovethe city. Try
to arrange in advance to spend your first 2-3 nights at someplace at the
bottom of town, where the elevation is closer to 11,000. That 1000
feet will be quite noticeable!
If you want more info, there are numerous mountaineering websites with
info on HAPE. One operated by an emergency medical service in Nepal is
particularly good. I researched all of this intensively 2 years ago
before a personal trip to over 20,000 feet on which we brought a Gamow bag
and used it to resuscitate a climber who came down with HAPE at 19,000'. I
don't have any of the Web addresses anymore, but a search for "HAPE"
and "climbing" should get you started.
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are those of parents who belong to the
UC Berkeley Parents Network and
should not be taken as a position of or endorsement by the
University of California, Berkeley.