Being a Seychelles mama (the harder bits) 0-8 months
This post is all about the harder bits about being a Seychelles mama to a 0-8 month old. These things do not outweigh the positives of living here for us. I’m not looking for sympathy here (and know I won’t get it!!!) but I thought it might be nice to share that living in the Indian Ocean does have its drawbacks!! 
- I’ll start with the obvious! Being away from family and friends. I won’t get into this too much, it speaks for itself really. There are days that are harder than others! To be honest though, I lived about 5 hours drive away from my parents before we moved here and okay tack another 10 hours to that to get here by plane but its safe to say that the views are a lot better here!! Another reason why this is hard is for help with Arthur. Mark and I really have raised him by ourselves, which I’m not complaining about but there are days where you would like to drop him off at grandparents for the afternoon and take a little break!
- Weather. Yes its glorious, and yes it makes getting Arthur dressed very easy however for the last month he has had perpetual heat rash and that sucks!!!
- Availability of anything. To me this is the hardest thing. This isn’t just baby stuff, although that effects us most these days. You can not consistently get anything here. The thing this bothers me most with is nappies. The shop at the top of our road is generally very good and does order things for us but if it runs out on Mahe (the main island) then we have to wait a few weeks/months until another shipment comes in from whatever country. There will always be some sort of nappies that we can get but for some reason people here prefer cheaper brands that are really plasticy and horrible 🙁 to me buying nappies like that are false economy, although they are cheaper you get through so many more because you have to change them every 5 minutes!
- Medical care. So this has only been highlighted in the last month where I took Arthur for the doctor for heat rash and a second time where we went to hospital. We have to pay, it’s not America expensive, but its not cheap!
- There are no groups/classes. I’m talking parent and baby groups, I do always feel a pang of jealousy when I read on twitter about mummies going to different groups or classes with their babies. It seems like a nice way to meet other parents and its something thats missing here.
- There are no pavements in most places. This is a bit of a pain for going for walks. The roads are mostly very quiet and so its not too bad but it’s not ideal!
Okay so I think thats the main things covered, can’t really think of anything else right now! I’m not sure how this list will change as Arthur gets older, i’ll be interested to look back on this!!
I see a room for growth and maybe business development here) have you ever thought about it?)
What a clever idea, I hadn’t it might be something to look into!!! X
Oh goodness, I never would have thought about any of this! I guess I just think how idyllic it all sounds. Being away from family and having no on-hand babysitters must be tough. I’m still totally, totally jealous of your sunshine though – if you ever fancy a house swap, Northern Ireland is a delightful shade of grey this time of year! 😉 E x
We went to Seychelles with our daughter when she was 20 months old. Although we had a fab time, the heat issue was annoying. And luckily we had brought nappies from the UK. I never thought that there might not be baby groups/classes. They are such a good way to get out of the house and meet other mums. Luckily you have twitter! 🙂 x
Great post my dear, people probably think oh you live in an amazing place what you have that’s tough but it is still normal life that things can be tricky. My friends and family all think England is this magical European place I should be so lucky. But I miss my family and friends, my culture, the brands and things I loved and foods I was used to. It’s just different. I totally can empathize with you. I can’t imagine how stranded you must feel sometimes!!! Thank you ever so much for linking up with Share With Me. I love reading your post and getting to know you better and your lovely blog. #sharewithme
I can’t imagine living somewhere we can’t be sure of getting nappies in at the drop of hat – how frustrating! And I’m quite sure living so far from family is a strain – mine are all within an hour away, and some just 10 minutes. But the sun and the beauty of the place, I’m sure, makes up for this x
I think with most people’s lives – The good outweighs the bad thankfully! Those things would be negatives for me too x
This is really interesting to read, as a fellow expat, the things you find annoying/tough may be different but I can completely empathise. The family and friends thing is really hard. Also, bizarrely, the heat – last summer the temperature here was consistently in the 90’s and the wee girl had the most awful heat rash, I had to start popping baking soda in the bath and popping calamine on it to try and ease it! I loved the sunshine though 🙂 #ShareWithMe
Just popping back from your lovely linky 🙂 It is definitely tough to be away from all our familiar things, especially family. Even though we have pavements here, they are sometimes so badly maintained… I don’t think we’re expected to use them 🙂
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Haha oh dear that’s no good I’m surprised that things aren’t maintained there, I guess people tend to drive right!?
So happy to have you join in Sara! X
I agree with the poster above – seize the opportunity and set up your own groups! (And maybe a nappy Importing business?!)
Sounds an amazing place though…
#MMWBH
Wow, all the little things we take for granted at home! It was exactly like this when I was there 21-years ago, maybe you should stockpile nappies etc when they’re available. Are there no other ex-pats where you are? Might be worth trying to find a few and set up your own group. What an incredible place to bring up a child though…
It must be so hard not having family close by. Both sets of our parent live less than 5 mins drive away, so we always have willing babysitters whenever we want them. Just today I dropped O off at my mums so I could pop to the chemist and supermarket on my own. I can imagine not having that option can be pretty draining at times xx
Great post. I can’t imagine not living close to family, I don’t think I’d cope!!
Great post. These things would really bother me, but I’m sure it is a very beautiful place live. I know my 16yo wouldn’t dig it though. Zx popping over from#BinkyLinky
It’s nice to know their some drawbacks to living in paradise! Now I don’t have to be so jealous of you lol!
I’m pleased the good outweigh the bad but can definitely see that little things like this would annoy you and really start to wind you up! But at least you have so many nice things which make up for it plus skype for keeping in touch! #MMWBH
Whilst I just read how amazing your life is being a mom in the seychelles you are so right it does sound like there are some difficult draw backs. Must feel so isolated especially when you need things for baby. And I get the whole friends and family thing for sure. That truly is he hardest of them all. Iknow. Thanks for linking up to Share With Me #sharewithme
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Thank goodness for blogging hey lovely, bet it’s kept you sane on more than one occasion! Having lived as an as an ex pat without children I can empathise with you here (on some levels) I romanticize over the fantasy of going back to to live in Asiaoften, but know the reality would be too difficult. Great post xxx #sharewithme
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No pavements?! Whaaaat! That blows my tiny mind!
In all seriousness I think it must be so hard not having family and friends close by. We often take for granted the fact that Adam’s parents, and now my Mum, all live up the road so help us a lot.
Lovely post lady, I love hearing about raising children in different parts of the world, and your posts are fab! x
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I totally forgot to remind you but this post would also link up nicely to The Truth about.. over on And then the fun began. I think we do overlook these small but significant drawbacks when we dream of life in paradise. I’m glad you have some lovely benefits too though and, as Mummy Tries says blogging must be a great way to stay involved (now we just need a live feed from one or two conferences so you get that experience too!) X #sharewithme
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I liked ready your post, just wondering though if you’ve thought about cloth nappies? I’ve not been reading your blog long as I only found it last week from Jennys lovely #sharewithme blog hop but I will certainly be reading in future! I’m not sure what type of washing facilities you have but I love my cloth nappies, they contain things far better than disposable and your much less likely to run out.
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I would absolutely love to have cloth nappies, the only reason we have never done it is because you can’t buy them here and very expensive to ship anything so we were nervous about spending all the money and then find we didn’t get on with the brand/style/fit etc….we also worried that he would be very hot in them. What do you think? Any recommends?
Thanks for commenting and glad you’ve found me 🙂
I don’t think they make them too hot, I’m pretty sure that I’ve read they are cooler than disposable because they are cloth and not all plastic, but can’t find the article right now. Plus they look great with just a tshirt! Such a shame it costs so much to post things over or I would have sent you one as a gift. Do you know of any relatively cheap ways to send things?
You’re right they do look super cute, so much nicer then disposables!!! ahhhh that’s so sweet of you!! My mum always finds Royal Mail to be the cheapest way by far!!! It’s something we will definitely look into we have another baby one day!!
I can fully empathise with you. I’ve lived in places where it’s been hard to get anything (pre babies, but still complicated) and consistently hot weather is tiring I know, and surprisingly when I had my first kid 15 years ago there really weren’t any baby groups near me in the Paris suburbs either. So I hear you! I’ve also spent several months on an island in the Caribbean which everyone thought must have been paradise which of course was amazing but I got island fever! Don’t you ever feel you want to escape, but there’s no where to go? I was never more than 20 mins from home which I found hard. Lving in paradise is very different to holidaying there! What took you to the Seychelles in the first place?
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Nice to have someone understand that island life isn’t perfect Phoebe!! Or expat life of any sort really!!L
Living here is definitely not a holiday but I do love it, I very rarely feel island fever I have to say, lots of my friends here feel it though!
My husband applied for the teaching job here and got it 🙂 xx
I hear you. Although I am insanely jealous of your beautiful weather and location!! As for nappies, have you considered cloth? You’ll never run out then x x
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Hello, found you through Pheobe at Lou Messugo. When our son (now 14) was a baby we were five minutes walk from my inlaws and it was superb! My husband worked away from home and it was great having them as support. When Ed was 3 we moved from UK to France and are now a 12 hour drive from family. We have been here ten years and I still miss the support, but now Ed is old enough to spend a month in the summer with his English grandparents and that is special for him, for them and for us!
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I don’t think you need to apologize at all for finding that there are difficulties in being an expat….even in a beautiful place. Having a network of family and friends near by is very important for new moms…and even for moms of big kids. First of all you don’t get to se eyour family, and they don’t get to see yours and second of all you don’t have as many people to rely on.
We don’t think we’ll have a second child and a lot of it comes down to not really having a support system.
I love how you are being honest with yourself about the challenges and yet not letting them weigh you down!
#myexpatfamily !!!
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Thank you for your lovely comment Angie it’s so nice chatting with expat parents who really do understand the difficulties involved!! Xx
There are always downsides anywhere. I have a similar problem – nappies and baby stuff is generally easy to get here but a baby monitor! The only one in town is a top of the range £150 video and movement monitor. I just wanted a bog standard £20 Tomy radio monitor like we had with the older two.
RE nappies have you thought about ordering some cloth nappies – we used them with our older two and they are very easy – our stock is currently en route from the UK to Malaysia to be used on our third.
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What cloth nappies do you get? We looked at it but we were concerned they would be too hot once you put the little pads in or whatever (can you tell I have no idea what I’m talking about with cloth nappies?) who did you ship with to get to you, shipping here can be SO expensive 🙁 x
WE used bambino mio – but you could just use mulsins with the liner and an outer wrap. OUr nappies are ancient – they date back to our oldest child and as well as our older two have been used by three other kids of friends. I am shipping out our cot and highchair from the UK and decided to add the nappies into the mix – it only cost £300 and they should be here in a few weeks. It was all stuff we had lent to a friend and needed to put back either in our container in the UK (difficult to arrange from abroad and we are not going back for a while at least) or get out here with us.
I sympathise with shipping – From Astana to here was ruinous as there is no road, rail or sea route so our stuff had to go by air – no furniture just clothes and toys and some books – $8000 plus!
I found the cloth nappies better for rashes etc if changed quickly – they were cheaper overall and helped with potty training. They were not too hot in the (UK) summer and would probably be more comfortable than the plasticy disposables.
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I might take another look at it, how many realistically do you think I’d need (considering Arthur is now 16 months!) x
Great post, it really highlights that expat life can be hard, even in the most idyllic places! I completely hear you on the heat rash. I never thought I would complain about good weather but the summers in Milan are BRUTAL. M gets every year and it’s hard to stop him from scratching it.
I second what everyone has said about the cloth nappies, but then you knew we were fans already! For full-time use 25 are recommended, but you could also get 10 or so and go half-and-half. It’d still help (they are definitely kinder to skin in the heat than plasticky disposables), especially as I imagine they’d dry pretty quickly where you are! Or you could leave Arthur butt-naked when you’re at home… We started potty training M at 18 months to save on washing!
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It cannot be easy having to wait so long for important things, and being away from family can make one feel lonely. But on the bright side, you do live in a place people dream of!
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It must be really hard but I’m pleased that the positives outweigh the negatives. I think with everything in life there are both and it’s just working out which is most important. Arthur is having the most incredible upbringing and is being raised by a couple who aren’t afraid of new experiences which will influence the way he goes on to live his own life. I’ve dreamed of living on an island ever since we travelled and saw some English and New Zealand families raising their children in places like the Cook Islands and Fiji. Think of the amazing memories those children will grow up with! I’m pleased we chose to move to Australia but I’ll always wonder what life would have been like if we’d chose a small island in the South Pacific! x
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