going to Germany with a toddler

[wolfbaby]

Hello mamas! My dh and I are taking our ds to Germany in June for 2 weeks. We are going to go to 2 World Cup games in Munich and to Lindau to relax in between the games. Our ds will be 22 months old when we are there.

My questions are....
1) Ds still breastfeeds although not often in public anymore. If I need to nurse him in public, how acceptable will it be?

2) Would you recommend renting a car for transportation, especially for travelling between Munich and Lindau, or will public transportation/train travel be better? We will have a car seat with us.

3) What are popular foods for toddlers in Germany? I'd like to start offering foods to ds that are similar to those he will eat there.

4) Although we are going to cook in Lindau (we rented a house), when we do go to restaurants, what are signs of a "child-friendly" place? We like to go to local places - not American fast food!

Any other advice will also be very much appreciated! Danke!

[Hollycrand]

Hello! You are very lucky to have gotten WM (World Cup) tickets. They are like gold for most European countries. Anyways, I have a 2.5 year old here in Germany, and can give you some tips:

1) No problem to breastfeed anytime, anywhere. The only difficulty you might have is that if you do breastfeed in a restaurant, many restaurants do not have smoking/non smoking sections, so the person next to you might light up a cigarette (upon which you should promptly ask him/her to put it out as you are breastfeeding...it's not considered rude, and usually they will comply).
I've breastfed dd in almost every situation, even as a toddler. No comments at all - in fact, several times some people asked me if they could bring me anything to make me more comfortable, or if I prefer switching tables or to go into another room if the child needed some quiet and calm. Breastfeeding is seen as natural, and even though you won't see many mothers nursing toddlers, no one will ask you to cover up or to stop.

2) Train travel is very convenient here, with some trains having 'playgrounds' in one particular compartment. The convenience with the train is that your child can get up and move around.
However, it is also nice to have a car to be a bit more flexible. You can stop off wherever you want, and can see some nice 'out of the way' places this way. You can ask the tourist office in Munich if there are any sights interesting for children (often there are nice farms, a couple of castles (sometimes with playgrounds), beer gardens in smaller towns (almost always with playgrounds) and such).

3) Popular foods for children in Germany. Hmmm. Potatoes and carrots, on the healthy side. In many restaurants they serve special menus with pommes (fries), hot dogs, fried fish sticks, or fried chicken nuggets, which aren't too healthy. You can usually ask for some soup and bread for your child, or for a smaller portion of rice, spätzle, or noodles. You can always ask (but not always receive) for some mashed potatoes.

4) Restaurants. Mediterranean restaurants (Greek, Italian...) are your best bet for child friendly restaurants in the evenings. Lunchtime you could probably go almost anywhere, especially if they've got a seating section outside.

Be warned...fruits and veggies in the supermarkets usually are swimming in pesticides, so it's best to get them from a 'small' mom & pop place, a farm, or an organic shop (BIO laden). It's also difficult to find a lot of organic products in the normal supermarkets. In downtown Munich there are a few branches of a shop called 'Basic' which is an organic supermarket and very good in terms of selection. There might also be an 'Alnatura' shop around - I'm less impressed with their selection, but it's not too expensive and organic (BIO).
Buy special foods to take for your dc during the Wotld Cup games. They don't usually sell healthy food there, and unless you want him to fill up on hot dogs and fries you should bring some of his 'normal' foods. You might want to ask if there are any special facilities or places for younger children at the stadium (soccer/football crowds can get a bit rowdy...)

One more thing: weather. In June it can be very hot and humid, or cool and rainy. Bring closed toed shoes in addition to summer shoes, plus a waterproof coat and hat. Better to be prepared!

I hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you have any further specific questions.

[wolfbaby]

Thank you Holly! I posted more thanks as another thread because I hit the wrong button. :)

[Vicitoria]

Hello, I know this is a little late but I wanted to chime in. Not to be negative but honest because I thought it would be a lot easier with public transportation that it actually is.

Trains are very convienient but not exactly stroller friendly. Some trains are double decker and you either have to take steps up or down to find a seat. There may be an empty place to put a stroller or wheel chair but if it's already in use you are out of luck expecially if you have things packed ever so perfectly in your stroller basket and you don't want to stow your stroller.

If you are traveling with another person you should be OK to get up and down steps in busses and trams but be aware there are certain doors to use for strollers or wheel chairs and they are marked with pictures. Tram riders here in Duesseldorf are usually quick to help and move from the stroller designated areas but not always during rush hour times.

Traffic can be a mess but a car in general is most likely better to have for long distances or to carry groceries etc... Keep in mind cars here are very small. We just finished registering our car here and are so happy to have our simple Huyndai Elantra with a trunk. If you rent a car, rent a large one. Our rental car barely fit 4 people with 2 small suitcases. The stroller was in the middle of the car which is OK for across town but if you aren't used to driving here you probably wouldn't want to be that cramped. We are so happy to return that car. You may also want to stipulate an automatic car if you aren't used to driving a stick even if you know how. I think most rental car companies know that though.

Food - there are many international moms here out walking with their kids and they are quick to share food so beware. A little boy gave my 16 month old popcorn with peanuts in it. The next week it was potato chips and some junky chocolate covered granola bar. Even if you understand German you may not understand a non-german person speaking it so beware if you have allergies. But, it also shows how friendly people are. Ds regularly recieves chocolate and lollypops from our neighbor. He looses insterest in them quickly so I'm not too worried but I'm certainly not going to let him eat an entire chocolate bar.

Changing rooms - there are very clean bathrooms in general in germany because you are expected to tip the full time attendant. The big department stores have beautiful changing rooms as well as the rest areas in southern germany. They usually have toilets and well equipt changing tables complete with wipes, daipers and paper. Heck, they have mobiles and things on the wall too. ON the other hand, we were in Frankfurt airport the other day and I could barely fit the stroller in the changing room but it was at least clean.

My son is the same age as yours and was basically stroller free before we came here. He hasn't been worn since he was 6 months old. It was hard getting him back in the stroller. We had to do it for safety reasons because we are in a city and it's crowded. It is his safety zone now and even when we let him out he asks to be put back in when he is ready or overwhelmed. I wore him once for a late evening dog walk when dh was working late and that was a bit odd to him so you may want to make those adjustments if you need to before coming since there will be especially large crowds everywhere. You will probably have to stand on public transport to and from matches.

That's everything I thought of to add to get you ready for your trip. This is a beautiful country with so many wonderful people, places to see and new foods to eat. I hope you have a great trip!

[wolfbaby]

Thanks for the advice! I am going to bring a sling so that I can wear ds when needed (especially for going to and from the games - where strollers definitely won't be allowed). It's a good idea to get him used to being worn more often - as he gets older he spends less time in the sling. Less than 3 months until we go! :bouncy