In New mom in Stuttgart

Being a mom in Stuttgart of a 6 months old baby

OK, first of all I have to confess that the headline is not completely correct: I am not in Stuttgart at the moment but traveling in Australia 🙂 So this mom-life update will be a lot about traveling with an infant. 

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How is the little one at 6 months?

She is so much fun! She is much more awake now than she was a few weeks and of course months ago. This can also be challenging as she wants to be entertained. But now we can play some easy games with her and she responds to them which is so cute. 

And we have officially started weaning now. So far she is a brave eater, she is very open and tries everything we offer her. The official recommendation in Germany is that you start with vegetable-popato-meat puree and feed them every day around noon.

Mom in Stuttgart of a 6 months old baby

We have decided to follow a slightly different approach and started with introducing her to different tastes first. So far she has eaten fennel, sweet potato, peas, regular potato, broccoli and avocado. As babies that age need a lot of iron (that’s why the official recommendation points out to include meat every day) we now mix millet flakes in her puree (and offer her two spoons of fruit purree as dessert as aparently vitamin C helps her to get most of the iron out of the flakes) and twice a week meat. Please note that I am not saying that this is the only or best way to do it! I am no doctor or nutrition specialist. I am only describing our personal approach. To all fellow moms who are in or through the weaning stage: How did you do it? Do you have any tipps? 

How is traveling with a 6 months old baby?

An adventure 😀 For those who are not following our trip in my Instagram stories: We are spening 3 months of Moritz’ Elternzeit abroad, in Australia. 

Mom in Stuttgart of a 6 months old baby Elternzeitreise

First of all I have to say: she is doing great! She is the bravest little thing I can think of. She has adopted to everything and every situation we have inflicted on her so very well, I sometimes can‘t believe it.

I was very worried about the long flight from Frankfurt to Sydney. As we wanted it to be as relaxing as possible we broke it up a bit and stayed in a transit hotel at the airport in Singapore for 12 hours. That was the best decision ever as all of us got to sleep for around 10 hours. But even on the flights the little one did great, especially on the one from Frankfurt to Singapore. She smiled at everybody, was happy on my lap for take-off and even accepted the baby bassinet as her new temporary bed without any protest. 

I was only breastfeeding at that time so we didn’t have to deal with feeding her solid food on the plane (and needing to clean her, us and everything around us afterwards :-D) and even though I had worried at the beginning if breastfeeding would work in the plane I can announce that it worked out perfectly. On the first flight the two seats next to us were occupied by another mom with a 4 months old baby and her 3 years old daughter so I didn’t feel weird breastfeeding at all. On the second flight an elderly gentleman was sitting next to me but he fell asleep quickly and as it was dark – and I was at that stage experienced with breastfeeding on a plane 😀 – it worked out great, too. 

When we arrived in Sydney my best friend and the little one’s godmother (who is living here permanently and who was the main reason why we chose Australia for our Elternzeit adventure) picked us up at the airport. We stayed with her at her place for three nights before we boarded the next plane that brought us to Tasmania, an island right under Australia, which we will be exploring for 7 weeks before we come back to Sydney for 3 more weeks.

So far we have stayed in an airbnb in Hobart for 5 nights before we picked up a RV that will be our temporary home for the next 6 weeks.

Elternzeit in Tasmanien

And again, the little one has adopted to all these new situations surprisingly well: She has accepted the port-a-cot in the airbnb, she didn’t mind doing sightseeing in Hobart with us, neither in her new pram (we got a light travel pram for the trip) nor in the baby carrier and she adopted to our new daily routine in the motorhome very quickly, too. At the beginning she wasn’t a big fan of the child seat she has to sit in when we are driving or maybe it were the new, strange sounds of the motorhome itself (it is obviously much louder than our car at home) but after a few days and short drives she has made her peace with it and even sleeps in it! She is the best! 🙂

Elternzeit Tasmanien

So far only two things are a bit complicated: The wheather and the situation with bushfires. 

In a motorhome the temperatures are never perfect. It is either too warm or too cold. This can be slightly annoying when traveling by yourself but with an infant it can be really tricky. We’ve had super warm days where we were all sweating but then, as soon as it was night, the temperature dropped and we had to turn on the heater. Well, we definitely manage, it is just a bit complicated.

Then the bushfires. You have probably heard of the severe fires in Australia this year. They were actually the reason why we are in Tasmania now. Our original plan was to drive from Sydney to Melbourne but that was not possible anymore because of the fires. Here in Tasmania the situation is MUCH much better but you still have to be cautious. A few days after we had taken over the motorhome there was a fire warning for the East coast – exactly for the time when we had planned to be there. So we had to change plans and drove on the other side of the island instead – only to sit in smoke that came over all the way from the mainland on one afternoon. But it looks like the situation is getting better now. There has been rain in Tasmania and apparently there has been heavy rain on the mainland now, too. 

I will put together a special post about tipps for traveling with an infant as soon as we are back (I want to wait and see how the flight home works out :-)) so I will stop here for now. 

What is she loving lately?

  • Peas 🙂 I can say that my little girl is a big fan of peas, how awesome is that! 
  • Looking at her reflection in the mirror. It fascinates her. 
  • Empty water bottles. They keep her entertained for 10 minutes (which is REALLY long! :-D)
  • When we are reading to her. We got some books for babies from her godmother in Germany that we have brought with us on the trip. One is about a little bunny that doesn‘t want to go to bed. She LOVES this story and the pictures and always laughs when we turn the pages. 

What I love lately

  • The rain and wind proof jacket for the baby carrier that we bought right before our trip. If you are looking for a durable, reliant jacket that does not only cover you but also your baby in the carrier, check out Mamalila. Their clothes come with a price BUT they are produced with great care, designed with the comfort of the mama and baby in mind (eg they have hats for both, you can change the jacked depending if you want to carry the little one in the front or on your back, there is a part that you can close around your neck so that you don’t get cold when there is wind etc) and they even look good. Baby carrier Jacket Mamalila
  • The Philips Avent baby food maker [affiliate link] that we got recently. We can steam the vegetables in there and then simply flip the jar to blend them. And we also use it to steam vegetables for our dinners as well. Win-win! 😀 Philips Avent baby food maker
  • Being on this epic Elternzeit adventure with my two loves 😀 It is sometimes exhausting and challenging? Yes. Is it an amazing time for the three of us in a beautiful country? Oh YESSSS! 😀 Elternzeit in Tasmanien

How are you feeling 6 months after you gave birth?

Half a year ago I gave birth to the most wonderful little girl I can think of. Not one day passes without me looking at her and thinking how blessed we are, what a wonder is is to be a mother.

But obviously giving birth is a tough job. Since I became a mother I have realized how brave and strong we women are. Giving birth is seriously the hardest, scariest and most painful thing I have ever done in my life. And women are doing it every day, every minute, around the wold. How freaking awesome are we?! 🙂 Every mom out there is a heroine. Period.

Ok, back to the topic. I thought it might be interesting to talk about how I am feeling half a year after I gave birth:

Actually, quite good. I am definitely not back to my former self but I am feeling good and I notice that I am getting in the right direction. My main point of concern was and is the pelvis. And when it comes to that it is still a long way to go. Apart from that, I am fine with every change of my body.

Elternzeit Tasmanien

I am sure that it has helped a lot that I have started to „work out“ as soon as the midwife gave me green light. And with „working out“ I mean going to postnatal trainings. Did you know that your German Krankenkasse/health insurance pays for a Rückbildungskurs? This is definitely something you want to take advantage of!

After this course I enrolled in two of the classes LaufMamaLauf are offering. They even have one English class now: starting in March every Tuesday from 9:30 am to 10:30 am at Bärenseen.

I can definitely say that the courses helped a lot! There is still a long way to go (yes pelvic floor, it is you I am talking about…) but it is great to see some progress. Fun fact: From all the workouts and from carrying the little one around all the time I have stronger arms now than before I became pregnant! 😀

I know that it is hard for everyone who doesn‘t speak German to find postnatal courses in English. That‘s why I would like to point out Gravidamiga to you guys. They are a partner company of Living in Stuttgart and they are offering all kind of pre- and postnatal courses in English in Stuttgart. Check out their brand new website for more details: gravidamiga.com

Ok, enough said for one month 😊 I will leave you with some pictures from beautiful Tasmania.

Cradle Mountain

Elternzeit Tasmanien

Elternzeit Tasmanien

Elternzeit Tasmanien

Mellivinginstuttgart

Hello and welcome to "living in Stuttgart". I am Mel and I love this beautiful city. There are so many things to explore, I can't wait sharing them with you. So come along and let me show you Stuttgart the way I see it.

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