baby Archives - Living in Stuttgart

Things to do during the lockdown: getting ready for your baby!

Mellivinginstuttgart — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 15:33:34 +0000

Advertisement as I point out services of a local company.

To all moms-to-be and new moms out there: You have my biggest respect! Becoming or being a mom is tough enough. But in the middle of a pandemic… WOW!

But you are not alone and you can still seek and get support. Gravidamiga, a local company that focuses on services for international moms in the Stuttgart area, has moved many of their services online. Here are some examples of their various courses:

And of course you can always contact them for an individual request.

To see all posts concerning things to do during the lockdown, check out the tag fun online courses and events

The post Things to do during the lockdown: getting ready for your baby! appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

Introducing solid food to your baby the German way

Mellivinginstuttgart — Mon, 25 May 2020 10:04:00 +0000

Today I would like to talk about introducing solid food to your baby the German way and share our personal approach. I find it quite interesting that such an important step like changing from milk to solid food is still done very differently in various countries. Thanks to one of my readers (Hi Magge! :-)) I know that in the US you start with cereals mixed with formula or breastmilk before progressing to meat. And I have heard that in Asia rice plays an important role from the beginning. I thought I start with pointing out the official German recommendations for introducing solid food before I talk about how we did it. At the end of the article I have placed an overview and the recipes of the three purees I will introduce here as an pdf-file to download.

[Transparency: This post contains unpaid advertisement and affiliate links]

Introducing solid food to your baby the German way – official recommendations

When I started to do research about how to introduce solid food to my little one I turned to the website of Baden-Württemgberg and found this brochure: Von Anfang an mit Spaß dabei – Essen und Trinken im ersten Lebensjahr. It points out all the official recommendations that are based on scientific research. Unfortunately it is written only in German. So here comes an overview about the main facts when introducing solid food to your baby the German way in English:

Don’t start with solid food before the 5th month as it might overwhelm your baby’s body.
Don’t wait longer than the 7th month as breast milk or formula won’t supply enough iron and zinc in the second half of the first year anymore
Trust your baby. It will show you when it is ready for solid food. Indicators are when it is interested in what’s on your plate, when it tries to grab your food and when it opens it’s mouth so that you can give him or her a spoonful. Your baby should be able to sit upright and turn it’s head away from the food before you start introducing solids.
In Germany we start with a vegetable-potato-meat-puree. It is full of iron and zinc and thus provides exactly what your baby needs after the first 6 months. This puree is usually served as lunch.
- Vitamin C is important to help the body absorb the iron so it should be part of every lunch. You can for example mix 3-4 teaspoons of apple- or orange juice in the puree or offer your baby fruit puree for dessert.
- In order to help your baby to get used to solid food you should start with introducing just one sort of vegetable at a time and just offer a few spoons. Increase the amount from day to day and introduce other vegetables, then start mixing the vegetables with potatoes and add one tablespoon of oil. Use high quality and organic oil. Rapeseed oil is particularly good but linseed oil, sunflower seed oil or soy oil are also suitable.
- Replace the meat once or twice a week with fish. Salmon, cod and haddock are very healthy for your baby.
- If you are skeptical about introducing meat at such a young age vegetarian alternatives are 10 g millet or oat flakes. They are a good source of iron, too. Add 3-4 tablespoons of apple or orange juice or fruit puree as iron from plant sources is harder to absorb for the body and the vitamin C is very needed. Raising your baby vegan is not recommended.
Between month 6 and 8 the second puree follows: The official German recommendations state that it is now time to introduce milk-grain-puree as dinner. This is the first time the baby gets introduced to whole milk. It is a good source of calcium, proteins and iodine however you can also use formula or breastmilk for this puree. Fruit is also part of this puree in order to help the body absorb the iron of the grains.
The third puree is introduced between month 7 and 9 as afternoon-meal. The grain-fruit-puree is prepared without milk.
Water is introduced with the third puree. 200 ml spread over the day is sufficient until the baby starts eating what you are eating, then the amount should be raised to 600 ml.

Introducing solid food to your baby the German way – recipes

Here come the official recipes for the three purees named above:

Vegetable-potato-meat-puree

100 g vegetables
50 g potatoes
30 g meat or fish
1 ts oil
3–4 tsp fruit puree or juice

Cut the vegetable, potatoes and meat/fish in small pieces and steam for 10-15 min. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and blend everything. Add water until the consistency is as your baby likes it. Add the fruit puree or juice into the puree or serve the puree as dessert.

Milk-grain-puree

200 ml whole milk (3,5 %–3,8 % fat)
20 g grain (flakes)
20 g fruit puree

Bring the milk to boil and add the grain. Let swell for 3-5 minutes on low heat. Let puree cool down a bit and then add the fruit puree.

Grain-fruit-puree

90 ml water
20 g grain
100 g fruit
1 ts oil

Bring water to boil and add the grain. Let swell for 2-3 minutes on low heat. Let cool down a bit and then add the fruit puree and oil.

Always check the temperature of the puree before you serve it to your baby!

Introducing solid food to your baby the German way – our approach

We started introducing solid food when our little one was 6 months old. She was interested in our food before, around month five, so we sometimes handed her steamed veggies from our plates to nibble on. For one month or so we introduced vegetable after vegetable and fed her the same veggie puree for 3-5 days before we introduced a new one. She loved fennel, parsnip, sweet potato, peas, regular potato, broccoli and avocado. Then we added potato and millet flakes and finally twice a week meat.

I wanted to prepare all her purees myself at the beginning in order to introduce her to the real tastes. I loved this blender from Philips Avent [affiliate link], it was so super easy to use and saved us much time and trouble. We bought it on our Elternzeit trip in Australia and it was a lifesaver in the camper van and also later at home.

I always used and still use millet flakes and not the normal grains. Just because it makes preparing the puree a bit easier. I use the organic flakes/Hirseflocken from Alnatura which can be purchased at dm for example.

When the little one was 7 months old we introduced the milk-grain-puree. I am a big fan of the products from Holle as they follow very high organic standards. Her favorite is Holle Babybrei Grieß (semolina) [affiliate link] but we also feed her Holle Babybrei Dinkel (spelt) [affiliate link] sometimes to mix it up a bit.

When she turned 8 months we started to introduce the grain-fruit-puree. However, she is not a big fan and didn’t eat much. So we prepare it with milk now as well. Babies under 1 year of age shouldn’t consume more than 200 ml of milk per day but as she is only eating 100 ml of her milk-grain-puree it isn’t a problem when we feed her 100 ml of the same puree again. And when she eats more we stretch it with water.

She is now nearly 10 months old and we have started feeding her chunkier pieces so that she can train her jaw muscles. We give her whole grain bread (finely grounded so that she can’t choke anything), penne, pieces of avocado, banana and very soft pear and sometimes Holle baby rusks [affiliate link] and lentil-rice-curls from dm babylove.

With the third puree we have also introduced water and tea. We started with this baby fennel tea from Alnatura [affiliate link] but she is also fine with plain water now. We use a learner cup like this one from Nuk [affiliate link].

By the way we use this oil from Holle [affiliate link] for the purees.

I still try to prepare most of her purees myself but sometimes there is just not enough time. For these occasions I have a selection of organic puree jars at home:

I also find it very helpful to have some organic meat jars at hand that I can simply mix into any vegetable puree.

Tipp from a local mom: If you want to serve your baby high quality organic vegetables or meat look for the Demeter sign. The Demeter certification shows that the farmers are following biodynamic standards which are higher than all other organic standards. Find out more on the Demeter website.

Please note that I am not saying we are doing it right! You do you and what is best for your baby 🙂

For more information about introducing solid food the German way you can check out this article on Gravidamiga that is co-written by a German midwife.

Download the overview

For your convenience I have put together the main aspects about introducing solid food to your baby the German way and the recipes for the three purees in an pdf-file that you can download here for free:

Introducing solid food to your baby the German way (pdf)

What do you think about the German way of introducing solid food to your baby? And what approach are you following?

Transparency:
This post contains non-paid advertisements as well as affiliate links to amazon.com. When you follow an affiliate link and buy something on amazon I get a little compensation while you don’t pay more. This is part of my income as blogger.

The post Introducing solid food to your baby the German way appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

What I’ve learned from being a new mom in Stuttgart of a 5 months old baby

Mellivinginstuttgart — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 13:08:45 +0000

Hello and welcome to my monthly retrospect about the last month with my sweet baby girl. In this post I share how it feels like being a mom in Stuttgart of a 5 months old baby.

[This post contains non-paid links to products and services I like as well as affiliate links to amazon. When a link is an affiliate link I will write that after the link. Affiliate means that if you buy something on amazon.de I get a little reward while your price is not affected. This helps me to maintain my blog.]

How is the little one at 5 months?

She is very active 🙂 She actually prefers lying on her stomach over lying on the back now. I totally understand because in this position she can play more easily and that’s what she’s into these days. Oh, and she has gotten her first tooth!! 😀

The biggest highlight in the last four weeks definitely was celebrating Christmas with the little one. Obviously she did not understand what was going on but just having her around, showing her the tree and singing Christmas songs for her was so beautiful. We had our parents come over at Christmas Eve to our place and our baby girl got some lovely presents from her grandparents. Then we all sang some songs together and she looked at us with big eyes and listend carefully. Around seven we put her to bed and then enjoyed Raclette 🙂

By the way, I found a great substitute for sparkling wine. If you are also breastfeeding or pregnant and need to avoid alcohol, you have to try Prisecco from Manufaktur Jörg Geiger! I saw their stand at the Stuttgart Christmas market this year and remembered that we once had their alcohol free Prisecco at a party in my office years ago. And I remembered that it was really good. So I bought it again and what can I say: I LOVE it! It’s not your usual, super sweet alcohol free sparkling wine. It is a refreshing, sparkling and fruity drink that tastes delicious. It definitely comes with a price (nearly 10 Euro for one bottle?!) but it is high quality and locally produced. We had it again on New Year’s Eve and it was a hit. I bought it from my local EDEKA but you can order it online, too.

What she loves:

We have noticed that she tried to grab the fish in the “pond” I pointed out in my last mom life update and got quite frustrated because she could not get them. So we got her a new play blanket, one with all sort of things to grab and touch. I have found this one from Lamaze [affiliate link] but I bought it second hand on eBay Kleinanzeigen. It is actually quite cute as the butterfly and the leaves make sizzling noises when you grab them and the little bug and the baby bird are rattling/squeaking when she shakes/squeezes them. She LOVES it 🙂
Being carried around – while we are outside, taking her for a walk “in” the pram. She usually sleeps in the pram but nowadays she is more often awake and gets bored lying in there and starts complaining. So we have to take her out and as soon as she is in our arms she is happy again and looks around very interested.
Parsnip. It turned out my little girl is actually a little gourmet. We introduced slurry to her diet two weeks ago. She was not very keen on carrots, this much I can tell you. There was an incident with a spoon flying through the room… 😀 But then we tried parsnip and it is a hit! She is even leaning towards the spoon now and has a big smile in her face when she has the slurry in her mouth.

What we’ve been up to this month

Memories for a life time

When babys are small like our little girl is at the moment it is hard to picture them as toddlers, teens or grown ups. But they grow SOOOO very very fast! It makes you want to freeze the moment. And a few weeks ago I found a way how we can actually preserve this special time – at least a little bit: Did you know you can make life sized replicas of your baby’s feet and hands?! I just learned that in December and I LOVED the idea of it.

I found the lovely midwife and artist Kerstin Steiner through a recommendation of a friend and made an appointment with her at the beginning of December. This gave her enough time to finish the replicas before Christmas because Moritz and I thought that these little artworks would make the perfect Christmas present for the grandparents! 😀

Kerstin is based in Waldenbuch, just a 20 minutes or so drive from Stuttgart. She welcomed us warmly and showed us around. She actually does baby belly artworks as well and photoshoots for families. And she is experienced in working with English speakers.

When we arrived she connected with our little girl instantly. As a former midwife she knows how to treat babies so that they feel comfortable and relaxed. We were offered hot drinks and then Kerstin prepared everything for the big occasion: A box with a warm, liquid mass where the little one had to put her feed, later hand, in. So far, so good. The trick with babies is to make them hold still. But the four of us were a great team: Moritz was holding our baby girl, I was standing in front of her, singing and making a fool out of myself to distract her and Kerstin gently put her feed/hand in the mass and held it until the mass got solid. That only took 2 minutes and luckily our angel played along nicely.

Kerstin could see right away that the feed imprint was perfect. With the hand we could not be sure, we had to wait until she had formed it out. You can imagine what wonderful news it was when she contacted us a few days later to tell us that all the replicas turned out great! I was so happy!

There are countless options how the replicas can be presented: in a frame, on a frame, on a canvas… I wanted them to be viewable from 360 degrees so Kerstin put them on little stilts. I am SO happy with the results! They will always remind us on how tiny our girl once was. And she will look at them later and wonder how tiny she was 🙂

And of course the replicas made great presents for the grandparents!

Kerstin, thank you SO, SO much for your wonderful work! You are the best!!

Baby massage course

I wanted to do a baby massage course much earlier but never found one that suited me time and location wise. But some things happen for a reason I think. Because a few weeks ago I met wonderful Josette. Josette is co-organizer of the Bumps meet-ups at Karl’s Kitchen (you find more about them in my former post as well) AND she teaches baby massage courses in English! When I met Josette I felt instantly that she is a warm and caring person and that there was a connection between her and my little one. Josette is a former neonatal cardiac nurse from the UK so this lady knows what she is doing when it comes to handling babies! I needn’t think twice and booked a massage course with her right on the spot. And after the Christmas holidays me and the little one visited her at The little Nestling Place to learn how to give baby massages.

Josette teaches her courses in her beautiful home. She helped me put the pram inside (there are some stairs to climb) and when we entered the appartment I found that everything was already prepared: cuddly blankets in the middle of the room, cozy temperatures, a thick and comfy diaper changing pillow in the middle of it all and a lovely light setting with LED lights around the pillow. Josette offered me tea and coffee and I started to get the little one ready for her massage.

Josette is a wonderful teacher with a soothing and calm attitude. She had a baby dummy on which she showed me the different strokes and touches so that I could copy her. She explained every step, had tips for when I will be massaging the little one at home and answered all my questions. I seriously couldn’t have found a better baby massage course in Stuttgart. This one had everything I had been looking for and more: I even got a gift bag at the end of the course. I won’t give away what was in it as I want it to be a wonderful surprise for you just as it was for me 🙂

From the bottom of my heart I can recommend a baby massage course at The little Nestling Place to you. I also found out that Josette has just finished a training and is now certified to also teach newborn massage courses. I can imagine how wonderful it would be to massage such tiny human beings and how much it will help bonding with your newborn with the help of such a course.

Packing for baby’s first big trip

We have quite an adventure ahead of us. As you guys know, Moritz has taken one year Elternzeit which basically is payed parental leave here in Germany. And it has become a “trend” that many families use some of this very special time to travel. Because, when do you get the chance in your adult life again to travel for a longer period of time, right?! So at the moment we are super busy with packing. Preparing a big trip with an infant is quite a different story then it was when it used to be just the two of us.

We have a long distance flight ahead of us. In order to keep the little one entertained I did some toy shopping: I bought a chain that consists of teething soothing rings and rattles when she shakes it. We will also take a litte “book” with us that makes noises when she is touching it. And I found an amazing butterfly with all sort of fun things to explore attached to it: a mirror, sizzling wings, rings to chew on… I hope that keeps her entertained for a while. We also learned some finger games and songs (the people sitting next to us on the plane will LOVE us :-D). Question for all travel experienced moms and dads: Do you have any tips for us how to entertain a 5 months old on a long flight?! Every hint is highly appreciated! 😀

I won’t be writing much about our travels here on the blog as most of you guys are mainly interested in Stuttgart focused stuff, right? But if you want to follow us along, hop over to my Instagram account as I will publish the one or other story about our adventures abroad.

The post What I’ve learned from being a new mom in Stuttgart of a 5 months old baby appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

What I’ve learned from being a new mom in Stuttgart of a 4 months old baby

Mellivinginstuttgart — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 13:28:25 +0000

And with the snap of a finger my little baby girl turned 4 months old. I don’t know how you feel but pre-baby 4 months was quite an amount of time for me. I had my routines and time seemed to stand still sometimes. But now, wow! Time flies! The little one picks up new habits and skills from week to week, sometimes even from day to day. It is fascinating to see how she’s growing and developing – but it’s scary at the same time. I think she will apply for her drivers license next week! 😀

How is the little one at 4 months?

She is very fine with laying on her stomach for some time now. We have bought her a play mat with a “pond” and plastic fish in it. It keeps her entertained for quite some time.

It is from Jako-o but I bought it on ebay Kleinanzeigen.

Some more fun things she can do now:

grab her feet and suck on there big toe (too cute!!)
roll over (she has done it a few times two weeks ago but at the moment she seems not interested anymore)
grab for toys, food, my hair… very well directed

What she loves:

when we sing to her (poor child, as she has not much comparison she must think we are good singers. Spoiler: I suck at everything musical… :-D). Some of her favorite songs include itsy bitsy spider, brother Jacob and some German songs (Auf der Mauer, auf der Lauer, Heut ist ein Fest bei den Fröschen im See…). It can totally crack her up.
watching water flow out of the tab
watching us cook (we have put this rocker from Babybjörn [affiliate link] in our kitchen. Just the other day she found out that she can make it bounce herself. She LOVES it!)
watching us eat/chew something. Last week she grabbed for our food for the first time. We were having steamed vegetables so I handed her a piece of carrot and a piece of zucchini. The carrot she didn’t like that much but she loved the soft part of the zucchini!
dancing with me. I put her in the baby carrier (we have this one from ergobaby [affiliate link] and are very satisfied), turn on some music and dance for 45 minutes to one hour with her through the house. So far we have danced to songs from Abba, The Beatles, Bob Marley and a German singer singer called Dieter Thomas Kuhn who makes fun of old German “Schlager” music (old fashioned pop/folk songs, super cheesy but easy to sing along :-)) Any other suggestions for child friendly, danceable music? I actually need some new tunes in our dancing routine!!

What we’ve been up to this month

Mama fitness

I have started working out twice a week with LAUFMAMALAUF (run mama run :-)). Friends of mine went to their outdoor classes when they were pregnant and then switched to the mom classes that allow you to bring the little one in the stroller or baby carrier. They convinced me to try it, too. At the beginning I was a bit worried because it’s winter now and I don’t want neither me nor the little one to catch a cold. But obviously you get warm very quickly when working out and the little one is comfortable and warm in her pram (for her it’s not different to when we take her out for a walk).

They offer classes all over town. So far I’ve been to the one at Karlshöhe (man, is it hard to push the pram up the hill! Great workout though :-)), Schlossgarten (right across from the opera) and Möhringen (next to Probstsee). It feels so good working out again and being outside at the same time. I’ve booked a 6 weeks course that allows me to go to two classes per week. If you want to work out again, too, but are worried that you might not understand the class as you don’t speak (much) German: one of the trainers, Catherine, is a native English speaker!! She teaches the Tuesday class at Bärenseen and the Wednesday class at Karlshöhe -in German though but of course she can translate everything for you. You can reach her directly via email: catherine-stuttgart@laufmamalauf.de.

Fun fact: LAUFMAMALAUF might start a course especially for English speakers! Yeah At the moment they are thinking about where the best location for such a course might be. Question for all of you who might be interested in joining an English mama fitness course: Where in Stuttgart do you live?! Where would you be able to attend a course? Please use the comment field or write me an email to mel@living-in-stuttgart.com!

International playgroups and mom meetups

I have tested some playgroups and mom meetup groups recently. I have been going to the International Baby Meetup/Internationaler Baby Treff at Arche Nora in Leinfelden since the little one was 7 weeks old. This group is open for kids between 0 and 12 months, free of charge and there are always two nursery teachers present who support the moms, look after the little ones and answer questions. For a donation of only 1 Euro you can have cake, Brezeln, tea and coffee. My little girl slept through the meetings in the first weeks but now she is mostly awake and loves watching the other kids and playing with the toys they provide there. At the moment the main language we speak is German as most moms are fluent in it. But everybody is able to speak English and we have moms from various countries. The International Baby Meetup takes place every Thursday from 9:30 to 11:30 am at Arche Nora, Geranienstraße 11, 70771 Leinfelden.

Then I have been at the Bumps and Babies Playgroup organized by the International Women’s Club Stuttgart (IWCS). They do a meeting for moms and babies between 0 and 3 years that is free for prospective members every month at Ekiz in Stuttgart-West. It was fun meeting moms from all over the world and speak English for two hours straight. I even met another mom who lives literally 5 minutes away from where we live! What a coincidence! And I really liked the location. I have heard good things about Ekiz before and wanted to visit is one day anyway. If you want to join the group on a regular basis you would have to join the IWCS and pay the annual fee.

And last but not least I have found the lovely Bumps Café! They organize a meeting for (expecting) moms every second Thursday from 10 to 12 am at Karl’s Kitchen on the top floor of the shopping center Breuninger. Joining their meetings is free of charge, you simply have to pay for the coffee and/or cake you consume. When I visited the Bumps Café Kira and Christine from Kiramiga were present, too. Kiramiga supports (expecting) moms with a bunch of services and Christine is a doctor who can answer all your questions about pregnancy and giving birth. Older kids can use the play area of Karl’s Kitchen while the mamas chat. A win-win-win situation 😀

Photo credit: Bumps Cafe Stuttgart

First aid course

Recently I have visited an amazing first aid course that focuses on emergencies with infants and kids. I had planned on doing that even before the little one was born and when I found out that Arche Nora organized one, I signed in instantly. The course was presented to us by NotSim, an Institut for emergency management and simulation. They usually do trainings for doctors and nurses. This is the only course they offer for “normal” people. In about three hours we learned how to react in various emergency situations: when the little one fell from the diaper changing table, when he/she gets burnt, is bleeding, can’t breath anymore… I got amazing tips from this course. What I liked best was that we were able to train mouth-to-mouth/nose insufflation and cardiac massage on a baby- and a kid-dummy. Oh my god I SO HOPE that I will never, never, never be in a situation where I need it but due to this course I could at least do something in case of an emergency. I attended a training in German but they can perform it in English, too. And they even come to your place when you are a group of 4 or more people! I totally recommend attending such a training at least once in your life. So helpful and important.

Visiting Stuttgarter Weihnachtsmarkt with a baby

As it is December, I have of course visited the Stuttgarter Weihnachtsmarkt with the little one (check out my post about the Christmas markets in the region for some inspiration). When you plan to visit one of the markets with your baby as well, here come some tips from a local mom:

Try to go during the week as the markets are even more crowded on the weekends.
Leave the stroller/pram at home and use a baby carrier.
At Stuttgarter Rathaus they offer child care services for free!
Over at Kiramiga they have put together a list of fun things to do at Stuttgart Weihnachtsmarkt with children.
Even when you’re pregnant or breastfeeding you can enjoy a Glühwein as there is an alcohol-free version called Kinderpunsch. But make sure not to spill the hot drink on your baby when it is strapped to you in a baby carrier. My personal life hack: Use a reusable coffee-to-go mug, put the Kinderpunsch in there, close the lid and – enjoy!

So that was my last month with the little one. I will put up posts like this on a regular basis now so if you want to know or read about anything specific, let me know 🙂 And don’t forget to tell me if you’re interested in an English mom fitness course and where you would like it to take place.

The post What I’ve learned from being a new mom in Stuttgart of a 4 months old baby appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

What I’ve learned from being a new mom in Stuttgart for 3 months

Mellivinginstuttgart — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 10:00:45 +0000

I am a mom now. Wow! Writing this down still feels unreal. 🙂 It is true what they say: You have no idea what being a mother feels like until you are one. You can do courses, read books and talk to as many mothers as you like in advance, nothing prepares you for the moment when they hand you this crying, little human being. Everything is new, wonderful, exciting and scary – all at the same time. The last three months were such a special time. I’ve learned so much and grew into my new role more and more. So I thought I share in this super random post the most important things that I’ve learned as new mom in Stuttgart in the first three months.

[This post contains affiliate links to amazon. If you click on a link and purchase something I get a litte bit from amazon. You don’t pay more of course.]

Having a good start is super important. Thus choose the hospital you want to give birth at carefully. Find out what is important to you first (eg. do you want a hospital that has a unit for children, is it important to you that there are lactation specialists who help you with breastfeeding, do you want an alternative, anthroposophical approach to giving birth, and so on) and then do your research and visit the hospitals that suit your criteria beforehand. Most hospitals organizes special events or days of the open door where you can meet doctors, nurses and midwifes and peek into the delivery room.
If you want your husband with you the first night(s) in the hospital, make sure you tell them you want a family room (Familienzimmer) when you arrive at the hospital. Otherwise someone else might get it.
Take the first days when you’re back home to heal and to enjoy every second with our baby. In Germany your partner has the right to take Elternzeit which is a special leave for new parents. This is definitely something you should consider as it helps so much when you’re not alone in the first weeks. And more over it is great for the new daddy as well to spend as much time as possible with the baby.
Picture credit: canva.com
Having a midwife that supports you the first days when you’re back home helps so much! You can ask her any questions you might have (and believe me, you will have many questions :-)), she checks if you are healing properly and if the little one develops fine. In these first days she is your best friend, your nurse, your shrink… You can find a midwife via this website: www.hebammensuche.de Just type in your postal code and you will see a list of midwifes that work in your area. You can even check if there is one that speaks your mother tongue when you select „Sprachen“ and enter your language. Make sure you contact a potential midwife as soon as possible. This means right after you’ve found out that you’re pregnant!
It helps our baby to fall asleep when we stroke her from the forehead down to the tip of the nose (super random but I’ve heard that from other moms now, too 🙂
Picture credit: canva.com
One more word about sleeping: At the beginning we thought we have to sing to her, carry her around etc in order to help her fall asleep. She was crying every night before bedtime at that time. Then we got the tip that most new moms and dads make the same mistake at the beginning: We entertain our babies too much. So we changed bedtime routine and put he straight to bed after changing her diapers. And what can I say? Ever since she falls asleep much easier.
Make sure you have everything you need as a new mom ready when you’re coming back home from the hospital. Here are some things I didn’t want to miss at the beginning (and still today):
- - - A bed for the baby that can be attached to my side of the bed so that I don’t have to get out of bed at night to feed her. We have a Babybay [affiliate link].
  - - A nice diary as you want to write down everything from the first day.
    - Onsies for the little one that you can open in the front (I hated everything that I had to pull over her head as I was scared to hurt her). I personally love the silk and wool ones from the brand Alana that you can buy at dm.
    - A music mobile that turns by itself makes your life much easier as you don’t have to stand next to it to push it so that it moves. It will keep your little one entertained for some time. We have bought this one [affiliate link].
  - - Several nursing pyjamas (you want more than one, believe me! Not only that you will be sweating a lot at the beginning, once you’re producing enough milk to feed your baby you might produce too much and thus your pyjamas will be soaked quite often…). I bought them second hand on eBay Kleinanzeigen.
    - Muesli or protein bars (I am sooo hungry when I am breastfeeding, especially at night).
    - The Stilltee from Weleda [affiliate link].
    - The Windelbalsam of Bahnhofapotheke Kempten. It is seriously the best balm for your baby’s bottom in my opinion!
    - This fun ball [affiliate link] that makes it easy for your baby to grab it.

Yeah, I know, this post is SUPER random 😀 But these are the things I would have loved to know earlier myself.

If you have any questions about being or becoming a mom in Stuttgart feel free to write them down in the comments.

The post What I’ve learned from being a new mom in Stuttgart for 3 months appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.