Euro trip with 4 month old infant!

From struggling with engorgement, breast pain and post partum depression to swimming in the wild River Isar of Munich, I believe both Baby Dhun and I have come a long way in 4 months!

Both me and my husband love travelling. We had even planned a trip to the Netherlands and France around TCS marathon while I was pregnant, but that was not meant to be. Finally when Dhun was born, we decided we needed one trip during the maternity 'break' to truly call it a break. 

Initial reaction of our family members was nowhere close to positive. However, we were determined to make it happen. Even cosmos conspired and enabled us to fulfil our wish! 


Dhun from the very beginning was a model child. She did suckle well from the very first day and demanded milk selfishly when she had to (the first month was toughest one month ever since I can recall being alive!) and slept well. As a result, she gained weight appropriately and we could continue breast feeding exclusively. 

There was definitely no reason to think twice. 

Few points that made the trip possible for us and are crucial according to me:

Breast Feeding

The first time I fed Dhun and realised I am capable of nurturing a fragile life, it felt so magical. Breast feeding has unfathomable benefits both for mother and baby. 
Apart from these benefits that have already been written about, another big one is ease while travelling. No containers, no sterilisation, no formula required. Just open and latch :P 

Breast feeding in public!

I realised that people do have other work than staring at a breastfeeding woman. Even those who are determined to stare, one ridiculous look from me is able to deter them. Now, I just dont care about anyone. They are most likely never going to see me again. What is most important at that time is, my baby's hunger and my travel plan!

Passport

We decided 'Dhun's name' even before she was born :) (That's how badly my husband wanted a girl). I hope our generation believes that name letters can't change one's destiny. This helped us get her birth certificate within a week post which we applied for her passport. As a result, Dhun had her first passport when she was 40 days old!

Choose a baby carrier wisely and practice it well

This proved extremely helpful for us while we were on our guided tours and even inside castles! So yes, while I gazed at the grand master pieces on walls of Neuschwanstein castle, Dhun was merrily feeding.
Both me and my husband walked often wearing her since she was two months old. I also practised feeding her while at home in her carrier closer to the trip. Few videos on you tube can easily help you learn the art ;)

Choose destination wisely

Though we love exploring country side much more than cities, this time we restrained and planned our 2 week holiday mostly around cities.  We chose three bases, Brussels, Munich and Berlin and took one day trips apart from exploring the cities. We also planned a one night trip to Brugge while leaving our main bags in Brussels. 
Germany is a very child friendly country. I don't recall a single occasion where we felt that the public transport is not meant for babies. 

Buy a good pram or stroller

Ah! I wish we did this before the trip. We felt so 'poor' dragging Dhun around in a non fancy luvlap stroller while trying to balance our stuff on its handles! Both Brussels and Germany have well maintained pavements where prams can be pushed easily and all public transport have designated spaces to park them. No where did we have to fold the stroller and carry Dhun separately except at airport security checks. Don't forget to also buy a pram rain cover.

Luggage

Travelling with Dhun, her stroller and a huge diaper bag, it meant that Adi had to do majority of luggage management. Hence we decided to pack light (even then we ended up with 35 kilos of luggage! Perhaps next time I will read my own blog before packing). We bought diapers and change pads for 3 days at a time and also threw away her cloth nappies (necessary while giving diaper free time) as we moved. 
We chose Air BnBs over hotels to get access to laundry, which saved our 7 day luggage. 

Take care of your diet ladies!

Adi and I proudly turned vegetarians two years back, and Germany is a major non vegetarian eating country. I did not want to compromise over nutrition especially because I am responsible for Dhun's growth. We carried with us a bag of dry fruits to snack on, Panjiri laddoos to make up for any lack of nutrition and a grounded mix of flax seeds and sesame seeds. 
Surprisingly, it wasn't very difficult to find good vegetarian lunch in both countries. Perhaps if I have time before joining office, I shall write a blog on being a vegetarian traveller! 
We managed to include fresh salads greens in all our meals. 

Diaper changing kit

I use a Nike gym bag as diaper bag (Adi, I owe one to you) as it is very easy to carry on back instead of other shoulder baby print diaper bags :| in which we also carried our stuff for the day. 
We made a quick diaper changing kit with her diaper rash cream, changing pad, wipes and diaper, that was easy to find among all stuff and carry to the nearest diaper changing table. Mostly all restaurants and public sights we went to, did have a designated diaper changing table. However, be prepared to change diapers while saving your face even in a train or on bus stops!


Infant bassinet

Always ensure that your airline provides an infant bassinet. Our doll slept peacefully right from the take off till the time we finished a movie and our meal :) Who ever invented this one knew babies so well!

Take guided tours often

With a baby on breast feed, any day can get very tiring, let alone days involving travel. Pre booked guided tours meant that we had deadlines. No matter what, we did reach those locations and managed to catch our guide (we were 15 minutes late for our Potsdam tour and had to catch the guide on a different station, but we did manage to visit Potsdam).

Some people still ask me, was it so necessary to travel? Why did you risk it with such a small baby. What if the baby fell ill?

Well, to all those, I don't think I will ever be able to explain what did we benefit from the trip. It brought us all closer and made us so much more confident of bringing up Dhun by ourselves. Adi is now as good at managing Dhun as I am. He understands all her patterns and demands. We can now travel with her whenever required at a short notice too.  I am sure Dhun too would start moving up her learning curve as her crazy parents travel more and more. 

Though I was fortunate enough to not face any major physical issue post delivery, I am sure if you want to make such a trip possible, you would be able to. 

Lastly, the trip reassured me that motherhood is a choice. Not something that should be opted for under societal pressure.