Visiting Berlin with children for a month

Hello,

Our family (two parents, 4 year old son, 5 month old daughter) will be spending the month of June in Berlin. My husband and I have lived in Germany before but never with children. We have rented a place in Prenzlauer Berg and we're excited about our visit. We do have a few questions and I was hoping someone here could be helpful.

1. Car seats. We're hoping to leave these at home because we plan to use public transportation but what are the laws in Germany? I can imagine we might take a cab from the airport to our apartment and in the US this ride would not be permitted w/o car seats.

2. Peanut butter. Ok, kind of trivial, but my son lives on the stuff. Last time I lived in Berlin was awhile ago. Peanut butter was available but very pricey at the KaDeWe. Is this still the case? I might bring some with us but I'd feel pretty foolish doing that if it's now available at every super market. I also wonder how pricey is pricey if anyone knows.

3. We're hoping not to have to go to the doctor, obviously. But I'd love to have a pediatricians phone number in my pocket just in case especially for the baby.

4. Electronics. My memory is that we need some kind of converter gizmo both to get the current correct and to make the plugs work. Is that right?

5. Where might we acquire some cheap (used?) baby gear and/or toys? We need to get a pak n play or someplace for the baby to sleep and my son will probably have much more fun if we get him some toys.

Thanks for your help!

Sarah

Sarah,

For the ride from the airport to the hotel it's highly unlikely your cab driver will get pulled over and you arrested for your kids not being in a kiddie seat. Many carry booster seats anyway. Not an issue. If you're going to rent a car, you can also rent a car seat and park them in the back.

KaDeWe is expensive for anything, isn't it? You can pick up peanut butter anywhere, several brands available.

The doctor: google is your friend.

Electonics: what electronics are you bringing? Laptops, for example, usually don't need a gizmo converter, but for other things like hair dryers, you can pick up a 110 - to- 220 V converter and european two-prong plug adaptor before you leave.

Toys... is he of Lego age? What about a few books? Possibilities endless.

Thanks, Silty1. Very good info esp. about the peanut butter. Crazy how hard that used to be to get. On the toys, I was wondering about cheap places to get some, possibly used. We won't be bringing much with us but I don't relish a month with a 4 year old w/o toys. Is there a flea market w/toys near P'berg or something like that?

I thought of another question. We'll need someplace for our little girl to sleep. Does anyone know if/where I could rent a pak n play or a travel crib of some sort? Thanks so much!

Sarah

I have seen plenty of kids shops with used stuff (I almost wrote "used kids shops" which didn't quite have the same meaning!). There is one around the corner from me in Friedrichshain (not far from P'berg) called Bullerbü. Here is their webpage:

http://www.bullerbue-online.de/angebot.html

Look at that! There is one in P'berg. It seems to me that they would have what you are looking for.

Also, more specific help about a pediatrician can be found Pediatricians in Berlin

Good luck!

Electronics: Be careful, one thing is the plug an another thing is what your device supports. You will need a plug adapter and the device itself must support 220v/50hz.

I have an extra baby seat that you are welcome to use when you are here. just send me a personal message. Its a backwards facing one for babies. You can also request cabs that have baby/toddler seats at 030 261 026

Our doctors are Dr. Sabine Panzer-Heinig & Dr. Petra Kleindienst.
(Dr. Heinig's English is the better of the two)

Bismarckstr. 62
10627 Berlin
T: 030/3415534

both are very chill and professional. Never alarmist or panicky - yet they take you seriously.

There is a huge flea market in mauerpark with super cheap toys and interesting stuff on sundays

Hi Sarah,

Just to let you know, do not feel surprised if the cab driver refuses to take you with the baby. You are right, it is also not legal w/o baby seat and most of them for that reason refuses the client.

I had the experience but luckily there was a baby rucksack with me which solved the problem. I recommend you to take one with you.

Sarah,

My family moved to P'berg in January. I have a two and a half year old son and a new baby boy born here in Berlin in March. I had a pediatrician referral from the parents of our son's playmate in the U.S., as the playmate was born in Berlin, for the following:

Dr. med. Susan Richter
Lychener Strasse 56, 10437 Berlin
tel. # 436 598 65

Dr. Richter speaks English, but the receptionist does not. I have had appointments for well-baby visits, but I believe the usual practice is to walk-in during regular hours (8-12 every day and closed on Wed; some later hours on Tues/Thurs). I really like Dr. Richter and find her to be very sensible in the short time I have known her. Her office is just north of Helmholtz Platz in P'berg.

There are many well-stocked second hand children's stores in the neighborhood. I know of two such shops on Stargarder Strasse. There is another on Senefelder Strasse mentioned in an earlier post that seems to have the most toys. When we moved here I just packed the favorite toys for the first month when we lived in a temporary apartment. There are so many great playgrounds here that toys may not get much play!

Sara

Thank you for the great tips!

Elfin, can I ask, what do you mean by a baby rucksack? A backpack? A baby Bjorn? I am hoping that cab number for cabs with car seats works out for us.

Sarah

Here is another number for cabs with baby seats (which is in fact necessary! 50 euro without): (+49) 30 210202
Just say that you want a Kindersitz Taxi (but normally they also understand english!)

There is a nice flea market (also with baby toys) at Mauerpark in Prenzlauerberg: http://www.mauerparkmarkt.de/
And I've seen a shortly opened baby/children shop at Torstraße 130 (or 131), which looks pretty nice and not too expensive from the outside. And there is Spielemax all over Berlin, for example at the Ring Center in Friedrichshain (directly at Frankfurter Allee station which is not far away from Prenzlauer Berg). There are also some nice small shops located in Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain selling old and new toys, but I don't know the exact addresses - I think the one with used toys I can recommend is in Weichselstraße in Friedrichshain...

Peanut butter is in fact no problem. It is about 1 to 2 euro per (400g?) glass. It may not be sold in every small supermarket, but at least at the bigger ones like real or kaufland.

And you should not permit it either. In fact, you should use them to strap the kiddos into their plane seats. That way you will have them for the cab ride from and to the airport and any other possible travel by auto that you do.

Not every seat is permitted for every airline. In fact it is rather problematic to do this...

If you can, get a copy of this month's (May 08) issue of the magazine ExBerliner - it's all about kids in Berlin and has a lot of info on good cafes with playgrounds, museums, swimming areas etc., a good resource for things to do with kids while in Berlin.