In LO Tips for Traveling with a Baby, caregivers share their experiences traveling in destinations throughout the world with their Little Ones.

Where did you go?

Bergen and Oslo, Norway, and Copenhagen, Denmark

When did you go?

June 2016

How old was your Little One at the time?

2 years old

Eating & Drinking

Food/Water Safety: Was the water potable in your destination? Was the food safe in your destination? If either was unsafe, how did you deal with that?

Yes. Yes.

Baby food: What sort of baby food selection did you find? Where did you find it?

We were able to mostly find foods for our toddler at restaurants, and we supplemented with fruit from the hotel and little snacks like granola bars that we could purchase in grocery stores. Restaurants were wonderful with bringing bowls of pasta or rice to keep our toddler happy even though he really liked all the more grown-up foods that we ordered!

Restaurants: Were restaurants equipped with high chairs? How did restaurant staff treat your Little One?

Yes, every restaurant had a high chair except one super fancy Michelin star restaurant. Every restaurant was incredible with our baby. They treated him like a little adult and actually scolded us (the parents) for not trusting him to properly use real glasses and dishes and utensils. The prevailing attitude was “your child is welcome here. Let him practice and learn. If he throws his chopsticks, he’ll just get new ones to try again.”

Getting Around

Navigating with Little One: Was your destination stroller-friendly? Did you use a stroller/carrier? Did you face any challenges with either? Do you recommend any strollers/carriers?

Yes. Absolutely stroller friendly. We brought a light travel stroller but noticed that most of the local moms had huge prams because all of the public transportation is very accessible to big strollers. We used a baby carrier (Beco Gemini) at times also.

Public transportation: Which types of public transportation were/not amenable to traveling with your little one?

All buses and trains were great for our kid!

Car seats: What are the local car seat regulations? If you traveled with a car seat, do you recommend one specific kind?

We did not travel with a car seat so we took public transportation, with the exception of a day trip to Sweden. Our friends who picked us up borrowed a neighbor’s car that had a toddler car seat installed.

Sleeping

Hotels: Can you recommend accommodations that provided cribs? If you brought your own crib/pack ‘n play, please explain why that was the best option for you.

All of our hotels provided cribs and linens. They even made our toddler’s bed each morning with cute duvets and toddler pillows.

Diapers

Changing facilities: Did you find that your destination offered a great or small selection of diaper changing facilities?

Yes – even the men’s rooms at the airport had changing tables!

Diapers: Where did you purchase diapers? Which brands were sold?

We did not, except for at the very end of the trip, we purchased a set of three diapers at the airport. We noticed that diapers were sold in huge packs and weren’t that easy to find. We had to go to several drug stores and grocery stores before giving up!

Medical Concerns

Pre-Trip: Were there any vaccinations that your Little One needed prior to your trip?

No.

General Questions

What were the local attitudes about Little Ones? How was your Little One treated overall?

People seemed to absolutely love children in both countries. We loved how the staff at hotels and restaurants paid such close attention to our son everywhere we went. It felt like kids were truly welcome members of society. Even on one flight, which was mostly full of businessmen in suits, and where our toddler was having a huge tantrum for some reason and we were so worried that we would get some dirty looks from the other passengers. Instead, most of the men around us started trying to play games with our son, like peek-a-boo, to keep him entertained. They really helped us and made us feel like the situation was okay!

What were the greatest challenges in traveling with your Little One?

The flights were rather long and tiring, and the time change wasn’t easy, especially returning to the US from Europe. Also, eating in restaurants for every meal was stressful and doing lots of baby laundry in the sink got tiring. Also, it was hard in the hotel to not have a lot of space for him to run around and burn off energy.

Submitted by:

Ashley Windle

I am a mom to a 2.5-year-old toddler and also a violinist. I traveled to Europe for work but brought my family so that we could explore Scandinavia together and visit friends!