Having a baby in Berlin

Americans love praising Scandinavian countries' utopian family policies. The NY Times<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/world/europe/finland-parental-leave-equality.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"> recently touted</a> Finland for giving all new parents the same leave, following<a href="https://apolitical.co/solution-articles/en/parental-leave-policy-changed-way-sweden-sees-fatherhood" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"> Sweden’s example</a>.<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13152287-bringing-up-b-b" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"> Bringing up Bebe</a>, which explores the differences between American and French child rearing, has become standard pregnancy reading.<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Achtung-Baby-American-Self-Reliant-Children/dp/1250160170" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"> Achtung Baby</a> is the German equivalent. I also read these books during pregnancy in my quest to glean child-rearing wisdom. This post is my version: a personal story about my 22 months of pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and parental leave in Berlin. This isn’t a how-to guide, and I’m not promising to confer any wisdom. But I’d like to show what it’s like to live in a city built with both physical and social infrastructure for families, during one of life’s most tender junctures. <a href="https://suelynyu.medium.com/having-a-baby-in-berlin-285aedf894dc">Visit Now</a>