Raising a family in Basel: babies & toddlers

- Preparing for baby
- Indoor activities - Outdoor activities
- Daycare
- Fun and games
- Food and health
- Useful links

Preparing for baby

- The Basel Childbirth Trust offers information and support for pregnancy, birth and parenthood. It organises regular coffee mornings (bumps and babes and bumps and bruises), postnatal support, an Internet site with ads for baby articles and childcare services, etc. and an informative newsletter. There are also neighbourhood group meeting in most districts.

- List of stores across the region selling clothes, etc. for babies and young children.

- Find your local baby health centre. These drop-in centres provide new parents with invaluable, ongoing support (advice, weight checks, etc.) free of charge. Go to the yellow pages and enter 'Mütter- und Väterberatung' in the search field.

Indoor activities:

- Find a playgroup on the KISS Nordwestschweiz site

- The Open Door. A non-profit organisation in the Gundeli district which runs playgroup sessions for English-speaking children aged 2-3 and 3-4 as well as structured groups for 4+ year olds. It also hosts parent-toddler sessions (Tuesdays and Wednesdays).

- Neighbourhood family centres: meet up with other mothers and children at the Familien Zentrum or Quartiertreffpunkt free of charge.

- Jukibu lending library

- Bookworms : AWC Libarary at Centrepoint. A book club for children of all ages.

- Puppenhaus museum (dolls houses and teddy bears)
- Basel Zoo (Ape house, aquarium, big cats...)
-The Botanical Gardens 'Tropenhaus' (entry to the left of Spalentor). The hothouse has plants, birds and other wildlife and is a great place to warm up when out with the children in winter.
- Riehen Toy museum
- Baby swim course 'Knechtli'
- Baby swim at the Rialto pool, Basel
- Acroballet centre: Turngarten for 1.5-7yrs
- Gymboree soft play centre / music - by SBB
- Kindermusik - Dreispitz Basel

 

Outdoor activities:
- Basel Zoo
- Lange Erlen - Riehen
- Boat trips on the Rhine
- Reinach forest group: Waldspielgruppen (1.5-7 years)

 

Finding a place in daycare (Kinderkrippe and Tagesheim)

- Basel's Women's association (Frauenverein) keeps an up-to-date list of centres with available places.

- KISS Nordwestschweiz has a great search engine for finding day care centres, lunchtime clubs, day families, play groups, babysitters, nannies, au pairs and school holiday stand-ins, etc. The site is in English, French and German.

- Tagesfamilien.org

- Liliput has ads for babysitters (kindermaedschen), nannies and 'infant educators' (Kleinkinderzieherin).

- RedCross - Basel Stadt - Basel Land

- Try the following discussion forums if you are looking for a childminder or babysitting work:
Babysitters in Switzerland - Aupairs in Switzerland

- Little Blessings Daycare - run by CrossRoads International Church. 061 331 70 10. Morning daycare three times a week. German lessons possible.

 

Fun and Games

Nursery Rhymes - words and pictures set to music. (click on the button at the bottom of the page). Print off pages to colour in here.

Ludothek Swiss toy libraries (click on 'verzeichnis' in the German section for addresses.

Horse chorus (click on the heads to make them stop/start singing)

Clips:
relaxing train clip - long trains - tube trains - Thomas opening scene - Sneezing panda -
Episodes from classic tv series: Ivor the Engine - The Wombles
Mr Benn: Part one - two - The Flumps: Part one - two
Bagpuss: Part one - two - three - Padington Bear
The Magic Roundabout - Trumpton: Part one - two
Mr Men: Mr Impossible - Mr Forgetful - Mr Funny - Mr Topsy Turvy - Mr Strong - Mr Sneeze -

Food and health:

Food for babies - Wholesome babyfood - About.com - Weaning
Cooking for toddlers
Party food: Netmums.com - Annabel Karmel
Expat Cooking discussion group

Immunisations - US site - Create a vaccine calendar for your child

Useful links:

Englishforum.ch - threads on Family matters and health
Baby-friendly restaurants in Basel (Bastronomy.com)
Smoke-free restaurants of Switzerland (listed by kanton)
Christmas in a shoebox - fill a shoebox with small gifts for a child less fortunate than your own.

Support groups/sites:
Pregnancy loss support group, Switzerland
Braveheart, Switzerland: a support group for fathers who have lost a child during pregnancy, birth or at any time
Bereavement support
Premature birth
SIDS/'cot death'
Post-natal depression
Fertility support, Switzerland
Adoption Support Group for those Living in Switzerland
Cry-sis: Help with crying babies
Special Needs Abroad
Special-Kids-CH

Breastfeeding - 1 - 2
Pampers site - features articles and forums

Forums and sites for families living in or moving to Switzerland:
Basel Parenting Forum : 'exchange ideas and opinions about raising children in Basel, Switzerland'.
Expat moms in Switzerland
'Corporate expat' families relocation forum
ExpatMomsOnline
Expat Multilingual Families
AP Expat Moms: attachment parenting discussion group
For parents of twins and more

Expat Kids: Site for kids
ExpatWoman.com
Family Life Abroad

Foreign Wives Club: An online community by and for women in bicultural marriages.

Living Abroad

Tales from a Small Planet: 'The literary and humor magazine for expatriates everywhere'
TheTrailingSpouse.com

For Danish parents in Switzerland
For Indian parents in Switzerland