Just bring the essentials. We pay for disposing of stuff here unless you are lucky enough that someone wants it when you give it away.

If you bring a bed from the US would that mean a different size making it a pain for sheets and a new matterass should you need one?

Diapers are one thing you shouldn't stock up on since they grow so quickly and they are in the next size before you know it. As for clothes, if you have a bigger baby, newborn clothes won't fit. I also didn't want my boy/girl dressed in neutral babygrows. The hospital provides the clothes for the first week and after that I loved choosing clothes for my little one.

As for buying clothes in bigger size for when they are older - if you can't be 100% certain for the gender then I wouldn't bother. Car seats may have different fittings too - Europe uses ISOFIX. Strollers are a lot cheaper in the US though!

They do this only while you are in the hospital, so it depends how long you are in for, with my first child i was in for a week because i had a C section, with my second i was only in for a few days. I also loved choosing clothes for my babies when i knew what sex they where, but still bought baby clothes before mine where born, didn`want them to leave the hospital naked lol

I agree.

Or if you decide to bring over a container-full of all-American nappies, then buy only one size (roughly in the 10-15 kg range). Bigger nappies can do the job even for young babies (well, not quite the newborns, but after about 3 months when your baby gets some nice dimply fat on their bottom).

This happened when my father accidentally put a nappy bought for my daughter (then 2) on my son's bottom (4 months old at the time) -- and I realised that I did not need to buy them in different sizes anymore.

Of course I had a few outfits - he didn't go home naked

I paid the hospital for a 5 night upgrade and I wasn't leaving early

LOL too funny.

I asked (well begged) to leave early i wanted to go home, i was so bored. In the UK if you have your baby in the morning you can go home in the afternoon

Just wanted to add, we airfreighted all our goods from Australia - it was 25% more expensive than sea-freight, but it arrived when we did and was delivered to our apartment as soon as we had the keys... including all our 'essentials' for three kids..

Oh, and definitely buy extra underwear (maternity bras) and all those kinds of things...shopping for decent bras is a pain at the best of times, let alone in a new country, a new language, and pregnant (or with a tiny baby)...

With my first bubs I stayed in hospital 36 hours, with my second less than 24, and my third was a homebirth - the midwives came to me!

Also, I note that there is a home visiting system here in Switzerland ? - in Sydney, Australia, we only got that if we went home within 48 hours of the birth, then a midwife would visit if you wanted, every day to day 10 if needed...or you could do the daily checkup by phone if you didn't need them to visit that particular day...

...or with anything bigger than a C cup

Thanks for all your great information! There were some things I never thought of - but it is much appreciated!!

One more thing to add:

I agree that you should buy as much as possible in the US-much more selection, way better prices... But, if you buy electric appliances (breast pump, baby monitor, etc.) make sure the appliance can handle 240 volts. I did some research on this, and while pumps generally were 110/240, small baby-related things such as monitors and bottle warmers were not 240 volt compatible. You can bring converters, but for relatively inexpensive things, the cost of a reliable converter may be too much (and the cheapo travel converters will eventually blow out on you! Usually when something important is plugged in...)

Also, if you are worried about bisphenol-A, you should buy bottles in the US-they are not widely available here yet.

I came here with a baby and two older children and we brought a cot, clothes and toys.

Almost everything you could get in Switzerland was much better quality and not much more expensive than in the UK where we came from.

If your baby will not have been born before you get here, I would bring nothing. (And, I would never ever even consider buying something with a name like "Bumbo".)

Gee, what about things named "bugaboo" or "boppy" or "dummy"? I thought silly names were par for the baby goods course...

Lots of my girlfriends have "Bumbos" and love them and wouldn't know what they would do without them!

http://www.bumbobabysitter.com/

Aah, so that's what they are called! My son's nursery has oodles of them in all sorts of colours usually with a child's bum wedged in them. They are a great idea.

Bumbos are great, such a simple idea.. we take ours with us to restaurants or when visiting friends, plonk it on a dinning chair the baby then can sit in it for feeding - lightweight and can go anywhere.

I am also in the process or moving things over for my little ones,

one thing i have worked out (i have been here for 2 months without them)

is remember that living spaces are smaller, i came from a large house over 300 squares to an apartment now just over 100 so everything isnt going to fit.

so i think we are going to have to leave the baby wardrobes and glider chair as there wont be room. (I will replace the wardrobe with a full size one to get more in) half the toys we will probably leave behind as well.

also try to get things that dont use batteries, (some things are a must but if possible dont) they same like a good idea but the amount i have spend buying batteries the last year is way to much.

good luck

If you want to use cloth nappies get them elsewhere. I have only found one sort here and they don't look up to much.

Mairi

Great point! Perhaps the glider could fit in a living room - I guess it would all depend on size!

Is it common in Switz that all bedrooms do not have a closet and thus need a "wardrobe"?? In the US you cannot even consider a room in a house a "bedroom" unless it has a closet. Otherwise it's called a "den".

This is true. In Switzerland we do not have built-in closets.
However, they are readily available either as used or via
discounters like Ikea... or a whole slew of furniture stores
throughout Switzerland.

Does anyone know if the crib is the same size as a US standard crib?

Cribs are smaller in Europe than in the US. The standard European size is 60x120 cm, and the US size is 28x52 in (or about 71x132 cm).

Also, be aware that even companies like IKEA that have stores in both the US and Europe carry different sizes (i.e. the US stores sell standard US size mattresses, and the European stores carry standard European size).