My best friend from the states is in Stuttgart for 48 hours and I really want to take my new baby with me to go see her for a few hours.

Problem is I have no ID for the baby. (There was a mix up w/ the hospital not sending some info to the birth certificate office and I've been told we'll be all set by next week)

I've been told by a few people that you don't get stopped now at border crossings - we'd be driving but could go by train if that would make it easier - and we should be fine ... but what would happen if we did get stopped?

And please, if you think this is stupid or irresponsible, kindly keep your comments to yourself - I'm just trying to weigh my options and get some constructive feedback - thanks!

do you have any documentation?
how will you cross the border?

Are you sure you don't have any documentation? We left the hospital with a small pink card (about A6 size) which was an interim certificate/iterim one and valid until the proper one arrived...

EDIT: The reason I ask is that it wasn't until our third child that we realised this was a legal piece of documentation!

As for driving - usually they don't stop, but traffic is often busier at the weekends (if that is when you are going) and they are more likely to stop you randomly on the basis of purchases rather than passports. As for train, I've always had passport control from the German side coming into CH, but that was pre-Schengen, so I don't know if things have changed. Certainly coming through airports they don't check anymore if you are flying around Europe.

I wouldn't do it. How could you prove that you aren't abducting the child from its father? Sure they _usually_ don't check but they _do_ check sometimes and then you'd be in a bit of a pickle, wouldn't you?

I had the same issue 4 months ago ... told us over 4 weeks to get a birth certificate for all sorts of complicated reasons.
We took little one to Germany to visit his bothers / extended family there when he was 10 days old. That was incredibly important to us.
There are few border controls, and I clearly looked like I had just given birth ... and I did of course have some documentation from the hospital (including a nice picture of the happy new family).
I did once also forget to bring my passport when travelling between CH and D, in the old days ... and of course we were stopped. Can remember the exact details, but it was not an issue.
Hope this helps!

The first point is that all persons travelling in the Schengen area are required to carry valid id, that is a passport or national identity card, strictly speaking nothing else is acceptable, although some guards may accept work permits etc...

The second point is that they pay particular attention to people travelling with young children or babies because of concerns for child abduction etc...

If you get stopped and can show neither ID nor another type of documentation for the baby you can bet that you'll be in for a hard time! In the worst case they might put the child into protective custody until they are satisfied that nothing funny is going on!!!

Bottom line is that I would not risk it for anything!

Good luck with that,

Jim

I would go to your Germande and see what they can provide, your child must be registered there anyway. Our has been realy helpful with expired permits ect in the past. Also if travelling by car have a look at the number plate on your car, my wife (swiss miss) politely insisted that she get a low number (ie an old plate handed back in) we have never been stopped as customs assume you are "old Swiis family".

Thank you all for your information and insight.

We did think about the child abduction issue and I would not chance this happening so will not go unless I can get something from the hospital in the morning stating we are the parents of this baby - and yes - the photo and birth info from the hospital will help, I think...

We didn't receive any temporary birth card from the UniSpital unfortunately ...

And our Geminde will not register or do anything with the baby until we provide them with the birth certificate .... so frustrating!

So, we'll see what I can get and then go (or not) from there - thanks to all for your support and for taking the time to comment/answer!

Kristen

We received the real birth certificate really quickly, a few days. But if I remember well, our hospital did give us a paper stating I was hospitalized from this date to this and gave birth to a child called...I would go back to the spital admin and ask them for a temporary document. We had to officially apply for the real birth cert, as soon as we did it arrived super fast. Good luck.