My Experience Moving from Singapore to Germany

The decision to move from Singapore to Germany was due to my husband's job and this move was for about 1.5 years. As much as it would put my career on hiatus, and also to leave my family and friends behind, we felt that this was an opportunity of a lifetime.

Moving to Germany also seemed very timely as I would have wanted to take no-pay leave from work to take care of Emma (back then she was only about 5-6 months old), so moving here wouldn't really make much of a difference to my life decisions. It breaks my heart to know that Emma would not be able to grow up with the physical presence of her grandparents, and cousins but it would have been really difficult for me and Emma if we did not see papa for 1.5 years.

Prior to Relocating - the Stress of Packing for Shipment

Prior to relocating to Germany, there was so so so much packing to do. It was insanely stressful as we had to care for an infant, pack the house and prepare them for shipment. We were really thankful to have my in-laws taking care of Emma, and bringing Emma for staycation back at my husband’s place so that we could pack in peace and do it quickly. I recalled feeling the stress of packing and also the anxiety of leaving Singapore, so much so that I had a horrible engorgement that led to a fever and desperately calling a breast masseur over to help me relieve the blocked ducts.

After packing everything for shipment, it felt like we were pretty much ready to move to Germany. The house was really empty and we had just enough (or a little too much) stuff for a few check-in luggage and cabin luggage. We were living on the bare minimum.

We moved out of our rented flat early so we could settle the handover. We stayed at my in-laws for a few days and that was when reality started to sink in…

Flying to Germany

Due to COVID, the airport was pretty empty and the flight was extremely empty. We were really grateful for that because we had a whole row to ourselves and that made sleeping on the flight much more comfortable. I was truly anxious on getting Emma on the long-haul flight to Frankfurt (13 hours) as I was afraid that she couldn’t sleep, or that she couldn’t latch well (for the sake of the ear pressure when flying and landing), and that I had to pump eventually (very reluctant to because of the aftermath care).

I was still breastfeeding Emma entirely and feeding her formula on the flight was definitely not on my mind. Also, I just recovered from a severe engorgement and not latching or pumping enough to release the milk would definitely cause another episode. The mental load I was feeling prior to flying was exhausting so every day, I would talk to Emma (believing that she would understand) and tell her that we are going on a plane and latching was the only option available.

Checking in to the plane was pretty simple, and we were also able to secure a bassinet on the flight. Was the bassinet helpful? I would say yes for younger babies who were unable to flip, and IF the seatbelt sign was not lit up most of the time. As Emma was about 6-7 months old back then, she would always flip and turn to one side to sleep. The bassinet had a zip to “lock” the baby in place and that meant she could not flip at all and that frustrated her during the flight. What frustrated me was that whenever the seatbelt sign was on, we had to buckle up, remove the baby from the bassinet and secure the baby on my lap. It was extremely annoying because at one moment, Emma would be sleeping soundly in the bassinet, and in another moment, the air steward/stewardess would wake me up so I would carry her on my lap. My goodness!! Eventually, I got so fed up I just carried Emma to sleep.

Apart from feeling annoyed with the bassinet (that I eventually didn’t use much), I was truly thankful this little trooper slept for 11.5h from the time of boarding, and latched so incredibly well I didn’t even have to activate my breast pump :”)

On our connecting flight from Frankfurt to Hamburg, this girl slept throughout the flight again and I was so happy about it!

Once we reached Hamburg, we had to take an hour car ride to our residence and if you know Emma, you would know that she hates car rides. I had to rotate so many toys to entertain her in the car seat and eventually, she fell asleep (yes again!).

I have no idea why Emma was just so sleepy throughout the entire journey, but NO COMPLAINS AT ALL because it made life so much easier for everyone! :D

I would leave it to another day for another post about settling down in Germany as I am so thankful for all the help we received and I want to pen down these memorable thoughts while they are fresh in my mind :")