Baby food, diapers, milk in Luzern, Interlaken

You get those items at the same place you get them in Redmond. Local grocery stores, mini-markets, etc. Often the basement of the large departments stores have extensive food markets. And ask your hotel. They will give you directions to nearest market. Swiss babies have to eat also.

Head to http://maps.google.com plug in the address of you hotel in Luzern, click the "search nearby" option and enter "supermarket" for the nearest stores. In Interlaken, there are large supermarkets across the street from the two train stations (West and Ost). The two largest chains are Coop, and Migros.

Baby food for a two year old,, hmm, why not cut up normal food at that age. Without a fridge all you can do is buy those cartons of long life milk,, they do not need to be refrigerated until opened and are not too hard to find in europe. You will be able to find some crackers and stuff you can keep in your room for snacks those, and some juice boxes they are easy to find too. Sorry, can't help with specifics on where to find diapers, been many years since my kids have needed them,, but I am sure they will be around,, the Swiss children need them too! Good luck.

I wondered about baby food for a 2 year old also. Just feed your child normal food, no need to buy extra food. For milk, you might want to get small boxes of H-milk, like one uses in lunch boxes as this does not have to be refrigerated until after it is open. Grocery stores and drug stores will have diapers.

Sowmya,, I think there is no problem with food,, perhaps you just need to relax a bit and not worry about it too much,, children will eat mostly what you give them,, if you only feed your child baby food,, even as a "back up" you are going to have more problems later with a picky eater. Milk will be no problem,, though I will warn you the packaged milk doesn't taste quite the same so your child may not like it,, if so try the flavored ones,, or feed child yougurt and cheese instead of milk ,, very healthy.

The UHT milk boxes also come in chocolate and strawberry in most Swiss grocery stores. Been to Luzern with a 3yr old, not a problem finding grocery stores.

Hi, Thanks for the replies. I am looking for baby food options as a backup. We generally give her milk 3 times a day and solid food otherwise. The food that we eat might be spicy for her. So looking for a backup. Also if I have baby food in small jars / packets, then they are easy to carry along. Thanks

Speaking as one Mom to another - at 2 you're talking about a little person not a baby. Forget the baby food - you won't need it. You won't have a problem with food being too spicy in Luzern or Interlaken. Go to these town's websites to see a sampling of places to eat. You can take some of the food off your plate, cut it up in the proper bit size & place it on the child's plate. Milk isn't a problem either. Do yourself a favor and bring a metal camelback bottle for milk and one for water for the kid. Keep some snack crackers handy for the toddler in case meals run a little off schedule. Maybe you should start the training pants now to eliminate the diaper issue as 2 is getting a little old for diapers.

"italian food is easier for kid then Swiss" .... wow,, have you actually been to Switzerland Darren?How is mashed potatoes, veggies, noodles( spatzle) and sausages hard for kids.. perhaps its just something about Americans and their thing for pasta... kids eat what ever food they are introduced to by their parents,, whether its Swiss, Italian, or Indian or Japanese... there is no such thing as food that is "easier " or "harder" if introduced early to a child.

Hi Sowmya,
I realize that you're probably getting frustrated by all of the parenting advice your getting when all that you're trying to find out is where to find supplies. So, I'll dispense with the mothering advice (which is good, since I'm a father!) and tell you that I just got back from Italy with my 11 month daughter and we found everything that we needed in Pharmacies and Grocery stores. My daughter woud pretty much eat what we ate (admittedly, italian food is easier for kids than Swiss food), but the restaurants would often make us a small plate of something simple if we asked (i.e pasta and red sauce, mixed vegetables, pizza margherita). The long last milk is a good idea, though, if you are searching for that. Alternately, you can get a soft sided cooler and ice packs that will keep milk cool for quite some time. Our hotel would freeze those for us when we asked. Have a great time!

Sowmya, I would say that one of your bigger issues will be when is your toddler going to want to eat. With the time change being about 9 hrs., he/she may be hungry at times when you won't be able to go to the store or restaurant. This happens to us every time we travel to Europe. We'll wake up in the middle of the night hungry. We always pack a soft-sided, foldable cooler. Since we check our luggage, we take several gel ice packs, cutting board, serrated knife and zip-loc bags (haven't been able to find these in Europe). I make sure we always have something to eat. We'll buy lunch meat (salami or similar), sliced cheese, bread (rolls), and fruit at the grocery store. If we don't have a fridge in the room, I'll ask our hostess to put our gel pack in her freezer. I'll also bring granola bars, or similar, from the States. When we travelled with our children, we often stopped at McDonalds. I know this is not always what people want to do, however, when my husband and I would want to dine at a nicer restaurant, they would not always have something for our child. So, for us, a happy meal was the answer. Looking at google maps, I see that there is a McD's 4 min. from the bahnhof. While there, grab yourself a cappuccino to keep awake. Their coffee drinks are soooo much better than here in the States. As we've all experienced, when the little ones are happy, mom and dad are happy. Have a great trip making lifetime memories with your family!

"wow,, have you actually been to Switzerland Darren?"
Uh, well, let's see... I AM German, and I now live in Colorado. So, yes, Pat, I belive that I have some experience with German styled food. Ask any american kid what spaghetti is, and you'll likely get a confirmation. Sauerbraten? Not as likely. It's simply been my experience that italian food is preferably to the sweet/sour vinegar sauced, meat focused German cuisine. I do love this stuff, as does my daughter, but she eats just about everything. Many of my friends kids are different, however.

Well Darren obviously you haven't spent much if any time in Switzerland. You cite one dish,, um,, which as noted is Germanic in orgin,, but Switzerland actually, depending on where you are,, has food that is more French or Italian too.. and a two year old has little culturally pretermined likes and dislikes as they are just starting their journey into food.. with one young child perhaps you are not aware of that,, but I assure you,, kids will eat many different foods if introduced to them early enough.. spagetti is just noodles with a sauce,, how is that so different from spatzle,, or egg noodles, or rice noodles etc,, so you see, it is your preference as a parent that influences a child,, if you were asian and ate rice and fish alot ,, your child would likely learn to love rice and fish,, not "spagetti". My point is that Swiss food is no harder for a young child to learn to eat and like then Italian.. period.

The point of these boards is to actually read the poster's question. I fear that you have not, Pat. While I don't have time to compare lasagna to jaeger shnitzel, or fettucine to spaetzle, or the countless other combos that will likely lead to Italian recognition over the less poplular German (and Swiss) cuisine, I should point out that Sowmya fears that the Swiss cuisine might not agree with her child. This may support your statement that "it is your preference as a parent that influences a child" or "kids eat what ever food they are introduced to by their parents". So, if you would take your own advice and then actually read the question by the poster, you might come to an actual effective response. I would guess that she has not introduced it. Also, one might conclude that a person who can drive to Switzerland in a few hours (versus one who leaves in the vicinity of the Pacific Ocean, as is Victoria) may have some knowledge of German, Austrian, or Swiss food, which is all very similar. But alas, I fear that our bickering is not helping Sowmya at all, so I'll disengage and leave you to your inherent superiority in all things related to children. After all, I only have one...

Darren,, yes I live in Victoria ,,now,, but that is all you know about me. I was born in
Europe,, spend summers there as a child with relatives,, and married a German...so perhaps you can see I feel just as qualified to comment on the different foods available. I was the first poster to suggest milk for child would not be an issue ,, and the OP did not mention that the child would not like the Swiss food, she was worried it would be too "spicy", not that I read anyways,, but perhaps OP assumed Swiss food would be too foreign for her child, you reinforced that thought by saying "Italian is easier" ,, I merely have no idea where you came up with that idea. I still don't,, but it really doesn't matter does it ? As for my parenting,, it is not superior knowledge,, it is superior experience,, I have raised three ,, and all have survived eating "foreign" food,,

Sowmya, I just returned from 2.5 weeks in Austria and Germany with a 6 month old. I understand how knowing what products are available for babies can bring you comfort when you are traveling in a new place. I did a lot of research before I left and spoke to people while I was there. The brand of baby food called 'Hipp' is organic and has a good reputation. I checked their website and Hipp is available in Switzerland. You can check what types of food/milk they offer in English on their UK website: www.hipp.co.uk so you will recognize the packaging when you are in Switzerland (assuming you don't speak German). I also used the German website and Google Translate to make sure I knew what I was looking for when I got to Germany/Austria and wrote down the names of the different products. Hipp also makes what they call a 'Growing Up' milk that is good from 12 months onward, this may be helpful if you don't find regular milk in the sizes you are looking for. The other posters are right, diapers (Pampers are available, if you like them) and baby foods are readily available in grocery stores, department stores and pharmacies. Rest assured, you will have no difficulty finding what you need. Good luck!