Five Tips for Getting Around Istanbul with a Baby

There’s a maxim of which every new parent should be reminded, and it’s something about how nobody else is as interested in your baby as you are. This is probably true everywhere except for Istanbul: at any given moment in public with your baby, you are the least interested person in it.  If you’ve ever seen a flock of teenage girls descend upon a small puppy, you have a good idea of how the Turkish public reacts to babies. (Your baby is the puppy and the teenage girls are everyone in Istanbul.)

Given the love of babies here, raising one in Istanbul has been easier than it would be in many other countries, but it still comes with its share of difficulties. My husband and I moved here when our son was three months old. For the uninitiated, the first three months of your child’s life is the trial-by-fire part of parenthood: you get to know your child’s screams (loud, louder, and loudest), you figure out how much liquid a diaper can hold before it starts to leak everywhere, you succeed for the first time at getting the baby fed, washed, changed, and strapped in for a 10-minute run to the grocery store in under two hours. Making the move to Istanbul after those first months with our son felt like having to re-learn everything; besides the obvious differences in language and culture, there were logistical, Istanbul-specific issues we hadn’t foreseen. Fortunately, after some time here spent making a sincere effort to get out as much as possible with our little one, here are some of the tips I’ve learned along the way.

1. Get a baby carrier.
Istanbul is filled with things that make pushing a stroller through it extremely difficult. Examples of such include cobblestones, crowds of people, hills, steps, uneven paths, more people, narrow sidewalks, and people. Theoretically, a stroller is possible, but it’s an unpleasant experience: you move at a snail’s pace and carry it much of the way, over high curbs and up sets of stairs. Aside from the fact that you will not actually be using your stroller’s wheels if you take it out, they take up tons of space on already cramped public transportation and are often too large to wheel comfortably into the smaller shops without getting in the way of other customers. It’s easier and more pleasant to use a baby carrier you’re comfortable with around the city: it keeps both your hands free and your baby close against you in large crowds of people. Plus, it’s easier to dodge and weave out of Istanbul traffic with a baby strapped to your chest rather than having it in a stroller in front of you. Right?

2. Get accustomed to strangers approaching your baby. 
As noted above, one of the happiest circumstances of living in Istanbul with an infant is that people are generally much more baby crazy here than they are in other large cities. It’s a common occurrence for strangers to approach your baby and do everything from pinching his cheeks to lifting him bodily out of the stroller. One of the corollaries to this idiosyncrasy is that you don’t have to be afraid to ask for help when you need it, although in all likelihood you’ll never have to ask. We’ve found that most locals will, on their own initiatives, go out of their way to make life easier for you, whether that’s giving you a seat on public transportation, helping you get your stroller out of a rut in the sidewalk, or directing you to the nearest changing room. Nobody will treat your baby as an inconvenience, and it’s an accepted part of life here that babies have public meltdowns.

3. Get creative with diaper changing venues. 
Baby rooms in Istanbul are roughly the size of our first apartment in Manhattan and are kitted out with a rocking chair, a large changing table, a few pillows, and—in the nicest—a few spare diapers and wipes. That being said, they are few and far in between. You can normally find them at the upscale malls here (Zorlu, Kanyon, and so on) but, when it comes to restaurants, museums, and shops, you’ll find it harder to find a changing table, much less an entire nursery. Carry a portable changing mat, some antibacterial wipes, a few spare plastic bags, and get creative with using the spaces available to you in public bathrooms. It’s always, however, worth asking someone if you’re in a pinch: even if there isn’t a changing table available, we’ve found that we’re always directed to a larger bathroom with wider countertops and, if we’re lucky, someone will point out a baby room that’s previously gone unnoticed.

4. Get online. 
Being an expat with a baby can feel overwhelming and isolating. Fortunately, you’re not the first parent to ever live in a foreign country, and there are plenty of resources written by parents who’ve been there and done that. Examples include Istanbul Moms, a Facebook group where you can get information on fun activities, buy gently used baby gear, get recommendations for local pediatricians, or seek advice. Many of the international women’s groups based in Istanbul also have mother meet-ups or regular playgroups that are hosted at various homes. Simple Google searches often unearth useful gems, like this incredibly helpful list of baby changing tables in Istanbul. My husband and I also found two wonderful babysitters for our son using websites like Great Au Pair, which match potential nannies to expatriate families. In short, there are tons of resources out there that are specifically tailored to Istanbul: use them. It’s much harder to try and figure out everything by yourself.

5. Get acquainted with the most baby-friendly locations in Istanbul.
We’ve spent a few weekends scouting out the best places in Istanbul to relax with a baby, and there are plenty of options. Walking along the promenade from Ortaköy to Bebek is a beautiful way to spend an afternoon on a sunny day; it’s also stroller friendly and is surrounded by grass, so bring a blanket if you’d like to stretch out and watch the boats on the water. Many of the restaurants in the area, or further north of it, are larger and often have space outdoors to accommodate wiggly little ones: we love Backyard and Gazebo for the gorgeous views and great brunches. If you’d still like to feel in the thick of things, the two main promenades on either side of Istanbul have wide and smooth sidewalks, if not a lack of crowds (tip: the indoor shopping mall on Istiklal Caddesi has a baby room and the Caribou Coffee on Bağdat Caddesi has a changing table). Nişantaşı, with its abundance of outdoor cafes, can also be a peaceful place to spend a morning and has the added convenience of being accessible on the Metro.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in March of 2014. It was updated for relevance on December of 2018.