Istanbul and traveling with an infant questions

[iammalcolmx]

Where will you be staying? What hotel? This is going to dictate my answer somewhat. Istanbul isn't unsafe for woman alone( there are sections of the city I am going to tell you to stay out of though) but its annoying as hell to not be with a man. If you are going to be hanging out in Istanbul alone I STRONGLY suggest you guys stay on the Asian side because its nice and not as touristy.

[Brit]

I think that you will want a carrier for the baby in Istanbul. It will just be easier to deal with. You may bring a stroller also, but make sure you bring a carrier because the narrow sidewalks and cobblestone (or similar) won't be great with a stroller.

I flew DD to Australia when she was 10 weeks old and it was one of her easiest flights ever. She was still breastfed, so I broke my rule of super light packing and brought the Boppy pillow on the plane. I made sure to wear a shirt that was easy to breastfeed in and she just hung out on the Boppy alternating sleeping and eating for the whole flight.

I got started on DD's passport right away, but I had it in plenty of time. I think I got her SS card when she was ~4 weeks, then applied for the passport immediately. How to take an infant passport photo.

[janegold]

A week isn't too long at all! We were there for 5 days a couple years ago and I felt like I didn't have nearly enough time.

I was with H but I felt very safe there.

[frlcb]

We flew with both kids overseas at 8 weeks. I wore them to keep prying hands off of them, best thing to do for sure. We had her passport by the time she was 6 weeks old. You know I will say go! My blog link is in my sigbature

[scout8]

Can't help with the kid question, but I think you will find plenty to do for a week in Istanbul. We were there for almost a week and didn't run out of things to do. Given that you will have to go slow with a baby, I think you will be fine.

[iammalcolmx]

This would be my choice of hotel on the Asian side. doubletree3.hilton.com/en/hotels/turkey/doubletree-by-hilton-hotel-istanbul-moda-ISTIMDI/index.html

[Deleted]

I am trying to remember how old Q was when we went to Istanbul with him. It was for Christmas when he was 2 or 3. Husband was in conferences all day and I toured the city with Q. I felt perfectly safe in the touristy areas. What I did not like were the cab rides sans car seat. We stayed on the other side of the river from the tourist areas and Q was still napping so he and I would take a cab from the hotel to the tourist area then after lunch grab a cab back to the hotel. The cabs from the hotel were fine because they were from the hotel. The cabs back to the hotel were awful. We would walk up to cabbie, tell him where we were going, he would give us a ridiculous price, we would walk away, they would call us back give us a lower but still ridiculous price then we would agree on 50 Turkish whatevers (which was the legit price). All of this done in English. Then when we got to the hotel if you didn't have exactly 50 they would pretend not to speak English and not understand you wanted change. I accidentally punched on in the face going to grab the money back, grabbed the money and ran back into the hotel past security and up the stairs screaming a scary cab driver was running after me and trying to hurt my baby.
But that wasnt your question. Your question was is it safe to go with a baby and a woman - my answer would be yes especially in the touristy areas. The Turkish were obsessed with Q. We were walking through the grand bazaar and people were just handing him trinkets and candy. In the palace a group of school children surrounded him because they wanted to touch him (I thought they were trying to pick pocket us).
I just felt like we were getting ripped off every where we turned. But there is a Banana republic and a dunkin donuts so that made it better

[Deleted]

Oh and the cab rides were scary as shit. We had one guy drive backwards at about 35 mph the wrong way with cars coming at us just to avoid having to make a u turn to get on a highway. When we hit traffic more than once the cabbie would pull into the lane going the opposite direction, drive as fast as he could until a car came the other way then would pull off. It was scarier than my safety as a woman alone.