Overview

• Green MP Hanna Steinmüller delivered a budget speech on 23 September with her few-months-old son asleep in a front carrier, the first such appearance at the federal lectern.
• She said the decision was unplanned because her child was sleeping and she did not want to wake him.
• Bundestag President Julia Klöckner praised the moment and this week invited members with babies or toddlers to submit ideas for improving how mandates can be balanced with care duties.
• Family Minister Karin Prien declared that holding office with a young child must be feasible, adding momentum to calls for practical support.
• Commentary welcomed the visibility but cautioned against unrealistic expectations for mothers, as structural gaps remain, including no formal parental leave for MPs or ministers and a return to duty eight weeks after birth.