Mutterpass, U-Heft, vaccination card: sizes and the right sleeve

In Germany the Mutterpass comes first, quite early, and then it is with you every single day for eight months. Later the yellow U-Heft arrives, and the vaccination card, and both travel along for years: changing bag, glove compartment, nursery pigeonhole, the counter at the doctor's office.

You can tell. Ours looked well-travelled by the second trimester, and that was not carelessness — it is simply what happens to paper that lives permanently wedged between other things.

So a sleeve is less decoration than wear protection. It only earns its place, though, if it can do a few things.

The three booklets at a glance

All three look like a booklet, but they do different jobs and come from different places.

The Mutterpass (maternity record) is issued by the gynaecologist or the midwife as soon as the pregnancy is confirmed. It holds the mother's health data, the condition of the child, the expected due date and, after the birth, notes on the postpartum period and the follow-up examination. Every check-up and every ultrasound ends up in it.

The U-Heft, the yellow children's examination booklet, is published by the Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss (the Federal Joint Committee). Parents receive it after the birth from the maternity ward or the midwife. Doctors, and dentists too, enter their findings there.

The vaccination card records which vaccinations a person has had. Since the Infection Protection Act of 2001, its outer form is no longer prescribed by law, which is part of the reason for the confusion about sizes further down.

When each U-examination is due

The U-Heft accompanies the child from U1 to U9, and the time windows are listed by the Federal Joint Committee:

• U2: day 3 to 10 of life
• U3: week 4 to 5 of life
• U4: month 3 to 4
• U5: month 6 to 7
• U6: month 10 to 12

After that come the U7 (month 21 to 24), the U7a (34 to 36), the U8 (46 to 48) and the U9 (60 to 64). The U1 takes place right after the birth. So the booklet has to put up with a lot in the very first weeks, and the sleeve should be there before the second or third appointment.

The three booklets are different sizes

This is the most common reason for buying the wrong one, and it is annoyingly mundane. There is no sleeve that fits all three at once — it would always be too tight or too loose somewhere.

I did not find official dimensions for the three booklets. For the vaccination card that is not surprising: its form is not prescribed, so editions differ. That is why I give no centimetre figures here that I cannot back up. Instead, the advice that works in every case: measure your own booklet once, rather than trusting the description in a listing. And a booklet that already has findings and slips tucked inside needs noticeably more room than a fresh one.

The figures I can stand behind come from my own sleeves: the U-Heft cover “Fox” is a transparent wrap-around sleeve made of soft PVC, 217 × 314 mm when open and meant for booklets in closed DIN A5 format. The Impfpass cover is made for the yellow vaccination card in its current edition, the Mutterpass cover for the Mutterpass. All three come with the same motif if they are going to live in one bag.

How to tell whether a sleeve is any good

It has to wipe clean. The U-Heft sits on the counter at the paediatrician's, in the bag next to the bottle, in the car in summer. Anything you cannot quickly wipe down looks tired within a year.

It must not lock the booklet away. People write in it at the practice, usually standing up, in a hurry. If you have to prise the booklet out every time, the sleeve is at home in a drawer after three appointments. That is where most pretty sleeves fail.

And it should have room for slips of paper somewhere. You are constantly handed them — findings, appointment cards, stickers. An inner pocket decides whether they are still around at the next visit.

Two things I would not do

Laminate. It sounds sensible and isn't: nobody can write in a laminated booklet any more, and writing in it is the entire point.

And heavy padding. It feels lovely in the hand and makes the U-Heft so bulky that it no longer fits any side pocket — which is where it needs to go.

Whether a name belongs on it

Practically, it helps. Waiting rooms rarely hold just two yellow booklets.

I would still stick to the first name. These booklets sit in a lot of places where you are not standing next to them, and a full name with a date of birth is more than a booklet needs to carry around in public.

With several children I find different motifs more useful than names anyway. You recognise a motif from two metres away; a name has to be read.

How to find the right sleeve

1. Take the booklet and measure height and width when closed, with a ruler, not by feel.
2. Check whether slips or findings are already tucked in. They need room, and a sleeve that only just fits the empty booklet will be too tight.
3. Read the product description for which booklet the sleeve is made for and what format it states. “Fits all booklets” is rarely true.
4. Only then pick the motif. With several children, one motif per child is more practical than a name you have to read.

Frequently asked questions

Does a U-Heft sleeve also fit the Mutterpass? I can't say across the board, because I found no official dimensions for either booklet. Measuring helps more than guessing, and that is why there is a separate sleeve for the Mutterpass.

Who issues the yellow U-Heft? It is published by the Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss. Parents receive it after the birth from the maternity ward or the midwife.

When do you need the U-Heft sleeve? As soon as you have the booklet, so in the first days. The U2 is due between day 3 and day 10 of life.

Can you laminate the booklet? I wouldn't, because nobody can write in it afterwards. The practice writes in it at every appointment.

When to get which sleeve

If you get to choose, get the sleeve for the Mutterpass as soon as you receive it, and the ones for the U-Heft and vaccination card in the first weeks. The first creases happen early, and they never come out again.

If you want to give the sleeves as a gift, wrap them as a pair: the Mutterpass one for the pregnancy, the one for U-Heft and vaccination card for the birth. And because a baby brings more small things with it, my text on how to keep milk teeth, the cord stump and the first curl goes well with this one.