An American mother living in Denmark with her four children has spoken openly about adjusting to life in Copenhagen, where babies sleep outside in strollers and couples sleep with their own duvets.
Annie Samples, 36, from Texas, has more than 200,000 followers on TikTok, where she documents what it’s like to raise a family in one of the happiest and safest countries on earth.
The expat, who uses the name @annieineventyrland, told Copenhagen is “just so peaceful” that you “really feel safe right away”.
“If you’re acting like it’s not peaceful and you’re acting more like a neurotic, you stick out like a sore thumb,” she said. “So I try to just go with the flow.”
Annie Samples, 36, from Texas, lived in Portland, Oregon and had never left the US when her husband’s company opened an office in Denmark and offered him a position
The couple moved to Copenhagen with their three sons in May 2019 and welcomed their daughter, who is now 10 months old, three years later
Samples was based in Portland, Oregon and had never been outside the US when her designer husband’s company opened an office in Denmark and offered him a position.
“My husband always said he wanted to live in Copenhagen. He was here when he was a lot younger and he just really liked it,” she explained. “With that in mind, we didn’t really have any plans to move internationally.”
The couple moved to Copenhagen with their three sons in May 2019 and welcomed their daughter, who is now 10 months old, three years later.
Samples recalled carrying residual stress from her life in the US for a number of years after moving, but this melted away over time.
“You start to realize what you were stressed about without even realizing it,” she shared, saying she feels privileged not to have to constantly worry about mass shootings.
“The fact that I don’t always have to think about it when I enter a public space is just a huge burden off our shoulders.”
Denmark has more restrictive gun laws and a significantly lower rate of gun violence compared to the US, which already killed more than 100 people in mass shootings in less than two months in 2023.
Samples has more than 200,000 followers on TikTok, where she documents what it’s like to raise a family in one of the happiest and safest countries in the world
Samples is grateful for Denmark’s high taxes, which allow for free health care. She recently shared how she received a $6,000 bill after taking her daughter to the emergency room in Texas
In one of her popular videos, she documented her emergency appointment in Denmark. She insisted she’s never had a problem with long waits or subpar care
The mother of four explained that she checks in with her yellow health card and never gets a bill. She also uses her health card in the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions
Samples is also grateful for Denmark’s progressive taxation, which provides residents with free universal health care and education.
The average Dane pays a tax rate of about 45 percent, but the mother-of-four said it’s worth it for the health care alone.
“People say, ‘Oh, your taxes are so high. It’s terrible’ but we save money being here with three very active boys,” she said of her sons, aged eight, six and four. ‘We definitely got our money’s worth.’
When Samples was visiting Texas with her family last month, her daughter had a stomach virus and had to be taken to the emergency room. They received a bill for $6,000 and had to figure out what would be covered by their travel insurance.
Samples told that if her daughter needed to see a doctor in Denmark, she would call an emergency number and make an appointment. She would scan her yellow health card upon arrival and would not have to fill out any paperwork.
“When you’re done, you just leave the hospital and that’s the last time you think about it,” she said. “You don’t get bills. Nothing. You just walk out and you’re done. It’s all included in the taxes we pay here.”
The stay-at-home mum believes living in a country like Denmark, where you don’t have to worry about medical bills, “improves your quality of life”.
Samples was one month pregnant with her daughter when she received life-saving medical care in Copenhagen after an ovarian cyst ruptured. She needed emergency surgery and lost over a liter of blood.
Rehearsals went viral last September when she shared a video about the Nordic tradition of letting babies sleep outside in their prams all year round
The mother-of-four included footage of her daughter’s pram parked outside a cafe and on her balcony at home
The tradition has been passed down from generation to generation and it is common to see prams with sleeping babies outside houses, apartments and local shops in Denmark
For winter, Samples will dress her little girl in a merino wool bodysuit, pants, socks and a hat as a base layer. Depending on how cold it is, she wraps them in a fleece cuddly suit
The stay-at-home mom also has a cozy footmuff that attaches to her stroller that doubles as a sleeping bag for her daughter
She said when people hear about giving birth in Denmark they expect it to be “very uncomplicated” but she “actually had so much care and attention” during her high-risk pregnancy.
“There were definitely less luxuries compared to my American births,” she noted. “But everyone was very nice. I would say the biggest difference was that I gave birth at 7pm and I was sitting on my bed at my house at midnight that night. I could give birth and walk right after, so I thought it was great.
Through the Danish health system, she received regular visits from an infant nurse who examined her and her newborn and gave her parenting tips.
Samples said her baby sister encouraged her to let her daughter sleep outside in her pram, a common practice in the Nordic countries.
“They say it’s healthy for the baby,” she explained. “If you live in a society where your doctor encourages you to do this, say, ‘Oh, I should do this. I should work on getting comfortable with that.”
In 1926, Icelandic doctor David Thorsteinsson published an educational book in which he argued that parents should let their children sleep outside in their strollers, even in cold weather, for fresh air to boost their immune systems.
The tradition has been passed from generation to generation and in countries like Denmark, Norway and Iceland it is common to see strollers with sleeping babies parked in front of houses, apartments and even local businesses.
A 2008 Finnish study found that children “sleep longer outdoors than indoors.”
“If you live in a society where your doctor encourages you to do that, you’re like, ‘Oh, I should do that,'” she told of letting her daughter sleep outside
Samples believes many people who saw the video assumed she parked her baby outside a mall for hours, when in reality she’s always keeping an eye on them
She has a portable baby monitor in her daughter’s stroller, which makes her feel more comfortable while practicing
Through the Danish health system, she received regular visits from a baby nurse, who recommended that she nap her daughter outside in her pram
Samples has adopted the practice and leaves her daughter outside when she visits a café or store, but keeps checking on her.
“That part of my American brain was hard to let go of, but I’m trying to take it easy,” she said. “They also have these wonderful portable baby monitors that are really sensitive, so you can hear every single little noise that’s being made – or not made. So that definitely helps me feel comfortable.”
She added that there is a Danish way of dressing babies during the winter months to help regulate their body temperature during their outdoor nap.
Patterns will dress your little girl in a merino wool bodysuit, pants, socks and a hat as a base layer. Depending on how cold it is, she wraps them in a fleece cuddle suit and a footmuff that attaches to their stroller like a sleeping bag.
“They seem pretty warm in there, and [the Danish] sure have [safety] guidelines,” she said. “You’re supposed to feel her neck to make sure she’s not sweating or anything. Great care is taken to ensure your baby does not overheat.”
Samples thinks it’s “great practice,” and unlike most American mothers, she has no qualms about her daughter being kidnapped because she feels so safe in Denmark.
She went viral last September when she shared a video about the Nordic tradition, including footage of babies sleeping outside in their prams and her daughter napping on her balcony at home.
“Parents always keep a watchful eye or have a baby monitor in the stroller,” she explained in the clip. “Babies are not kidnapped here because no one wants to be responsible for other people’s children.”
Samples and her husband have also become believers in sleeping with two small duvets instead of one large one, which is another Scandinavian practice
“When we moved into our permanent place, we tried one duvet one more time and were like, ‘No, absolutely not,'” she recalls. “So now let’s make the separate duvets”
Samples can speak and read some Danish while their sons have become fluent through immersion. She misses a lot about the US but hopes to live in Denmark for the rest of her life
“Denmark is very peaceful and relaxing and I think it’s really good for me to live in a place like that,” she said
The post has been viewed 16 million times and has received more than 73,000 positive and negative comments. Some online trolls called it “child abuse” and claimed she “belongs in jail”.
Samples told that she believes many people who saw the video assumed she parked her daughter outside a mall for hours, when in reality she keeps a close eye on her.
“They go to a little boutique or a little grocery store where you can see them out the window,” she said. “It’s a lot less shocking and more natural than it probably sounds to a lot of people.”
Samples and her husband have also become believers in sleeping with two small duvets instead of one large one, which is another Scandinavian practice.
She said that when they first moved they lived in a furnished apartment and had separate bed covers, which she had never seen before. She loved that they no longer had problems with who was hogging the ceiling at night.
“When we moved into our permanent place, we tried one duvet one more time and were like, ‘No, absolutely not,'” she recalls. “So now we’re going to make the separate duvets. Everyone in the house has their own duvet, including the baby, and it’s just really cosy.”
Samples hopes to spend the rest of her life in Denmark. She can speak and read some Danish while her sons have become fluent through immersion. However, besides her family and friends, she still misses things in the United States.
“There is just so much convenience. There really is so much good food out there. It’s just fun and exciting,” she said of her home country. “Denmark is very peaceful and relaxing and I think it’s really good for me to live in such a place. But sometimes my kids see what life is like in the US and they say, “Oh, we have to go back there.”