Am I mad to consider this with a newborn?

This & maybe buy a car seat to be delivered to family - you may need one to travel around whilst you're there?

I second this

Whatever not?

This. I think the driving would be too much for little one and stopping every 30 minutes may be difficult if there aren’t a services etc.

If you’re planning on breastfeeding, I wouldn’t recommend it.

I think it depends on the birth and yours and the babies health. I could not have done this but you may be able too !

Perfectly doable. I took mine everywhere from being tiny, they just used to sleep in the car. Much easier than toddlers who in my experience spend all their time wriggling out if their car seats and bashing each other with toys.

I had an emergency C-section and moved house, to another country, (that we had not been able to visit before we moved there and only had temporary accomodation arranged for 3 weeks when we got there), when our daughter was just under 8 weeks, so a 3 hour trip to see family in the same country would have been a doddle! 😂

Be optimistic and plan for it. Make sure it can be canceled if all is not doing well.

I'd have done it with any of my 3. As long as you can cancel if you don't feel well enough or up to it, then go for it. Easiest time to transport them IMHO. Obviously just plan in extra stops along the way on the journey too.

We went away to Yorkshire when baby was about 8 weeks old - the journey was tough. She slept for some of it but towards the end she was just screaming and screaming while we drove through a very dark and wet rainy night and we kept having to stop so I could breast feed her and we got gradually more and more soaked stood by side of car to get her out each time, and by the time we got there I felt like a shrivelled husk and was completely overstimulated by the constant crying. After that it was fine. We had to take so much stuff though. Looking back, I kind of think why did we put ourselves through that.

I think it would be totally fine, unless you had some unforeseen complications around the birth?! Not sure why it would be an issue - sounds lovely!

It is perfectly do-able. Did this with mine when they were a few weeks old. 6 hour drive to spend Christmas with family. It wasn’t an issue. Just allow extra time for breaks in the journey. Be kind to yourself and ask for help if you need it whilst you are in new surroundings. Enjoy 😊

Depends on a lot. I agree with making plans flexible so you can take a call when you have more info. Mine were awful sleepers (for years - hopefully you have better luck!) So wouldn't have been great for us...

Agree that in theory it sounds totally doable but you'll have to wait and see how the birth goes so definitely book accommodation you can cancel or you're happy to lose the booking fee, just in case.

If you and the baby are healthy and you establish a good feeding plan then I say go for it! You're right this is probably the best age - we took our 8-week-old to Boston USA and drove down to Florida. Easiest trip we've ever done with them!

This is definitely possible, but when it comes to it, you may find you just cannot be bothered anymore! The sleep deprivation might have hit and it may seem too much effort.
Also, and especially if you end up bottle feeding, the amount of stuff you will need to take is Huge!!
But you may be up for it! Don't make a firm decision yet.

Hard pass for me. I could still feel my C-section scat at that time, God bless whoever thought of easy chairs next to incubators! Granted, my DD was still a preemie at that stage, but even at 5 weeks corrected I was still lucky if I got to eat my dinner while still warm. Then you have to think of pumping/breastfeeding/formula prep, bottle cleaning and sterilisation, walking the burping mile, dealing with anything from possets to full-on where-is-the-local-launderette-that-takes-duvets vomits, health visitor appointments (if you're lucky and you don't get physios, oxygen, ot, district etc etc etc appointments), bath logistics, unbelievable mounds of laundry (and I'm lucky in terms of it being summer atm) and don't forget mother of all sleep deprivations for you, haemorrhoids and boobs developing a life of their own (if you're lucky and just get away with those). Let me put it this way - give yourself the Christmas gift of (relative) peace and quiet at home.

I went away for a week with our 8wk old (2nd baby). I did no cooking and it was actually quite nice. I would have struggled with our 1st as I wasn't great at breastfeeding until about 10wks. I didn't have much bleeding after the birth and no major complications. Husband and family ran around sorting all the food, drinks, entertaining our eldest. It was bliss.

We planned our stops so our newborn wasn't too long in the car seat.

Book something with a late cancellation option and see how you feel. Could be lovely

I wouldn't have been able for this just purely due to recovery after birth. I had a very straight forward vaginal birth but recovery still takes time. The long car drive, and pottering around busy Christmas markets would've been an absolute no for me. The mental load of packing would've also drained me (I bottlefed so would've had to deal with packing all of that stuff and by that stage I was still figuring out how to make bottles for on the go 😅).

My baby would've been fine, travels well and as a newborn she fed well and slept well. But physically and mentally I wouldn't have been. A spa break in a hotel maybe, but defo not a city style Christmas market break!

I would have done this and had a really lovely time. However BF didn't work out for me so didn't have to juggle that along side finding my feet. I would still go for it.

Impossible to call at this stage. My first I could have taken pretty much anywhere to do anything, my second would scream relentlessly if you put him in the car (this went on for MONTHS and nothing helped). Never would have expected it but we couldn't go anywhere that wasn't by train or bus for ages as the screaming was awful. Hard to know what baby will be like and how you'll feel beforehand. Roughly plan it but have a plan B & free cancellation.

I found the easiest ages to be 6 months - 14 months or so. Before 6 months everything felt more fragile and the breastfeeding knocked me out. Travelling is touch for wee ones too, can't spend too long in car seats etc (no idea if this is relevant). Also wanted to spend time with wee one at home or local.

Before I gave birth I had some weirdly crazy ideas though - wondered if it would be a good time to travel across the atlantic ocean at one point...

Sounds do able to me!
I would have been happy to do that even post c section but I know not everyone would be in the same boat.
It sounds lovely!
And you little one should nap in the car mostly!

When my DD was 6 weeks old we went to France for 2 weeks -- camping, in a mini. It was a spur of the moment decision; as you say, OP, you're tired whereever you are so what the hell!

We borrowed a heavy old tent, strapped an old travelling trunk onto the top of the mini and took off.

And it worked absolutely fine. My DD was totally BF so that was easy; she was a terrible sleeper at home but slept really well whilst we were away, so I slept much better too. It helped that I'd had an easy delivery, and that the French culture was much more tolerant of breast fed babies in pulic spaces than in the UK, but really I found it easier than those first 6 weeks at home had been.

Get a pram that is certified safe for overnight sleeping. Perfect for travelling at that age as you don’t need to take a separate cot.

I would have been fine with this with both of mine, and that’s following one emergency and one planned c section.

Just plan on it. The worst that happens is you cancel. And if you need to cancel that means something is not going well in which case you’ll have other things to worry about.