Am I mad to consider this with a newborn?

But babies can be exposed to germs anywhere. Like your local supermarket and kids nursery/school events run round Xmas. Or are you meant to just be a recluse for the first year?

As I said the advice varies from different NHS trusts. So if you under a certain area then only 30 mins but if you live in a different area under another NHS it's 2 hours.

Exactly how many babies out of the thousands born have died due to this anyway?

It's about checking their oxygen levels. There's been babies who've died and have health problems because of the position they are in, in the car seat. That's what sparked the research.

It's up to the individual how much notice they take of safe sleeping and the advice not to travel those lengths of time, unless necessary. It gets dangerous if a baby picks up a respiratory infection/cold then has to travel back.

One of my friends to her baby to the US on a 7 hour flight to see her mum when baby was 8 weeks old.

What's so hard now about doing anything with a baby

It’s doable but not necessarily enjoyable at that age. I think if they were around 3 months ish it would be a lot easier but 5-8 weeks my baby was only sleeping in short stretches and cluster feeding so getting anywhere was hard work. If you do go, the train is probably the better option as by car you’ll have to have a break every 30 mins so would be a long drive in the end. I would also be wary of the baby getting sick exposed to so many people at the Christmas markets before they’ve had any vaccinations especially as whooping cough is on the rise.

Same. Although I was expressing. Which I wouldn’t recommend anyone do on an aeroplane. My nipples exploded, literally.

I took my babies all over the place including flying to Abu Dhabi with mine......breast feeding keeps it simple!!!

@PreggersWithBaby2 Both Nuna and Maxi Cosi make lie flat carrycots with inbuilt restraint straps and isofix fittings.

I think it depends on many things birth related but assuming all goes well then it should be do able.

I went to my friends wedding with my baby who was 8 days old. Had my own wedding when my baby was 8 weeks old and all the dressing fittings and final organisation in the run up to it post birth. We then went on a honeymoon to Greece with our baby at 8 weeks. So perfectly doable if the birth is straight forward (mine was ish but still had to have an op to deliver the placenta) and baby is thriving.

As others have said maybe book things they could be cancelled if recovery takes a little longer.

Hope It all goes well.

You can get a range of different isofix carry cots for the car.

I had a difficult baby and a difficult birth (but not a C-section), and even so, we took him to visit relatives - drove from Scotland to the Midlands and then London.

I'd not do it on the train in a million years!

Why would you worry about changing a nappy in a service station?

It’s do able but I wouldn’t commit to it personally. I’d wait until baby is here and see how you feel.

I’d worry about changing newborns nappy in boot of a car or service stations in winter. My son was unwell when born (full term) and I had a c section and recovered well but have friends who had c sections or cuts from natural labour and wouldn’t of wanted to do that long drive or walk around 5 weeks post partum.

You won’t really know how you feel until you’ve got your child here.

Granted I'm a very experienced mother but i attended my brothers wedding when my youngest was 8 weeks old. I had a normal birth though. We went up a day early and had a few stops just so baby wasn't in the car seat too long. I find newborns easy but I've had a lot of children. So I had all of them with me and it was no issue. To me, 1 would be a breeze but not if it was my first though. If you have a section I'd say 5 weeks would be too soon for your body.

Yeah it's feasible but don't make any concrete plans until the baby is born because if you have a difficult birth or baby has any health issues or reflux etc it could be a complete nightmare.
Both mine would have been fine at that age obviously lots of stops so they can feed and have a break from the car seat.
Better to take them before they're weaning and crawling and get frustrated at being stuck in a car seat.

Why do you say this? You are not being unreasonable at all! You are full of hope and eager to have fun with all the family :D

Also, please keep in mind that you do what you can, just don t get frustrated if you plan to go to multiple places and you only get to do just a tiny part of what you have envisioned.

I remember that our first trip (to the mountains) was when our daughter was around six - eight weeks. It was awesome and relaxing.
Good luck!:D :D :D

You can get lie-flat car seats to be fair. Probably still need to stop a lot to get them out and off their backs.

I'd probably go up by train. Family probably know someone who can lend a travel cot once you're up there. It's probably more doable at eight weeks than five though!

First baby? Yeah, you’re mad. There’s so much I can mention but I’ll just say this one: you may plan to breast feed, but what if your milk doesn’t come in? Mine didn’t. Was a shock. What will you do if this happened to you? And ill
say this too, new babies are prone to infection, and you want to change nappies in service stations / the boot of your car on mid winter?? There will be more time for trips like this.

Not sure if this is a joke or not??? 😅 but no this is no longer an option. Carseats have isofixes for safe positioning, seat belt hooks to be strapped in securely, straps to strap the child in securely, hard outer casings to reduce the impact in a car crash.... a carry cot doesn't! Yes I grew up in a time where 5 kids squeezed into the back of the car and drove the length of the country to go on holidays, but roads are far more dangerous now, cars are travelling at much higher speeds, so car sear safety has become a huge thing!

I think unless your baby has had a really hard time, stayed in hosp etc then I don’t see why not. We moved house when DS was 7 weeks old as I said upthread - he was also a failure to thrive as undiagnosed tongue tie (despite me asking everyone I could! We moved and local expert sorted it within a week), mega feeding issues and I had had a 3C tear.

If all goes well with birth you should be fine. I travelled to Australia for my brothers wedding with 5 week old without any issues that couldn’t be overcome. I did have to start supplementing breastfeeding with bottles partway through the trip, but I just bought the bits I needed there. I had a 5 year old with me, so that helped. Babies are very portable! Just take your time, enjoy bathing in family love and pottering gently around Christmas markets sounds lovely😊

Very do-able. In fact, you'll be glad you made the plan come the time. So nice to get out of the house during those early days when there's a lot of sleeping being done (by the baby - not you!). Breasfeeding makes getting around far less complicated. Packing will be the hard part so get ahead of it if you can.

People have babies in much snowier frostier countries than Scotland you know

And why would a baby in a sling need a thick pramsuit? I wouldn't want to be pushing a pram round a crowded market. I had 2 winter babies. In sling underneath my coat and with my body heat they were plenty warm enough in sleep suits and a hat

I'm a very relaxed mum of 4 and think this is probably over ambitious. Assuming everything goes OK (good birth, good latch, good partner, easy journey, coping with fatigue of the 6-8 week crying peak).... What about the weather? Won't it be snowing or frosty? In outdoor markets? It's some skill to latch a baby with 4 inches of pramsuit with its little bobble head (note: special breastfeeding top helps, as does a small travel stool so u can sit ANYWHERE). If it was the middle of summer, gosh it's so much easier. My first was a January baby (also premie, which is why temp occurs to me I guess), so I breastfed in the snow at times, but she was older, and I was never too far from base.

Like other say, don't fully commit