Am I mad to consider this with a newborn?

We went on a 3 hour journey on holiday when I had a 6 week old. He was my first and it was perfectly doable. We had a lovely time!

Was straightforward birth though.

Oh the idea of going anywhere with a newborn just feels me with dread. Probably doesn’t help that both of mine had terrible colic & I certainly wasn’t anywhere near recovered by 6/8 weeks. But everyone is different. I’ve known people who went to galleries/cinemas & had coffee with friends when theirs were so little. It’s potluck to be honest. So definitely have a backup plan.

My cousin has a six week old, they started touring the EU two weeks ago, they’ll be with us soon in Sweden, then make their way back to the UK via a different route to go to more places.

If you’re worried about the car seat just use a carry cot car seat, it also means you don’t have to take a seperate pram attachment.

Our daughter is adopted, but we had to do twice a week trips that were four hours each way, we just had a lay flat carry cot car seat, stopped halfway for a feed, change etc and it was fine. We would have the names of other places to stop if we needed to stop elsewhere so we weren’t searching maps for one.

I'd book it, but have an option to cancel.

I travelled to Wales at 2 & 4 weeks postpartum to stay with my mum and was fine (first baby). 2 hour journey, knowing my mum would look after me (totally different to catering for yourself) Easy pregnancy, easy birth, terrible sleeping baby (for the next 2 years!) I even went out with the baby for dinner with friends at 4 weeks. If both you and the baby are healthy it can be done. Took qat baby abroad at 6 months,which h we found pretty easy.

2nd baby did similar wales trip at 4 weeks. Again easy pregnancy and birth. Trickier planning with a toddler in addition to a baby, more stuff to remember. I ended up with bad matisitis and an Abcess by 6 weeks, total game changer- I was really unwell and needed medical care on a daily basis for about 3 weeks. I would not want to go anywhere.

We were very unadventurous during the toddler years, it was too much effort for little reward, then covid hit.

Kids are now primary school aged and although it's much easier, there is so much stuff to

At that time of year you'll need to factor in bad weather as well, so just plan for that too.

I'd go. You don't know how birth will go or what position you will be in but I wouldn't let that stop me arranging to do things.
Book something that has free cancellation until closer to the time so you have flexibility.
3 hours isn't too bad as long as you are splitting the journey up into suitable sections for how old baby is. Make a day of it and stop somewhere nice with something christmassy to do on the way.
We did a trip for a wedding that was 2.5hour away at around 8 weeks ish wiht our eldest. Split the journey to limit car seat time. Stopped for a long lunch on the way and I sat in the back with baby. Stayed at a hotel not airbnb but it worked really well.

The OP is literally looking for advice on whether or not to do it? Lots of people on here have said they wouldn't have been able based on their experiences, lots have said they would. I wasn't broken by anything and didn't have a rough ride but still wouldn't ha e been able for what the OP is suggesting!

My first I was still in the grips of PND then, but my pain would have been manageable. My second I would still have been in pain and DS breastfed every 1 - 1.5 hours and constantly from 4pm to 2am. So I wouldn't have wanted to do it. However you may be completely fine!

Yes, and jeez, with a newborn no way would I risk it. That is a LONG drive! I'd go by train for definite... IF I went. Personally, I wouldn't have done. Following neither of my births was I ready to do that at the 5 week mark. Baby 1 I could have done it physically but my baby was an enormous challenge, cried all the time, had health issues and it would have been the worst. Baby 2 was super easy but following a c section and slow recovery I couldn't have managed physically. Everyone's experiences are different though. My friends ranged from a) still being in NICU at 5 weeks, to b) going on a plane to visit family abroad. You will have seen the range on here - you won't know your own situation until it happens.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, as someone on here has sagely said.

Don’t discourage someone just because you had a rough ride. Not everyone is broken by it.

Definitely do it! I was back doing motorsport at six weeks and had had a csection.

There’s something very lovely about going on a little adventure with your baby. Plus people will make a fuss of you, which is always nice.

The research isn’t robust enough for the NHS to change the guidelines but the people running the study which suggested this pulled the study because the oxgyen deprivation of babies in the car seat was so alarming it wouldn’t have been ethical to continue with the research.

Given my experiences, I wouldn't even begin considering this - not even a 1% chance

Do it the following year!

Ha ha! I know. Babies 2 and 3, I got to week 3/4 and thought they were settling. Then hit weeks 5/6. Agghhhhh! It's like a full-blown workout every evening. This time I told my older 2 who looked horrified "week 6 is the week a baby cries most". Thankfully, it was true.

I had lost 6 pints of blood, 4 transfusions and was in intensive care for 3 days so yep I felt like death at 6 weeks still. My haemoglobin level was still very low and I was taking large doses of iron every day.

It's different for everyone.

@Raveonette and @Disastrouspottytraining it seems like there isn't much consensus on it and that's not surprising. The BBC video shares the result of one small study (not enough to set policy from) and specifies newborns under 4 weeks, and the maxi cosi says 30 min for newborns and 2 hours for infants but doesn't define newborn. And then there are factors like seat model, fit and positioning, whether an adult is in the rear seat next to them, has clear visibility in a mirror, or has no visibility, and other individual risk factors.

To some extent that sums up a lot of parenting decisions, honestly - not a lot of consensus, the advice keeps changing, and when you dig the answer is "it depends on..." as often as not 😭

I had a maxi cosi carseat and it stated 30mins for newborns/ 2hrs for older babies in their info. I just had a look on their website and its still on there - https://www.maxi-cosi.co.uk/c/long-car-journeys-your-baby-tips-safe-and-comfortable-travel-your-new-born-baby

But ive also seen it discussed a lot on ERF car seat groups, so i do wonder if it originally came over from parts of Europe that have far safer car seat rules than we do. As we know, the UK in general is quite behind on that front so it wouldn't surprise me if NHS guidance hasn't changed yet.

My DC are older now and I couldn't remember where I'd read or heard the 30 minute thing so I just googled and you're correct that most sources say 2 hours max, but I did find this which states 30 minutes. Doesn't seem as though that ever really fed into mainstream advice though.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-37947841

I had a PPH and felt fine straight away. We did a few days away when ours was 3 weeks old, it was a 2-2h30 drive and I remember only stopping once, everything we read said a break every 2h was fine. We spent most of it just feeding her but she drank really slowly!

I could definitely have done this with my 2nd. I had a straightforward birth and felt amazing post partum.

My first however I had an infected episiotomy wound after forceps for 12 weeks and 5 weeks was the height of endless hours of cluster feeding (pumping 2nd time round) so I would say you probably can't make a decision until you have had the baby.

Go for it. We did a city break in Glasgow when my second was 2 weeks old after I had a c section. We had the best time making memories and enjoying my husbands pat leave. I’d highly recommend it but agree with others to book accommodation that you can cancel if you need to.

Just come back from a lovely week away with my 10 week old and 2.5 year old, to an Airbnb which was 2.5 hours drive away. I'm EBF, had a c section (didn't heal fantastically but was still okay by 5 weeks ish) and baby has colicky evenings for a good few hours each night without fail. Toddler was also poorly for first couple of days. We still had a great time though and tbh it would've been just as hard (if not harder) at home, so I'm glad we braved it and made lots of lovely new memories! Just be prepared for everything to take 3x as long as you expect 😅

Second child yes, first child no chance. A lot will depend on how you adjust to parenthood tbh. To some it comes easily, to others not so much.......

Would second the train suggestion.
We travelled from London to Scotland when he was almost two months old and it was fantastic.
Don't fancy doing it now he's almost two and a half right enough 😁

Hmm.

Well we went to a long weekend wedding when our second was 6 weeks - but he was our second and although there was the birth and the sleep deprivation to get over that wasn't the total life adjustment thing that comes with your first!

It could be fine - if you have a straightforward birth and your baby and you get the knack of bfing together and if she sleeps reasonably ok (by which I mean she will sleep for chunks of time so you can sleep).

But on the other hand you could be recovering from a cx, breastfeeding might be really difficult, you could get mastitis or infected stitches/cs scar, she might be a very high needs baby that doesn't sleep much. You might be totally sleep deprived and you and your dh might hate each other as you're so knackered and stressed and you might feel a terrible bomb has gone off in your lives.

Sorry to put a downer but just trying to be realistic ... !

Just to reassure that it is unlikely to be that bad. - and even if it is, nothing lasts long with babies. Things are terrible and then usually they improve for a bit. Or you feel things are really going well and you've got this, then there is teething or sleep regression or some other development leap - and your baby not only moves the goalposts but totally changes the game and runs off with the ball.

Hey ho. Low expectations and celebration of small wins is the way forward !

And go easy on yourself. If given care and love, ❤️, babies develop- it just happens! You don't need to force it and worry too much if your baby isn't doing it by the book.