Am I mad to consider this with a newborn?

Newborn tired is beyond anything you've ever experienced.

As with every other experience, this totally depends on you, your recovery and ultimately
your baby.

I'm 40 with a 9 week old and nowhere near as tired as I was at 28 and working 2 jobs (plus partying every night I wasn't working).

While I'm fully prepared for the fact that I may end up with a 6 month old / 1 year old / toddler who doesn't sleep well, I currently have a newborn who (so far) does, plus a DH who does his share. We were out and about from day 4 and a short break at week 5 or 6 wouldn't have been an issue.

Yes. Go next year x

If its your second baby then no. If it is your first baby then yes.

I travelled with mine at 4 days old for 5 days. I had a very straightforward birth and a 1yo and needed someone to entertain him.

I think this sounds lovely! Take it easy, don’t put pressure on yourself and you’ll have a nice time. Where in Scotland?

Of course you’ll be able to do it. I drove 8 hours with a 3 week old first born when I was 19, just so my dying nan could meet him. I just ensured to stop every 2-3 hours to change him and breastfeed him. Thankfully he liked the motion of the car so slept soundly most of the time. If you’re going with someone else then even better.
YOLO

At 8 weeks we travelled to North Wales from London, with a dog too and we were travelling 8 hours allowing for stops. A little bit tiring but it was fine. I just sat in the back with the baby.

I really wouldn't want to be changing a newborns nappy on the motorway service station changing tables and in the middle of December be too cold to do it outside.
I wouldn't want a newborn in a car that long either.
Personally I wouldn't but as other pp have said you may be totally fine.
And there's tired. And then there's TIRED. Newborn tired is beyond anything you've ever experienced.

5-8 weeks, if all is going well, should be fine. A nice trip and break.

But then we went to a hotel by the sea for 3 nights when Dc1 was 2.5 weeks old, and by 9.5 weeks we had taken a plane and ferry to an island.

You never know how things will be, so I agree, see if you can book something cancellable in case you need more time.

Do what feels good: I loved the feeling that as a new family we were free to start having adventures. And we got on ok with bf etc.

This was after having an extended period in hospital after the birth.

If in the end you need more time, for whatever reason, to spend more time at home getting established, fine: you have nothing to prove.

But I wouldn’t let doom and gloom put you off the very idea from the off.

After my first child I had to lay on my front for 3 wks on a beanbag because the bunch of piles that came out of my bottom during childbirth made it impossible to sit down.

Our baby was 5 weeks old when we travelled from Essex to Devon for a week for our honeymoon he was 4 weeks when we got married so honeymooned in this country it wasn’t hard at all go for it x

We did 1.5hrs from home with a 6week old for my MIL’s birthday weekend. It was lovely to have a change of scenery and be around family but I was very emotional and exhausted! But I look back on it as a fond memory so it can’t have been that bad. We did a few long walks with baby in the sling so pottering around Christmas markets sounds doable! I had an EMCS too.

I drove from London to Scotland when DD was 5 days old. I kept driving until she woke up, fed and changed her etc for a while then went again until she woke up again. I did this trip about every 3-4 months until my eldest DD was 5 Also had a Jane lie flat car seat.

I had an easy birth so no problem if all is well 3 hours is nothing, but it all depends on you we are all different, 7-8 hour drives didn't phase me but my SIL will not drive more than about an hour anywhere, just do what suits you

We travelled for a family wedding when eldest was four weeks old about the same distance it was sooooo not worth it. I was still getting breast feeding established and spent a lot of the wedding reception in our room feeding as I hadn't got the hang of feeding in front of others yet (didn't help that every time I went to sit away somewhere quiet to feed family kept coming to keep me company 🙄 so had to go hide in room to get some privacy/ not flash anyone) honestly I just wanted to be at home.

We did a similar distance/type of trip with our first baby at 6-7 weeks old and it was really nice. I know people say 'babies are portable' but all their crap is NOT and I don't miss having a car stuffed to the gunwales.
At that time we were only just beginning to understand our newborn's reflux/CMPA problems... she was really not an easy baby but I'd still do it again. It was hard work but yes would be hard anywhere.

Everyone and every baby is different though so I would definitely treat it as a potential until you can see what will be manageable for you. No shame in cosying up at home. You don't get medals for doing The Most with a newborn.

I did Center parcs with 4 week old twins and a 4 year old. I’m quite anxious and not one of those mums that can just ‘wing it’ but it gave me a confidence boost and made me realise that I could (and still can!) do it! As long as you can make it work for you then I don’t see any reason not to go for it!

Practically speaking, it's totally fine.

I did this with both DC when they were 3 months old (drove to France), they are very portable at this stage.

What is going to make all the difference is your mental state.

With DC1 I found it so stressful it was horrendous (I had postnatal anxiety and being away from home made me worry even more about everything and I was totally overwhelmed even though there were no issues at all)

With DC2 it was a really enjoyable time, no different to being at home and I loved being near family.

So as PP said maybe make sure it's cancellable as it's a little unpredictable how you will feel.

Honestly I agree, newborns are the easiest age to do stuff with in my experience!

Book it and choose one with a good cancellation policy just in case, but I think it’d be fine.

What is possible and what is enjoyable may well be two different things. I went to a wedding which involved travel with a 3.5 week old. The journey took ages as we kept having to stop for nappy changes or to make sure the baby wasn’t in the car seat for too long. We were all absolutely exhausted, I still had very heavy lochia, it still hurt to sit on my stitches and breast feeding hadn’t worked so was having to manage bottles. I’m glad we made the effort to go but we’d have enjoyed it much more a month or two later and I wouldn’t have fancied the travel for a visit that could wait.

Probably best to wait til you have the baby as there are so many variables you can't control (birth and birth timing, establishing breast feeding, adjusting to parenting a new born, weather and traffic for the journey). And you might just find that when your beautiful new baby is here, you want time in your own home establishing your new routines.

If you do want to try and make a trip, definitely opt for something cancellable and family friendly. Newborns can be very loud day and night and you may find this hard in a hotel.

We did similar with a 5 week old and it was fine... if you have an okay birth, are breastfeeding and have a healthy baby then there's no reason not to (and it can be quite nice). Can be easier at this age than when they are older. The trick is to take everything slowly and not push yourself or have any fixed deadlines - give yourself the choice to take things very easy if you want to. And think about safe sleep - I remember getting very stressed over a travel cot and a secondhand mattress, but when they're tiny taking your own pop up moses works well I think?

We did a 4 hour train journey with 3 changes when my daughter was around 4 weeks. The pandemic was just starting and we were anticipating a lockdown, so we decided to hole up at my parents' house where we'd have support, a garden, more space and a more rural location with fewer people.

If you remember, it was a warm spring, we were on a completely empty train, and my parents had most of the "stuff" we needed waiting for us at the other end, and we also knew that once we got there we'd be there for a long time, and it was still really stressful. We ended up leaving the bag which contained all our electronics on a train after a panic when we arrived at our stop when DD was mid-feed.

You can't leave a bag in your car and never get it back, but also you can't feed a baby or change a nappy on the backseat of a moving car, you have to find a place to stop (with baby crying the whole time) every time the baby needs you, which could be every 15 minutes if they happen to be cluster feeding. And then by the time you've arrived and recovered from the journey, you've got to go back again.

I think it's a lot. It's not impossible but I think it will be more of a slog than a festive jaunt.

I would have been fine. We went to Center Parcs with a 7 week old, 1 year old and 3 year old. But it all depends on the birth you have and how you and baby are doing afterwards. I would book it but make sure you have cancellation with no fees payable, in case you decide a week or two before hand that you don’t think it will work.

Everyone has a different birth/post birth experience and personality of baby. We went away with ours at 8 weeks (100 year old sick great grandparent 6 hour flight away). It was completely fine. Make sure it is able to be cancelled just in case, but babies that young are generally pretty easy to travel with (6 months to 18 months was utter hell in our experience). Check with your midwife that they will have had their injections by that age where you are. I woudn't rush onto a train in winter (likely peak flu/covid) season with a newborn if they don't have some jabs. For that reason i'd drive and just take stops along the way.

We did a similar journey with a 2 year old and a 6 week old, after I had a CS. It was fine! I'd suggest an Air BnB rather than a hotel.

It's doable but depends on how well you are and baby's temperament. For example I could have done it with DD1 but couldn't have done it with DD2 (she was still suffering with colic at that age) or DS due to how ill I was after the birth.
So like others book it but only if you can cancel it if you need to.