London visit with 12 week baby- any tips

[ManderleyFan]

I am thinking of going into London to visit a gallery with my baby who will be 12 weeks. I would be going in on the train and then options are tube or bus. Looking at the step free access tube map is pretty confusing and it does seem like the bus might be simpler? I’ve never used public transport with a baby before. Does anyone have any tips or experience on navigating London travel with a pram? I do also have a carrier for him but I’d want the pram so I can lay him down and transport all the baby gear… I’m wondering if doing this trip on my own might be more trouble than it’s worth but I really fancy some culture!

Personally I never got on with the carrier, enjoyed putting baby down in the pram so I could let her nap there which she preferred, and the carrier would be heavy after a while (big baby). I went to London with a baby and was fine with my pram, mostly I walked, but when I did use the Tube on the way back to the train station, I just asked Tube station staff to advise me on a step free route and they were really helpful. It was easy to use the lifts and there was no issue getting my big pram on and off the tube.

Obviously not helpful for this trip, but if you're finding baby heavy in a carrier I really recommend a trip to a sling library. The right sling can make an unbelievable difference and you can keep on carrying for years.

When you get on a train or on a bus go forwards. So front wheels first.

When you get off, go backwards, so you step backwards and then back wheels come off. That way you are under the pram and have more control.

People will help if there are stairs. You might have to make eye contact so they realise. Don’t worry! People are very helpful and don’t mind. It’s just in London you might need to initiate it sometimes.

Depending who helps there are different ways to do stairs. Sometimes you meet someone who has their preferred way.

Don’t worry! Enjoy it!

I’ve had two London babies, and much prefer a pram (big or small) to a carrier on public transport. The carrier was great in fresh air but I didn’t like it when baby and I risked getting bumped around or when I needed to carry another bag too.

the Bakerloo is hard to avoid steps, personally I’d walk if dry weather and get a black cab if it starts to rain (you can put the whole pram rear facing in the cab)

When my baby was little, I would take the day for myself to do a bit of culturing and leave her with her dad. 😂

Been on the tube countless times with a pram pram & never experienced anyone being anything other than very polite and helpful

I have taken both babies around London in an Uppababy Vista without any massive hassle, OP. I hope you have a lovely day. For future reference, when baby is a bit bigger, the Tate Modern, RFH and Southbank Centre are great places to let a baby toddle a bit indoors on a wet afternoon - loads of space and very rarely busy on a weekday.

Bigger prams are better on the Tube. The bigger wheel base means that they are more stable if they need to be tipped a bit getting on the Tube.
I also found that they were muck more stable on the escalators. Leans down to balances them on the back wheels going down and lift handle to balance on front wheels going up.
I appreciate if you're still fairly new to prams and not used to escalators then this might be a bit scary.
If you use the TfL journey planner you can select step free and it will navigate you by the best route.

@Boymum2104 you're lucky !
I did experience some very helpful people back in my buggy days but as someone who uses London transport almost every day a lot of people are not helpful, polite or patient in any way.
It gets quite nasty on some buses 🙁

If you're just here for a day I'd just bring the pram and suck up the cost of a black cab as a one-off. If you start to travel in regularly you can get a light buggy, which you'd probably switch to anyway once the baby is sitting up. I live in London and have never had a pushchair that I couldn't carry down the stairs on my own with a baby in it even from newborn, the tubes are full of stairs and the lifts and escalators stop working at random times so you can never rely on them.

I lived in London when DC were babies. Had a Mamas and Papas Flip so a reasonably big pram I suppose. Never had any issue taking it into town and round a number of galleries. Always had sling with me as well but was good to be able to put the baby down sometimes of out all day.

Tube, buses, train all fine. If a station had only steps there was always the option of sling then bumping the buggy up and down.

Sling/baby carrier and easily fold up pushchair plus rucksack is my advice. Don't take a serious pram to London.

Take the pram and a carrier. When on tube put baby in a carrier and ask someone else to take empty pram up/down escalator. It'll be fine!

Thank you, it’s my first baby so it’s all new for me but it could be a really nice opportunity to get out and do something that I’ve been missing.

Hello everyone, thought I’d give an update since I always like it when the OP returns to the threads I look at! I decided to go into London with my husband in the end on Saturday and it went well! We took the pram and got the bus to the national portrait gallery. On the bus there was a lady using a wheelchair so we collapsed the pram and that was fine, it would be a bit trickier on my own so maybe I would just get the next bus. The gallery was lovely and luckily my baby slept most of the time! Very accessible with lifts etc. Thank you to everyone who gave me advice. I will feel more confident to do it on my own next time. I have just bought a second hand integra sling based on a recommendation from this thread so I’ll also try that out when I’m out and about this week.

Bravo OP! Glad you had a lovely time