To find London utterly flaming unmanageable

[MoreBushThanMoss]

With a pushchair!!!

Lived here 8 years. Currently live in Maida Vale. Used to be a Hackney living, media working, up all night sort of girl (before DP and DS) - and prided myself on never feeling flustered or frustrated in the city.

Just met friend for lunch in London Bridge.

Fuck me if I ever want to leave cosy comfy baby friendly Maida Vale again!!!

Nowhere is accessible, tube almost unmanageable without DP to help with buggy and people are RUDE. (okay some - few- are helpful)

also nowhere has baby changing!!!

There are lots of babies in London - surely not just my DS... So why is it so impossible?!

I really feel incensed for people who have mobility issues now.

Rant over. Going back to Maida Vale to eat fudge and read mumsnet.

(Having a baby changes you.)

[BillSykesDog]

If it's light can you not just balance on the back wheels down escalators?

[Borninwrongdecade]

Overcrowded, overpriced, over polluted. If it wasn't for the fact that there's work here I wouldn't be here.

[mellicauli]

There's a lift at London Bridge. Check TfL's step free access webpage for info about accessible tube stations. There's always a way round it these days due to disability leg.

[Honeybee79]

You will find it so much easier when your baby can go in the ergo! I took DS all over London in an ergo and that, plus a mini changing mat, made anything possible. Am now in the same position as you op with DD in that she doesn't have enough head control to go in the ergo without the insert, so for the time being we're sticking to the East Dulwich/Peckham Rye.

[YoHoHoandabottleofTequila]

I have to admit that someone always helped me up and down the stairs without me asking at our local train station in London. But yes the tube is a nightmare with a buggy as very few stations are accessible.

[tribpot]

Heh. Try being in a wheelchair. (I'm not, but I did once take ds in a pushchair and DH in a wheelchair across London on the Tube - this was pre-Olympics so wheelchair accessibility was markedly worse than it is now). In my experience, London is one of the most accessible older cities that there is. You've just got to learn the ropes.

[HerculesMulligan]

For next time, if you walk down towards Borough High Street, there's a step-free entrance from the street and two lifts to take you to the Northern or Jubilee. I could give you similar directions for Waterloo, Kings Cross etc- sometimes you have to walk further (or bus/walk to a nearby station) but you learn the tricks pretty quickly if you're in and out of central London with a pushchair.

[BillSykesDog]

There's always a way round it these days due to disability leg.

Unfortunately not true with the underground. A lot of stations are totally inaccessible without the possibility of adaptation but that's the case with so many that it's impossible to close all the stations. Much of the district, circle, central, Piccadilly and Northern lines are totally inaccessible with a wheelchair (off the top of my head).

[TurquoiseDress]

You could say that it depends on the pushchair that you have but I think it's not always the case.

When I was out & about with LO I'd often do lots of shopping that I'd then put in the shopping basket/hang off the handles etc

Simply folding the pushchair & holding LO with the other arm would not have worked for me.

London has better tube lines than others for travelling alone with a pushchair.

The jubilee line is one of the best, the DLR is a dream esp at Bank (when the lift if working!)

Although I guess it depends where in London that you live/where you are heading to etc

[Marmalade85]

London Bridge has lift access to the platforms. The large Pret near the station has a babychange/disabled toilet that is normally locked so is nice and clean.

[WhenSheWasBadSheWasHorrid]

Sorry you found it rough.

I have to defend Londoners, whenever I've been to London with a buggy there's always some random person willing to help. I've never even had to ask.

Found it easier once the baby was over 6 months and I could put them in a hiking backpack.

[lilyb84]

I've actually been surprised at how many baby changes there are once you know where to look - and ditto to lifts at stations etc. But some stations are a nightmare - Victoria is one. Yes, buggy on escalator is possible but it's a bit scary especially when busy. It does get easier and I'd also recommend a sling, although ds forced my hand on that as he's been refusing his buggy since he was 6 months old...

[JigglyTuff]

I think I bumped my pushchair up and down stairs about 3 times - the rest of the time people helped. You can balance a buggy on the escalators but a sling is easier if they're really little. It's not easy the first time but it is a massive adjustment. You'll get really adept in a few weeks :)

[stopfuckingshoutingatme]

It's a nightmare !

What helped me was

BF cover
Walking a lot - a lot !
Using a sling
Traveling light
Researching trips around places with baby change or a park (if all else fails )

Buggy + tube is almost impossible unless it's between 10am and 3pm

[toots111]

Canary Wharf is a really accessible place to shop/lunch in London and as long as you avoid travelling in rush hour and get yourself settled somewhere for lunch before the lunchtime rush, think it's a great place to meet friends for lunch with little ones. The new roof garden is lovely for a stroll. Then when they're older a visit to mud larks at the museum or a trip on the little boat over the river and there's a lovely little playground there. Also, for older kids, kids eat free at Toms kitchen :)

[GimmeeMoore]

Navigating any city with a wee baby,and buggy is a formidable challenge. Not just London. First time I went out in city I live with my new baby,I was exhausted, underestimated negotiation of stairs,crowds,busy cafes etc. To point that once I'd finally got a seat in packed Starbucks I sat and had a quiet sob. The unexpected newness of having to think of everything when you have a baby, e.g. Access, crowds, facilities. Missing my old life,ability to go wherever I wished,not seeing stairs as insurmountable

[ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe]

Sorry OP, I think I missed where you live.

Maida Vale, by any chance?

[Andcake]

Trick is buses and at 14 weeks old sling or carrier. I loved that stage pooling around like I used to... Miss it now ds is older / heavier and won't sit still

[C8H10N4O2]

mellicauli There's always a way round it these days due to disability leg

This is simply not true. There was a programme of improving access to stations which was scrapped by Boris Johnson.

There are numerous inaccessible stations or stations for which the 'workaround' is to travel many stops in the wrong direction to find a station with an accessible lift (not all are) and most central stations are inaccessible at peak times. Then you get the bonus of arriving at a station to find the only access point is closed and being told to travel miles back in the opposite direction and pay for a taxi at ground level.

[HighDataUsage]

Museums are your friend here, very baby/child friendly facilities/chanding rooms. Lots of space, cafes & some have picnic rooms like the nat hist, science where you can munch your own food.

[GloriousHarpy]

I think you're suffering from a combination of envy of the childfree lifestyle and the extra crowds due to the time of year. I used to trek down from Finsbury Park to Borough Market on the tube with baby DS in his buggy (needed to fit the shopping in) regularly, and it was perfectly manageable.

[JellyWitch]

I wouldn't dream of taking a buggy in. Sling all the way.

[EstelleRoberts]

YANBU, while pps are correct in that there are workarounds with buggies, the huge lack of lifts at so many tube stations is a disgrace in this day and age. Great swathes of central London are just not covered. I feel so sorry for people in wheelchairs who face these problems for life, not just a few years whilst their children are small. Fuck always having to go to the wrong station, or take twice as long on the bus, every time you want to go somewhere.

[DailyFail1]

I tend to use Westminster instead of London Bridge and walk there when I have pushchair kids. Alternatively if I'm with dsd we'll walk from Euston.