To take 1 year old for a day out in London, on my own?

[CassandrasCastle]

More of a, Am I being very feeble...my good friend, who I haven't seen for a long time, will be in London on an upcoming Saturday, and has messaged to ask if I can see her. I would have to go there - it's just under an hour on the train - as she already has other stuff on with various arrangements in London that day/over the weekend. I really really want to see her, but would have to take 13 month old DD as DP is away for work over that weekend. I'm just pretty anxious about taking her buggy on the tube while we're there, even on the train for an hour both ways, when will she nap?...I used to take her on the UBahn all the time when we lived in Berlin last year, but we lived v close to a station and were usually making fairly short trips, and she was smaller and more portable then - and also usually in a much better mood 😬 She's picked up loads of stuff since starting nursery a few weeks ago, and also seems to be teething with a vengeance and is so miserable a lot of the time poor thing.
My DM thinks it's 'unfair to drag her into London'. Is it?? I'm probably putting my own feelings first in wanting to go :/

@CassandrasCastle
Does dd go to a
Nursery ordinarily? Sometimes some of the nursery staff babysit for extra money; is maybe ask them?

If it were me (and I've done Marylebone with a buggy many times) I'd head for Marylebone - much nicer station than Paddington - and then walk down Marylebone High Street to Paddington Gardens Park which is behind the Waitrose Carpark on Marylebone High Street. You could have lunch in one of the restaurants on the High Street or in the Square in St Christophers Place - there's a nice toy shop there and you could also visit the children's section at Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street itself.

I'm going to do Marylebone and then on to Regent's Park to meet my friend - really looking forward to it now! (As long as DD isn't too much of a little troll, and has a sleep on the train...🤞Ach, she'll be fine - and thank goodness for Nurofen, it helped her pain so much this evening!) Thanks all!

Second the posts suggesting plan the route using the tfl step free map. Also I’ve done London alone with double buggy many times and I recommend a money belt for your valuables as it’s easy to get distracted and safer not to have stuff in backpack.

I'd definitely go! I took ds1 when he was about 1 1/2 to London to see one of my good friends for lunch. I had such a lovely time and he enjoyed it too! I remember I felt guilty about it before though so I booked a soft play session for the next day!

Do it! Like other posters have said, you’ll get lots of help on the Tube. In my experience someone always offers to help up every flight of stairs.