Does anybody else find it really difficult to get out and about with a baby?

[Ijustworemytrenchcoat]

Or is it just me?

It feels like a huge expedition to even just pop to the shops with my 7 month old sometimes, and I find longer trips so stressful. I always leave a bag packed with nappy stuff, a couple of changes of clothes, bibs, Muslins, cartons of milk etc. etc. but still end up flapping over bottles and food. It feels like I have a very small window of opportunity between feeds. The best time is right after his second bottle. I can just about manage after his first bottle and breakfast if I move like the wind to clean him up and get him changed and out the door before he is screaming for his nap, but I have very little time to get ready myself then.

Other people just seem to be breezing about with their babies! Does everyone find it hard or am I just making a mountain out of by molehill? He was a difficult baby, screamed all day long, wouldn't nap, colic, reflux and I had assumed now he is a happy wee soul it would be so much easier.

We take him on trips out at the weekends, but I would live to just be able to spontaneously 'pop out' with him without it feeling like a military operation. Someone has asked me to go for a day out shopping in a city a couple of hours from us and it doesn't seem worth the hassle to me of the mad morning rush, then finding somewhere to feed him right away, timing the whole day around his feeds. Does it get easier?

DD is now 1yo but I can't say I've ever found it a problem. Very often we'd go out for half an hour (or sometimes longer) and don't take anything with us, not even the change bag. I remember when she was about 4mo I took her on a long walk in the sling with nothing but a sun hat. Another time we went for a walk along the coast with her in the buggy. Took a few nappies and a bottle of formula. No big deal.

At the end of the day, if she did a huge unexpected poo there's usually a shop nearby. I never had to buy emergency supplies though.

In the nicest possible way, I suspect you are making a mountain out of a molehill - but it's completely understandable, everything seems like a flap with your first!

Re bottles, is he still on very regular bottles? Can he drink them in his pushchair on the go? And would he sleep in his pushchair if you were out?

Once he starts taking solid food more happily then I think things do get easier. While I found weaning itsself a complete pain in the arse, you have the option to offer them fruit or baby biscuits to munch on in the pushchair and can manage their hunger a little better.

Early weaning is an annoying stage as you have to fit in meals but they haven't dropped any of their milk feeds so there are fewer gaps in which to do things. Having said that, provided you're not devputly following a rigid routine, there is a lot of flexibility as a baby can be fed (whether bf, ff or solids) anywhere & will also nap anywhere. At this stage of weaning, it's really not goibng to be a disaster if they miss a meal.
For your day out, I'd do the first feed at your usual time, shower & get ready whilst your DC plays, both of you have breakfast, get him changed. What time does he usually have his second feed? If before 10.30, try & give him a bit more milk just before 9.00. If its later than that, just get in the car at that time & go as that's when rush hour & school traffic will be dying down. You'll get there around 11.00 & your DS will probably have slept all the way. Meet your friend in a coffee shop & give your DS either a pouch or bottle. Shop for a couple of hours. Stop for lunch (now around 1.30) & give your DS a pouch if he had a bottle earlier or vice versa. If you want to do another hour or so's shopping, do & then stop for a coffee & feed/snack for your DS. Leave by 3.30 & you'll be home by 5.30, again with your DS having slept all the way. You may need to re-jig your bath & bed routine a bit but probably not by much.
Alternatively, if the place you're going to is open early evening, meet your friend about 2.30 having driven there straight after lunch & leave at your DS' usual bedtime having popped him in his babygro just before you leave & then transfer him to his cot when you get home (mine always required a top up if Idid this).
Hope that helps

I do make mountains out of molehills, it's not even packing a bag so much as I have one nearly done all the time save for milk and bottles. Today we went for a walk in the gorgeous sunshine but it took a while as he was sick all over himself as I was fastening him in his pushchair, so it was back inside for a new bib and coat.

I hope if I have another it will spur me on, because I may just have to get on with it so I can be somewhere for a set time. I wish I could breeze round with him, I just find it so stressful finding cafés to feed him in etc. he's only in the loosest of routines, he will regularly sleep through feed times, or I will feed him early to fit it in, I hope it will be easier when he's eating more.

A sling would be good, I currently have a close caboo but would prefer an ergo or something else a bit more structured now.

It gets much easier! Ds is 20 months and unjust put a nappy and wipes in his backpack! I'm also one of those who find it much easier to go out every day! We both crack up when we're stuck in the house! If I'm going on a big day though I pack his bag and get his lunch ready the night before and have my own shower so when I wake up I just jump into my clothes and have a quick clean and get out. Some mornings everything seems to go against me though but I have a bit of a mantra that it's only as difficult as I make it.

It does get better with warmer weather- you don't have to be inside to feed. I don't know how it works with formula as I have never bottle fed, but i assume many babies are happy to drink room temperature formula?

I would sit and breastfeed wherever, on a seat in the street, on a convenient wall, on a rug in the park, on a bus, in a library, wherever I was would do!

It's easier when the weather is nicer as well, because then you can just sit on a bench in the sunshine and give feeds (bottle or otherwise) rather than try to find somewhere indoors. What I learnt was there is never a good time to leave, but if you just press on it usually works out. Also, at 7 months they don't really need masses of food as mostly they should just be getting milk. Mine would happily skip a meal, or just have a banana as someone else said. Or a bit of bread from my lunch.

The more you do it, the easier this will get, so just keep pushing on.

For going out and about ( because they are more expensive) buy ready to use individual formula servings...most brands do them, with screw tops now, we used to have mini scissors to snip the cartons! Take a couple of sterilised bottles with you, will be fine with lids on.
I'd try to be ready to head out a little after the first feed ( having done all packing before) and let your baby nap on the way and then when you've reached your destination ( start small, a baby friendly art gallery?) let him have some awake time, sit with a drink for you and feed him and aim to have him back in buggy/sling for next nap.

I think you will improve your confidence the more you do it and another vote for finding all my babies easier out of the house, than in. Also my son was very refluxy but used to take about 6 muslin squares as they take up so little room. If you use them all and they are very wet, pop them in a nappy sack.

I'd also get used to solo trips before you arrange to meet people as often their timings won't fit yours! That way you'll get more experienced with your son about how long you can wait for milk or food. Always take something easy that your baby can eat to...banana?baby biscuits? Organix snack things?

Good luck x

yes see I'd just mop the sick a bit and get on out these days.