Weekend away with newborn - advice pls!

[feelingcalledlove]

My first baby is due in December and I'd like some advice please...

At what point were you able to travel with your baby? Basically, we've been invited for a weekend away (2 hours away by car) when the baby will probably be 4-6 weeks old. We'll be staying at a friend's house so will have a room with the baby but will have to bring a travel cot/Moses basket with us. This feels like it could be realistic to me (assuming everyone is healthy) but am I being ridiculous?!
Alternative is that we could host 10 people at our house but I feel like that might be worse!

Yep it's with friends and it's very chilled so would be fine to cancel last minute/take it very easy. Will see how things go once she's here!

TeddyIsAHe A festival at 6 weeks?! 😯

I've got a very easy baby, so obviously my view is skewed by that, but I think it would be fine. By 6 weeks, my baby was sleeping reliably 6+ hour stretch a night, sometimes more. If you have a baby like that, it'll be absolutely fine. Equally hosting might be fine too (Depending on whether just day guests or overnight). I hosted a party at my house for people to meet my baby at 2 1/2 weeks - that involved hosting for about 30 people. Not everyone's cup of tea, but depending on how you find having a baby, and your baby's temperament, it can be perfectly doable. Saying that, I'd personally go for the weekend away :-)

Personally.. I was breastfeeding at that stage and the evenings were just about cluster feeding. On a practical level I could easily manage a weekend away but in reality it would have probably been a lot of hassle for little enjoyment. We went away for 5 days at 12 weeks and it was perfect. If you were formula feeding I think it would be a whole lot easier as a) you'd probably already be in more of a feeding routine and b) anyone could take a turn!

We had my brothers wedding when dd was just less than 6 weeks old. It was an hours flight away too. It was fine- take a place for baby to sleep (dd just slept in the carry cot bit of her pram), and a good sling or carrier. I had a fairly easy vaginal birth though so was comfortable by this point- perhaps a C section might still be uncomfortable at this stage so something to consider?
Ds had to go to an overnight wedding at 2 weeks old and he was also fine!

It depends on a lot of things-some outside your control. You and the baby might be fine and up for anything. But one of both of might still be recovering and not wanting to be away from home. Would it cause any problems if you had to cancel last minute? You wouldn't be leaving them scrambling to find another Maid of Honour, goalkeeper for the 5 a side or Baby Jesus for the Nativity play?

Are the people you are staying with nice and relaxed? And do you feel nice and relaxed around them? Could you say "I'm sorry, I really need to go to bed now" and know they wouldn't be upset that you're spurning their lovingly cooked gourmet dinner.

Do they like babies? Will there be plenty of people to cuddle and coo while you enjoy hot cups of tea and leisurely baths?

Really depends. No way would I have managed with DC1. I think 6 weeks was when I finally managed to have a shower without being screamed at.

DC2 was a much much easier baby. I think I'd have been fine.

Agree with previous poster that if you plan to breastfeed then you may not be comfortable doing so in public. Personally I was never good at feeding without getting it all out so hated doing it in public.

Also depends what support you have. My OH wasn't great. made things much harder.

There's random things you can't foresee though. Both mine were reflux - at 6 weeks I was getting better at pre-empting and catching vomit but it still projected everywhere sometimes. I wouldn't have been comfortable staying anywhere but family beds at that stage as wherever we were would end up with a lot of milk sick on it.

At that stage I was still bleeding and at night would often leak milk and wake up stuck to the sheets (despite using breast pads). I wouldn't have liked to stay in someone else's house. We also had thrown on all our furniture to deal with the occasional but magnificent projectile voms from the baby.

*throws not thrown, thanks autocorrect.

DS - not a problem, easy going child but I was still bleeding and suffering a birth injury which meant I wet myself a lot being up and about.

DD - no way, that child was a PITA.

I think it's possibly reasonable to stay with your parents overnight and visit with other family during the day/early evening. We first went away overnight when our daughter was 8 weeks old, but no at 4-6 weeks, it was still so overwhelming that we couldn't have done it. I was just about able to manage a meal out at that time as our daughter had a lot of feeding and weight gain issues and I also had mastitis at 6 weeks (and was literally deliriously ill, feverish, pretty much hallucinating I was so ill, not able to get out of bed for several days). But we did visit family for Easter at 8 weeks and I remember it being fine. By then things had settled down.

I'm assuming this is your first? I think it's good to manage expectations about what you will be able to do until you get used to things. You will likely not want to be up late (I was in bed by 7pm every night still at 4-6 weeks) and might be overwhelmed by being in a house with a bunch of other adults basically having a party when you are tired and need sleep and trying to settle a baby and then keeping anyone else who is staying over up all night. We have definitely stayed with other family (cousins, etc. who are more our age, no children) and I can sense in the morning how irritated everyone is that we woke them up during the night or at 5am in the morning when our daughter got up for the day. You can try to be as quiet as you can, but realistically, you can only be so quiet.

But I would plan to go and stay with your parents, with the understanding that it's still tentative and you'll see how you feel that week and you hope they understand and won't be too upset if you decide it's too much.

Yep, it will be fine if we end up cancelling, it's a group thing so I'd love to be there but everyone will have a good time if we're not :) Will see how things go, seems like it's impossible to predict.

We've just been away for a weekend with our 3 week old. She is very chilled and was no trouble. We have a lie flat car seat so didn't have to stop too often on the drive. We requested a microwave in our room at the b&b which they kindly provided so we could sterilise bottles etc. We bought pouches you can do chuck them in then in the microwave. Take plenty of extra clothes, sheets etc. and be prepared to grab some sleep when everyone else is still socialising. Good luck!

I went was guilted into sailing () at about 4-5 weeks. It wasn't fun for anyone other than daddy (baby couldn't care less at that point as long as his booby was on hand) but we did manage it. So in a house assuming they are sympathetic to the arrival of a travelling circus with tits out I would say no problem!

It is entirely based on how confident and comfortable you feel with staying elsewhere. I knew we would have to with my DS so our first weekend away was when he was 5 days old. Try to get lots of fresh air!! When travelling it has always helped my DS sleep. Good luck!!