Tips for going away as a single mum with a 10 week old?

[sazzybee]

Before I had my baby, I booked a holiday with a load of friends for the May bank holiday and now it's looming, I'm wondering if I should just cut my losses and chicken out?

We are going to a pub/campsite on Dartmoor and most of my friends (none of whom have kids) are camping but we are staying in the pub B&B.

It's only just occurred to me that the pub may be smokey and vile (if they even let me bring the baby in) and that I could be stuck on my own in my room in the evenings with DS crying while everyone else is in the pub drinking and that I might actually just have a horrible time.

We're going to be walking in the daytime and I've got friends who've offered to help carry DS but again - what if it chucks it down all weekend?

So - am I mad? Can you offer reassurance, tips, suggestions to mean that I'm likely to have a good time? Help!

Hmmm. not 'mad', but certainly brave.

I think if other people had children they might be better at mucking in and offering solidarity and understanding. However, it could be great. If the weather is nice, cuddle the (wrappped up ridicuously warm)baby and sit outside the tents drinking. If the weather is bad, it will be harder - you will have to sit around in cafes reading the paper, etc.

Would your friends be willing to join you in your room for some bottles of wine and games of trivial pursuit, instead of drinking in the smoky pub, do you think?

Well they say they will help - they have persuaded me to come along as I was a little dubious but I'm not entirely sure they really appreciate what having a small baby is like (as I didn't before!) There are a couple of other people staying in the b&b so they can play scrabble with me hopefully if it's chucking down

For some reason I've been thinking about him having to be asleep in his travel cot in the room all evening - cuddling him outside hadn't occurred to me

That might work actually

I think a lot will depend on how 'gung ho' you feel about the whole thing, and how sympathetic and genuinely understanding / supportive your friends are.

I took DS on hol when he was 9 weeks, but it was to Greece and i sat on the beach while DP held DS on his lap in a bar under a tree. In the evenings he slept next to us in his lie-flat buggy while we ate dinner and had a few drinks. We did a fair few walks in the hills, too - each of us taking turns with DS in the Wilkinet. Are you breast-feeding? That made it all very simple for us. If you have a lie-flat buggy you can take your baby out to a non-smoking pizza place or something in the evenings - surely your friends won't be cooking all meals over the camp fire? So you coul all go somewhere you could take the buggy? Actually, we took DS away on a long w/e hol when he was 2.5 weeks, and he slept in his car seat - the poratble ones with the handle - while we ate and drank. Young babies are the most portable / flexible - this hol will be much easier now than in a year's time when your baby is toddling! Quick - make some friends with children the same age through NCT tea groups or something - going away with other parents transforms the experience!