Silly question but what's your routine for getting in the car?

[poppymatilda]

First time parent here so apologies in advance for the silly question. I live in London so very rarely have cause to use the car.

Our daughter is 3 months old and since she was born she's only been in the car three times and cried everytime. We go everywhere on trains or buses and I find myself avoiding the car more and more because I know it's going to be a trauma.

Part of it I think is getting her in there. So my question is what's your routine for getting out of the house and into the car? I found it really faffy putting her in the pram to push her down the road to the car, making sure I had my own coat, shoes, bag etc, then transferring her from pram to car seat in the street and then collapsing pram to put in boot. By the time I'd done all of this she was properly kicking off and then the journey was miserable.

I wondered about bringing the car seat into the house but we only have street parking so not sure how I would manage to get a car seat with child in (pretty heavy) and the pram up the road to the car at once. Can I leave her alone in the car seat in the house for a few minutes whilst I pop up the road to load the pram in the car? My instincts say yes but no idea if this frowned upon!

Any tips gratefully received!

Bag over shoulder, baby under arm.
Walk to car +load up.

Do you not have a baby car seat that clips in and out of the car? I have twins and don't find it that hard. I unclip one, leave them on the path, unclip the other and carry both to house? Maybe I'm missing something?

Does your car seat not clip on to the pram. A travel system? I am confused as to why you are putting baby in to pram and then transferring over to car seat at the car

Put the pram in the night before? Whilst your partner is there to watch the baby?
Then bring car seat in the house ready for the next day
In the morning or whenever Put baby in car seat and carry to car
Sorted??

Or buy a cheap pram for the car? That's what I've done
I've got a lightweight easily foldable pram that stays in the boot

I used to leave my pram in the car so it couldn’t be seen and just carry baby out to the car. I had my DD in April and it was easier as less to carry with coats etc and less of a temperature change

Left pram in car, car seat in house usually. My dd2 screamed in the car until she was almost 2 so I feel your pain

Pram and car seat in the car. Take baby out and strap them in. Job done.

Pram base lived in the car, so just put dd in the car seat in the house, car seat in one hand, bag over other shpulder, walk to car. Also, if we did have pram in the house it took 2 seconds to fold a nd lift into boot - is yours partiularly tricky/bulky?

Some babies also just hate the car - my Ds2 did! It got much better once he was on solids and I could give him snacks to distract him.

Can you put the buggy in the car separately (for example you or DH in the morning) and then take the car seat back inside, so that when you put her in she is warm and you aren't stressed. It also helps at first to make sure they aren't too tired but also haven't only just fed (as it can make them sore or a bit car sick).

I would probably run everything to the car, then get back to baby and then put baby in car last..

Obviously this all depends how far away your car is as I wouldn't want to leave the baby for more than a min

This is where a travel system comes into its own for me. I also have no parking outside my house and have to use a car park down a side street. Isofix base in car, car seat onto pram base, wheeled round to car, clicked in, base folded and into boot. I wouldn’t keep baby in car seat for extended trips out but for just getting to and from car (especially with a toddler in tow) it’s a godsend to be able to get the baby in the seat in the house and just click it into the car.

Why are you putting her in the pushchair? Just carry her out to the car and out her in the car seat.

Or put her in the car seat in the house and carry it out to car. We had isofix base in car so was easy

No need for pushchair.

Maybe OP needs her pushchair for wherever she's going. My car seat clips into pram but I usually prefer to take the whole pram as DD sleeps better in it, so I put her in the pram (she's usually crying) and wheel her round to the car where I transfer her to the car seat. The short walk calms her down a bit and once the car gets going a bit she falls asleep.

OP it's always a bit of a faff to take car seat and pram. If you car seat does clip in to the pram though then you have that option. I also think that because you've done it 3 times it's taking you longer/more of a faff than if you do it every day. I get myself ready first then quickly put baby in pram and get going before she gets too angry! Also generally have a changing bag ready with everything in.

Yeah i know she may need it. My pushchqir lives in my car. If she's just using it to get to and from the house she's making it more of a faff than it needs to be,i just carry baby

@Lazypuppy ah I see. I have mine in my house as baby is still in the carry cot and I use it for her sleeping downstairs, but as soon as she's big enough for the pushchair it'll probably stay in my car.

Thanks all. I have an uppababy vista. It is compatible with my car seat if I buy adaptors. I never bothered because given you can't leave a baby in a car seat when you're out and about I couldn't see the use case. For this reason I always take the carrycot with me.

I'm struggling to see where I would go that I wouldn't need the pram at her current age. For example today we're visiting family for Sunday lunch. Even though we might not go out anywhere if I don't take the pram I'll have nowhere to put her down all day. Am I missing something? What do others do to avoid taking the pram?

I've always taken pram everywhere too. Saves my back

I think (as we did when visiting people with no off street parking) that they are putting the peak into the boot with baby still safely in playpen (or wherever) at home then carrying baby to the far. Would that work?

Peak? Pram (blooming autocorrect)

OP it does sound like you have a really good use cases for getting the car seat adapters for your pram. Then put baby in car seat in the house, put car seat on pram wheels, wheel down to your car and transfer car seat into car.

We had a lie flat car seat so baby could safely be in it for longer. But we'd also sometimes take the carrycot as well for putting DC in for walks, visits etc. But depends how big your car is!

How far are you walking from the house to car?

I would leave the pram in the car boot and carry baby in their car seat.

I agree about not leaving baby in car seat for long periods. However I think you need to
get the adapters for the pram. Surely a short walk up the road doesn't add on much time to the length of time baby will be in the car seat?

You'll have to put the carrycot in to the boot of the car when baby is still in the house of course.

When baby is no longer sleeping in carrycot In the house you will likely just leave it in the boot of the car at all times.

I always take my pram everywhere (pushchair now as DD is nearly 15 months) it lives in the boot of the car mainly because it takes up too much space in the house. I cannot carry Dd in her car seat any more I literally stagger along, she’s so heavy in it! So I make sure the car seat is in the car the majority of the time. I just carry her out and strap her in. As a PP suggested, could you load up the car the night before whilst your partner watches the baby? I know what you mean about leaving her. When I go shopping and have to run the bags in I always have that dilemma - leave baby locked in car or run her in first and plonk in lounge. She’s at an age now she can be left with CBeebies for five minutes though and the room is baby-proofed. It gets easier as they get older. You tend to try and travel lighter as they grow. I remember for the first few months I took the kitchen sink with me everywhere ‘just in case.’ It’s hard and stressful getting any where with a little one.

Sorry for the lack of paragraphs - not sure what happened there!

Could you use a sling? Our pushchair is only really for long walks/runs as it’s a massive jogging buggy and our car seat doesn’t come out of the car. We get by just fine with a sling. I usually have a blanket or a changing mat to hand if I want to put him down for a bit. Thankfully now he’s started to get exceptionally heavy, he’s just about stable enough for a high chair too.

How far is it from the car to the house? I usually strap baby into his bouncy chair in the front room whilst I load up the car if we have lots to take. But my car is usually at most 10m from our front door.

Once she’s in the car, can you play her white noise? My little boy initially fusses in his seat but will go to sleep within seconds if I play some white noise on my phone and tuck it near the car seat. (I also put a hot water bottle in his seat for a bit on very cold mornings but appreciate this is massively PFB 😬 - it does save a meltdown though!)