Getting out the house

[Blissfultiggy]

How does everyone get out and about without a car?

It sounds such a silly question but I've always had a car to rely on and now I don't.

I get super anxious about the pram fitting on busses and trains and there's not a lot within walking distance. My LG is 12 months and her afternoon wake window is 3 hours so I feel like if I don't have time to go anywhere. By the time she's had her lunch then we've got there it's time to come straight back again for her nap so I end up just staying in the house all day. It's really starting to affect me and I can feel myself slipping back into depression.

I don't even know what the point to this post is, to talk to people who understand I guess. For reassurance that tonnes of people get a bus everyday with and pram and have zero issues. I'm just feeling stuck at the minute

Do you have a particularly huge pram ? In which case get a lightweight buggy for when you are using the bus.

or do you mean you are worried about all the buggy spaces being full ? Again, you just take her out and fold it down. Or you can wait for the next bus (in a City, less so I guess if you live somewhere where there is one bus per day).

Are you very rural ?
Where is it you want to go ?
At that age, a walk round the block, or toddle to the end of the road is great. Fresh air, some exercise. Some different things to look at.

Do a pushchair nap! Then you get a lot longer out

No car but we live in London so extensive public transport. Personally I dread using the buggy on buses, it always takes ages for buses to come and then there are already 2 buggys on it and by the time you wait for another one you might as well have taken the tube or walked. So that's what I tend to do, though it sometimes means carrying baby+buggy down flights of stairs. I prefer using tube or trains as you can always fit a buggy on as long as there's space compared to just a couple of spots on a bu.

Agree you need a suitable buggy for the bus, a narrow one that can roll down the aisle and squeeze in the remaining space. I never see anyone folding buggy to get on buses in London, but maybe it's because they run frequently enough that people will wait for the next one (but I don't, because I'm impatient).

I generally take my 1yo out in the mornings, most toddler classes are at that time so they can get home for lunch and a nap. Although mine will nap in the buggy so that allows me to run errands in the afternoon. Definitely worth trying to get buggy naps working as then you could do an activity then take them home in the buggy while they nap. I take packed lunch out with us as well, so we don't have to hurry home to eat at home. Sometimes I spend the whole day out with her with a morning activity from 9.30am until 3.30pm when I have to pick up older dc.

What pram have you got? A lot fit on buses.

Will she nap in her pram? So you don't have to rush back for nap time?

I didn't have a car for awhile and we got the bus a lot of the time to get to places.
Was absolutely fine.

I think this is a case of you need to just do it once and then you'll realise it's totally fine

I don’t want to take her anywhere special really, just soft play or a toddler group, the park, into town. I live in a town but transport is terrible.

we've got the occaro pram, we’ll be getting the out n about nipper in Feb when baby number 2 comes.

She doesn’t nap in the pram anymore but I need to try and get her to start, any advice on getting her to nap in the pram would be good too 🙈 now it’s getting colder I’d take her blanket so she’d have something to snuggle up to, she only has her dummy when she sleeps so I could take that too.

If you've got the back strength for it, a backpack carrier can be really convenient and fun for a child.

Public transport can be annoying in places (eg our underground station has no lift) but on the whole I've found bus travel to be accessible and entertaining in itself. I think it would have to be a special level of crappy person who would refuse to help a visibly pregnant woman with a pram. It helps if buses are fairly regular so that it's ok if you need to wait for the next one. One local bus company has an app that lets you track buses and check seat availability - that's really helpful as it means I know in advance if the next bus due is likely to have a suitable seat or if I should do something else for 10 minutes.