Logistics: Can I do this in a flat, with no lift??

[DangerMousey]

Hello ladies, I am still in the very early stages of pregnancy with DC1, but have already started to think about the logistics of what it's going to be like to be a mum (I'm an event planner, I can't help it!!).

I live in a hideously ugly 1960s second floor flat, which is accessed by 4 flights of stairs up from the street, and there's no lift. We have 2 large double bedrooms, so space isn't going to be an issue, we will have a nice big nursery as long as it's not twins.

But i am a little bit worried about the logistics of having no lift, and coping on my own with a buggy. Has anyone else done this?? Unfortunately I have no choice as our flat is in negative equity (thanks a bunch, recession!), and we don't have enough saved up yet for a house deposit, so we're not going anywhere in a hurry.

Would really appreciate any reassuring stories! is there anything I should think about in particular? We have a parking space on the ground floor so I could probably keep a buggy in the car boot, to save having to lug it up and down the stairs, right? Will I be a prisoner in my own home for weeks if I end up having a ceasarean??

It is totally manageable. I live on second floor and my neighbour above me on third floor has a toddler of a similar age. I carried my pram up and down, it was fine, if you can leave it in the boot, even better. I also used a Moby Wrap a lot.

When the baby was tiny I needed both arms to carry her up the stairs. When she was a bit more robust I could do it with one arm and other arm for something else. Now she's heavier, I'm beginning to struggle with that, she's nearly two though and soon she'll be tacking the stairs herself.

We're in a second floor flat, no lift and I have a toddler and DC2 is due in a few months...

I have to say that the stairs really weren't as much of a problem as I had anticipated. My big tips:

1. Have your shopping delivered (not Sainsburys though - they are sometimes very difficult about taking your shopping up 2 levels. Tesco and Ocado have been great)

1. Use a sling/moby wrap to transport your baby up the stairs so you have hands free (this is going to be especially pertinent for me when I have a toddler to wrangle up the stairs and a baby to carry!)

1. Keep pram in boot with a change bag pre-packed with nappies etc so you have minimal stuff to lug up and down each tie you go out (but remember to re-fill....learn from my mistakes!)

At the end of the day you will cope with it because you have to and as with so many things when you are a parent you just get on with it

Also, I have never been so fit - even at 5 months pregnant! It won't be as bad as you think, you won't even think about it after a while

If you have a c-section (like I did with DC1) all I can say is take it easy and slow on the stairs and get as much help as you can in the first few weeks. Again, this won't be as bad as you expect, mothers are amazingly adaptable creatures!

Good luck!

I live in a second floor flat with no lift, it's irritating at times but manageable. Agree with keeping pram in the car, and I also have a very lightweight cheap stroller that I just use if it's raining really heavily so I don't have to take DS out to the car in the rain! Also buy a good sling (moby is perfect for a newborn, a mei tai is excellent once baby is a bit bigger) so you can carry shopping etc up with you.

DS has just turned 1, it's much easier now as he will go up the stairs himself! Worst thing about it is when he is asleep in the pram as I have to wake him up to get him inside, I've mastered the art now of timing things around where he needs to be at naptime, we either go out just before he will sleep, or make sure we are home before it!!

I live in a flat - not as high as you, only second floor - hadn't even thought about the stairs. I probably wasn't planning to get a pushchair as I think carrying a baby in a sling sounds a lot easier and lighter (and your hands are free!)

It's managable totally! second floor isnt too bad.
Just take it into consideration when you buy your pram. I have a really light weight pram and evn now I can still carry it with my DD who is 2 in it up flights of stairs at a push. she can walk now so I mostly get her out and carrry the pram seperatlely.
This is what I did when she was really small because I didnt want to bump her down the stairs in the pram. I now do a mixture of both but it really helps having a light pram. I have a bugaboo bee but there are others on the market just as light.
Slings are great but that baby grows and gets really heavy so after a s pretty short while a buggy is generally required!

When my DS was little, I had a pram with a car seat that you could clip in and out of it (think it's called a travel system). So I could put the pram in the boot and carry DS downstairs in the car seat (we lived in the basement). I never had a sling but I wish I had - would have been really great.

Also, you can get prams that fold up really small so if I had to bring it into the house, I'd take DS in in the carseat and leave him in the flat while I ran back for the pram.

Travel system is fine when they are teeny tiny, but I found it difficult carrying DS up and down stairs in it once he was a few mints old. mrswee with the right sling it's easy to carry them even once they get bigger, my DS is 91st centile and just over 1, and I can carry him happily for up to an hour in the sling (and I'm not strong in the slightest!).

I lived in a fourth floor flat in Paris for a year - my neighbours had just had a baby when I moved in. The stairs were very narrow and twisty and hard to manage even with a few bags of shopping, but they coped fine with the baby. The father was rarely in (never established if he just worked a lot or didn't live there) but the mum used to leave the pushchair at the bottom of the stairs and just carry the baby up. Sometimes she would ask me to keep an eye on the baby whilst she went down for it, sometimes I would run down and haul it up, and sometimes other people would. I assume if nobody was around then sometimes she also left the baby in the flat to go and get it.

From other people's experiences on here you can definitely do it, but from my experience it will be a bit easier if you befriend your neighbours so that they will sometimes help carry baby or other things/won't be cross if your stuff is cluttering up the bottom of the stairs.

Can you keep a buggy downstairs and use a bike lock to secure it to something? My sister lives in Paris and says that people in her building leave buggies downstairs.

Yes, it can be done. Bit of a pain in the arse at times, but so much of life is once you have a baby .

I had one baby when living on the 3rd floor with an intermittently-functional lift. But hats off to my friend, who lived on the 3rd floor with 3 dc under 2.

Just be careful when buying your buggy, get everything delivered, get handy with a sling.

PS. You will find that you develop your own solutions when you get to it. I find that parenting is full of seemingly insurmountable obstacles that turn out to be surmountable once you're in the thick of it.

I agree that it is very manageable. I'm on the first floor (20 steps) but the stairs have never been a big problem. It might just mean two journeys when the baby is small and you have bags. Also, the little one will probably want to try walking up the stairs at 18 - 24 month so you won't have to carry the little lump. It can be time consuming, but good exercise!

I like all these suggestions. But I don t have a car yet but I really need to get out of the house. We live on the first floor. How do I take baby, and 2 piece buggy down and up in 1 go as I can't leave baby alone either way.
DS is getting heavier for me to carry him around in the sling. My shoulders begin to ache after just 15 mins and he only weights about 5kg atm.
Please help!!!!

@jaydee do you have a shared entrance hall? Could you take baby up first and put him in a safe space eg cot or Moses basket and then go down and collect buggy? Making sure you have your keys on you! And opposite way for leaving the house?

I agree, you can pop baby inside while you run down for buggy, it's not going to be any different to nipping into another room for any other reason and you'd only be gone moments not minutes.