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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Is moving with a newborn the nightmare I'll think it will be?

26 replies

MammaTimes2 · 23/02/2016 21:27

I'm almost 16 weeks pregnant with baby number 2, due 11/08/16. We are buying a new house and were due to move in end of June/1st wk July but Taylor wimpey phoned earlier and they've delayed it until sept/October (we're preparing ourselves for a longer delay as they said they can't guarantee we'll be in by Christmas) Baring in mind we've been asking for months if we're still looking at July to judge when to sell our house and they kept saying yes. I'm feeling so anxious and stressed now. Is moving with a 7 year old ds and new born doable? I really wanted to be in and settled for at least a month before baby arrives.

Trying not to show dh how anxious I am as I was desperate to have baby No 2 and he wanted to wait until we'd moved to started trying. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks x

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Lucinda15 · 24/02/2016 07:24

Hi mamma I have no experience of this I'm afraid but wanted to just support you in your decision not to wait before trying. We waited 2 years to start trying for financial reasons - we finally started trying a year ago. It took us 3 months to get pregnant, then an mc at 11.5 weeks, then another 3 months trying and another very early mc and another 3 months to get pregnant again. All this time, I have been thinking we could have started earlier and not wasted all this time. You just dnt know what will happen - and if you wait till everything is 'ready' for a baby, you will never start trying!! So dnt stress about that part.

As far as moving with a new born will go, I've never done that, but I know friends who have and they managed it. I would think trying to ensure you have one room that you can set up for use would be key. I.e. Your bedroom - somewhere with no boxes, somewhere with one item of furniture to unpack the things u regularly need for baby, and dc, perhaps a make shift changing table. Somewhere u can retreat to and get away from the rest of the boxes etc which you can take time to unpack. I know there is probably other things to consider that I can't think of now, but that's my first instinct.

Whatever happens, you will cope and it will be fine. All the best and congrats on your house move! X

strawberrypenguin · 24/02/2016 07:27

It will be fine. We moved with a 4 month old. I took DS out of the way for the day and DH and the in laws 'moved' us.
Babies are very transportable and I was at home to sort the house out.

MaryRobinson · 24/02/2016 07:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ShoppingBasket · 24/02/2016 07:30

I think I'd prefer it to a toddler tbh! Don't put off trying, I've been trying for nearly 2 years for no. 2 and nothing!

zzzzz · 24/02/2016 07:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

thatstoast · 24/02/2016 07:30

We moved when DS was about 6 weeks old having put the offer in just before his due date. It was fine. We had loads of offers of help that I don't think we would have had if there wasn't a baby to cuddle after carrying heavy boxes.

randomsabreuse · 24/02/2016 07:33

Newborn easier than toddler but get packers in rather than trying to do it yourself. Make sure you keep box/bag of baby essentials - nappies, clothes, wipes, muslins with you at all times (plus spare clothes for you because they have impeccable timing!). Big plus is they stay where they're put and would likely appreciate time in a sling rather than hating confinement/want to explore

toptomatoes · 24/02/2016 07:34

We moved with a newborn and it is doable. we put our house on the market and my waters broke the next day at 35 weeks so she was a little early too. She was 11 weeks when we moved 120 miles. I was breastfeeding on the floor of empty rooms. We enlisted a lot of family help and I held the baby and directed things!

LlamaLover · 24/02/2016 07:36

Totally doable. I'd think it would be easier on the baby than on the very pregnant or newly postnatal you to be honest. Try your hardest to relax about it and know you will all get moved in to your new home eventually and that as you say the timings given will probably slip.

I'd second you going out for the day with the kids and getting your other half and others to co-ordinate the move on actual moving day.

Good luck!

Pinkshire85 · 24/02/2016 07:41

We moved when our baby was 12 days old. My husband was amazing and we packed gradually over a few weeks and labelled everything to within an inch of its life so the removal men put things in the right places. My mum was with us on moving day in case me and baby needed to make a quick exit and I packed me and her an over night bag just in case. On the day we had a couple people help us build things like our bed etc and it was all fine.

It's doable as long as you are organised and have a contingency plan if things don't go to plan ie somewhere to go if it's getting too much for you or baby.

metimeisforwimps · 24/02/2016 07:42

Did it with 4 month old and it was fine, much worse with toddlers!

insideout · 24/02/2016 08:28

We moved when DDwas 10 days old, ( and out of hospital for 5 days) it was the most stress free move ever for me i did nothing, not even drive to the new house

Suzietwo · 24/02/2016 08:34

no problem at all. I've moved 5 times while having my older 2 . Last time when number 1 was 2 and number 6 months when we also renovated the house we were moving into. No bother at all.

Katarzyna79 · 24/02/2016 08:46

Moving with newborn is easy just keep bsby essentials with you including spare clothes in case he/she is sick. Bottle feeding with baby upright in car is easy, for breast you'd hsve to stop though unless you express?

I recall house being cold as we were puttinh final things in car so keep one room warm with baby till you get in the car lots layers helps too.

In car babys just sleep really a doddle just have service stop if long journey. We went a 6 hr journey with 2 newborns and up the rd with one. Its jist hard moving little baby not an issue usually older kids bickering, and adults stressed. We never used pavking company or driver husband drove a lorry down wknd before we couldnt afford a private company.

maybebabybee · 24/02/2016 08:48

No idea OP but I'm hoping it will be fine as we'll be moving with a four week old in April!!!

Pidapie · 24/02/2016 08:50

We moved with a little one, and it really wasn't that bad :) Just make sure all essential stuff is in your car rather than a moving van, so it's easily accessible. Maybe, if possible, have someone help you put up cot bed and changing table - if you use these - as soon as possible when you get to your new house. You can do lots of stuff with baby in sling or carrier too! Good luck :)

superherostrawberry · 24/02/2016 09:09

I moved with a 12-week old and it was a doddle. He slept for ages, sat in the car seat or under a mobile... didn't take up space and it was 100x better than moving when pregnant when you don't have your full range of movement. As long as you have a changing bag and clean baby clothes and a bed for the baby close to hand, you'll be OK. Hope it goes well when the day arrives :)

Artioo2 · 24/02/2016 09:25

It'll be fine. I would recommend doing what someone suggested upthread and planning a 'clean room', probably your bedroom. Pack the essentials you'll need for a few days - your bed, the baby's bed, bedding, changing stuff, something for the 7 year old to sleep on if necessary, changes of clothes, essential toiletries etc. Label them all for this room, and don't label anything else for this room - other non-essentials can be put in later and you want a space not crammed with boxes. Make sure the removal people know this room is most important and get them to take this stuff in a first trip if they're doing more than one. Get it all set up as soon as it's in. This way you know you have a safe space set up you can retreat to whatever the chaos outside, and you can go to bed whatever happens. We moved with a 1-year-old DS and the removal people had underestimated the time it would take to move us, so were still bringing stuff in at midnight. Luckily I'd got them to set up ours and DS's beds early, so I could just disappear and leave them to it.

Artioo2 · 24/02/2016 09:26

Oh yes, and I agree moving with a newborn is easier than moving when heavily pregnant. You can stow them somewhere safe while you actually do something useful rather than not being able to do a thing.

FourForYouGlenCoco · 24/02/2016 09:43

No personal experience but I'm sure it won't be that bad! I'm coming at it from the other angle - moved at 7+ months pregnant and it was a mare. I couldn't do anything useful to help, unpacking, tidying, cleaning etc was much harder as I was so huge, and I was absolutely shattered constantly! You'll make the best of it and manage, whatever happens.

Ludways · 24/02/2016 09:55

I moved at 7m pregnant, it was a breeze, I couldn't bend over but I made an excellent supervisor!!

Babies are portable esp if you're breastfeeding.

lalaloopyhead · 24/02/2016 10:01

I had DD1 on the day that we were due to exchange contracts, partner at the time had to bring documents into hospital for me to sign. We moved when DD was a week or so old, it was the easiest move I have done - I went to MIL for the day and everybody else did the moving, it was great!

I would advise not factoring yourself into the moving team, I had em c/s so couldn't have really done much anyway.

ppandj · 24/02/2016 10:07

We moved with our 3 week old. It was stressful but fine in the end. My advice would be to hire as much help as you can afford to eg decorators, cleaner, moving men. We couldn't afford to but it would have made a huge difference!

MrsBungle · 24/02/2016 10:11

It's fine. We moved with a 4 week old. I did ask my friend to look after my 2 year old. We had 2 removal men and me and dh as in laws were on holiday. Totally do-able. Tiny one was in and out of the car seat a lot that day but they're very transportable at that age.

kinkytoes · 24/02/2016 20:46

Knowing TaylorWimpey your little one will be a toddler by the time you move

Seriously, best of luck with it all.

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