How do you shop with a baby?

[dolly1]

Yes I know this is prob a very silly question but it struck me as I was wandering around M&S the other day that I don't know what to do with a tiny baby (one who can't sit in the trolley seat yet) when I go shopping?
Any tips? Is it a case of putting the car seat in the trolley? Or just carrying them?
Feel free to ridicule me if this is truely a daft thing to ask but it's strange the random things that perplex you at 26 weeks!

i also vote sling!

sling
but there are seats on trolleys suitable from birth
also don't forget online delivery

I (very successfully) mastered pushing a big trolley with one hand and a pram with the other with DS3 .

Think with DS1 and 2 I used to just get as much as I could cope with in a basket/under the pram and made more trips.

Don't drive so never had the option of putting the carseat in the trolley

The supermarkets have special baby seat trolleys.
I don't think M&S do as surely no-one can afford to shop there with a baby!!

I am the queen of online shopping

You can either get reclining baby seats in trolleys (but IME they are dirty) or ones that you can fit the car seat directly onto.

Or a sling is an option, I think mine went into normal trolley seats at about 9 months could have been earlier.

Or take the pram?

Oh God another worry to add to my list - I don't drive just now either so not looking forward to the daily trips to the supermarket!

Most supermarkets have seats with baby carriers in, or you can just put the car seat in if it's a removable one. However unless you are tall you can't see over the top of them.

Slings are good though. But you'll probably find your baby falls asleep when you are in the car so the car seat remains the default carrying vessel. I had a travel system that slotted the car seat into the pram and I'd just put stuff in a basket or in the shopping basket underneath.

On-line shopping

Another vote here for a sling!
Other options:

• Put the car seat in the trolley (some supermarkets have trolleys with a sort of metal basket thing at the front that you sit the car seat in)
• Balance a shopping basket on the hood of the buggy (not really recommended tbh)
• Do your shopping online
• Get someone else to do the shopping (def my favourite option)

Getting dh to do the shopping is by far the best idea - but not really an option if I want all the right things to arrive home! Bless him he tries!

Online shopping such a good suggestion. I'm one of those folk who likes to see what onions/apples etc they are buying but I have a feeling that once the baby arrives I will no longer give two hoots as long as someone delivers them to my door!

Thanks so much for all the suggestions!

Sling, of course! Although in a pinch some trolleys have baby seats in them; you can use them from birth but they're often dirty so take a spare baby wipe!

Another vote for a sling - we have a baby bjorn active and it has been a godsend!!

Just in case your DB hates slings (mine did - had to be contrary!), I bought a Maclaren buggy which is really narrow. Not all of them are suitable from birth, but the Techno is, as it lies flat. Then I get a basket and loop it on the handles. This also works for an older baby/toddler.
To be honest, I don't do much shopping nowadays. I used to window shop a lot, try lots of things on, get a good idea of what was around, what was in fashion, and then buy. I dream of those days (sigh). But DD is a serious cutie.

online

It's not a daft question. I remember driving home from ante-natal classes and passing our local shops and suddenly panicking as I didn't know whether I could take buggies into shops or if I had to leave them outside .

Enjoy it when they are young enough not to complain or run off or hide or want everything .... need I go on

I don't drive, so it is online shopping for me. If I need anything urgently i go to the shop at the top of the road after taking DD1 to school.

From bitter experience don't take a colicky 4 week old into M&S! I did and was stopped literally every 30 seconds by lots of more mature ladies who wanted to advise me that they thought my baby needed feeding!

I got very hot and bothered and this is my second child not first!

I shop online for all the boring stuff. I then go to the supermarket for the odd thing I might want to choose myself or odd bits, about once a week. Then it's no big deal if dd2 is unsettled and we have to make a quick exit.

My tips

1. express milk

then

1. Double vodka

Things will seem a lot easier

I really think the thought of coping with outdoor excursions is a lot worse than the reality. Once you get over the first time, it gets much easier. Honest. I had the same kind of wobble when trying to visualise how to get 2 children out to the shops.

Lol onepieceoflollipop! I'd forgotten about all the unsolicited advice you get from old ladies when shopping until a few weeks ago, when I was looking after my friend's baby. He was crying and according to the 4 resident experts in this particular charity shop he was:

Expert A) hungry
Expert B) tired
Expert C) hot
Expert D) poorly
Expert A) (after refusing a biscuit) missing his mum - so Expert B offered him a sweet

I beat a hasty retreat and he stopped crying.

I don't drive so I do most of my shopping online, then go to the supermarket with the pram and pick up fruit/veg/extras with a basket on the handles.

If I could, I'd use a sling, but DS (5mo) complains if he can't lay flat for a snooze