First floor with buggy

[Logwol]

We're looking for new flat in London. Bit worried about getting anywhere 1st floor because of buggy/child issues (am 14 wks pregnant with my first) but don't want to limit the available (small) pool of flats we can afford. How important is it? Anyone got any experience of living up a flight of stairs with a baby?

We did and found it quite tough. I was terrified of slipping with baby but found we got much more space with first floor which was good.

We used a sling instead of a pushchair as much much easier with stairs.

Plus point was being on one floor for settling in cot and crawling!

I did it. I got a light pushchair and either bumped DD up the stairs, left the pushchair downstairs and carried her up or left the pushchair in the car. It was fine.

I've had three children and live in a second floor tenement. You will feel nervous at first carrying your baby up and down but you will get used to it. A sling is great because you can hold on to the bannister as you go up/down.
I borrowed a friend's bugaboo frog with DD3 and found it the best IOC all the peams for going up and down stairs as it has big back wheels. I now use a maclaren up and down and it's fine.

You will get used to it and eventually won't even notice the stairs.

If you have a small lobby which is part of your flat at ground floor level that is much easier as you might be able to park a sleeping baby there if they turn out to be amenable.

Otherwise get a light buggy. Maclaren xt is suitable from birth but light enough to carry on your hip with a young baby in it.

Think about spacing of children tho. One might be ok but 2 young ones could be extremely difficult indeed.

Bugaboo bee is nice and light, but def a sling for up and down the stairs even if you're not keen on babywearing for walking about once you're out.

Pop baby in sling, carry bee or other lightweight pushchair downstairs.

I have steps going up to my house but can park outside, so the pram just lived in the car the whole time. Do you have this option?

I lived in a second floor flat until dd was 12 months old. Never brought the buggy up but there was a wide hallway so I could leave it there. It is do-able but can be annoying when baby falls asleep just before you get home and you end up sitting outside the flat or in the hall while they sleep if they are not good at being moved. It is a bit tricky for things like grocery shopping as you end up trying to carry a baby and shopping up flights of stairs. I wouldn't rule out flats on 1st/2nd floors but be aware of things like hallway space etc

I did - top floor flat ( 4 flights up) with first baby. Bit of a pain but not unbearable. Only 3 flats in the building and they didn't mind me leaving the buggy in the lobby downstairs (but I always felt bad about it). Swiftly moved to a Maclaren as so much lighter and easier to fold than anything else.

Reassuring, though it looks like we'd need a downstairs lobby to store the buggy as we don't have a car. If ogredownstairs can do four flights of stairs, we can def do one! Thanks for all your comments. Love mumsnet for worries like this!