Top tips for leaving the house with a new baby. Share with ASDA Little Angels - £300 to be won! NOW CLOSED!

[AaronMumsnet]

With the responsibility of having a little person to clean, dress, feed and keep happy, getting out of the house with a new baby can prove an unexpected challenge. ASDA would love you to share your top tips for leaving the house with a new baby.

Here is what ASDA has to say: “There’s nothing worse than being caught short when you’re out and about, so we’d love to hear your stories about what being ‘fully prepared’ on the go means for you and your little angel!”

Did packing a bag the night before help you to get out and about without a hitch? Maybe eating breakfast on the go was the only way you were able to eat breakfast at all. Do you recommend recruiting your nearest and dearest to lend a hand on those first tricky trips? Or, perhaps, you finally realised that swapping the over-packed pram for a sling was the answer.

Whatever your top tips for leaving the house with a baby may be, please share them below and you will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 voucher of your choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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More than you think you'll need of everything - nappies, spare clothes, snacks, toys etc. I found a rucksack far easier than specially designed change bags.

I soon realised that it took twice as long to do anything or go anywhere than it used to do. With twins it was impossible to travel light. My pram was very heavy and I used to have to take at least two of everything with me.

Top tip is plan to leave the house an hour before you need to and take more nappies and bibs than you think you need!

Don't leave the baby behind. I did this twice.

Bad Mummy.

I got him all ready to go out, laid him down in his wee bouncy chair while I put together his pushchair, stored my bags safely underneath, grabbed his warm bottle, his nappies, his wipes, checked my make-up or lack of, and then left, locking the door, started to push the pushchair and realised it seemed oddly light as I sand the Moo Cow song, walking merrily down the street, then realised, I hadn''t put the bloody baby in it!

Cue running, swearing, crying, and get back to a baby, quite contentedly sleeping. Sigh!

My tips for leaving the house are keep an eye on the clock - I have missed my appointments before by leaving things to the last minute. So I pack my bag the night before with 3 nappies, travel wipes, purse, car keys, powerbank, spare tops and a couple of bibs. I have a post it on the door 'don't forget to lock me' as I have come home to an unlocked door !

have your bag packed and ready - so when you need to leave, you can go immediately without needing to faff!
oh.. and forget those changing bags... a regular rucksack is WAY better and looks far less naff!

A small backpack with nappy changing kit and spare clothes. Always restock on return to home so it’s ready to grab at anytime. Oh and sun screen in the summer.

Wearing a dressing gown over my clothes so when sicky baby yacked all over me I could just whip the dressing gown off and leave smelling fresh!

We have a fairly sickly baby so our main priority is muslins and wipes. Lots of them.

Obviously it depends where you are going and how long for but always have a bag with a couple of spare nappies, a couple of babygrows, and wipes with you just in case of disasterous poos or a delay. If breastfeeding you don't need any food with you but if not then a ready made up bottle of whatever formula the baby is taking is handy to have in reserve. A couple of large leak proof plastic bags should be in there to for storing wet/stained clothes/nappies. If only going for a walk then obviously the only thing you really need to make sure you have is your door keys so you can get back into the house! Always double check before you leave.

TOP TIP..... Be sure to have your nappy bag prepped and ready to go. So much can go wrong with a newborn and they really can be very unpredictable. Ensure you pack spare clothes, nappies, wipes, bottles – the list goes on! You can see why a lot of new mums find it easier to just recluse themselves in their own homes. Its hard at first but once you have the hang of things it will be a whizz... and so what if you forget something! its not the end of the world

Always have a rucksack of wipes, food etc and milk

Keep a bag packed with most of what you need on hand. Don't forget a few empty plastic bags to pack away anything wet or grotty.

Be brave and get out. I was nervous doing anything with my first, petrified of managing two and then when I had dc3 I could have easily become a hermit. You can buy most things you may forget when you're out and about.

Always pack snacks for older kids though if you have more than one DC! Some handy rice cakes have saved my sanity more than the once

Keep a backup 2 nappies small wipes and outfit change in the car permenently. So if you have to leave in a hurry you can. Otherwise I always have my bag packed ready to go in the hall and restock it when I get back

Always pack a spare set of clothing and extra nappies and wetwipes

If its a newborn baby, don't, unless its absolutely necessary. Shopping, visitors can all come to you. If you have other little ones that need picked up, call on friends and family for the first few months if possible.

A mini bag with the bare essentials fits inside the main bag which has all the kit for a longer trip.
Little cartons of ready mixed formula are great - not the cheapest way to buy formula but worth it for the ease of use.
With twins: look for places with sofas, then you can easily put one down / breastfeed one and bottle feed the other leaning against your lap. Don’t worry about them both crying at once, you’ll be able to sort them out in a few minutes.
If you get 15 mins down the road and realise you’ve left The Bag at home, it’s worth going back for it...

Allow yourself plenty of time; I remember when I had a very young baby I struggled to get out of the house by midday. This is an issue faced by many young parents; it will get easier as time goes on but when they are very young try not to get too stressed.

One thing that does make it easier is a changing bag that's always packed, it saves racing round before leaving grabbing nappies, wipes etc and if you are anything like me, forgetting the most important things you need (not the baby though!).

spare clothes for baby and for yourself sometimes too lol

Whatever your preparations are keep to a routine, makes life so much easier.

It's mainly about state of mind. Keep calm. There are shops around so not the end of the world of you forgot anything.
Think - food/drink (unless you breast feed), at least another set of clothes, nappies & wipes supply. That's all! Enjoy the day out

Keep it simple, nappy, wipes, bib, bottle, milk and away we go 😳

keep a bag hand and topped up with changing bits so you are ready to go

Our first few outings were just to the supermarket but we messed up the first few times. Baby in car seat, off we went, got out the car to lift the car seat onto the pram frame. We had tested folding and opening the pram - when we bought it, but that was a few months prior. Could we get it unfolded? No we couldn't. We knew the levers to pull to fold it, tried those to no avail. Different little lever to unfold it that we forgot about. Pouring down with rain too so we gave up. So we both pushed a trolley - 1 with the shopping, 1 with the car seat sat in it.

We tested it back at home, realised our mistake and were prepared for the next time. Got there, frame out, unfolded, lifted car seat - we'd forgot the adapters that let the car seat go on the pram frame. Frame back in car, car seat in a trolley again.

Third time lucky, and every time since.

As far as being ready - be flexible with timings. 'Be here at 1pm' is not welcomed - baby might have needed fed/changed/nap when we were due to leave so we'd end up fashionably late. 'Some time after 1pm is better, be flexible.

Baby was very refluxy so we knew we'd need several changes of clothes, lots of muslins and wipes. Best to overpack to start with, just to be sure.