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

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Sort out what you need the night before is an always must.
I’ve left the house many times and realised I’d forgotten something important.
Add more than what you think you need
(too much is better than not enough right?) no one wants to be caught short with a screaming smelly LO.
If you think you’ve forgotten something you most likely have😂.

Organisation ,organisation ,organisation is the key to leaving the house with a newborn baby, make sure you have the baby bag packed the night before and have a alarm set on your phone to remind you to put bottles in before you go So you don’t forget them

spare set of nappies , wipes and baby grows.

leave lots of time, and always have a changing bag ready

I found it best to keep it simple: nappy, wipes and muslin in handbag and go. Too easy to wait for the perfect moment but could take ages so just go.

Pack everything you need the night before, take only essentials for yourself (to make the load lighter) and everything baby needs. Put the pram in the car the night before too, as no one wants to do that as well as sorting everything else out especially if the weather is rubbish. And my best tip is just dont stress, life is hard adjusting to change with a new baby!

Be brave!!!!

We always had a pre-packed bag in the car with everything we might need but also have a smaller one with essentials for when we are out and about. Those days are mostly gone now though apart from a first aid kit !!!!

Oh my.....My very first outing was terrifying i was so over protective, but my advice would be to keep it short and simple, maybe a little walk out with the pram, leaving the massive car mission for next time, and just relax and try to enjoy the moment x

don't rush yourself! The first few weeks I ventured to our local supermarket for a coffee, which was a short walk away, this helped my confidence in then going into town on my own

OK - I ended up with THREE baby changing bags - Seriously top tip is you can never have too many - I would stock them up with everything I could possibly think of and then leave one in my car - one in husbands car and one on the back of the pram..... whenever I got back from anywhere I would top up the bag. Apart from feeds etc this saved me having to think too hard with baby brain and also meant I had supplies everywhere.

spare clothes, spare empty carriet bags and plan to be ready 30mins before you need to be

Pack your bag the night before and give yourself more time than you think you'll need, because the first few times of trying to leave the house it will never go to plan.

have a couple of essentials bags we can grab if we need to escape quickly that include

baby grow/vest
wipes
nappies
nappy bags
muslin
blanket
small toys/teethers

Re packing the changing bag as soon as you come back in and also I lay out the clothes for all of us the night before

Plan your bag - so have the basics in there always and update/ refresh when necessary
Nappies x3
Nappy bags
Nappy cream
Hand sanitiser
Granola bar - for you
Bottle water - for you
Toys
Bubbles
muslin
wet wipes
poncho or umbrella - you never know when you might get caught in the rain
sun cream SPF 50 - you can share this
fun hat/ winter hat
spare babygrow
socks for baby and you
emergency £5 - petrol, food, drink, softly fee.....
mobile phone
house key
car key

Another set of clothes and wipes wipes and more wipes !

Its not nearly as hard as you think. Look around at the stuff you use constantly and pack it in a bag! (Wipes, nappies, change of clothes, muslin.) A folding changing mat is well worth it, so you've always got something reasonably clean to change them on.

Pack your bag for every eventuality and get the car packed first! Most of all just get out of the house! It'll feel great when you actually manage to go anywhere with the baby and the fear that it will be too difficult will disappear

always take more than you think you will need then you should be well prepared for anything.

I always re-stock the nappy bag as soon as I get home....that way it's always stocked ready to go for the next trip out which is one less thing to worry about

to be safe take a change or two of clothes, a days worth of nappies, if using dummies a few of these too. a change of top for adults in case of milky accidents

Being fully prepared for me means I follow my simple 10-step routine:

1. Consider the environment going to with baba.
2. Consider the ease of using buggy or sling for the day.
3. Arrange a little rucksack day before when baba sleeping.
4. Pack suitable spare clothes, hats etc and an extra 2 clean muslins.
5. Pack pick-me-up snacks such as Graze Energiser (available at Asda) and an apple.
6. Check nappy sacks, nipple pads, enough reusable wipes and nappies.
7. Make sure phone is charged and know exactly where we are heading.
8. Start getting ready an hour before to leave, check baba happy and nappy is good, lastly fill water bottle after going to toilet too!
9. Grab keys, phone and make sure to have money/travelcard in pocket.

10. Leave at least 30 minutes to arrive earlier than expected time of arrival. Being anywhere early is calming and shows you are on top of it!

Following this means it becomes a habit if done in that order over and over and the best thing about a habit is - you end up doing it without even having to think about it!

Loads of nappies and baby wipes, and make sure you check in advance for things like where the nearest toilet/baby change will be.

I always had a fully-stocked changing bag. 4 nappies, 2 vests, 2 babygrows, nappy sacks, baby wipes, a carrier bag for dirty clothes. Be prepared for even a shopping trip to take hours. I remember a trip to Asda taking 4 hours when DS2 was 4 days old. He seemed to be constantly hungry!