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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Take calpol, they always get sore teeth at the most inconvenient times

Oh and Mam bottles are good if you're spending all day at someone's house because you can just pop them in the microwave to sterilise meaning you only need to take one.

Have a well stocked bag but make sure you only stock it with things you will need and make sure you restock it every time you go home after being out and you will never be caught short again. Also just don't stress too much about it. Both you and baby will cope for an hour or so if you do forget something.

always pack double what you may think you need, and give yourself enough time so you dont have to rush then forget things

Lots of nappies, change of cloths for you and baby and a muslin are a must

My advice would be if you know you are going out, pack in advance. The number of times I was running around at the last minute trying to put a bag together always resulted in leaving something behind.

I also found having a fully packed bag in advance so handy. If we did go out I just replaced what I used after getting home so I knew I always had everything.

Always have a pack of baby wipes and a spare outfit in the changing bag (and a ready made carton of formula and bottle if FF). Saves you getting caught short!

tempted to say dont do it until they are at least 18. BUT have one spare of everything and relax. people left the house 50 years ago without all our gadgets so we can manage

I'm usually pretty relaxed about it all and just chuck what I need in my backpack on the day, I've three under four so backpack is a lifesaver! But at the weekend I was bridesmaid at a friends wedding and was just taking my 5mo so I made sure everything was ready for the 5.30am start the night before!

Make sure you have a bag packed with everything in at all times! If you use the car a lot it may also be worth having a spare outfit for you as well. We always think of spare clothes for babies but trust me mums sometimes need some too! My son once did a poonami so big it leaked out of his dungarees and all over my dress just as we were sitting down for a pub lunch! I basically had to wash my dress in the sink and sit there with a very damp dress!

I'm a pre planner so I'd always pack my bag ahead of leaving the house with plenty of nappies, muslins, spare clothes. On your first outing I would suggest a mother and baby group to ease you into the outside world, plenty of mums to share similar stories to yours, help if you need it and a warm cup of tea for a change !!

Make the first outing short and sweet so you don't have to pack everything

I had a padded roll up changing mat that I stored four nappies and wipes inside. Once we moved onto bottle feeding, I'd boil water and put it into sterilised bottles, then take the formula in a pot that measured out separate scoops. If you go out after a feed then the water has cooled to just the right temperature in time for the next feed, so no need to ask cafes for boiling water or use of a microwave. A stack of clean muslins act as bibs, face wipes, even a makeshift sun hat. Add calpol sachets and a couple of babygrows if there's an accident that needs a quick change. That's all you need. It all fitted into a small bag I kept under the buggy.

One thing I did was when I got DC home, I'd replace whatever I'd used from the Going out bag - top up spare nappies, a muslin, babygrow etc, so the bag was always ready to go. Easier to do as you're coming home than when you're on your way out, as they've usually nodded off on the journey home.

my top tip is to restock the changing bag WHEN YOU GET HOME not before you go out because then it is ready to grab and go. the number of times i thought i would just top it up with nappies later and then went out having forgotten to do that - eek!

Also not to panic if you have forgotten something - unless you're literally in the middle of nowhere, you will be able to get to a shop and get hold of most things you may need.

I once forgot wipes and so used wet loo roll for a nappy change and though not ideal - it worked as a one off.

Keeping plenty of spare nappy sacks is good as they double up as travel sick bags and for making little rubbish bags instead of ending up with pockets full of snack wrappers etc.

Honestly, just do it. The more you worry about it, the more you'll put it off. I got out ASAP and it meant I was confident doing it. Dont worry too much about how much stuff you need - as long as baby can be fed and changed, that's all that matters.

We always had a changing bag that was generously filled with more nappies than needed and a couple of changes of spare clothes that got replenished as soon as we got home if used. In my experience you can never be too prepared!.

I was determined not to be the 'default' parent. Dh and I would learn how to parent our baby together - I would not 'teach' him.

But only 10 days in, I broke. I had to sit down with dh and spell it out to him very simply and clearly: Do Not Unpack The Changing Bag And Tidy Every Single Thing Away After Every Outing!

Always pack more than you need, the one time you don't pack that vest is the day of the poonami down you trousers and through everything!

I used to have multiples of an "essentials bag" which was a bag with nappies, wipes, a musln, spare outfit (plus enough money for a coffee). I had one in each car, one at home and one at my parents. Really helped me just get out when I needed to without thinking too much about if i had everything.

Take lots of everything including an extra baby grow and a clean t-shirt for yourself. I bottle fed and so always had a spare clean bottle and a rest mix milk too. I also left extras of everything in the car in case we ran into trouble on the way out and needed new supplies before we got there

Hubby sorts out baby while I sort out bag.
Double check we have everything we need!
Spare in the car at all times too 😁

Definitely sorting the bag out as much as I could the night before so I could just grab the bottle/fresh snacks and go.

Always allow an extra 10-15 minutes to get to places in case of a last-minute poo or having to go back for something you've forgotten!

Always take double the amount of spare outfits that you think you'll need. I've had to buy many 'emergency' outfits from wherever I was near when I've had recurrent nappy explosions

I used to take a folding changing mat, nappies, wipes, spare clothes, and muslins/bibs on an outing when my children were tiny. I loved taking out the pram/pushchair as you could load it with everything you might possibly need!