London with baby

[wetfloor]

I'm thinking of going to London with my five month old for a few nights. Anyone have any recommendations for places to stay in the center? Any travelling tips and also any help on how to sterilize bottles when I'm out and about?
Thank you.

The Premier Inn at London Bank is in a really good location – about 5 minutes from Bank Tube station which is one of the largest Tube stations in London, and about a 5 minute walk to the Tower Of London and the River Thames. It is really quiet around that area on a weekend when the City offices are closed, but there are plenty of sandwich shops around, and it is about a 5 minute walk to a Pizza Express. Plus you get fantastic views of the Shard at the other side of the river! The family rooms are really spacious and quiet.
The Resident in Kensington has a range of family rooms which all include a private mini kitchen with a Nespresso machine, microwave, fridge, cutlery, crockery and tea and coffee making facilities. Some of the Deluxe rooms even have their own private terrace. There’s no onsite restaurant, but breakfast is provided by a local café and delivered to your room.

The District, Jubilee and Northern line trains have multipurpose areas suitable for buggies (as well as wheelchairs and luggage). There are also spaces for wheelchairs on the Victoria and Metropolitan line Tubes that TfL encourage people with buggies to use if they are unoccupied.
If you’re getting off the Tube at a station with a big gap between the Tube and the platform edge, it’s much easier to get off backwards. This is useful for seeing which stations would be accessible with a buggy www.golondonapartments.com/avoiding-stairs-on-the-london-underground/
On buses, the driver can lower the bus for you, so it's level with the kerb. All buses have a wheelchair space available. By law,wheelchair users have priority but when a wheelchair user is not using the space, you can use it on a first come first served basis.

@Fivemoreminutes1 wow! That's brilliant! Thank you so much! Xx

The V&A is a nice quiet place to visit with a small baby. There’s a buggy park on the ground floor, as well as a quiet room with baby changing and bottle warmer, but there are also two lifts if you want to take a pushchair around the museum.
The Tate Modern is also good too as it’s hugely spacious, so don’t worry about pushing a buggy around and it’s not the kind of gallery where you’ll get disapproving glances if your baby is crying. It also has a baby care room.

I think these days you can get portable uv sterilisers- might solve your bottle problem

Or bring your steam steriliser or Milton and use in the room

Or at five months you could probably stop sterilising

@Fivemoreminutes1 thank you. I'll definitely consider those!

@MotherOfCrocodiles I did read somewhere about stopping sterilizing. I thought you were meant to do it until six months?

Or at five months you could probably stop sterilising

Clearly no expert, but whilst I think 5 months is old enough to stop sterilizing at home, when your baby has got used to whatever germs lurk there, going somewhere new, especially a hotel room where other people have stayed, I would want to continue. Just for my own peace of mind.

Yes I think you are supposed to go on til six months but it's a ballpark kind of figure. I think (no medic) that around when they get mobile and start eating food is when you might as well stop as so many non sterile things are going in their mouth- will vary a bit when that happens.

But obviously carry on with it as long as you like, it's not doing any harm, just thought it might be a faff next n holiday if not really necessary any more

@wetfloor I lived in London when my DD was a baby. We used to go all over the place together. I remember her howling the place down as I walked around Buckingham Palace art gallery and the staff were really kind to us!

Two things: 1) the easiest way to get out and about for short-ish trips is taking a sling, with a rucksack for your stuff

2. otherwise, if you are taking a buggy, you can get the TFL app and it will show you which stations have lifts from street level onto the tube. Some have lifts from street to platform only (one is a blue disabled sign, the other white). People are helpful and will help you carry the pushchair if you need it, particularly at weekends.

Other than that, it's pretty easy to get around, particularly if you do stay near London Bridge as there is a Thames path walk on the other side of the river which is fully pushchair-friendly and at one bit even has a tiny funicular lift! There are loads of chemists around in the centre so you don't need to bring piles of nappies/wipes.

A sling is the way to go with a baby of that age. They'll be comfy and snug and it'll make public transport much easier.

Thank you all. I was thinking of getting a buggy that folded up for public transport and also taking my carrier.
I'm really excited to go. It's been nine years since I've been!