Train Travel with 4 month old Alone

[TripleESept24]

I would like opinions and what people think would be best please!

I am thinking of travelling on the train on my own with my 4 month old. It's a 3.5 hour journey with 2 changes!

I wanted ideally to take the pram with the carrycot but don't think this is a good idea as unless you are lucky enough to get in a wheelchair space, the pram needs to be folded down! (The carrycot doesn't fold down!) And would all have to go into the luggage storage.

Would be better off just taking her in a sling or carrier? Only issue then is I will need a taxi the other end when I arrive in Wales! Are you only ok in a black style cab with her in the carrier?

Or I take the pram with just the car seat clicked on! But still alot of folding up and down and would still have to go in luggage storage area on train!

I don't know what to do I'd love to go visit family and there's really cheap train fares but this is killing it for me and giving me anxiety 😫

How would the seatbelt work round you both in the case of an accident…?! Really wouldn’t recommend that.

Ok assistant on the train trips

I travelled a lot up and down between London and the North East when DD1 was a tiny baby. On LNER it clearly says that you can put buggies in the wheelchair space if a wheelchair user doesn't need it. Obviously you have to move if a wheelchair user boards. So not the case that it always has to be folded as someone upthread said. I would recommend looking at the website of your train operator for if they have specific advice.

If you can afford it, we tried to book 1st class as it was generally quieter and usually business travellers so less luggage and more space for the buggy.

What buggy do you have? We had an uppababy vista and you could have the carrycot on top, then attach the car seat using adapters to the bottom. So easy to take both. If your buggy can convert to a double, might be worth checking if this is an option for you too? Otherwise, I always tried to take the bus rather than a cab on arrival so I didn't need the car seat.

If you are visiting family is there one place you could use a base? We ordered a car seat and sent it to my DMs. She then collects use from the station and the car seat is in there ready for us. Same as keeping a travel cot / supply of nappies / wipes etc at her house. Means we can travel light.

I've travelled quite a bit with babies on trains. A sling or carrier is an absolute must, you need to be able to carry baby safely and keep your hands free to get on and off the train.
You have a few options for the car seat:

• if you're visiting family or friends they might be able to collect you from the station and they might have (or be able to borrow) an infant seat for baby
• book a taxi with infant seat in advance, there are taxi firms that do this
• if you have a travel system you can take your infant car seat and the pushchair wheel base to carry it on. If there's step free access to the train you can wheel it on but if not you'll have to remove the car seat and fold up the base, you'll probably find that someone kind offers to help you lift it on and off the train. But you'll definitely need baby safely in a carrier while you're doing that.

If not taking car seat / wheel base, you could take a small suitcase with wheels, but if you do have the car seat / wheel base, I'd recommend taking a backpack only. Either way it's best to pack light. It's fine when you're on the train, it's just getting on and off and you mentioned changes too.

At 4 months your baby should just drink milk and sleep so it'll be relatively easy! Definitely a good idea to do it now before baby gets older - which is also doable but a bit more of a faff to keep them fed and entertained on the train!

PS I definitely wouldn't take the carrycot part of the travel system, they are bulky and you can live without it for the trip. If the person you're staying with has (or can buy/borrow) a travel cot that would be your best bet.

I used a sling when baby was small for long trips - and a backpack for the luggage

Pram for short trips where I knew it was a quiet time to travel. At our station that meant getting escorted over the line as there wasn't a lift

I opted to travel by train with small babies because car travel was so hard. We went 3-5hrs multiple times.
and it was absolutely fine.

I used a sling to carry the baby.
and basically sat cuddling her for most of the trip.
and timed trips for likely long nap times.

i did take the pram, but on almost every train I have travelled on you need to fold the pram.
you have no legal right to use the wheelchair space .
given how few of them there are they need to be available for wheelchair users.
and so it’s best to not expect to use that space.

I bring the pram, and indeed the car seat on pram for use when we get to destination and to carry all of the bags etc.

but at 4-8months I expected to carry the baby

trains are good,
when they are older the table is helpful, but you might find a forward facing airline seat is more discrete for breast feeding etc.

arrive at station with good time, so you aren’t in a rush to board.
book your tickets and get the station staff to tell you which is the right place on platform so you minimise sudden moves etc.

have an audio book on you head phones and plenty of snacks etc.
have anti bac wipes to clean hands etc before handling baby on train

go to the loo before you board train
wear a bottom you can lower easily
Whilst wearing sling for toilet break en route.

No! Don’t wear a seat belt over the sling.

bring the buggy and seat for onwards journeys- or if you trust the people you are visiting maybe they have one to use.
i would make the judgement based on the type of car travel- motorways absolutely would be taking my own seat. Slow moving city centre travel for 20mins I’d be ok using someone’s else seat.

I would take the pram with the car seat. When you get on the train you can take the car seat off the pram and fold the pram down and store it in the luggage compartment. As long as the train isn't full you can then pop the car seat on the seat next to you. Take a backpack for all your bits so you don't need to worry about emptying the bottom of the pram before folding down. It's what I did and it meant you had somewhere to put your baby down on the train as well as a car seat for taxi journeys.

This is the easiest solution. I regularly travelled by train when my LG was younger and I used to do exactly that.

I did on occasion just book the seat next to me for comfort but if your budget doesn't stretch that far I know lots of car seats fit in the over head. Wheels in the luggage section.

I used to travel from London to the NE bi-monthly and we would take pram, car seats, suitcase, changing bag (backpack) and that would be everything I needed and I could get it all on the train by myself tbh. Staff did offer to help sometimes which was handy also.

Found it easier with the car seats fit as could collapse the wheels get them on the train with the baggage then walk to my seat.

Always book a seat at the end of the carriage near the doors so you haven't got to lug the car seat far, and you can prepare yourself for getting off in plenty of time. Only alternative is having the baby in a carrier but I'd still take a car seat for the other end so if you want to go out anywhere you can easily do so.

I would take the pram with the car seat. When you get on the train you can take the car seat off the pram and fold the pram down and store it in the luggage compartment. As long as the train isn't full you can then pop the car seat on the seat next to you. Take a backpack for all your bits so you don't need to worry about emptying the bottom of the pram before folding down. It's what I did and it meant you had somewhere to put your baby down on the train as well as a car seat for taxi journeys.

If you’ll be doing the trip regularly, I’d consider buying a smaller stroller for such occasions, maybe something like the Babyzen Yo-yo?

What we've done in the past is used a family railcard to buy a ticket for the baby even though he doesn't need one. It works out the same price as you can then access the discount for your own ticket. Then you can book two seats. When DC2 was little, we had a compact mountain buggy with a cocoon bassinet in it which is small enough to pop onto a train seat, but as a PP suggested you could just use the car seat for that.