Out and About in the Car with Your Newborn
Wed, Jul 21, 2010Your first car journey, particularly if you’re on your own, may be daunting. I remember being very impressed when a friend of mine managed to drive to my house with her newborn when she was less than a week old. And she was on time! On my first car journey with Euan I remember turning to my husband and congratulating us for only being an hour late. It was only when we arrived at my mum’s house and she asked where my auntie was that I realised we had forgotten something – we were supposed to pick her up on our way!
Anyway, here are some things you may want to think about before you set off:
1. Pick a destination where you are going to feel comfortable. Your host has to be understanding if you are late and happy to make you more tea if you stay later than intended. It might be a good idea to be vague about the time you are planning to arrive because this way you’ll feel less pressure about getting out of the house when your baby needs a full change of clothes just as you’re leaving. Your host should also love you even if you are covered in your baby’s sick or poo and shouldn’t mind listening to endless tales of your experiences in hospital and your baby’s nappies!
2. Make sure that destination isn’t too far away, a 15 minute drive is far enough.
3. Practise putting the car seat in (without baby!) before you set off. There’s nothing worse than a crying baby and a flustered mum trying to work out how the thing goes in!
4. Get your bag packed: nappies/diapers, nappy cream, 2 changes of clothes, bottles (if you are bottle feeding it’s a good idea to bring at least one more bottle than you think you’ll need)
5. Feed your baby before you set off but bear in mind that this will probably involve another nappy change which in turn may lead to another feed!
6. Above all, try to stay relaxed. Congratulate yourself on making it out of the house and enjoy your friend’s admiration of your beautiful baby.
I’d love to hear your stories about your first car journey, please leave your comments below or drop me an email.
Our worst car journey was bringing Freya home from the hospital for the first time. She hated her car seat and screamed all the way home! Trying to park a car while your child is crying is almost impossible – your brain just can’t cope with the mechanics of reversing. In the end Chris gave up dropped us off and then parked – problem solved.
Sounds stressful! I had a similar experience with Euan in a multi-storey carpark. I had taken a tight corner badly and wasn’t sure how to move the car without scraping it. Euan was screaming and a queue of cars was forming behind me. In the end I knew what was going to happen but I just had to go for it. The end result was expensive! Next time I’ll try harder to keep my cool!
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