The One Thing That Helped This Mum Out And About
Aside from the short (but very slow) walk to the bench at the corner of our road, the first proper outing with Delilah was five days in (or should that be out?!). She was in the joyous snooze-for-16-hours-a-day phase, the weather was glorious and the beer garden was calling. We packed the pram with enough nappies, wet wipes and milk to last us a week and stayed long enough for me to sink half a pint.
I can’t remember when I realised I didn’t need 20 nappies and three packs of Water Wipes just to grab a coffee, but when Siân told me what her One Thing was I had a flashback to loading up the pram with everything bar the kitchen sink.
Looking back, I think using the sling helped as there is only so much you can carry, but either way we’ve managed to lighten our load over the months.
There are other ways of packing light, as Siân, who lives in London with her partner and daughter Ailbhe, discovered. Here’s her story…
I have a photo of me stood with the buggy outside our flat when Ailbhe was less than a fortnight old: she and I were on our way to a breastfeeding support class and I had a full backpack packed with all our worldly goods because it was my first time out of the house just me and her. Looking back at that picture now makes me laugh but also makes me want to cry, because I remember how new and hard everything felt at the time.
We bought the Finnsøn backpack when I was pregnant because it wasn’t hideous and also came with a nice leopard print changing mat. I soon learned it was fairly useless. First of all, why do you want to be carrying a backpack when you’re pushing a baby? Our buggy didn’t quite fit it underneath either, so there was no alternative.
Second of all, the stupid zip kept getting stuck which, given you’re very rarely trying to open it during a nice calm zen moment, was infuriating.
One day I discovered that the same brand do a smaller one that goes on the buggy itself, the FRIDA. It seemed like a great idea for short trips out of the house and I assumed we’d still use the backpack for when we needed more things with us, but we’ve actually only used that one for overnight trips since.
The FRIDA fits everything we need and also fits perfectly on the handle of the buggy. We live in London and along with about 75% of parents around here, we opted for the BabyZen YoYo. It’s definitely little and people who drive giant baby wagons often balk at it, but for the Tube and buses it’s fantastic. And I’ll never forget the anaesthetist telling me it was, "really the only option for those of us who live in flats" as he administered my pre c-section spinal block.
Back to the pram bag; you can fit an awful lot more in it than you’d think. Inside there’s enough room for nappies, wipes, nappy bags, a spare vest, spare leggings, spare socks, Veggie Straws (which are also stupidly hard to open?!), dummies, portable phone charger, hand sanitiser, and a piece of fruit that one of us has forgotten about more than once.
The bag has two little insulated pockets for formula or a prepared bottle as well. There have definitely been times when I’ve not had absolutely everything I need but it’s made me a very efficient packer, so we’re normally fine.
There obviously have been a few moments. I don’t ever want to have to track down the key for the toilet at Gospel Oak station again. There was also the time I took her to Moorgate to go for Christmas lunch with my colleagues when she was about four months old. I packed not one but two lovely outfits in case of incidents, stupidly put them down underneath her on the changing table while I unpacked a nappy and long story short she came home in a vest and snowsuit.
In the month or so before Delilah was born, I did a lot of Mumsnet and Reddit scrolling about pram bags. There seemed to be a clear divide between those who valued theirs and those who preferred backpacks. The Storksak one I liked was on sale at the time, so I bought it and it’s been a permanent fixture in the pram ever since.
While I used to wear an old backpack with the sling, these days I use the pram bag over one shoulder. As Siân said, there’s room for the essentials but you can’t overpack. Although I would add that the sling usually means it’s a short trip as she’s eight months and much heavier these days…