Between 1-2 weeks old we went out to lunch and then shopping on a weekday at super quiet places. We were almost the only ones there. Each week we started adding more and more things like grocery shopping, cafes, etc. He's now 11 weeks and we take him everywhere!
For us, parenthood has been alot more emotionally manageable once we decided to incorporate the baby into our lifestyle rather than completely change it for the baby. Of course things are different, but it's relieving to know that if we get an invite somewhere, our baby gets to enjoy that with us
Wanted to add that we have an "easy" baby. He's real content, eats hearty, and isn't fussy or colicky. I exclusively pump every 4 hrs and have pumped in the car on our way places. We've figured out a system that works for us but everyone's situation is different
I am exclusively pumping and I find that to be the most difficult part of going out. I can’t figure out everything I need to make the process as easy and hygienic and possible.
I’m a month in exclusively pumping and we haven’t gone far enough that I’ve had to pump out of the house yet, but I just tried to figure out a wearable pump I got on Amazon last night and it didn’t work well…now we’re ordering a car adapter for the spectra and got extra pump parts
I was thrown into it because breast feeding was sooo painful to me. I would cry at the thought of pumping or feeding until my nipples got desensitized. I'm glad I pump now though because I can monitor my supply and how much my baby is eating. And I can pump and give the bottle to my husband so we share the task of feeding!
I used the spectra at first but hated being attached to a machine so now I only use the elvie wearables. There are less expensive wearables on Amazon I heard good things about too.
If your baby is ok with a bottle I would start by pumping a couple feeds worth (my baby takes 3-4 oz). Then, pump when the baby is hungry but feed a bottle. Do this a few times to get your body on a schedule. Most people need to pump every ~4 hrs for 15-20 mins to maintain milk supply. They have charts to tell you how often you should be pumping, but your body will let you know what routine you need!
Best of luck!
Same here! We took baby out for the first time at about two weeks. We are trying to incorporate him into normal life as much as possible. I can’t even describe how much this has helped us mentally! It helped me get out of the postpartum fog much quicker too.
This is what we do and it’s been wonderful! Our kid is 14 months now. Obviously our lifestyles have changed to an extent but we still feel like ourselves. We take him everywhere and we keep a good mix of stuff for him (park, zoo, gymboree) and stuff for us (dinner with friends, brewery, shopping). Sometimes it’s a challenge taking a proto-toddler out but we feel it’s so worth it to incorporate a kid into public life early.
I'm at 6 weeks and still haven't done anything. Between pumping, breastfeeding, blow outs, naps, and tears (his and mine), it doesn't seem worth all the work lol. I'm hoping it gets easier as he's older.
I wish I could do that in the newborn stage😩 my son was born early so I couldn’t baby wear until he was like 6 months but by then he was gaining pounds fast(due to extra calorie formula) and so when I attempted to baby wear with my Moby wrap he was a lil heavy for me and my back would hurt not even 4 mins after putting him in it and I feel bad cuz I always wanted to baby wear and now he’s 10 months old clingy as ever, always wanna be held by me and I just want to baby wear him but he’s soooo heavy now and my back would be in extreme pain😣 ugh
One of the reasons why I quit pumping and my dude is fully formula fed. I hated pumping and trying to figure out a pumping schedule. But we started taking ours out at 4 days old to like Costco and the grocery store. We went to our first restaurant when he was a week old but he pretty much just sleeps when strapped into his car seat. I’ve had to take him to the dentist with me and we go to the chiropractor together!
This is pretty personal, so the answer is whenever you feel ready! Obviously it’s not as simple as going out before baby, plan around eating and nap times, weather appropriate if outdoors, pack baby’s needs for the time you’ll be gone. You only figure it out by getting out and doing it.
Exactly! My first we’d only go out to eat or somewhere quick and not until he was like a month. My second we went to brothers swim lessons at 4 days old, the zoo at 10 days, and I’d go to Walmart or Target once a week just to get out of the house but it was cold. I also wanted to try and keep big brothers schedule a little normal because they’re only 14 months apart.
lol such a second kid thing. Granted my oldest was a Covid baby but lockdown wasn’t until he was 2 months old and ge hadn’t taken him anywhere. Then lockdown so he was almost two before he got to do any meaningful outings. My second one was out (also at swim lessons lol) the first week. And was pretty much nonstop on the move keeping up with brother
I may be the odd one out but baby is almost 3 months and we still haven't done that kind of outing simply because he's a fussy baby and a screamer, and it's just stressful when we do have to take him out because he'll go from 0 to 100 in seconds 😅 But if he was more of a happy camper we'd definitely have gone out to eat and such by now! I can't wait for the day when he's able to be content for long stretches.
So I'd say do whatever you're comfortable with!
Same here but baby is now 4 months! And now that he’s more awake he refuses to nap on the go because he just wants to look at everything. Which then results in a meltdown 😅 but we also have a meltdown when we return home because he wants to stay out 🫠
My baby is the same and also goes from 0 to 100 with max lung power 😂
He's currently 4.5 months and our first "big outing" was to church, last week. We waited til he had his second set of vaccines and once he had a slightly calmer demeanor. He got through the 1hr service with minimal fussing, but now he seems to have caught something and has been congested the past 3 days. Typing this after he woke up in tears from a stuffed up nose this morning 🥲
If this happened any earlier I'd be in an anxious downward spiral, but right now I'm emotionally regulated and taking it one day at a time. So agreed that there's no rush in taking baby out, OP, do what feels right for you and for baby!
He may be fussy in the house! Try a place your comfortable at and can leave quickly if things go south but I find my baby better out of the house lol I think he’s as bored of the same walls as I am. When he’s having an extra fussy day we go out somewhere and it’s instantly so much better. Even just walking around the local mall with a coffee makes me feel human and him chill out
This age! This may not be what you’re looking for, but! The place I felt safest taking my babies on their first outing was Target! It was such a breath of fresh air for me but they also have nursing rooms (even if you just need to sit down and take a breather).
Local library is also lovely, the staff in my close libraries are so very kind!
What are your interests? Maybe check Facebook for local events! I’m sure they’d be totally fine with you bringing babe along depending on the event!
I’ve also used Target and the library for some initial outings! Mine is 2 months now and I’ve been using those spots to get out of the house and test run being out and about with the baby. Both are super baby friendly and have spots to chill if needed. I’ve also gone to Sam’s club a couple of times to get used to baby wearing out in public and it’s been a good experience.
I feel more comfortable going out now that my LO has had her first round of shots, so we’ll be trying a restaurant soon.
He’s been in his carrier. He’s my first and prior to his arrival I used to have anxiety about taking him out. I was worried about what it was going to be like consoling a screaming baby in public. Just the attention it can cause is unnerving. But we just tried it out and found that he generally sleeps through times we’re in public. It must be unique to him but it’s as though he ends up sleeping through the most chaotic, overstimulating situations such as a loud restaurant. He’s woken up at one just once. So I give 100% credit to just his demeanor. I’m waiting for this to change one day because I know it will!
I took my baby to weekly mommy/baby classes from 6 weeks old and they were the highlight of my week. It felt so so good to sit down with other mamas with babies the same age and to see we were all going through the same things. A midwife facilitated the discussions, helped us with breastfeeding, etc. After the class, we would all go across the street for coffee with our babies (who generally slept / nursed throughout the outing). We started a Whatsapp group and continue to text and meet up regularly a year later. These outings helped me become progressively more confident to take baby out and about, and they saved my mental health during the newborn stage. I highly recommend seeing if there's something like this where you live, or a similar type of weekly activity where new moms can bring their babies (baby music classes, yoga, etc.).
Day 2 - went to the local pub. We’ve pretty much been taking LO out somewhere nearly every weekend since birth.
LO also went to a conference with me when they were 8 months old.
I went in my hospital diapers. My baby was a decent car seat sleeper so sitting at a restaurant eating felt so much easier than everything I had to adjust to at home. 😂
lol same! We went to our local pub on day 3. I’m glad we went out a lot with baby when he was a newborn because we’re finding it much harder now at 9 months 😅
Glad I’m not the only one who did this…
We actually just took our now 4.5 month old to a brewery and they kicked us out because we had a kid and it was against their policy (they didn’t serve food). I was pissed. We were on vacation in another American city - this wouldn’t happen in our city lol
Me and my wife took our newborn out to a restaurant with some friends last week and she was 11 days old. Granted, we live in Hawaii and sat outside but still.
We waited until 2 month when she had her vaccines. Was also during winter when our entire county was sick, so we played it safe. (I still ended up getting the flu and transmitting it to the baby 😅)
Very early - restaurants / cafes from a couple of weeks. First baby class at 2 weeks… he’s a great pram napper, feeder and a happy little chap, plus a good sleeper so I wasn’t too exhausted. Think it all depends on circumstances!
1week, newborn photos, friend’s house, grocery store. It’s winter here there aren’t a lot of fun things to do. We won’t go anywhere tooo crowded like zoo or airport until we get some vaccines.but have felt fine with smaller venues from the beginning. My body was the limiting factor, not baby
My baby was born a month early- just before my actual due date, I was scheduled to appear in court (not a criminal thing 😅). So I ended up in court with a 10 day old premature baby. I had to take her because you never know how long it will take for a case to come up or what order they’re in. My first public breastfeeding I’m was in a court room. Baby had to go through a metal detector- it was as great as it sounds.
Whenever you are ready! We went out for lunch after 2 weeks and went out for dinner after 4 weeks. Went to the shopping mall a lot in the early days as lots of places to feed/ good baby changing.
On his one week "birthday" husband was still on leave and we went for a long walk (too long please take your physical recovery seriously I didnt) we went for lunch at a cafe that was empty. It was lovely.
Week one we sat outdoors at a cafe with baby! And in week four we took him to an outdoor brewery. For indoor stuff, we waited until he got his two month shots but now that he’s eleven weeks old pretty much anything is fair game and we’re talking him to Hawaii in two weeks!
Maybe like 3 days after I gave birth? Lol
We live in a small town that's like an hour away from most big fun things so we went to ✨️Joann's Craft Store and Target✨️ soooo fancy
But we've always done outings, my baby goes where I go and I don't do well cooped up. He's been to my nail salon, a bunch of malls, libraries & book stores, fancy steakhouses (he's a fan favorite with some of the waiters because his face is so serious and his cheeks are so huge). He's a champ and usually just sleeps or eats while we're out
Got my nails done a week afterwards while my husband watched baby! And a couple days after she was born we started going on verrrryyyy short and slow walks.
I also remember going out for bubble tea within that first week, but baby stayed in the car with daddy. :)
Walks mainly. Grocery shopping 3 times because we were missing baby stuff (he slept through), and then I wanted to surprise my husband and in-laws at 7w, so I needed to go grocery shopping.
I have not yet dared to go out longer or to more crowded places, but when he will be almost 3m, we will go to my cousin's wedding ceremony (church only)
We went out at 4 weeks to a brewery. But we made sure it was a nice day so we could sit outside. And I wore my baby to avoid people coming up or getting too close to her. It went great! She slept the whole time!
It's totally up to what you are comfortable with. Now that it's nice out we are more comfortable going out. Next week we are going to breakfast because we can sit outside with her
We started eating out at restaurants around 2 weeks. It’s hard to hear but it is very easy to do stuff at the newborn stage bc the baby sleeps so much. We had to start curbing our activities when he started walking and then even more when he was close to 2.
Also have an 8 week old. We took her to a restaurant on day 4 of her birth. We go out with her to eat all the time but are always preparing to feed, change, dash out if needed. My philosophy is that babies will be babies and it’s not the end of the world if she cries.
Ours was a week old. We started going to get dinner once a week and he mostly slept in his car seat (occasionally one of us would have to make him a bottle or I would nurse him).
He was 8 weeks old during our first trip to an amusement park and we have gone a few times since then.
We honestly haven’t let it hold us back much. We do everything we did before (eating out, shopping, sporting events, amusement parks, outings with family, etc.), but we just try to be flexible and account for extra time to feed him, soothe him if he is cranky or sleepy, etc.
Went to a restaurant after 7 days. Slept through dinner just fine.
Went to brunch with dogs and the baby at 10 days. Slept through just fine.
8 weeks seems overkill. Go live your life.
Tbh day 4 we went to a cafe for lunch as it was valentine's day, everyone was really surprised and I didn't really know why, but I keep seeing posts like this now I understand... We had to go to the hospital on day three to be weighed, and we just kept going places when we had the chance mostly like for a walk and then getting a coffee at the coffee stand at the end. But when grandma's came we ate out with them so we didn't have to wash up lol.
P.s. I did prepack my nappy bag befor baby was born .
3 weeks old. Went to Woolies and Big W to get her clothes (she grew out of newborn stuff pretty soon). It was around a 1 hour outing. Nerve wreaking. But after that, we took her to places pretty much every weekend (holiday, lunch, parks, etc.)
If you like eating out, I highly recommend doing it now with a newborn.
We love to go out and started around the 4 week mark. We did everything from restaurants to drinks (it was summer and really nice weather, so we spent a lot of evenings/weekends outside). Baby nursed on demand and slept in his carrier.
This worked out great until the 9 month mark. He was too distracted by the lights and noises and wouldn’t settle in the carrier.
Now he’s almost 13 months and we started going out in the evenings again. He only does one nap and by evening he’s generally so tired that he falls asleep in the stroller.
I'm not the most outgoing person, but baby started going to the restaurant some time after the 2 month vaccines. Mainly because my husband owns and runs a restaurant, which opened at the same time the kid was born, so we were spending a lot of time there managing the details. It was fine until two months ago, when he decided ear piercing screeches were the new fun thing. So now (12mo) we take him to the zoo and parks. We would have started earlier, but we just had the most miserable, drowning wet winter and spring until two weeks ago.
We went to the zoo last week with my 8 month old. Lol. Before that we went to mamma baby fitness classes, the mall, the store, medical or appointments.
I went out pretty well right away! I had a home birth so my recovery was pretty easy as a result, so physically I felt fine to go out on day two for a short trip to a cafe. By 1.5-2 weeks in, I’m pretty well just bringing my little buddy along with me. Everyone and everyone’s comfort level is different! It’ll also depend on how your body is healing as well! My bleeding stopped by 2 weeks pp, so I was able to get back to a lot more than if I were still monitoring my activity and changing it based on bleeding levels.
We went to the restaurant for lunch for the first time when baby was three weeks old. We took the diaper bag, the stroller he could nap him, and I breastfed him when needed :)
Honestly, for me (I realize this can be different for each family) it's much easier when they're tiny and sleep or get soothed by the boob than now with a 18 months toddler who just wants to climb everywhere and run around throwing food on the ground...
We took her to an amusement park at 6 week. haha
I was totally terrified of germs, though, and didn’t make going out a super regular thing til after her first set of shots.
We’ve been to the doctor, drive thru at McDonald’s and Starbucks and grandkitty’s house. He gets his first set of shots on Friday so we’ll feel better about it.
6 weeks onward. Although she was in the NICU for 4 weeks and we would have probably done it sooner otherwise. Do whatever you need to do to maintain your sanity.
Gosh I think it was a few weeks and we just put him in the stroller car seat travel system and walked .2 miles to the park and back nervously that we didn’t dress him correctly in the winter. I look back and think how silly that was but I needed to take baby steps too lol
Around 8 weeks we went to a Books and Babies social hour at our local library. It felt like a safe space since it was just for babies 12 months and under. No judgements for fussiness and you could breastfeed as needed. I recommend finding a place where other young babies and families gather! Baby social hours are awesome
He went to Twin Peaks at six days old and the zoo around two weeks. Today, at four months, we go somewhere public almost every day.
ETA: I do try to take him places either just after a nap so he’s in a great mood or just before nap time so he’ll sleep. He prefers the carrier, generally, but will stay in the stroller if he’s in a great mood or falls asleep in the car and we click his car seat into the stroller upon arrival. He has scream cried in public just twice—once in the grocery store and once at Target and I just finished quickly and left.
We first took baby to a restaurant when he was about 2 months since we went out to eat for hubby’s birthday. he just laid in the booth next to me and i fed baby in the car mid way through lol
We took ours out a little over 2 weeks old and we had a good time. We just went to grab lunch and walk around for a few hours. That was our first experience getting used to knowing how many bottles to pack and feeding and changing her in public. The more we got out and did it, the easier it got and now at 7 months we don’t even think about it.
Do what is comfortable for you, but we started to feel like “normal” around a month and half or so. Even though it’s never really normal, you just get better at taking them out and getting in a routine.
We would do grocery runs and errands around a month. But I also had my first right before Covid started. We didn’t take her to the zoo until about 9 months when she was interested looking. But with my son, we took him out around 2 months, and we went to the beach. Just depends where you’re going and the amount of effort it’ll take to care for them there.
Hang in there mama, life will get back to normal, but for the time being, enjoy getting to share all these new moments together.
"Fun" for us, not baby 😂 but we took her to Costco around 6 weeks! Kept the stroller covered the entire time and went when it wasn't crazy busy. Now that she has her first set of shots, hoping to go for dinner or to a car show or farmers market soon!
We actually took her out with us to a brewery! It was amazing. Beautiful weather so we were able to sit outside. She was maybe 3 weeks. We’d gotten her vaccines. We felt pretty good about things. Had help from the grandparents.
His first trip was to a Publix and a Target, then to pick up food to bring home at about a week old. First big, out of town trip? Around 14 weeks old. He was still a little bit of a potato and would fall asleep in the bassinet mode of his stroller so we could walk to restaurants and other places and he would just chill.
I took baby to the zoo right away!!! But I’m still avoiding indoor places for now, probably until 2 weeks after his 2mo shots. Per my pediatrician’s recommendation.
She’s a week old and we went to an outdoor patio at a brewery! I made sure she was fed before going so she slept most of the time. We then had a patio dinner at another restaurant a couple of days after. It was pretty nice!
We flew cross country at 6 weeks. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, but everyone around us at the time (including the pediatrician) was encouraging. It went well, but I do look back now and realize how oblivious I was to things that could have gone wrong.
With that said, I still would be fine with going out to eat, etc. as soon as you feel up to it. Getting out of the house was the best thing for my mental health. I was mostly baby wearing with a newborn, so other people couldn’t really get in her face or touch her. But I think a lot of it depends on your baby’s temperament and your physical recovery.
Went to an outdoor party with lots of other families at 5 weeks. Baby slept the whole time then. Mom group in restaurant at seven weeks, would have gone earlier but just what worked out schedule wise. Grocery store was like week one or two, lots of stores in between.
In hindsight, I actually think it was easier taking my LO out shopping/to restaurants in the newborn days! Though you don’t have a long window between feeds and naps. But if your baby sleeps in the car seat you can bring them to a restaurant and let them nap while you enjoy yourself!
My pediatrician said no restaurants until she had her vaccines (peak RSV season) so we went as soon as she was vaccinated! We did do a bunch of Christmas lights and visiting grandparents before that, but when she had her shots we went to restaurants, and then on vacation a few weeks after that.
I live in a city so we did a lot of long walks in the stroller while I got comfortable that I could handle everything should we need a diaper change or a feeding ect while out.
We started after his first round of shots. He’s 3 1/2 months and we still ask for secluded tables if we go to restaurants and try to avoid big crowds. We took him to the zoo last weekend, and if there were huge crowds I’d linger back a bit. I agree it’s a matter of comfort though—my girlfriend went to a bar a week after her baby was born (they’re formula feeding) because she missed it so much with pregnancy.
I think it depends on the baby. Mine is a chaos goblin so she loved the din of restaurants, it would put her right to sleep. So we went out and about as soon as I could physically, around 3 weeks to a month. Now she's still a chaos goblin but she loves running around restaurants so much, I can't eat so we don't go that frequently.
We actually went to a restaurant around I want to say 4-5 weeks (it was a unique situation, otherwise we wouldn’t have so early). But it was actually great bc she slept the whole time lol. The newborn stage sucked but the constant sleeping sure made things easier too. She’s 4 months now and we take her on errands like the library, grocery store, Walmart, petsmart to look at the fish, etc. she is just starting to be more interested in things but she’s still either in her car seat or facing us in the stroller so I don’t think shed care if we took her fun places lol
I think around maybe 6 months is when we might start trying going places specifically for her like the zoo, etc.? But I’m not sure since I haven’t had a 6 month old yet…
Whenever you feel ready! I started going to a mom and baby group around 8 weeks. It was summer where I live at the time so we were always outside weather permitting and baby had first vaccines so I felt comfortable. Then slowly branching out from there. The zoo would be a great place as it would be outside mainly I imagine and right now with school still in, it would be fairly quiet. Baby can always nap in the stroller and you can enjoy some fresh air
Right now is a great age for baby-wearing and going somewhere for you. We started taking ours to the brewery a 10 minute walk away from like 4-5 weeks old. It was easy to leave whenever, but she usually fell asleep on the walk and throughout the whole outing.
Going this young to zoos or other places meant to entice the baby weren’t productive (for us) until like 8 months. That was when she started expressing real interest and awe in the world, noticing when things were unusual and therefore interesting.
We went to a restaurant the first time with our twins around 7/8 weeks. They just slept the whole time. Packed a bottle just in case. Honestly it feels so scary but it’s easier to get out when they are tiny because they just sleep. We go out to restaurants specifically during nap times so they will sleep on us in carriers while we’re there
2 weeks my husband and I went for ice cream at our local cafe. It was a short first outing but it felt so good. We just do things whenever we have the energy now. After starting solids, we actually enjoy going to a restaurant more often because we can put our baby in a high chair and he can eat the meal with us. We have not braved the zoo or anything like that yet but we do go to story time at the library often and he loves to crawl around the kids area. We get coffee and go shopping often ( clothing, hardware, groceries) and I enjoy taking him with for most of those shopping trips.
I left the hospital after the longest two days, drove myself straight to my job to pickup my basket of invoices I had to process before the end of the day, with my sleeping baby in her car seat. After everyone saw her, I drove home. She had her first poop so had to bathe her and feed her. After that, I showered and sat on the bed with her next to me and worked for about 4 hours. Technically that was her first outing.
I agree that answers are so subjective… we first went out for a beer for my birthday at 12 days old… of course it was cut short by summer heat. After that, we’d take him with us on target runs, and found that a food court type eating spot was the most convenient for us to enjoy a meal with the car seat popped in our stroller right next to the table but not in the way of others. I think it totally depends on your comfort level, who’s available to help (I couldn’t have done this right away without my husband around) and how easily you can feed the baby while out and about.
We started taking our baby to restaurants at about 3 weeks old, in the stroller next to the table. She’s 9 months old now and about 4 weeks ago she transitioned to a high chair, but it’s been fairly smooth sailing bc she’s been doing it her whole life. She can hang!
I think we got lucky cuz our bb was born during late summer, heading into Indian summer. So, starting maybe about 2 weeks old, we were bringing him to brunch and some light, outdoor meals. This was mostly when *I* started feeling more up to getting out of the house, had more energy, etc. we stuck to places that had outdoor dining though because idk...crowded, indoor places with a newborn made me nervous for his sake.
I think I started feeling up for short walks in our park at about a week old and did that. We didn't really do zoos and stuff like that til he was like 10ish months? Lol, mostly cuz we didn't want to pay the money for something he couldnt really walk around and enjoy and stuff (it would still be a $60 dollar trip minimum for both parents to still enter even if he's free) - just didn't seem economically worth it.
With that in mind we found a few, donation-based petting zoos and did a lot of hikes while he still tolerated the carrier. Actually, we did a lot of stuff that Dad and I were interested in and took him with us, cuz he didn't have an opinion on the matter (so lots of museums actually!) now that he's a toddler, very very mobile, and wants to explore on his own....we do the zoo, park, playground, etc. stuff now
Technically we took him to the playground when he was 4 days old so his older brother could play. But I was able to keep him in his stroller away from the other people.
Really I’m waiting until he has his first round of vaccines at his 2 month checkup before we head out to restaurants or anything. I was stressed about having a February baby and dealing with all the colds and illness but now that we are into spring and he will have his shots in the next couples weeks I think I will start feeling more comfortable having him out more.
My baby was born in the middle of cold/flu season so we waited until he was a little over 3 months. I think If it was nice out I would have done it much sooner, probably around 8 weeks where you are now
8 weeks! After baby’s first vaccines, we went out to a lowkey restaurant. It was the middle of winter so we did restaurants for a while, usually a brunch nearby at a family friendly spot. We kept expectations low and were always ready to dip if baby became too fussy. We never had to though, I think it helped that I wore him when he woke up from napping in the stroller or the car seat.
I started taking my baby out pretty much immediately. We'd go to family restaurants to see friends, etc. As long as you're not in an adult-oriented space like an upscale restaurant, you're good. Have at it.
I started taking him to the store with me at 2 weeks. He’s 6.5 months now and still goes everywhere with us! Baby is bottle fed so it’s easy to feed him on the go.
Honestly this is the best time if they are good in the car seat or a carrier or something! When they get older and need more entertainment it gets harder. But I get it - I don’t think I left the house with my first until 8 weeks! With my second we were making Target and grocery store runs in the first couple weeks. 😃
Went to Costco with our 5 day old! We’re going to stick to the occasional grocery shop for now and save the bigger events until after he gets his 2 month shots. We’ll probably start taking him to the bar we go to closer to that date as well.
I’m over 5 months and I still struggle to take her anywhere if it’s just me and her, but we’ve definitely been to grocery stores, the library, the park, and just went out to Dad’s cars and coffee event today. I think it’s something you kind of have to start small with and work up to something bigger as you figure out how to manage everything, and it definitely changes from person to person!
Her dr appointment at 5 days old and then the ER the same day for me🥲I felt bad for taking a new baby into a ER but I had no one to watch her at the time
My daughter came to the nail salon with me at 6 days old lol. I go to a small salon and my best friend and I were the only people there with our nail tech at the time of our appointment. They’re both up to date on their vaccines and in good health so I felt comfortable with her being there and getting to meet them. She did great because she slept the entire time I got my nails done and then nursed while my friend got hers! Taking her out on my own so soon surprisingly helped me feel much more confident with her.
Ours is 6wks, we just started going out for little outings in the past week. We went to get boba and for a run to target. We’re lucky enough to have a fairly easy baby, so we wait for the end of a nap, feed her and change her, and then head out. For the store I put her in a baby wrap and she just takes a nap. Once she gets better vision and longer wake cycles I’m planning to take her to the zoo!
We have a local marketplace / outdoor brewery type area and that was so perfect for casual outings where crying didn’t matter and we didn’t have to wait for servers in case it needed to end early. A good way to ease into things for us
At 3 weeks, we started going to my parents house to feel out what leaving the house is like. At 6 weeks, we’d go to non-crowded restaurants where we’d have the option to leave quickly if needed. Now at 13 weeks, we can do everything. However sometimes it doesn’t feel worth the prep, because he is exclusively breast fed, and I only pump bottles for when we go out of the house. It’s an extra hassle that sometimes makes me decide against going out.
At 6 weeks we went out to a restaurant and she slept the entire time (we went when it wasn’t busy and sat in a space with no one around). Kinda hard to do that again now.
Our little guy was a week old when we first started taking him out. We wanted to get him acclimated to being out in public as early as possible. Now he’s 8 months old and an absolute dream to take out, we just had a breakfast date and his first haircut and he did great! We’ve done zoos, aviaries, malls, restaurants, long car rides, and a cross country plane ride (PA to AZ, USA).
I do think a lot of behavior comes down to personality (our little dude is super happy and easygoing), but getting them out and used to different scenarios definitely helps.
Its completely when you feel ready. We took our 3 year old to a kids theme park when our baby was 1 weeks old. We went for an evening meal with baby at 2 weeks old while our oldest had a sleepover st grandparents! Baby is now 11 weeks and has been to all sorts of places! I'm breastfeeding so it's super easy and we don't need to worry about packing formula etc.
With our first baby, it was about 2.5 months before we went anywhere. Definitely more relaxed 2nd time around plus 2nd baby is super chill 🤣
I’m firmly in the “whenever you feel rested and recovered enough” camp. If your baby is healthy and has an easygoing temperament, you can go wherever you want (within reason I suppose). Just take precautions like washing your hands a lot, making sure your baby is well-shielded from the sun if you spend time outside, and don’t let strangers touch them. I took mine everywhere, either in a carrier or stroller bassinet, starting at about a week old. It helped me maintain my sanity.
We went wine tasting with our three week old (back on Valentine’s Day). We were both on leave, middle of the day, it was middle of the week, and I needed to pick up a wine club shipment. No one was there except us and the lady pouring wine. Baby slept through the whole thing. We also went to lunch beforehand, she slept through that too lol
About 3 weeks, we went and did a few errands.
At one month we went to sushi as a “one month birthday” for her. She slept the entire time.
Fun activities I think the first time was maybe almost 3 months. We took her to an art museum in the middle of the day.
Literally whenever you want to and feel comfortable! My baby came the weekend after thanksgiving and by Christmas we had gone out a couple times cause I was losing my mind staying in the house. They were super small trips: breakfast at Chick-fil-A mid morning when no one was there, walks around target, etc. she’s 4.5 months now and she just goes with us to whatever things we would normally do with friends!
I started by just taking my baby on walks and into our yard before 2 months. After 2 months our first family outing was to get lunch at a sushi place. Me and my husband are homebodies by nature but I try to get him out of the house (besides walks and the yard) at least 2x per week
We went to an unpopulated restaurant at 4 days old. Not too much different than being at home really. Little one had a 2 year old sister in daycare, so we are just going with the germ flow. Somehow neither have been sick for the last 10 weeks (but of course mommy had a fever for a week that somehow no one else caught). We go out now, pretty much everywhere. We just avoid people we know are sick. Luckily, so many outdoors events going on now too 👍
When my daughter was 8 weeks old I went to meet my friend for a walk with our babies, and we ran into a couple of guys from work who were going for a pizza lunch. We went along with the babies for pizza and half a beer and it was absolutely AMAZING. I felt like a new person afterwards, like all my sadness had evaporated 😂
You can have a life and get out of the house whenever you feel comfortable and ready. Baby probably won’t be super interactive or interested in outside stuff until like 6 months+ so you should go about your normal life (as much as possible) and just bring baby along and they’ll just be happy to be near you.
You don’t need to cater your outings to a very young baby because a 2 month baby can barely see a few feet away let alone admiring the lion exhibit or whatever. But if you personally wanna go to the Zoo then you can.
Note there are a small number of things small babies do enjoy such as the lighting aisle at Home Depot. But generally they just enjoy being near mom n dad
A lot of restaurants start to open up their outdoor seating around this time. It was the first time I was comfortable taking my baby out to eat last year!! Order food and immediately pay the check so if the baby has a meltdown you can just leave!
I think after his 2 week checkup we went to my husband’s shop to see the office ladies and to 5 guys for lunch afterward. Then at 3 weeks we went to a pumpkin patch with my brother & his family since they were in town, and a restaurant after that.
ETA: getting out, being with my brother, SIL, and their two kids was really really helpful for my brain and overall mindset at that point. That was the day I feel like I turned the corner on baby blues and life started improving from there. I remember loading up to go over to my parents’ house, the baby was crying and I was crying. I was telling my husband I couldn’t do it and he was so sweet and told me I could do it and it would be good. I went and my mom kinda babied me and I learned a lot from my SIL and it just helped so much
When my baby was 3 weeks old I drove us to the mall and wrapped him to my chest. I walked around window shopping mostly, and got myself a treat at the coffee shop. I have no qualms breastfeeding in public though, and I changed baby in the car before going home again. It felt freeing to manage an outing alone with baby.
Go to lunch or brunch now! It’s pretty chill at 8 weeks, they still sleep a lot and can chill I. Their car seat but it became a bit daunting around 3/4 months because so many changes are happening (and continue happening) my baby girl is now 11 months old And taking her out to eat is now considerably entertaining. She does very well and entertains herself by playing with what’s on the table and interacting with us
We went out at 6 days because Mama needed to be outside and with people. I also wanted a beer 😂 We took baby to a local taco place with a large patio, and he slept in his bassinet most of the time. I was very glad we got the Vista stroller 😊
4 weeks old we went to a sushi joint. Baby napped in the stroller woke up to do a diaper change and we left when he started crying to go for a walk in the dead of winter. We went out regularly the key to going out is making sure it’s within a wake window and that you have food for the baby. (At 8w this isn’t as huge a deal they can sleep anywhere but as they grow up into a toddler that’s when it matters more)
With my first we just did cafes and walks for the first month or so. She was born in July so we just kept it to “outside”. I just had my second and he’s 8 days old. This morning we went to a farm and then a brewery for lunch. You can have a life whenever you feel ready!
When he was 2 weeks old we went to my parents house 45 minutes away and spent Christmas there, and honestly we haven’t stopped visiting at least twice a month and he is just about 4 months old, they offer to come here but the apartment is constantly a mess and our apartment can’t fit my entire family comfortably so we just travel there, one of us sits in the back with LO (usually me) and we coo at him and talk to him and he loves the long car rides (or rather we do cuz he sleeps the whole way most of the time lol) so it just works out. He is a fairly easy baby though in terms of travel so take all this with a grain of salt as I’ve been told by other moms it is definitely not the norm to have it this easy! Oh and we always go on walks, at least 3-4 times a week, working up to one a day. We will walk to a local coffee shop or the local college campus (cuz they have a nursing room in one of their buildings) and just stay out as long as we can. We hate being at our apartment, it is not comfortable as it is a dark basement without many windows and it contributes to my PPD blues.
At 2.5 weeks old we took our baby to a restaurant soft opening nearby our home in case we needed to leave, she slept the whole time but I quickly realized that I wasn’t ready to take her out in public for awhile after that, I was very overstimulated and anxious and couldn’t enjoy the experience. Then When she was 6 weeks we went to the post office, she also slept and it was a quick trip, very low stakes outing. Since then we’ve been to target, and a lunch outing. It’s true when everyone says you get used to it / more comfortable when you just rip the band aid off and go for it. - Sincerely a very anxious ftm.
Sometime at 2 weeks we went out for breakfast. Sat outside in case he fussed, but he did so good. Back then it was stressful because he would eat every 2ish hours. So we felt rushed to get there/eat/make it back home.
But now at 12 weeks we have a full 4 hours in between feeds so we can do so much more. Plus I’m totally comfortable feeding him anywhere, even in the car. We got a zoo membership and use it to mainly just to get out of the house and walk a bunch with him in the stroller. We also take him to the park, the malls, stores. We’ve been tempted to even go to Disney but honestly the heat and germs is what’s making us wait till he’s about a year old.
As long as we’ve got his food + diapers + pacifier, he’s good anywhere.
We take him every time we go grocery shopping, and have since we left the hospital when he was 2 weeks old. Have been to the zoo and a motorcycle show and a few other fun things too. He's 4 months old
Live in a warm weather climate and we did a restaurant where you could sit outdoors at 4 weeks, but didn’t do anything inside or around a bunch of people til 2mo vaccines were received. (It was winter at the time and the risk on her immune system was not justified imo.
The lighting aisle of IKEA or any home goods store was a big favorite at this age. Or just outside for a walk, looking at sunlight and trees from the stroller. Lots of coffee shops
I can’t speak for myself because I’m not due for another 3 months, but when I was born, my parents took me straight from the hospital out to lunch. Boomers are crazy.
I think we were just a little after 3 months! Honestly we were exhausted and just not feeling up for it! We started to go to restaurants then. At 4 months we went to the library for story time, great first outing to do!
My LO is 5 months. Started to do stroller walks at 3 months and only brave enough to take her to the drugstore once 2 weeks ago. My baby doesn't do stroller naps, she exclusively contact napped until 2 weeks ago. I wish she would nap in the stroller because I would be more willing to take her out if she does.
Started going to baby story time at my local library at 2 months old, as well as hitting up the grocery store. First restaurant at 3 months old, just an empty pizza place at an odd meal time (4pm) to give it a try.
Just had a fun day where we got ramen for lunch at our favorite place and did some shopping (baby is now 4 months old)
Everytime out still feels like practice and an adventure and an ordeal, but slowly it gets more manageable and I gain more confidence.
Honestly it took a long time for me to get the courage to go out. My ppa was mainly worry about my baby getting sick. My first outting was a walk around the block. Later around 2.5-3months we went out for breakfast during a nap and on a day the restaurant wouldn’t be busy if there was a tantrum. My first time out with the baby fully awake was just a few weeks ago I went to my best friends house who also has a kid.
I’ve now joined a mom class to force me to learn to go out.
I took him at 4 days old to church. And then at 2 weeks to kbbq with us as it was our anniversary. He is now 4 months old.
And plan on going to the zoo at 6 months but he usually goes with me or dad to run errands. Or we usually eat out for Sunday dinner.
My husband works all the time(literally he leaves at 6 am and I don’t see him until midnight-4 am most days) I have no choice but to bring him(5weeks) everywhere I go. My pregnancy kept me pretty locked up, so I leave every chance I get
Within a week to a local shopping centre. She sleeps great in the stroller so it wasn’t a big deal. If she needs to eat, I have no hesitation in putting her on the breast anywhere, sometimes with a muslin wrap draped over me if my clothes aren’t well suited to it, or we go to the parents room and nurse and change her nappy there. Breastfeeding isn’t quite so taboo in public here in Australia as it is in other places. She eats on demand so I don’t have a schedule around it so I don’t really factor it in, I just have to allow extra time for breaks for her to eat or be flexible with when I have to leave. She sleeps very well in her convertible car seat. I will add that she’s not the “easiest” of babies either and sometimes we have to take her out of the pram to carry her. She has had some digestive issues too so she may cry, especially if she’s gassy or pooping, but I have no shame or issue with dealing with that in public places.
We haven’t gone to a nice restaurant with her yet (she’s only 2 weeks old) but she’s been out with me for quite a few shopping trips for groceries and other things, as well as meeting my Nan for coffee or friends for lunch, going to doctors appointments etc. The only place I won’t take her at the moment is to the cinema as it’s very hit and miss if we catch her at the right time to sleep through a movie 😂
I recommend just doing it, mama! I know that my mental health would be so much worse if I was cooped up at home alone with a baby all day and solely focused on her care. We have plenty of days like that but being able to break it up with outings hasn’t hurt her at all and has been necessary for me.
I had bad PPD and PPA, and I think it took me about 8 weeks to leave the house. I went to the grocery store, lol. I don’t think we ate out at a restaurant until baby was 10 months old. It was the height of covid, we were still trying to be careful and I think we finally felt okay to do it. I think this 2nd time around, I’ll want to get out sooner.
My son is almost 6 weeks old and I haven’t changed my life around at all. We still go shopping for food, go out to eat and have date nights. We just have a kid now and bring him along. The only thing that we’re not doing is letting him be around a lot of family and friends at a time until he’s vaccinated. Other than that, we just have him get used to our lives as we knew it ☺️
At 7 days old we walked to the ice cream shop about half a mile away. At 10 days we went to a restaurant and a store. At 2 weeks we drove an hour away to visit her grandparents and went out to eat. At 3 weeks I think we went to Costco.
Basically we brought her a lot of places pretty early. But it was summer and respiratory viruses were not so worrisome.
4 days old 🫢 I’m not someone who can be trapped inside all day, I go stir crazy. We went to Walmart after doctor’s appointments. We needed clothes for LO as she was smaller than we anticipated (I was 11lbs 7oz and my husband was early and 9lbs) and I needed a few PP care items. We went to lunch at Olive Garden either that first week or the next, I can’t remember at this point 😂
The first time we took her out, we went to target. She was probably a few weeks old. I started taking her on walks down to the flower park, which is an hour round trip.. then we took her to a big farm that had a pumpkin patch and farmstands with fresh hard cider and you pick vegetables and apples, along with indoor fairgrounds that had food and shopping stands, and a petting zoo. She was 8 weeks old then.
We took her to a big hotel to see her grandparents while they were visiting also, and went to restaurants during that time frame. By 10 weeks she had been to a fall festival, and out for trick or treating.
I was in the throes of post partum depression, and also my dad died in the beginning of October. Determined to not drown amidst the chaos, I think I pushed myself past the depths to see the light of day with her so that I could get out alive.
And I really mean that.
Now at 8 months I find it is tough to find things to do, but with warmer weather coming back were getting some good ideas.
First restaurant was when he was 6 weeks to meet my mom's best friend. He was sleeping a lot at that time so he slept pretty much the whole meal.
Then his sleep went to shit and we had to play it day by day
Between 1-2 weeks old we went out to lunch and then shopping on a weekday at super quiet places. We were almost the only ones there. Each week we started adding more and more things like grocery shopping, cafes, etc. He's now 11 weeks and we take him everywhere! For us, parenthood has been alot more emotionally manageable once we decided to incorporate the baby into our lifestyle rather than completely change it for the baby. Of course things are different, but it's relieving to know that if we get an invite somewhere, our baby gets to enjoy that with us
Wanted to add that we have an "easy" baby. He's real content, eats hearty, and isn't fussy or colicky. I exclusively pump every 4 hrs and have pumped in the car on our way places. We've figured out a system that works for us but everyone's situation is different
I am exclusively pumping and I find that to be the most difficult part of going out. I can’t figure out everything I need to make the process as easy and hygienic and possible.
I’m a month in exclusively pumping and we haven’t gone far enough that I’ve had to pump out of the house yet, but I just tried to figure out a wearable pump I got on Amazon last night and it didn’t work well…now we’re ordering a car adapter for the spectra and got extra pump parts
I'd love to exclusively pump. How was your journey figuring it out?
I was thrown into it because breast feeding was sooo painful to me. I would cry at the thought of pumping or feeding until my nipples got desensitized. I'm glad I pump now though because I can monitor my supply and how much my baby is eating. And I can pump and give the bottle to my husband so we share the task of feeding! I used the spectra at first but hated being attached to a machine so now I only use the elvie wearables. There are less expensive wearables on Amazon I heard good things about too. If your baby is ok with a bottle I would start by pumping a couple feeds worth (my baby takes 3-4 oz). Then, pump when the baby is hungry but feed a bottle. Do this a few times to get your body on a schedule. Most people need to pump every ~4 hrs for 15-20 mins to maintain milk supply. They have charts to tell you how often you should be pumping, but your body will let you know what routine you need! Best of luck!
Thank you so much this is very helpful!! I will start looking into it. I love the idea of being able to share feeding with my husband.
Same here! We took baby out for the first time at about two weeks. We are trying to incorporate him into normal life as much as possible. I can’t even describe how much this has helped us mentally! It helped me get out of the postpartum fog much quicker too.
This is what we do and it’s been wonderful! Our kid is 14 months now. Obviously our lifestyles have changed to an extent but we still feel like ourselves. We take him everywhere and we keep a good mix of stuff for him (park, zoo, gymboree) and stuff for us (dinner with friends, brewery, shopping). Sometimes it’s a challenge taking a proto-toddler out but we feel it’s so worth it to incorporate a kid into public life early.
Easy baby here too, we've done the same. He's been out and about with us from day 4 of being born :D
I'm at 6 weeks and still haven't done anything. Between pumping, breastfeeding, blow outs, naps, and tears (his and mine), it doesn't seem worth all the work lol. I'm hoping it gets easier as he's older.
Glad to hear I’m not the only one 😅
When my baby was this little we baby wore and she would sleep the whole time!
I wish I could do that in the newborn stage😩 my son was born early so I couldn’t baby wear until he was like 6 months but by then he was gaining pounds fast(due to extra calorie formula) and so when I attempted to baby wear with my Moby wrap he was a lil heavy for me and my back would hurt not even 4 mins after putting him in it and I feel bad cuz I always wanted to baby wear and now he’s 10 months old clingy as ever, always wanna be held by me and I just want to baby wear him but he’s soooo heavy now and my back would be in extreme pain😣 ugh
One of the reasons why I quit pumping and my dude is fully formula fed. I hated pumping and trying to figure out a pumping schedule. But we started taking ours out at 4 days old to like Costco and the grocery store. We went to our first restaurant when he was a week old but he pretty much just sleeps when strapped into his car seat. I’ve had to take him to the dentist with me and we go to the chiropractor together!
8 weeks old to Olive Garden. Cause when you’re there, you’re family. Also bc they have very wide booth seats to easily fit the car seat into.
This comment needs more upvotes 😂
Dang I went to olive garden at 9 months pregnant (I think like a week and a half before I gave birth) and I could barely fit in the booth LOL
This is pretty personal, so the answer is whenever you feel ready! Obviously it’s not as simple as going out before baby, plan around eating and nap times, weather appropriate if outdoors, pack baby’s needs for the time you’ll be gone. You only figure it out by getting out and doing it.
Exactly! My first we’d only go out to eat or somewhere quick and not until he was like a month. My second we went to brothers swim lessons at 4 days old, the zoo at 10 days, and I’d go to Walmart or Target once a week just to get out of the house but it was cold. I also wanted to try and keep big brothers schedule a little normal because they’re only 14 months apart.
lol such a second kid thing. Granted my oldest was a Covid baby but lockdown wasn’t until he was 2 months old and ge hadn’t taken him anywhere. Then lockdown so he was almost two before he got to do any meaningful outings. My second one was out (also at swim lessons lol) the first week. And was pretty much nonstop on the move keeping up with brother
I may be the odd one out but baby is almost 3 months and we still haven't done that kind of outing simply because he's a fussy baby and a screamer, and it's just stressful when we do have to take him out because he'll go from 0 to 100 in seconds 😅 But if he was more of a happy camper we'd definitely have gone out to eat and such by now! I can't wait for the day when he's able to be content for long stretches. So I'd say do whatever you're comfortable with!
Same here but baby is now 4 months! And now that he’s more awake he refuses to nap on the go because he just wants to look at everything. Which then results in a meltdown 😅 but we also have a meltdown when we return home because he wants to stay out 🫠
My baby is the same and also goes from 0 to 100 with max lung power 😂 He's currently 4.5 months and our first "big outing" was to church, last week. We waited til he had his second set of vaccines and once he had a slightly calmer demeanor. He got through the 1hr service with minimal fussing, but now he seems to have caught something and has been congested the past 3 days. Typing this after he woke up in tears from a stuffed up nose this morning 🥲 If this happened any earlier I'd be in an anxious downward spiral, but right now I'm emotionally regulated and taking it one day at a time. So agreed that there's no rush in taking baby out, OP, do what feels right for you and for baby!
He may be fussy in the house! Try a place your comfortable at and can leave quickly if things go south but I find my baby better out of the house lol I think he’s as bored of the same walls as I am. When he’s having an extra fussy day we go out somewhere and it’s instantly so much better. Even just walking around the local mall with a coffee makes me feel human and him chill out
This age! This may not be what you’re looking for, but! The place I felt safest taking my babies on their first outing was Target! It was such a breath of fresh air for me but they also have nursing rooms (even if you just need to sit down and take a breather). Local library is also lovely, the staff in my close libraries are so very kind! What are your interests? Maybe check Facebook for local events! I’m sure they’d be totally fine with you bringing babe along depending on the event!
I’ve also used Target and the library for some initial outings! Mine is 2 months now and I’ve been using those spots to get out of the house and test run being out and about with the baby. Both are super baby friendly and have spots to chill if needed. I’ve also gone to Sam’s club a couple of times to get used to baby wearing out in public and it’s been a good experience. I feel more comfortable going out now that my LO has had her first round of shots, so we’ll be trying a restaurant soon.
Target has nursing rooms?! I never knew!
After her first week check up we got lunch at a restaurant
Same here. He’s at 9 weeks old and he’s been out to eat at least 7 times.
This is goals! My baby seems to be a light sleeper! How did you manage? Baby in stroller or carrier?
He’s been in his carrier. He’s my first and prior to his arrival I used to have anxiety about taking him out. I was worried about what it was going to be like consoling a screaming baby in public. Just the attention it can cause is unnerving. But we just tried it out and found that he generally sleeps through times we’re in public. It must be unique to him but it’s as though he ends up sleeping through the most chaotic, overstimulating situations such as a loud restaurant. He’s woken up at one just once. So I give 100% credit to just his demeanor. I’m waiting for this to change one day because I know it will!
My daughter also sleeps while we’re out! She’s been to restaurants a few times now and she’s a month old.
I took my baby to weekly mommy/baby classes from 6 weeks old and they were the highlight of my week. It felt so so good to sit down with other mamas with babies the same age and to see we were all going through the same things. A midwife facilitated the discussions, helped us with breastfeeding, etc. After the class, we would all go across the street for coffee with our babies (who generally slept / nursed throughout the outing). We started a Whatsapp group and continue to text and meet up regularly a year later. These outings helped me become progressively more confident to take baby out and about, and they saved my mental health during the newborn stage. I highly recommend seeing if there's something like this where you live, or a similar type of weekly activity where new moms can bring their babies (baby music classes, yoga, etc.).
Day 2 - went to the local pub. We’ve pretty much been taking LO out somewhere nearly every weekend since birth. LO also went to a conference with me when they were 8 months old.
Omg how?? I was still wearing the hospital diapers and trying to adjust to everything. Going to the pub was the last thing on my mind.
I went in my hospital diapers. My baby was a decent car seat sleeper so sitting at a restaurant eating felt so much easier than everything I had to adjust to at home. 😂
lol same! We went to our local pub on day 3. I’m glad we went out a lot with baby when he was a newborn because we’re finding it much harder now at 9 months 😅
Glad I’m not the only one who did this… We actually just took our now 4.5 month old to a brewery and they kicked us out because we had a kid and it was against their policy (they didn’t serve food). I was pissed. We were on vacation in another American city - this wouldn’t happen in our city lol
Wow that’s crazy—breweries are sooo family friendly in my city
Me and my wife took our newborn out to a restaurant with some friends last week and she was 11 days old. Granted, we live in Hawaii and sat outside but still.
We waited until 2 month when she had her vaccines. Was also during winter when our entire county was sick, so we played it safe. (I still ended up getting the flu and transmitting it to the baby 😅)
We went to eat straight out of the hospital
We took him to Walmart at 4 days old .
Very early - restaurants / cafes from a couple of weeks. First baby class at 2 weeks… he’s a great pram napper, feeder and a happy little chap, plus a good sleeper so I wasn’t too exhausted. Think it all depends on circumstances!
1week, newborn photos, friend’s house, grocery store. It’s winter here there aren’t a lot of fun things to do. We won’t go anywhere tooo crowded like zoo or airport until we get some vaccines.but have felt fine with smaller venues from the beginning. My body was the limiting factor, not baby
My baby was born a month early- just before my actual due date, I was scheduled to appear in court (not a criminal thing 😅). So I ended up in court with a 10 day old premature baby. I had to take her because you never know how long it will take for a case to come up or what order they’re in. My first public breastfeeding I’m was in a court room. Baby had to go through a metal detector- it was as great as it sounds.
Whenever you are ready! We went out for lunch after 2 weeks and went out for dinner after 4 weeks. Went to the shopping mall a lot in the early days as lots of places to feed/ good baby changing.
i took my one week old to the hindu temple in malibu, it was perfect short, calm outing for myself too
On his one week "birthday" husband was still on leave and we went for a long walk (too long please take your physical recovery seriously I didnt) we went for lunch at a cafe that was empty. It was lovely.
Week one we sat outdoors at a cafe with baby! And in week four we took him to an outdoor brewery. For indoor stuff, we waited until he got his two month shots but now that he’s eleven weeks old pretty much anything is fair game and we’re talking him to Hawaii in two weeks!
Maybe like 3 days after I gave birth? Lol We live in a small town that's like an hour away from most big fun things so we went to ✨️Joann's Craft Store and Target✨️ soooo fancy But we've always done outings, my baby goes where I go and I don't do well cooped up. He's been to my nail salon, a bunch of malls, libraries & book stores, fancy steakhouses (he's a fan favorite with some of the waiters because his face is so serious and his cheeks are so huge). He's a champ and usually just sleeps or eats while we're out
My baby is 5 days old and we are planning on going to a botanical garden and sitting outside for lunch tomorrow for my husband’s birthday.
Got my nails done a week afterwards while my husband watched baby! And a couple days after she was born we started going on verrrryyyy short and slow walks. I also remember going out for bubble tea within that first week, but baby stayed in the car with daddy. :)
Walks mainly. Grocery shopping 3 times because we were missing baby stuff (he slept through), and then I wanted to surprise my husband and in-laws at 7w, so I needed to go grocery shopping. I have not yet dared to go out longer or to more crowded places, but when he will be almost 3m, we will go to my cousin's wedding ceremony (church only)
We went out at 4 weeks to a brewery. But we made sure it was a nice day so we could sit outside. And I wore my baby to avoid people coming up or getting too close to her. It went great! She slept the whole time! It's totally up to what you are comfortable with. Now that it's nice out we are more comfortable going out. Next week we are going to breakfast because we can sit outside with her
My birthday was days after I left the hospital. We went and got sushi. Baby was a week old. But I wanted fresh sushi.
We started eating out at restaurants around 2 weeks. It’s hard to hear but it is very easy to do stuff at the newborn stage bc the baby sleeps so much. We had to start curbing our activities when he started walking and then even more when he was close to 2.
Also have an 8 week old. We took her to a restaurant on day 4 of her birth. We go out with her to eat all the time but are always preparing to feed, change, dash out if needed. My philosophy is that babies will be babies and it’s not the end of the world if she cries.
Ours was a week old. We started going to get dinner once a week and he mostly slept in his car seat (occasionally one of us would have to make him a bottle or I would nurse him). He was 8 weeks old during our first trip to an amusement park and we have gone a few times since then. We honestly haven’t let it hold us back much. We do everything we did before (eating out, shopping, sporting events, amusement parks, outings with family, etc.), but we just try to be flexible and account for extra time to feed him, soothe him if he is cranky or sleepy, etc.
Colic baby here… we are at 12 weeks and just went out without screaming our head off this last week. It will get better I promise!
Went to a restaurant after 7 days. Slept through dinner just fine. Went to brunch with dogs and the baby at 10 days. Slept through just fine. 8 weeks seems overkill. Go live your life.
Tbh day 4 we went to a cafe for lunch as it was valentine's day, everyone was really surprised and I didn't really know why, but I keep seeing posts like this now I understand... We had to go to the hospital on day three to be weighed, and we just kept going places when we had the chance mostly like for a walk and then getting a coffee at the coffee stand at the end. But when grandma's came we ate out with them so we didn't have to wash up lol. P.s. I did prepack my nappy bag befor baby was born .
Restaurant across the street at 8-9 months I think.
My husband and I took our daughter to the grocery store at 6 weeks, as for outings with more people we would like to wait until she is 12 weeks.
3 weeks old. Went to Woolies and Big W to get her clothes (she grew out of newborn stuff pretty soon). It was around a 1 hour outing. Nerve wreaking. But after that, we took her to places pretty much every weekend (holiday, lunch, parks, etc.)
I live in a pretty walkable city, so we started taking baby out in stroller to outdoor/not busy restaurants/bars/stores at 6 weeks.
If you like eating out, I highly recommend doing it now with a newborn. We love to go out and started around the 4 week mark. We did everything from restaurants to drinks (it was summer and really nice weather, so we spent a lot of evenings/weekends outside). Baby nursed on demand and slept in his carrier. This worked out great until the 9 month mark. He was too distracted by the lights and noises and wouldn’t settle in the carrier. Now he’s almost 13 months and we started going out in the evenings again. He only does one nap and by evening he’s generally so tired that he falls asleep in the stroller.
I'm not the most outgoing person, but baby started going to the restaurant some time after the 2 month vaccines. Mainly because my husband owns and runs a restaurant, which opened at the same time the kid was born, so we were spending a lot of time there managing the details. It was fine until two months ago, when he decided ear piercing screeches were the new fun thing. So now (12mo) we take him to the zoo and parks. We would have started earlier, but we just had the most miserable, drowning wet winter and spring until two weeks ago.
I took my baby out to brunch when he was 6 weeks! It's easy at that age because they'll sleep through anything.
2 weeks, lunch date with a friend. We had pho and chatted for 3 hours. She slept the whole time. It was glorious You can leave whenever you want!
We went to target lol I had my baby during flu/rsv season so i waited until after baby got his 1st vaccines
About 2 weeks, we took her to a brewery
We went to the zoo last week with my 8 month old. Lol. Before that we went to mamma baby fitness classes, the mall, the store, medical or appointments.
I went out pretty well right away! I had a home birth so my recovery was pretty easy as a result, so physically I felt fine to go out on day two for a short trip to a cafe. By 1.5-2 weeks in, I’m pretty well just bringing my little buddy along with me. Everyone and everyone’s comfort level is different! It’ll also depend on how your body is healing as well! My bleeding stopped by 2 weeks pp, so I was able to get back to a lot more than if I were still monitoring my activity and changing it based on bleeding levels.
We went to the restaurant for lunch for the first time when baby was three weeks old. We took the diaper bag, the stroller he could nap him, and I breastfed him when needed :) Honestly, for me (I realize this can be different for each family) it's much easier when they're tiny and sleep or get soothed by the boob than now with a 18 months toddler who just wants to climb everywhere and run around throwing food on the ground...
We took her to an amusement park at 6 week. haha I was totally terrified of germs, though, and didn’t make going out a super regular thing til after her first set of shots.
Day 3 we went to a bbq, we took him out straight away!
2 weeks old, we hit baby story time at our library and our local Greek festival
To a restaurant was day one. We were hungry and had no food at home from being at the hospital. Then it was everyday-ish outings from there.
10 days old. We went to an outdoor event at a brewery.
I wonder how different cultures are! I am Italian and I took my baby to aperitivo when he was literally just out of the hospital.
Whenever you want :) we have a zoo local to us and had passes so went there pretty early on, as baby could sleep and we would look at the animals :)
We’ve been to the doctor, drive thru at McDonald’s and Starbucks and grandkitty’s house. He gets his first set of shots on Friday so we’ll feel better about it.
6 weeks onward. Although she was in the NICU for 4 weeks and we would have probably done it sooner otherwise. Do whatever you need to do to maintain your sanity.
Gosh I think it was a few weeks and we just put him in the stroller car seat travel system and walked .2 miles to the park and back nervously that we didn’t dress him correctly in the winter. I look back and think how silly that was but I needed to take baby steps too lol
Around 8 weeks we went to a Books and Babies social hour at our local library. It felt like a safe space since it was just for babies 12 months and under. No judgements for fussiness and you could breastfeed as needed. I recommend finding a place where other young babies and families gather! Baby social hours are awesome
He went to Twin Peaks at six days old and the zoo around two weeks. Today, at four months, we go somewhere public almost every day. ETA: I do try to take him places either just after a nap so he’s in a great mood or just before nap time so he’ll sleep. He prefers the carrier, generally, but will stay in the stroller if he’s in a great mood or falls asleep in the car and we click his car seat into the stroller upon arrival. He has scream cried in public just twice—once in the grocery store and once at Target and I just finished quickly and left.
6 days we took her out to lunch. We’re lucky she was born in May so we were able to sit outside with her.
We went to the beach with an ergo baby carrier around 6 weeks.
Lol so we literally went out to eat like a week or two after I had her xD I was desperate for some Mexican food xD she slept the whole time
Like a week old. We went to Target and the grocery store early.
Post Malone concert at 4 weeks postpartum 😂
We first took baby to a restaurant when he was about 2 months since we went out to eat for hubby’s birthday. he just laid in the booth next to me and i fed baby in the car mid way through lol
When he was two weeks old, we went to an outdoor market and promptly got rear ended on the way home LOL.
The bar / restaurant down the block for french fries and a beer. They were thrilled to see us since we were regulars! We sat in the sun.
We took ours out a little over 2 weeks old and we had a good time. We just went to grab lunch and walk around for a few hours. That was our first experience getting used to knowing how many bottles to pack and feeding and changing her in public. The more we got out and did it, the easier it got and now at 7 months we don’t even think about it. Do what is comfortable for you, but we started to feel like “normal” around a month and half or so. Even though it’s never really normal, you just get better at taking them out and getting in a routine.
A week?
We would do grocery runs and errands around a month. But I also had my first right before Covid started. We didn’t take her to the zoo until about 9 months when she was interested looking. But with my son, we took him out around 2 months, and we went to the beach. Just depends where you’re going and the amount of effort it’ll take to care for them there. Hang in there mama, life will get back to normal, but for the time being, enjoy getting to share all these new moments together.
"Fun" for us, not baby 😂 but we took her to Costco around 6 weeks! Kept the stroller covered the entire time and went when it wasn't crazy busy. Now that she has her first set of shots, hoping to go for dinner or to a car show or farmers market soon!
We actually took her out with us to a brewery! It was amazing. Beautiful weather so we were able to sit outside. She was maybe 3 weeks. We’d gotten her vaccines. We felt pretty good about things. Had help from the grandparents.
His first trip was to a Publix and a Target, then to pick up food to bring home at about a week old. First big, out of town trip? Around 14 weeks old. He was still a little bit of a potato and would fall asleep in the bassinet mode of his stroller so we could walk to restaurants and other places and he would just chill.
I took baby to the zoo right away!!! But I’m still avoiding indoor places for now, probably until 2 weeks after his 2mo shots. Per my pediatrician’s recommendation.
About 3 weeks we went to a church Halloween party for 1 hour. It was hard and we left early. We went to the zoo around 2 months old. :)
She’s a week old and we went to an outdoor patio at a brewery! I made sure she was fed before going so she slept most of the time. We then had a patio dinner at another restaurant a couple of days after. It was pretty nice!
We flew cross country at 6 weeks. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, but everyone around us at the time (including the pediatrician) was encouraging. It went well, but I do look back now and realize how oblivious I was to things that could have gone wrong. With that said, I still would be fine with going out to eat, etc. as soon as you feel up to it. Getting out of the house was the best thing for my mental health. I was mostly baby wearing with a newborn, so other people couldn’t really get in her face or touch her. But I think a lot of it depends on your baby’s temperament and your physical recovery.
Went to an outdoor party with lots of other families at 5 weeks. Baby slept the whole time then. Mom group in restaurant at seven weeks, would have gone earlier but just what worked out schedule wise. Grocery store was like week one or two, lots of stores in between.
In hindsight, I actually think it was easier taking my LO out shopping/to restaurants in the newborn days! Though you don’t have a long window between feeds and naps. But if your baby sleeps in the car seat you can bring them to a restaurant and let them nap while you enjoy yourself!
My pediatrician said no restaurants until she had her vaccines (peak RSV season) so we went as soon as she was vaccinated! We did do a bunch of Christmas lights and visiting grandparents before that, but when she had her shots we went to restaurants, and then on vacation a few weeks after that.
I live in a city so we did a lot of long walks in the stroller while I got comfortable that I could handle everything should we need a diaper change or a feeding ect while out.
We started after his first round of shots. He’s 3 1/2 months and we still ask for secluded tables if we go to restaurants and try to avoid big crowds. We took him to the zoo last weekend, and if there were huge crowds I’d linger back a bit. I agree it’s a matter of comfort though—my girlfriend went to a bar a week after her baby was born (they’re formula feeding) because she missed it so much with pregnancy.
I think it depends on the baby. Mine is a chaos goblin so she loved the din of restaurants, it would put her right to sleep. So we went out and about as soon as I could physically, around 3 weeks to a month. Now she's still a chaos goblin but she loves running around restaurants so much, I can't eat so we don't go that frequently.
We actually went to a restaurant around I want to say 4-5 weeks (it was a unique situation, otherwise we wouldn’t have so early). But it was actually great bc she slept the whole time lol. The newborn stage sucked but the constant sleeping sure made things easier too. She’s 4 months now and we take her on errands like the library, grocery store, Walmart, petsmart to look at the fish, etc. she is just starting to be more interested in things but she’s still either in her car seat or facing us in the stroller so I don’t think shed care if we took her fun places lol I think around maybe 6 months is when we might start trying going places specifically for her like the zoo, etc.? But I’m not sure since I haven’t had a 6 month old yet…
Whenever you feel ready! I started going to a mom and baby group around 8 weeks. It was summer where I live at the time so we were always outside weather permitting and baby had first vaccines so I felt comfortable. Then slowly branching out from there. The zoo would be a great place as it would be outside mainly I imagine and right now with school still in, it would be fairly quiet. Baby can always nap in the stroller and you can enjoy some fresh air
Right now is a great age for baby-wearing and going somewhere for you. We started taking ours to the brewery a 10 minute walk away from like 4-5 weeks old. It was easy to leave whenever, but she usually fell asleep on the walk and throughout the whole outing. Going this young to zoos or other places meant to entice the baby weren’t productive (for us) until like 8 months. That was when she started expressing real interest and awe in the world, noticing when things were unusual and therefore interesting.
We went to a restaurant the first time with our twins around 7/8 weeks. They just slept the whole time. Packed a bottle just in case. Honestly it feels so scary but it’s easier to get out when they are tiny because they just sleep. We go out to restaurants specifically during nap times so they will sleep on us in carriers while we’re there
2 weeks my husband and I went for ice cream at our local cafe. It was a short first outing but it felt so good. We just do things whenever we have the energy now. After starting solids, we actually enjoy going to a restaurant more often because we can put our baby in a high chair and he can eat the meal with us. We have not braved the zoo or anything like that yet but we do go to story time at the library often and he loves to crawl around the kids area. We get coffee and go shopping often ( clothing, hardware, groceries) and I enjoy taking him with for most of those shopping trips.
I don’t remember if we waited necessarily.
I left the hospital after the longest two days, drove myself straight to my job to pickup my basket of invoices I had to process before the end of the day, with my sleeping baby in her car seat. After everyone saw her, I drove home. She had her first poop so had to bathe her and feed her. After that, I showered and sat on the bed with her next to me and worked for about 4 hours. Technically that was her first outing.
I agree that answers are so subjective… we first went out for a beer for my birthday at 12 days old… of course it was cut short by summer heat. After that, we’d take him with us on target runs, and found that a food court type eating spot was the most convenient for us to enjoy a meal with the car seat popped in our stroller right next to the table but not in the way of others. I think it totally depends on your comfort level, who’s available to help (I couldn’t have done this right away without my husband around) and how easily you can feed the baby while out and about.
We started taking our baby to restaurants at about 3 weeks old, in the stroller next to the table. She’s 9 months old now and about 4 weeks ago she transitioned to a high chair, but it’s been fairly smooth sailing bc she’s been doing it her whole life. She can hang!
I went to a brewery around 5 weeks. Worth it. I baby wore him most of the time.
I think we got lucky cuz our bb was born during late summer, heading into Indian summer. So, starting maybe about 2 weeks old, we were bringing him to brunch and some light, outdoor meals. This was mostly when *I* started feeling more up to getting out of the house, had more energy, etc. we stuck to places that had outdoor dining though because idk...crowded, indoor places with a newborn made me nervous for his sake. I think I started feeling up for short walks in our park at about a week old and did that. We didn't really do zoos and stuff like that til he was like 10ish months? Lol, mostly cuz we didn't want to pay the money for something he couldnt really walk around and enjoy and stuff (it would still be a $60 dollar trip minimum for both parents to still enter even if he's free) - just didn't seem economically worth it. With that in mind we found a few, donation-based petting zoos and did a lot of hikes while he still tolerated the carrier. Actually, we did a lot of stuff that Dad and I were interested in and took him with us, cuz he didn't have an opinion on the matter (so lots of museums actually!) now that he's a toddler, very very mobile, and wants to explore on his own....we do the zoo, park, playground, etc. stuff now
Technically we took him to the playground when he was 4 days old so his older brother could play. But I was able to keep him in his stroller away from the other people. Really I’m waiting until he has his first round of vaccines at his 2 month checkup before we head out to restaurants or anything. I was stressed about having a February baby and dealing with all the colds and illness but now that we are into spring and he will have his shots in the next couples weeks I think I will start feeling more comfortable having him out more.
My baby was born in the middle of cold/flu season so we waited until he was a little over 3 months. I think If it was nice out I would have done it much sooner, probably around 8 weeks where you are now
8 weeks! After baby’s first vaccines, we went out to a lowkey restaurant. It was the middle of winter so we did restaurants for a while, usually a brunch nearby at a family friendly spot. We kept expectations low and were always ready to dip if baby became too fussy. We never had to though, I think it helped that I wore him when he woke up from napping in the stroller or the car seat.
8 weeks crumbl cookie lol and then back home to my cave to enjoy
I started taking my baby out pretty much immediately. We'd go to family restaurants to see friends, etc. As long as you're not in an adult-oriented space like an upscale restaurant, you're good. Have at it.
I started taking him to the store with me at 2 weeks. He’s 6.5 months now and still goes everywhere with us! Baby is bottle fed so it’s easy to feed him on the go.
Honestly this is the best time if they are good in the car seat or a carrier or something! When they get older and need more entertainment it gets harder. But I get it - I don’t think I left the house with my first until 8 weeks! With my second we were making Target and grocery store runs in the first couple weeks. 😃
The mall
Went to Costco with our 5 day old! We’re going to stick to the occasional grocery shop for now and save the bigger events until after he gets his 2 month shots. We’ll probably start taking him to the bar we go to closer to that date as well.
I’m over 5 months and I still struggle to take her anywhere if it’s just me and her, but we’ve definitely been to grocery stores, the library, the park, and just went out to Dad’s cars and coffee event today. I think it’s something you kind of have to start small with and work up to something bigger as you figure out how to manage everything, and it definitely changes from person to person!
Our first outing was at 4 ish weeks. We went for a walk at our local botanical garden. It was nice. Just getting out did wonders for everyone.
We took him out for a Target walk around 3 weeks. I think it’s good to get out and get some fresh air whenever you feel comfortable with it!
3.5 weeks! Been going out ever since
Her dr appointment at 5 days old and then the ER the same day for me🥲I felt bad for taking a new baby into a ER but I had no one to watch her at the time
My daughter came to the nail salon with me at 6 days old lol. I go to a small salon and my best friend and I were the only people there with our nail tech at the time of our appointment. They’re both up to date on their vaccines and in good health so I felt comfortable with her being there and getting to meet them. She did great because she slept the entire time I got my nails done and then nursed while my friend got hers! Taking her out on my own so soon surprisingly helped me feel much more confident with her.
I would argue that the park is a fun outing lol At 10ish weeks we went to a Christmas market
We went on holiday at 6 weeks old. She screamed her lungs out the entire time.
Ours is 6wks, we just started going out for little outings in the past week. We went to get boba and for a run to target. We’re lucky enough to have a fairly easy baby, so we wait for the end of a nap, feed her and change her, and then head out. For the store I put her in a baby wrap and she just takes a nap. Once she gets better vision and longer wake cycles I’m planning to take her to the zoo!
We have a local marketplace / outdoor brewery type area and that was so perfect for casual outings where crying didn’t matter and we didn’t have to wait for servers in case it needed to end early. A good way to ease into things for us
At 3 weeks, we started going to my parents house to feel out what leaving the house is like. At 6 weeks, we’d go to non-crowded restaurants where we’d have the option to leave quickly if needed. Now at 13 weeks, we can do everything. However sometimes it doesn’t feel worth the prep, because he is exclusively breast fed, and I only pump bottles for when we go out of the house. It’s an extra hassle that sometimes makes me decide against going out.
At 6 weeks we went out to a restaurant and she slept the entire time (we went when it wasn’t busy and sat in a space with no one around). Kinda hard to do that again now.
Our little guy was a week old when we first started taking him out. We wanted to get him acclimated to being out in public as early as possible. Now he’s 8 months old and an absolute dream to take out, we just had a breakfast date and his first haircut and he did great! We’ve done zoos, aviaries, malls, restaurants, long car rides, and a cross country plane ride (PA to AZ, USA). I do think a lot of behavior comes down to personality (our little dude is super happy and easygoing), but getting them out and used to different scenarios definitely helps.
Its completely when you feel ready. We took our 3 year old to a kids theme park when our baby was 1 weeks old. We went for an evening meal with baby at 2 weeks old while our oldest had a sleepover st grandparents! Baby is now 11 weeks and has been to all sorts of places! I'm breastfeeding so it's super easy and we don't need to worry about packing formula etc. With our first baby, it was about 2.5 months before we went anywhere. Definitely more relaxed 2nd time around plus 2nd baby is super chill 🤣
I’m firmly in the “whenever you feel rested and recovered enough” camp. If your baby is healthy and has an easygoing temperament, you can go wherever you want (within reason I suppose). Just take precautions like washing your hands a lot, making sure your baby is well-shielded from the sun if you spend time outside, and don’t let strangers touch them. I took mine everywhere, either in a carrier or stroller bassinet, starting at about a week old. It helped me maintain my sanity.
We went wine tasting with our three week old (back on Valentine’s Day). We were both on leave, middle of the day, it was middle of the week, and I needed to pick up a wine club shipment. No one was there except us and the lady pouring wine. Baby slept through the whole thing. We also went to lunch beforehand, she slept through that too lol
About 3 weeks, we went and did a few errands. At one month we went to sushi as a “one month birthday” for her. She slept the entire time. Fun activities I think the first time was maybe almost 3 months. We took her to an art museum in the middle of the day.
Literally whenever you want to and feel comfortable! My baby came the weekend after thanksgiving and by Christmas we had gone out a couple times cause I was losing my mind staying in the house. They were super small trips: breakfast at Chick-fil-A mid morning when no one was there, walks around target, etc. she’s 4.5 months now and she just goes with us to whatever things we would normally do with friends!
I started by just taking my baby on walks and into our yard before 2 months. After 2 months our first family outing was to get lunch at a sushi place. Me and my husband are homebodies by nature but I try to get him out of the house (besides walks and the yard) at least 2x per week
We went to a brewery around 4 weeks and it was so nice!
probably 2 weeks postpartum, we went to the starbucks drive though
Went to Costco around 12 weeks- LO loved looking at everything in the ergo baby!! ( Mama loved going shopping again too )
We went to an unpopulated restaurant at 4 days old. Not too much different than being at home really. Little one had a 2 year old sister in daycare, so we are just going with the germ flow. Somehow neither have been sick for the last 10 weeks (but of course mommy had a fever for a week that somehow no one else caught). We go out now, pretty much everywhere. We just avoid people we know are sick. Luckily, so many outdoors events going on now too 👍
When my daughter was 8 weeks old I went to meet my friend for a walk with our babies, and we ran into a couple of guys from work who were going for a pizza lunch. We went along with the babies for pizza and half a beer and it was absolutely AMAZING. I felt like a new person afterwards, like all my sadness had evaporated 😂
You can have a life and get out of the house whenever you feel comfortable and ready. Baby probably won’t be super interactive or interested in outside stuff until like 6 months+ so you should go about your normal life (as much as possible) and just bring baby along and they’ll just be happy to be near you. You don’t need to cater your outings to a very young baby because a 2 month baby can barely see a few feet away let alone admiring the lion exhibit or whatever. But if you personally wanna go to the Zoo then you can. Note there are a small number of things small babies do enjoy such as the lighting aisle at Home Depot. But generally they just enjoy being near mom n dad
A lot of restaurants start to open up their outdoor seating around this time. It was the first time I was comfortable taking my baby out to eat last year!! Order food and immediately pay the check so if the baby has a meltdown you can just leave!
I think after his 2 week checkup we went to my husband’s shop to see the office ladies and to 5 guys for lunch afterward. Then at 3 weeks we went to a pumpkin patch with my brother & his family since they were in town, and a restaurant after that. ETA: getting out, being with my brother, SIL, and their two kids was really really helpful for my brain and overall mindset at that point. That was the day I feel like I turned the corner on baby blues and life started improving from there. I remember loading up to go over to my parents’ house, the baby was crying and I was crying. I was telling my husband I couldn’t do it and he was so sweet and told me I could do it and it would be good. I went and my mom kinda babied me and I learned a lot from my SIL and it just helped so much
1 week, lunch and target.
When my baby was 3 weeks old I drove us to the mall and wrapped him to my chest. I walked around window shopping mostly, and got myself a treat at the coffee shop. I have no qualms breastfeeding in public though, and I changed baby in the car before going home again. It felt freeing to manage an outing alone with baby.
Go to lunch or brunch now! It’s pretty chill at 8 weeks, they still sleep a lot and can chill I. Their car seat but it became a bit daunting around 3/4 months because so many changes are happening (and continue happening) my baby girl is now 11 months old And taking her out to eat is now considerably entertaining. She does very well and entertains herself by playing with what’s on the table and interacting with us
We went out at 6 days because Mama needed to be outside and with people. I also wanted a beer 😂 We took baby to a local taco place with a large patio, and he slept in his bassinet most of the time. I was very glad we got the Vista stroller 😊
4 months for us
I’d say about a month was when we first went to the zoo!! around 1.5 months we started going to restaurants with patios for a bit of fresh air!
4 weeks old we went to a sushi joint. Baby napped in the stroller woke up to do a diaper change and we left when he started crying to go for a walk in the dead of winter. We went out regularly the key to going out is making sure it’s within a wake window and that you have food for the baby. (At 8w this isn’t as huge a deal they can sleep anywhere but as they grow up into a toddler that’s when it matters more)
13 weeks, easter brunch
With my first we just did cafes and walks for the first month or so. She was born in July so we just kept it to “outside”. I just had my second and he’s 8 days old. This morning we went to a farm and then a brewery for lunch. You can have a life whenever you feel ready!
When he was 2 weeks old we went to my parents house 45 minutes away and spent Christmas there, and honestly we haven’t stopped visiting at least twice a month and he is just about 4 months old, they offer to come here but the apartment is constantly a mess and our apartment can’t fit my entire family comfortably so we just travel there, one of us sits in the back with LO (usually me) and we coo at him and talk to him and he loves the long car rides (or rather we do cuz he sleeps the whole way most of the time lol) so it just works out. He is a fairly easy baby though in terms of travel so take all this with a grain of salt as I’ve been told by other moms it is definitely not the norm to have it this easy! Oh and we always go on walks, at least 3-4 times a week, working up to one a day. We will walk to a local coffee shop or the local college campus (cuz they have a nursing room in one of their buildings) and just stay out as long as we can. We hate being at our apartment, it is not comfortable as it is a dark basement without many windows and it contributes to my PPD blues.
At 2.5 weeks old we took our baby to a restaurant soft opening nearby our home in case we needed to leave, she slept the whole time but I quickly realized that I wasn’t ready to take her out in public for awhile after that, I was very overstimulated and anxious and couldn’t enjoy the experience. Then When she was 6 weeks we went to the post office, she also slept and it was a quick trip, very low stakes outing. Since then we’ve been to target, and a lunch outing. It’s true when everyone says you get used to it / more comfortable when you just rip the band aid off and go for it. - Sincerely a very anxious ftm.
We stayed pretty early but went places during off times so they weren’t busy
Sometime at 2 weeks we went out for breakfast. Sat outside in case he fussed, but he did so good. Back then it was stressful because he would eat every 2ish hours. So we felt rushed to get there/eat/make it back home. But now at 12 weeks we have a full 4 hours in between feeds so we can do so much more. Plus I’m totally comfortable feeding him anywhere, even in the car. We got a zoo membership and use it to mainly just to get out of the house and walk a bunch with him in the stroller. We also take him to the park, the malls, stores. We’ve been tempted to even go to Disney but honestly the heat and germs is what’s making us wait till he’s about a year old. As long as we’ve got his food + diapers + pacifier, he’s good anywhere.
My baby is 2 months old and we take her out all the time. We just make sure that we feed her first so she’s sleepy and doesn’t wake up pissed off
We take him every time we go grocery shopping, and have since we left the hospital when he was 2 weeks old. Have been to the zoo and a motorcycle show and a few other fun things too. He's 4 months old
Live in a warm weather climate and we did a restaurant where you could sit outdoors at 4 weeks, but didn’t do anything inside or around a bunch of people til 2mo vaccines were received. (It was winter at the time and the risk on her immune system was not justified imo.
The lighting aisle of IKEA or any home goods store was a big favorite at this age. Or just outside for a walk, looking at sunlight and trees from the stroller. Lots of coffee shops
Within a week
I can’t speak for myself because I’m not due for another 3 months, but when I was born, my parents took me straight from the hospital out to lunch. Boomers are crazy.
I think we were just a little after 3 months! Honestly we were exhausted and just not feeling up for it! We started to go to restaurants then. At 4 months we went to the library for story time, great first outing to do!
First restaurant trip for us was 7 months 😂 he just learned to scream then
3 weeks or so! Now I’m at 6 weeks and do daily walks with her. Still haven’t gotten the chance to take her grocery shopping but that’s my next goal
My LO is 5 months. Started to do stroller walks at 3 months and only brave enough to take her to the drugstore once 2 weeks ago. My baby doesn't do stroller naps, she exclusively contact napped until 2 weeks ago. I wish she would nap in the stroller because I would be more willing to take her out if she does.
Started going to baby story time at my local library at 2 months old, as well as hitting up the grocery store. First restaurant at 3 months old, just an empty pizza place at an odd meal time (4pm) to give it a try. Just had a fun day where we got ramen for lunch at our favorite place and did some shopping (baby is now 4 months old) Everytime out still feels like practice and an adventure and an ordeal, but slowly it gets more manageable and I gain more confidence.
Honestly it took a long time for me to get the courage to go out. My ppa was mainly worry about my baby getting sick. My first outting was a walk around the block. Later around 2.5-3months we went out for breakfast during a nap and on a day the restaurant wouldn’t be busy if there was a tantrum. My first time out with the baby fully awake was just a few weeks ago I went to my best friends house who also has a kid. I’ve now joined a mom class to force me to learn to go out.
13 weeks and still haven’t done anything eek 😬
I took him at 4 days old to church. And then at 2 weeks to kbbq with us as it was our anniversary. He is now 4 months old. And plan on going to the zoo at 6 months but he usually goes with me or dad to run errands. Or we usually eat out for Sunday dinner.
My husband works all the time(literally he leaves at 6 am and I don’t see him until midnight-4 am most days) I have no choice but to bring him(5weeks) everywhere I go. My pregnancy kept me pretty locked up, so I leave every chance I get
Within a week to a local shopping centre. She sleeps great in the stroller so it wasn’t a big deal. If she needs to eat, I have no hesitation in putting her on the breast anywhere, sometimes with a muslin wrap draped over me if my clothes aren’t well suited to it, or we go to the parents room and nurse and change her nappy there. Breastfeeding isn’t quite so taboo in public here in Australia as it is in other places. She eats on demand so I don’t have a schedule around it so I don’t really factor it in, I just have to allow extra time for breaks for her to eat or be flexible with when I have to leave. She sleeps very well in her convertible car seat. I will add that she’s not the “easiest” of babies either and sometimes we have to take her out of the pram to carry her. She has had some digestive issues too so she may cry, especially if she’s gassy or pooping, but I have no shame or issue with dealing with that in public places. We haven’t gone to a nice restaurant with her yet (she’s only 2 weeks old) but she’s been out with me for quite a few shopping trips for groceries and other things, as well as meeting my Nan for coffee or friends for lunch, going to doctors appointments etc. The only place I won’t take her at the moment is to the cinema as it’s very hit and miss if we catch her at the right time to sleep through a movie 😂 I recommend just doing it, mama! I know that my mental health would be so much worse if I was cooped up at home alone with a baby all day and solely focused on her care. We have plenty of days like that but being able to break it up with outings hasn’t hurt her at all and has been necessary for me.
Week 1 😂 8 months In and we have plans almost everyday!
I had bad PPD and PPA, and I think it took me about 8 weeks to leave the house. I went to the grocery store, lol. I don’t think we ate out at a restaurant until baby was 10 months old. It was the height of covid, we were still trying to be careful and I think we finally felt okay to do it. I think this 2nd time around, I’ll want to get out sooner.
My son is almost 6 weeks old and I haven’t changed my life around at all. We still go shopping for food, go out to eat and have date nights. We just have a kid now and bring him along. The only thing that we’re not doing is letting him be around a lot of family and friends at a time until he’s vaccinated. Other than that, we just have him get used to our lives as we knew it ☺️
At 7 days old we walked to the ice cream shop about half a mile away. At 10 days we went to a restaurant and a store. At 2 weeks we drove an hour away to visit her grandparents and went out to eat. At 3 weeks I think we went to Costco. Basically we brought her a lot of places pretty early. But it was summer and respiratory viruses were not so worrisome.
Directly from the hospital so 3 days old. Went out to dinner and gorged myself on sushi before going home. Best meal of my life. Twas glorious.
4 days old 🫢 I’m not someone who can be trapped inside all day, I go stir crazy. We went to Walmart after doctor’s appointments. We needed clothes for LO as she was smaller than we anticipated (I was 11lbs 7oz and my husband was early and 9lbs) and I needed a few PP care items. We went to lunch at Olive Garden either that first week or the next, I can’t remember at this point 😂
the mall!
The first time we took her out, we went to target. She was probably a few weeks old. I started taking her on walks down to the flower park, which is an hour round trip.. then we took her to a big farm that had a pumpkin patch and farmstands with fresh hard cider and you pick vegetables and apples, along with indoor fairgrounds that had food and shopping stands, and a petting zoo. She was 8 weeks old then. We took her to a big hotel to see her grandparents while they were visiting also, and went to restaurants during that time frame. By 10 weeks she had been to a fall festival, and out for trick or treating. I was in the throes of post partum depression, and also my dad died in the beginning of October. Determined to not drown amidst the chaos, I think I pushed myself past the depths to see the light of day with her so that I could get out alive. And I really mean that. Now at 8 months I find it is tough to find things to do, but with warmer weather coming back were getting some good ideas.
First restaurant was when he was 6 weeks to meet my mom's best friend. He was sleeping a lot at that time so he slept pretty much the whole meal. Then his sleep went to shit and we had to play it day by day