Moving house with a baby: Crucial dos and don'ts

AD. I gave birth to my second baby on September 17th last year. I relocated 70 miles North on September 25th. You could question if I was brave or stupid, moving house with a baby, but in reality, we didn’t have a choice. It took us a long time to exchange contracts on our house and it just so happened that our move in date was just shy of a week after giving birth.

We’re a year into our new parenting/living arrangements so I’d like to think I can speak from a clear headspace right now. But truth be told, the third trimester and final few weeks of pregnancy were far from that for me.

And I'm usually so chilled, I'm horizontal.

Moving house and giving birth to a baby are things I can somewhat plan for. The only thing I can’t plan is when they will happen. Pretty crucial right? This unknown and uncertainty made me feel really uneasy. I had moments of panic, moments of confusion, but also moments of sod it I can’t control it why am I worrying?

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The dates

My original due date was the 10th September 2021 so I was a week overdue with my second child. It was during this time of limbo we found out we’d be moving house the following week. This meant I either needed to go into labour pretty sharpish and have my baby at my local hospital. The hospital I had my first, and a place I knew like the back of my hand. Or I had to move up North earlier than our move in date, move in with my Dad who lived close by and potentially give birth on my own. This stress is exactly what I didn't need at 40 weeks pregnant. It’s not a weight I’d wish upon anyone. However in hindsight and looking back now a year later, everything happened when it was meant to happen. I’m a firm believer that timing is everything and what is meant to be will be.

Do's & don't of moving house with a baby.

DON'T get lost in the healthcare system.

Switching health care providers was one of my biggest worries once I’d had the baby. I didn’t want her to get lost in the system and not have the proper health care the NHS provides.

I’d made sure before giving birth I’d told my local midwife about the house move as well as the midwives who’d helped me give birth. There weren't many people I didn’t tell to be honest and I think this really helped us get picked up by our new practitioner. There was one check we were a couple of days behind with during the switch over process, but everything for us has been relatively smooth sailing.

I also made sure one of the first jobs I did when we moved house was to get the girls registered with our new GP’s surgery.

DO let somebody else take control.

I’m in a very lucky position where I have a very hands-on partner. We decided from the get-go that he would be the person tackling the house move and I'd be the person parenting the children.

We didn’t see each other very much during the moving process, which as a new father and new mother was really quite difficult. It makes me sad to think about the time we spent apart at the beginning.

Although I’m in a privileged position, I really couldn’t have imagined moving house any other way. Whether you get help from a partner, a relative or a moving company, I’d 100% recommend you take that pressure off your shoulders. As a new mum, you have enough going on.

If you live in central southern England, Blue Sky Removals, an Oxford moving company have a really easy system which works out a moving cost for you. Pop your 'moving from' and 'moving to' postcode in, as well as a couple of house details into their system and you get your price there and then.

DON'T pack willy nilly

Can you imagine anything worse than trying to find your baby’s belongings only to find they’re at the back of the moving van, or packed in the most inappropriate of places. That thought filled me with so much anxiety.

Because of this I made sure we had a couple of different bags. You could say they were like multiple hospital bags. All made up of the same kinds of essential things, just located in different areas of the house and car.

This goes hand in hand with being as organised as possible. You can never be too prepared for two of the most stressful life experiences you can go through hitting at the same time.

DO pack early

I remember packing the house up at six months pregnant, three months before our move. My husband at the time questioned why I was doing it so early. But you just never know what’s going to happen. Babies and house moves are unpredictable. It’s almost as if you need to prepare for all outcomes.

What if the baby comes early?

What if you get the green light to go before your baby’s born?

Packing early and getting organised while you still feel relatively able to is so beneficial.

Our home looked bare for a long time. Or it felt like a long time. It was still comfortable for us to live in and we still had everything we needed, it just didn’t feel like our home anymore... Which I suppose it wasn’t really.

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DON'T feel like you have to take it all.

Moving house is a great opportunity to declutter and really think about what you want to take into your new house... And what you want to leave behind. It's a great excuse to rethink your interior design and give your new home a new personality. If you do decide to replace furniture or fixtures and fittings there are retailers out there offering reasonable prices on homeware and household items. If you're looking to replace flooring for example, Amtico at Lees is a fantastic option. There's a huge range of styles and finishes available, all at market leading prices. You're spoilt for choice!

DO have a dump room.

There is no better feeling than loading all of your belongings into a room and shutting the door behind you after a stressful house move. It's one of those 'put it on the laterbase' type things.

For the first few weeks the house was pretty bare. Bare, but liveable and comfortable, which is exactly what you need moving house with a baby. Slowly but surely we were able to make our way through the dump room, dividing different items into their allocated rooms.

Thankfully now our dump room isn't a dump room and is bedroom to our youngest daughter.

DON'T be too hard on yourself.

My biggest tip for moving house with a baby is to be kind to yourself. You’ve literally just given birth and are going through a pretty stressful time.

I’m terrible for doing too much too soon, but I often reminded myself of what my body had been through a mere six days previously.

Think of yourself as a friend. Would you be advising your friend to move heavy boxes six days postpartum? Probably not, so definitely don’t be doing it to yourself.

There's my six do's and don'ts for moving house with a baby. It wasn’t the easiest process I’ll be honest, but it really wasn’t the worst either. The worst part for me was the unknown beforehand. Hindsight is a really wonderful thing right?

Have you moved house or relocated? What was your experience like?