Depending on what type of birth and what type of recovery you had as a birthing mother, traveling within the early postpartum days can seem like a dream, but also daunting. How do you figure out if you’re really ready?

Ask: Are you ready to travel?

You might be ready to travel, so yay! But consider that many couples are still in the newborn haze (exhausted and sleep deprived) in the 0-3 month old time frame, and it is not for everyone. Many families are also thinking all about safety at 0-3 months and put plans on the calendar after 2 or 3 months of getting to know their baby.

For other parents, they may be ready to get out and travel or have a trip to look forward to as a new family by around 2 months! (We were not ready at all by that time, so take it from us: we waited!)

You don’t have to feel pressure to travel with a baby younger than 12 weeks. The newborn phase will be over before you know it and you can start traveling with a slightly older baby who will sleep better, eat better and be a bit more “fun.”

If you don’t feel ready to travel now, you can always book a trip for 3, 4 or 5 months in advance. By that time, you’ll have a bigger, older and smarter baby, and you’ll be a more experienced parent, too.

Waiting to travel is fine

Remember: Things may be easier after the newborn phase if you want until 3-4 months postpartum for your first travel experience.

Sleep, feeding and nap schedules (or getting to know your baby’s habits better) may be a world of a difference in 30 or 60 days. There’s no best time, or wrong time to take a trip.

Throughout this course, you’ll hear from us that we were not ready to travel before 13-or-so weeks, which is when we took our first trip, and we had to be convinced! Every baby is different, and some newborns are “hard,” while others are easy-breezy and seem agreeable and chilled-out.

You can always wait to travel. The trips will still be there. Time is not running out, the destinations aren’t disappearing and you have an entire lifetime for traveling with your new little family! Do it when the time feels right.

You’re ready? Let’s go!

If you’re ready to travel with a newborn, or if you have to (medical reasons, family visits, holidays coming up) then hop into the rest of this course so that we can prepare you for your journey with a baby.