The day my husband went back to work and left me and our bundle of joy alone for a full day, Whitney generously took the day off of work to show me the ropes of maternity leave. I accomplished three things under her tutelage: taking a walk, taking a nap, and buying one thing at the grocery store, just to prove that I could handle it.
The challenge here is to take your baby to the grocery store for the first time as simply a practice run, when you’re not desperate for a kitchen’s worth of food. Use a shopping cart, but just buy a treat for yourself. That way, when you actually have to go grocery shopping, you’ll know you can do it.
This is your fifth rookie mom challenge.
Here are two ways to approach the cart:
- Wear your baby in a front carrier and push the cart
- Put the infant carseat in the cart. Make sure it doesn’t wobble.
[This multi-tasking mama is no rookie.]
Another handy grocery shopping tip is to ask them to bag all your cold stuff together in plastic and the rest in paper bags so if you need to prioritize what comes in the house and what stays in the car, you can do so easily.
Already conquered this one? Make sure you’ve done the first four challenges, too.
Not such a rookie anymore? Tell us about your first supermarket challenge. Which approach did you take?
Did you complete this challenge? Love it or hate it, tell us how it went:
- Comment below.
- Share a picture with us on Facebook.
- Name your destination on Twitter and use hashtag #rookiemoms.
- Or, link in the comments to your own blog post about this challenge.
photo: sadalit on flickr
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Great idea! I have yet to take my baby to the store because it seems so daunting. This, I can do!
I love the idea about bagging cold items in plastic & others in paper!
I also sometimes resort to safeway.com’s delivery service for staple items, since they don’t have EVERYTHING available for delivery. I can place my order in the evening when baby’s asleep & my groceries are delivered the next day! After about your 1st time ordering they’ll send you offers for free delivery about every time so you won’t end up spending more $ I actually usually spend less ’cause I can see my total at all times as opposed to at the grocery store where I have to calulate in my head:)
I’m going to be the weird safety lady and say that it makes me super nervous when I see car seats in carts a la the photo. All it would take to knock that baby off is a someone not watching where he or she is going.
The front carrier works great, or take a page out of my playbook and put your few items in the basket under the stroller.
Yes — that carseat looks really unstable — it should be in the main basket!
Consider me the third safety officer. I know it is convenient, but it is so incredibly dangerous to keep your LO in the top of the cart like that. PLEASE replace this picture so that you don’t perpetuate this horrible habit!
Otherwise, great post. Getting that confidence to leave the house (even if you’re like me and bring an entire day’s worth of supplies for a grocery trip, haha) is so vital!
This is a worthwhile challenge. My rookie hub and I thought we were so smart to take the kid to the grocery store in the stroller on the first trip. Fortunately, we were together, since neither of us had thought the the shoplifting-esque concept of actually getting groceries with a stroller and only one adult (aka, “no hands left for a cart or basket”).
Although I try to get out of the house every morning with my 2 year old and 6 month old – I don’t often venture to a store with them. This morning I took them both to the fabric store and lived to tell about it. The baby got a little fussy/tired as we wanted in the very long check out line but we got it done and I felt the same kind of pride I felt the first time I went out with my oldest.
My first son was very colicky. I put him in the carrier for my first trip to the grocery. He started screaming in the store (as he would every time we went from the outside to the inside, the change of temperature made him nuts) and some lady said to her daughter in a stage whisper “that baby is cryyyyyying because he is huuuuuuuuungry.” I turned on her like a viper and hissed “heee.is….not…HUNGRY.” and stormed out without buying anything. Those were hard (sensitive!) days. My second is so much easier. I even got a pedicure with him laughing and giggling on my lap. Different babies, for sure!
I just did my ‘rookie’ run to the store with my newborn and 3 year old…I’m a rookie at having 2 kids! I made the mistake of not having a front carrier – so my newborn had to stay in her car seat in the cart while my big kid sat in the basket part of the cart which means she was poking at the food!! Good thing I only had to buy 2 things…it was a practice run… but next time I’ll bring the moby for the baby and the big kid will sit up top like she’s always done!
Grocery shopping with kids can be very difficult, but grocery shopping with a kid throwing a tantrum (or kids throwing a tantrum) is turly an art form.
If you ever feel like you had a bad day at the store, read this and feel a little better.
http://www.themommytherapy.com/2010/08/back-to-reality.html
You aren’t alone in having a rough day in public while attempting to feed your family.
If this is your first baby though, don’t worry. You will be ok. I highly recommend the carrier though, the infant car seat almost always seems like it is ready to fall out.
Sorry for the repeat post, I cannot edit my last post. You can see from these articles that your picture of an infant perched like that is quite dangerous. Please, please change it.
http://www.aap.org/family/shoppingcartpolicy.pdf
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/118/2/e540
Hi @tobasco, Thanks so much for your concern. I found the part in the pdf where they said “Children should not be left unattended in a shopping cart, be allowed to stand up in a cart, be transported in the basket, or ride on the outside of a cart.” but not where it advises against this style of perching. I totally believe you though.
Seeking a new photo of a rookie mom, babe in carrier, and shopping cart!
I had a baby carrier that I would strap baby into (there are all sorts of baby wraps, too, that would have been easier, in hind sight), and I’d do my shopping that way… Baby was happier, and lasted longer in the grocery store. It made it easier for us to actually finish groceries with my sanity intact.
Regarding the car seat… it freaked me out too. But I was surprised that I only found that AAP recommends using those carts that come with seat on it. And state never to leave the baby in the basket. These are things rookie moms are obsessed with… I wish there was a hard rule.
For the concerned mamas, I usually find that the carseat latches to the cart when I place it the same way the lady has it. That’s not the case in this picture, but usually the seat opens up far enough that the carseat is stable.
That said, I’m only 5-feet tall, so I use the carrier whenever possible! Not in the winter though, so I don’t have to take the baby out in the cold.
Hello Mamas!
I understand the frustration of having an infant seat while trying to grocery shop! But I do have to say that this is not the way to deal with it! As many of you have said, it is extremely dangerous. There are over 20,000 injuries to children a year that are serious enough to require a visit to the ER. That’s a lot. And about 25% of those are infants. If the seat were to fal over, or worse the entire cart to tip over (lets face it, little baby or not, those seats are heavy!) then the resulting injuries are very often to the brain and could cause permanent damage.
This is a study done by the Consumer Product Safety Commission http://www.cpsc.gov/library/shopcart.html It was done several years ago, but the facts are as relevant as ever, and more importantly, are not coming from me. But if you’d like any more information, feel free to contact me abush@safestrap.com .
The safest thing to do is to use the seats that are attached to shopping carts. I know some people feel that they may be germy, but there are a lot of options for that. The seats that are manufactured by my company, Safestrap Co, are anti-microbial but if you are still concerned they are very easy to wipe down with a disinfectant cloth. Often, those made by other companies are similar in nature.
Best of luck ladies!
I’ve done this challenge for a few weeks now, when I have to. I don’t love it, though. I prefer to shop without tadpole – more efficient. If I have to, I put her entire carseat in the basket (it’s too cold here right now, to take her out and put her in a carrier for walking to/from the car). I also patronize a local grocery chain that provides parking spots for people with kids with them.
Challenge complete! Baby even charmed some ladies with his sweetness at the dairy case. He slept through the whole adventure, and mama ended up buying more than one thing (though still few enough for the express aisle). I was happy that I’d put on the Moby wrap before we left – it was lots easier to slip the sleeping baby in after we’d arrived…and so much better than lugging a car seat.
oh this sounds so scary to me… i have a 19 month old and a 5 week old. i have the baby bjorn though…maybe i can do it…
eeek!
omg…im gonna try! wish me luck!!!
I DID IT!! I was so proud of myself yesterday! Next week, I’m gonna try a mommy baby yoga class
Thank for this awesome list!!
http://houseofwoyaks.blogspot.com/2011/05/weekly-challenge.html