Are you worried about taking baby grocery shopping for the first time? Or maybe you’ve made the trip several times with disastrous results?
Taking baby grocery shopping can be a really stressful experience. Even getting out of the door can be hard enough, so it’s unsurprising many parents end up dreading the trip to the store. However, there are ways you can make shopping with your little one that little bit easier. Here, you’ll discover some essential tips for grocery shopping with baby.
Be Prepared And Choose The Best Time
The key to handling any situation successfully is to be prepared and grocery shopping with a baby is no exception. You can significantly reduce the stress by making sure you have everything you need before you leave the house, including a grocery list.
Knowing what you’re actually going to the store for will speed up your trip and eliminate the chance you’ll forget something. Pack your diaper bag and make sure you have everything you could possibly need, regardless of how long you plan to be at the store.
It’s also a good idea to pay attention to the time you’re planning on going shopping. Many parents recommend taking baby shopping right after they’ve had a feed. That way, there’s a good chance they’ll actually fall asleep, or at the very least they’ll be content and less likely to make a fuss.
Avoid Going Alone (If You Can)
Now, not every parent is going to be able to avoid going grocery shopping alone, but if you can, you should. Whether it’s with your partner, friend or relative, going to the store together will be a much more relaxing experience; particularly when you get to the checkout. One person will be able to watch baby, while the other can be in charge of packing and paying.
Consider Taking Baby’s Car Seat
Often, getting to the grocery store is easy as many babies love to fall asleep in the car. It’s soothing for them, so the trip is typically quite a peaceful one. However, once you arrive and you’ve parked up, you face the dilemma of waking baby to take them into the store and that’s when the problems start.
Your little one is unlikely to be happy about having their nap cut short, so to avoid this, it could be worth taking the car seat into the store with you. If you do this, they may not wake up at all throughout the trip, leaving you plenty of time to shop in peace.
Pay Attention To The Carts
It may sound silly, but when you pick which store to shop at, you might want to pay attention to the carts. You’ll notice different stores have different types of shopping carts. Some are much larger and provide shelves underneath, along with a space to fit a car seat. It’s surprising just how much of a difference the right cart can make to your shopping experience with baby.
So, research which stores have the best baby-friendly shopping carts and resolve to use them for a more relaxing experience.
Park Wisely
The most common way to park with a baby is right at the front of the store. However, did you know it might actually be easier to park right by a shopping cart bay?
The car park at front of the store can often become extremely busy; especially during peak times. However, if you park right by the shopping cart bay, not only will you find it quicker and easier to park, but you’ll also find it much quicker to get your groceries into the car and put the cart back without abandoning baby for a couple of minutes.
Another benefit of parking by a shopping cart bay, is you can load baby into the cart easier on arrival. It can be pretty chaotic trying to rush to get baby loaded into the cart when there’s lots of people trying to squeeze past you. So, choose your parking spot wisely and consider parking near the shopping cart bay.
Take A Good Distraction
While sometimes you’ll be able to get away with doing your shopping while baby is sleeping, it’s not a 100% guarantee. One of the main reasons babies become fussy during grocery shopping is because they get bored. For that reason, it’s worth taking a few distractions.
These could be your baby’s favorite toys or a snack if baby is already weaned. Toys generally tend to be the most popular option, but a pacifier could also help if you use them.
Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help
Do you find your shopping trip usually goes perfectly smoothly until you reach the checkout? If baby tends to become fussy while you’re trying to pack and pay for your groceries, don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Staff are usually happy to lend a hand while you see to baby. They’ll pack for you, leaving you with both hands free to attend to your little one’s needs.
Keep Yourself Relaxed
Out of all of the tips on the list, this one is definitely the hardest to put into practice. When you’ve had a stressful morning, your baby is crying uncontrollably, and everyone is staring at you, it’s hard not to become over-stressed.
However, what you need to remind yourself is babies cry, sometimes a lot! You’re also unlikely to see the people in the store again, or at least not for a long time. So, rather than getting yourself worked up, take a few deep breaths, relax and do what you can. If you forget something, you can always pop back again or ask a friend, spouse or family member to pick up what you forgot. Just be kind to yourself and don’t sweat it.
Consider Ordering Online
Thanks to technology, you don’t necessarily need to leave the house to do your grocery shopping. If you’re really worried about heading out, or you just need a break from the stress, why not order online?
You can decide what you want from the comfort of your own home, then sit back and wait for it to be delivered. Online shopping can be a godsend for parents; especially those with a newborn. So, why go through all of the hassle when you really don’t need to?
And fortunately, Amazon is carrying more groceries online than ever before.
Conclusion
Even if you follow all of the tips above, it doesn’t guarantee a perfectly relaxed and happy shopping experience. However, they can make it a lot less stressful! Do you have any of your own tips other parents may find useful? Do us all a favor and share them below!
If the fright of going to shopping mall with your little one is overwhelming, I think ordering online would be the best option and avoid all the stress of suffering from the ache of going to the mall with your baby or toddler. Some kids can too stressful to go out with, you will complain and talk till your vocal cords start getting sore.
But if you must go to the shopping mall, I believe making use of the first option here which is going with someone to help you out in the shopping with probably controlling the kids while you pick out the commodities you came to purchase.
Yes, ordering online would be the most convenient option, although there will be instances when one needs to be in the grocery if he/she is not sure about the exact item that needs to be bought. One can use a baby carrier or as you’ve mentioned, bring along someone who can help 🙂
Going shopping with the baby especially when it has to do with the grocery stores ain’t something any parent should panic about after taking out time to read the tips on how to make that an awesome experience for both the parents and the baby after they are done buying the things they need at the store. Taking a toy that can be a source of distraction to the baby while we shop is really necessary as well.
Yes, thank you very much for mentioning the tip on bringing along toys to keep the baby or toddler occupied. That is a good idea indeed!
As parents, we are very much able to multi-task and are often flexible and creative so most are able to handle the stress of grocery shopping with toddlers.
Yea, it is not always easy and it hurts my heart when I shop and see some mothers not able to take care of their babies resulting in the kid crying at the shopping mall while they move around looking for items to pick at the store. I always wish there is a way they can come across this list of ways to keep the toddler happy and reduce putting the kids under such condition.
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Indeed, any parent needs all the helpful tips they can get to avoid the hassles of grocery shopping. And I do think toddlers sometimes cry because they find grocery shopping boring so a parent should do his/her best to keep the shopping as short as possible. A list would come in very handy.
Having your little one with you on grocery is something really challenging. So before going to grocery if you are alone, you must prepare what will your little one will be needing like a toy to play, milk to drink or something that would make his attention not distrupt your shopping. But it could be much relief if you’ll be with someone it will name life a way great comfortable.
That’s correct. A parent going out with a baby should bring all the essentials like milk, diapers, etc. This ensures a less stressful shopping experience for both parent and baby.
I have had a funny experience with going shopping with a little one, at first I thought it was all fun but then it turned into a very should I say chaotic result, just me and my one year and three months niece. We got there and she just kept on dragging stuffs, not disputing spoiling stuffs too, I ended up paying for bills I didn’t plan; I was so frustrated that day. Anytime I think of taking kids for grocery shopping, my head rings spoiler alert lol. I won’t even think of it at all next time, neither will I accompany any body with a kid so to avoid such scenarios.
haha… I could just imagine how horrified you were to find out how much unnecessary items you need to pay! But it doesn’t have to be a disaster all the time. When you get your own child/baby, you just need to make a plan before going out to get groceries.
Until now we have never taken our baby for grocery shopping or any kind of shopping. Usually, I go shopping and the wife attends the baby in the home, and when my wife goes shopping, I will be doing babysitting. When we both have to go shopping, we leave the baby to our mothers. However, this arrangement may not work for too long and we will have to implement the tips you have mentioned here.
That is actually a good strategy – that one of you goes out to do the grocery shopping while the other stays home to care for the baby. Thank you for sharing your experience 🙂
Leaving the baby with his/her grandparents is also a good option but as you’ve said, this may not work in the long run so you need to think of other ways.
Shopping with your baby can be fun.
But it’s best done when they’re a bit older and are less sensitive to their surroundings. Everything is new to them. So when they’re more accustomed to what they see in front of them, they’ll have an easier time adopting to their environment.
We usually take ours only when there’s more than one of us to watch over it. It’s not a good idea to go shopping alone with your baby. It’s best that someone can devote their attention fully on him/her.
Oh yes, I agree. I never took my kids grocery shopping when they were still babies. I think I took them to the grocery with me when they were around 2 years old, safe to have them sit on a shopping cart under a close watch.
It could be fun at times. But when they’re older and are already able to pick what they want, I seldom took them because they tend to pick a lot of items that are not on my list so to save, I don’t take them with me, haha.