I would want the car. We had a baby that would not stop crying for the first month, but always fell asleep in the car. Plus, I think getting out of the house right now is crucial. Simply driving down the GW Pkway to Mt Vernon and looking at the water was a great stress reliever as a new parent. And with Covid, I would not want to be using Uber or Metro with a newborn. Way too many things to wipe down and carry.

Pre-COVID, being car-free with one baby was a breeze. But COVID with a toddler finally broke us 9 months in. Now with prenatal appointments that are not walkable, I feel like the car is more needed to keep my pregnancy-compromised immune system safe than any child-related errands.

You can easily do your newborn appointments without buying a car. Just budget for rental cars or zip car to come home from the hospital and to go to the pediatrician. It’s going to be a major budget expense for the first month and higher than your normal transportation costs, but that’s COVID. Depending on how you are getting to prenatal appointments, you may just need to plan for weekly zip cars for your last month of pregnancy and first month of parenthood. Still cheaper than owning a car. An infant seat with the European belt pathway is very easy to install.

Longer term, plan for daycare in your neighborhood. We commuted on the metro to a daycare downtown pre-COVID and had to switch to a neighborhood center when we finally returned to daycare. Even with a car now, we prefer to walk to anything within a mile+ rather than get in the car.

Just wait and see like another pp said. Securing a bucket car seat into a rental without a base is a breeze with a tiny bit of practice. I'd say that if you're in walking distance to most daily things there's nothing about having a baby that will make you suddenly want to drive more. We were totally fine car free with our first kid and had inherited a car before our second kid. Made zero difference, really, in terms of daily quality of life. (Kids are now 4 and 1.5).

I had no issues at all, but COVID changes things.

OP, if you don't use it already, I highly recommend Free2Move as a car-sharing service. Unlike zipcar, you can drop off the car anywhere.

I agree with others that pre-covid I would have said no problem. I found it easier to walk with baby in a carrier than put baby in the car and avoided it, even in the suburbs. That being said with covid ugh, it just seems a little more difficult. But if you can keep things close to your house you'd probably be fine! especially for newborn times. Now, with a toddler and covid we really like getting out of the house to nature as much as possible so enjoy having our car but you could also do car2go. It kind of is a question of whether you want the easy convenience. Then again getting a car in the city has inconveniences so it's weighing which conveniences are more important to you.

Anonymous wrote:Where do you live? We lived in Dupont until our kids were 6 & 8 and never had a car. The only pain was the time we needed to get to Children’s hospital once or twice and had to uber family. Covid should be a non issue with this soon enough. We loved being car free. We saved a ton, learned how to get everywhere without fighting for parking. Zip car to take day trips.

Well, we lived in Bethesda and had a car, and then needed to get to children’s for a scheduled surgery early in the morning, and our street was still snowed in with no way to get out. We had to walk to a main road that was cleared of snow and find an Uber there. So, this could happen even if you do have a car.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm on my 3rd kid and all have HATED the car for the 1st 6mo. The only time they were in it was for pediatrician appointments and if I'd had a pediatrician I could easily walk to I'd have done that instead in a minute.

I would not want to take public transportation to/from pediatrician. The appointments can often lead to missed naps and upset babies. Especially as a frazzled FTM who was still getting the hang of packing a diaper bag without forgetting everything, I would not want a 30min bus wait / ride home with an exhausted / screaming infant.

You can pre pack the diaper bag so it's always ready. Even as a ftm I didn't find that hard? Maybe get duplicates of things you need in the bag and replace any consumables when you get back home. Maybe that was the difference? Not really sure what's hard about that (and not trying to be a jerk, just really don't see it.)

Also, even my really bad sleeper could fall asleep in his carrier on a bus ride. Being held plus having mommy right there to help rock him kept him on schedule not off. At one point I did bring a portable white noise machine (not related to being careless, though, just traveling outside with him precovid) and played it next to him as I sat, lol. You can get used to napping elsewhere it if you have to or want to not be housebound.

I think pre-packing the diaper bag is obvious too but there's still a lot to think about and grab in the newborn phase and especially the first month before you get efficient at knowing what you need, and I assume that was the PP's point. And you have like 3-4 doctor's appointments in that month (few days old, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month), and you're sleep deprived and drained and figuring it all out. So I agree that that if pediatrician's office is not in walking distance, public transit would be a huge headache that first month. It all gets considerably easier after that, but then you're down to far less frequent appointments so dealing with public transit to get to the doctor's office 1x every few months is no biggie.

Anonymous wrote:I'm on my 3rd kid and all have HATED the car for the 1st 6mo. The only time they were in it was for pediatrician appointments and if I'd had a pediatrician I could easily walk to I'd have done that instead in a minute.

I would not want to take public transportation to/from pediatrician. The appointments can often lead to missed naps and upset babies. Especially as a frazzled FTM who was still getting the hang of packing a diaper bag without forgetting everything, I would not want a 30min bus wait / ride home with an exhausted / screaming infant.

You can pre pack the diaper bag so it's always ready. Even as a ftm I didn't find that hard? Maybe get duplicates of things you need in the bag and replace any consumables when you get back home. Maybe that was the difference? Not really sure what's hard about that (and not trying to be a jerk, just really don't see it.)

Also, even my really bad sleeper could fall asleep in his carrier on a bus ride. Being held plus having mommy right there to help rock him kept him on schedule not off. At one point I did bring a portable white noise machine (not related to being careless, though, just traveling outside with him precovid) and played it next to him as I sat, lol. You can get used to napping elsewhere it if you have to or want to not be housebound.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't have one for my first, but do now for my second (different city/circumstances). I strongly preferred not dealing with a car. It's just easier to put the kid in a carrier and walk out the door---no need to buckle in and out or deal with a crying baby that you can't reach in the backseat. If your usual routine is within walking distance, you don't need a car.

Re the ped, I actually don't think you need to be close to it. There really aren't that many appointments in the first year or thereafter. Covid does make things harder, but we're still only talking about maybe 7 trips in the first year. And, presumably cases will be going down by the time your baby is here. Personally, I would punt the decision until April and see how you feel then. It's not too long from now, but we may have a little more clarity on the year ahead re Covid vaccinations.

The 7 trips thing is only if you are extremely lucky. None of my kids had any inner ear drainage apparently and all had recurrent ear infections. I would have LOVED to not see my pediatrician as much as I ended up doing.

Its not only if you're "extremely" lucky (i'm sorry you weren't lucky). Pediatricians answers when you call is almost always they don't need to come in - not for low grade fevers or colds or minor rashes etc. Of my kids, I think we only needed to actually go in once for a sick visit the first year. The well visits still feel like a ton initially but that phase passes quickly

Same here, we've only had one extra visit for each kid. Other questions and issues have been handled by email or video visit (now with Covid).

I think it’s doable but I’d definitely miss my car. Big grocery hauls (Trader Joe’s doesn’t deliver!), IKEA and other shopping outings, getting out of the city for some nature and exploration, meeting up with friends in the ‘burbs... And in these times I very much prefer being able to change my kiddo in the car vs using a public restroom changing table.