Bring a 6-month-old to San Francisco?
 

Hello all,
My husband will be in the city for a week at the end of june. He'll be there for a conference and won't have much time, if any, to sightsee with me. I've been to San Francisco before with a friend and I saw A LOT. I want to take advantage of the fact that my husband's company is paying for his hotel for a week and go with. Our baby will be 6 months old at that time and I'm debating bringing him with or simply going for a shorter period of time and leave him at home. Like I said, my husband won't be able to help with the baby on sightseeing trips, but my niece, who is 16 and very capable, could come with. I'm tring to think back to my previous trip. My friend and I stayed in the Marina district and took the bus everywhere. For this trip we'll be staying in Union Square. Is it just asking for a lot of stress and headache to bring the baby with? Will it be hard to take the bus with him? I'm having a hard time even picturing it. Have others done something similar? Would you recommend it?

Where are you coming from? Time zones mean a lot. For instance, from here in Michigan traveling to San Fran, my adorable son who always wakes up at 7:30 am on the nose, would now be up at 4:30 am and not look so adorable.

OOOH...Good point. We're coming from the same time zone...Minnesota. I never thought of that. I just hate to leave him at home!

We lived in the Bay Area when our daughter was born and from age 6-12 months or so we took lots of day and overnight trips with her...it's just about the perfect age for travelling with them (way better than the toddler years!). One advantage is how accessible SF is to those in wheelchairs, etc. That said, a baby backpack might be easier to maneuver than a stroller, assuming you have one and you don't feel like your child is too big to carry that way for long.

Since someone mentioned the time zone issue...when she was about 9 mos. old we came back to the Midwest for a visit--2 or 3 weeks and she NEVER switched time zones! She was up until 11:00 or 11:30PM every night the entire trip

"One advantage is how accessible SF is to those in wheelchairs, etc."

Pardon me for having a slightly different opinion. Yes, for wheelchairs the buses are accessible. As for "etc..." it's not exactly so. The stroller must be collapsible, or not every driver will allow you on board. Of course, if somebody will help you with it while you carry the baby on, it's better.

Keep in mind: the buses do not have a separate space for a stroller, so if your baby is asleep, any drunk or mental can trip over it. Not mentioning angry glances of other passengers.

Your niece is a teenager. Picture this: the baby is cranky, you must get back to your hotel to feed/cradle it to sleep, but the teen has no desire to go back, and wants to explore the city on her own.

You are a mother of a baby. You deserve a break. If only there is a slight possibility to leave the baby at home and join your husband on the trip, go for it, even if it means your vacation will be shorter.

If the only advantage is a paid for hotel room, and you will have to pay for your niece's and baby's airfare as well as your own, and if you will have a niece and baby in one hotel room with you and your husband, then I agree with Dayenu, that you might really appreciate a few days to yourselves.

June will be crowded with tourists around Union Square, and this might be stressful from a stroller's eye view.

Still, there are many wonderful places you can go with a baby and teenager, like walking along the bay between the Ferry Building and the baseball stadium, or exploring the beautiful Golden Gate Park. You could have a wonderful time going there every day, and experiencing the boats on Stowe Lake, the Children's Carousel, the Arboretum, the museums and Japanese Tea Garden, the windmills and buffalo, and much more.

So many neighborhoods are fun to stroll around and stop for coffee and watch people. At Union Square you'll be close to Yerba Buena Garden, which has a large park and the Museum of Modern Art.

The buses seem crowded to me, but there is a new bus (more expensive) that goes between Union Square and Golden Gate Park called the Culture Bus. http://www.sfculturebus.org/

Either way. One way seems hectic, but is creating great family memories, the other seems a lot more relaxing and romantic.

I would leave the baby at home and go on a shorter trip or not go at all.

While plenty of people have kids in San Francisco, it isn't your home town and the ins and outs of SF are different.

The water is different, the temps are different, climate is different, etc. Also, you and your husband and the baby will be in a hotel room and your schedule will be at the mercy of the baby's schedule.

You should leave the baby at home and enjoy some precious time with your husband, plus the chance to sleep in a little :)

Even if you brought your niece, it would not be appropriate for a 16 year old teenage girl to be in the same room with your husband - no privacy for her or you. You would probably have to get her a room too.

Don't feel guilty about leaving your baby.

MY

Vacations with children are not really vacations. They are family trips. I would urge you to find a nice relative to take care of the infant (or a professional babysitting service). When our children were too small to remember trips, we did that several times. Then, as they got older, we included them, but always remembered that we could not simply plan an adult trip but had to consider their needs and desires.

Infants are best when on a schedule. If you disrupt that schedule, you pay for it.

You are, of course, free to ignore my advice, but children change everything.