Living Aboard with Baby

[Boatman Al]

Hi

 

Me and my partner are expecting our first baby any day now, and are also awaiting the delivery of our new 60ft floating home. Id really like to make contact with other boating families who have had or are experiencing life aboard with a baby. Anything to be aware of dispite the obvious water and stove risks that always get brought up. Any advice for cruising and locking with a small one? Im quite confident in living aboard but my partner will be new to it so would be good to hear from others in the same boat, pardon the pun.

 

Alex

Edited May 13, 2012 by Boatman Al

[Arthur Brown]

I expect you and babe will cope far better than several local officials/busybodies who may well be concerned for the child's welfare (or say so!) and have no appreciation of anything but a brick home.

[Canal Rat]

I expect you and babe will cope far better than several local officials/busybodies who may well be concerned for the child's welfare (or say so!) and have no appreciation of anything but a brick home.

 

 

How right you are sir. Be on your guard.

 

I'm so looking forward to my Great Grandson arriving this September.

 

I know one of the first things I'll be teaching him when he is able, how to swim!

 

I'm sure he'll love the boat.

 

I wish you luck and may your God smile on your days

[DeanS]

Hi

 

Me and my partner are expecting our first baby any day now, and are also awaiting the delivery of our new 60ft floating home. Id really like to make contact with other boating families who have had or are experiencing life aboard with a baby. Anything to be aware of dispite the obvious water and stove risks that always get brought up. Any advice for cruising and locking with a small one? Im quite confident in living aboard but my partner will be new to it so would be good to hear from others in the same boat, pardon the pun.

 

Alex

 

 

We have a cat. It cant be much different looking after a cat on a boat. You feed it, keep it clean and warm. It sleeps most of the time, when it isnt crying for a snack. Job done Congrats by the way.

[Peter Reed]

Hi

 

Me and my partner are expecting our first baby any day now, and are also awaiting the delivery of our new 60ft floating home. Id really like to make contact with other boating families who have had or are experiencing life aboard with a baby. Anything to be aware of dispite the obvious water and stove risks that always get brought up. Any advice for cruising and locking with a small one? Im quite confident in living aboard but my partner will be new to it so would be good to hear from others in the same boat, pardon the pun.

 

Alex

Congratulations, please do not teach him/her to swim in the cut.

[saltysplash]

The first few months will be fine because they just lie there. Its when they get mobile that you need your eyes and ears everywhere.

 

One of the biggest hazards we have found is standing on and tripping over toys, especially in bare feet. Toys start to take over, rattles, teething rings, teddies to name a few, and then, just when you think your getting back in control, The childrens TV creeps into your life, Peppa Pig, Ben and Holly, In the Night Garden, Team Umizumi, ARGHHHHH.

 

 

I wouldnt change it for the world, mind you we did upgrade to a widebeam

[RLWP]

Wow, that is going to be a hell of a life change for your partner. Learning to live with a new baby is hard, learning to live on a boat can be hard, doing both with no experience of either could be very challenging.

 

Richard

[mrsmelly]

 

 

 

I wouldnt change it for the world, mind you we did upgrade to a widebeam

 

Upgrade ? why do people always now say Upgrade when they just realy mean Change or changed ? Just wondered why a widebeam would be an Upgrade ?

 

Tim

[cereal tiller]

Upgrade ? why do people always now say Upgrade when they just realy mean Change or changed ? Just wondered why a widebeam would be an Upgrade ?

 

Tim

Changing to a FAT boat is not an 'upgrade'.just an admission of defeat?

[Leni]

Living aboard with a baby, no problems at all! Enjoy! Living aboard with a toddler, radical life-style changes required! (But that goes for living with a toddler, full stop! ) Good luck, and - of course - congratulations!

[Grace and Favour]

Upgrade ? why do people always now say Upgrade when they just realy mean Change or changed ? Just wondered why a widebeam would be an Upgrade ?

 

Tim

 

Aww - - c'mon . . .

 

It's only an upgrade when you move up to a widebeam with a diesel heating, pump-out, and bow (& stern) thrusters . . . . . . . .

[trampyjoe]

Hi

 

Me and my partner are expecting our first baby any day now, and are also awaiting the delivery of our new 60ft floating home. Id really like to make contact with other boating families who have had or are experiencing life aboard with a baby. Anything to be aware of dispite the obvious water and stove risks that always get brought up. Any advice for cruising and locking with a small one? Im quite confident in living aboard but my partner will be new to it so would be good to hear from others in the same boat, pardon the pun.

 

Alex

 

No advice from me but enjoy being a father, it is a life changing, amazing thing. Congratulations to you both

[saltysplash]

Upgrade ? why do people always now say Upgrade when they just realy mean Change or changed ? Just wondered why a widebeam would be an Upgrade ?

 

Tim

 

Why upgrade? Because we did, we sold our 20yr old boat and bought a brand new one. No bow thrusters and it has a proper bog.

 

When I sold my first ever car, an old mini van and bought an old Rover 2000TC I considered it an upgrade, ie bigger.

 

If I had sold a 30' narrowboat and bought a 40'one then I would also say upgrade.

 

When I sold my 1934 50'wooden MFV and bought a 60'steel Narrowboat I downgraded.

 

So yes, we upgraded to our widebeam, when we come to sell it for my ideal historic Dutch barge then we will be upgrading again.

 

Moving back on to the land would be downgrading

[Boatman Al]

Thanks for all the congrats everyone. Talking upgrades, i had to upgrade to stay on the water. I was living on a 40ft, but i really didnt want to leave the water, so the other half told me the condition was to get a bigger boat, so i did. nice big 60ft job.

 

She may find the whole experience a bit of a challenge, which is why i feel its on me to make it as comfortable as possible, hence my barrage of posts concerning heating! We do both love the water and peace and quiet of the canals though so hopefully it will be dream come true.

[kiki]

I smile when I read posts like this.....first of all best of luck, you have made a wonderful decision and I am sure your little one will grow up tough, capable and able to swim. When you consider the space inside a canal boat and realise that possible half the worlds population live under plastic sheeting, tin shacks or mud, you realise how lucky you are to have all that space. Not that I suggest trying the plastic sheeting but when you put it in perspective, you have tons of space. Enjoy your new life.

[Ange]

Please let us know when the baby arrives and post a picture of the the littl'un for us to coo over

[mickspangle]

As the father of a 3yo girl who has spent all her life living aboard, there are some challenges to be met, but nothing insurmountable - if you want to make it work you will.

 

Kids learn rules and when no really means no quite early on. I don't think living on a boat is any more dangerous than having a pond or river at the bottom of the garden. Or living in a canal side house. I worry more about my daughter being hit by a Cyclist than anything else tbh.

 

Stair gates and fireguards are useful additions, and having a bath and washing machine have been really helpful too.

 

The main issues I have found are: you need to be registered with a local doctor, who will be able to come and visit if necessary. Health visitors and midwives had no problem with us living aboard. If anything they enjoyed a nice walk down the towpath and a visit somewhere different. From what I remember they asked if we had a bath but that was all. Also, the amount of washing was a surprise. I would give some thought to how you are going to do it all - we got a bigger water tank in the end to keep up with it all. Finally I've found cruising difficult when they're awake - you lose a crew member rather than gain one. I've single handed a lot more in the last 3 years.

 

There are a lot of pluses to raising children this way - miles of towpath to cycle about on, feeding ducks out of the side doors, drying them off after a bath in front of a nice warm fire, etc and you'll probably find a whole load of other boaters raising families around you. It's the best way to plug in to a community I've found.

 

Congratulations and good luck. You've got a lot to look forward to.

 

PS whereabouts are you?

Edited May 14, 2012 by mickspangle

[Arthur Brown]

There are lots of plusses, but you have to ensure that the child's upbringing is foremost. There are doctors health visitors etc to be aware of in the first months then things like nursery school to attend later, then cubs/brownies etc. Work out a plan for schooling, it has to happen.

 

Children are sociable animals and need to interact with others, and properly developed social skills help enormously when making that first move to school.

[mickspangle]

Of course the other thing about parenting is that there's always plenty of people to offer advice, whethe you want it or not...

[Boatman Al]

Thanks alot for all the replies. Its good to know its been done before and other people have had success. We will mainly be based in a marina when not cruising. The marina has all the washing facilities we will need. Luckily the boat i just bought has a bath in too. Just no central heating which i need to sort asap. Has a nice sized stove tho. Which i need to find the right guard for. I'll be in derbyshire, so if there are any other boating families around let us know!!

Edited May 15, 2012 by Boatman Al

[Chertsey]

There are lots of plusses, but you have to ensure that the child's upbringing is foremost. There are doctors health visitors etc to be aware of in the first months then things like nursery school to attend later, then cubs/brownies etc. Work out a plan for schooling, it has to happen.

 

Children are sociable animals and need to interact with others, and properly developed social skills help enormously when making that first move to school.

This all sounds rather textbook. Have you much experience of bringing up small children on a boat?

 

Oh, actually, schooling doesn't have to happen. Education does, but that's not the same thing.

 

I'm wondering why 'they' are obsessed with a bath. When my son's daughter was born their cottage only had a shower. They used it to fill the plastic baby bath. What's the problem?

Edited May 15, 2012 by Chertsey

[deletedaccount]

Of course the other thing about parenting is that there's always plenty of people to offer advice, whethe you want it or not...

 

[Kez]

If it's any comfort, I've lived all my life on a boat and I turned out fine (No snidey comments to that please )

Mum and dad were in the pontoon boat Humphrey when I first arrived (on account of Linnet still being finished off) and the cabin space there is only about 15ft. I slept in a basket on the chair and everything .

 

Mum's told me to add that her advice is to make sure that, if you've got a solid fuel stove, to make sure the fire guard is a solid, heavy piece of equipment that can't be shifted by small people. If necessary, tie it down.

Apparently when I started rolling about and crawling around, I kept getting behind the fire guard...

Edited May 16, 2012 by Kez

[carlt]

There are lots of plusses, but you have to ensure that the child's upbringing is foremost. There are doctors health visitors etc to be aware of in the first months then things like nursery school to attend later, then cubs/brownies etc. Work out a plan for schooling, it has to happen.

 

All these things are accessible to boat dwellers just as easily as house dwellers (although I can't speak for cubs/brownies).

 

My son's health visitor often used to arrive by canoe.

 

We eventually moved ashore because our son was diagnosed as autistic and we wanted him to go to a specific school which didn't have a canal in its catchment area but he had the best first 5 years start he could have hoped for and I firmly believe that our youngest son has missed out, being raised in a house.

[Canal Rat]

Of course the other thing about parenting is that there's always plenty of people to offer advice, whethe you want it or not...

 

Yeh you should always listen to advice but you don't have to act on it As to moving back on dry land, for me, I feel it would be more degrading than downgrading

 

I know how hard it can be living with that sort of a diagnosis, Carl. I work with adults with LD in a Chalanging Behaviour Unit. A job that has a lot of incredible highs but some soul sapping lows as well.

 

Take my hat off to ya