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It's not so bad! We don't go on the subway and we eat only at family-friendly restaurants. We walk to a lot of the local parks and playgrounds, and have fun there.

Living in a walkup is brutal with a stroller though! We used to live in a walkup and it was really tough, although after a while it's not so bad.

I'm just TTC, but I do observe a lot of people with kids. Here's what I see:

1) Lots of Baby Bjorns and other carriers in the subway. If there baby/child s small enough, then they are usually worn.

2) Very light strollers. As small and as light as possible on the subway.

3) Using the elevators in the subway. Not all stations have them, but the MTA does show which ones have an elevator.

4) While I don't live in walk up, I know some people choose to live in elevator buildings or smaller buildings where they won't have to use a lot of stairs.

5) Just deal.

I'll ask a few of my Mom friends, but honestly none of them mention feeling overwhelmed when they go out, so I never think to ask them about this.

My baby is only 6 weeks old and I'm already worried about it. And we're in relatively family-friendly Brooklyn, too. So far I have just sort of forced myself to get out, as the only way to learn how to deal is to practice getting out with the baby gear and all. Honestly, the hardest so far has been walking my dog with the stroller. I would use the Ergo, but my daughter is too small to go without the infant insert and it's too hot here for the insert

@artbee: You are right- tons of people manage it, which gives me hope. I guess it's all just a matter of adapting, but lately, for the first time in my life I am dreaming of having a house and a yard. I think I have about 3-4 more years of city life in me before I'm back to the Midwest.

@artbee: yup park slope is young family central. then people start moving out to the suburbs for more space. and it's just insanely expensive to buy here.

We opted to move out of the city and have more space but my friends living in the city seem to do just fine. They live in those big high rises on the UWS so there are elevators. There are lots of things to do within walking distance. But they don't have cars so they don't go very far with their kids. I like having a car so we can go all around to the city, Jersey, Connecticut, Long Island etc on the weekends.

I live in NYC although we are trying to move and this is one of the biggest reasons! It seems so hard, although I must say I have a good friend who has an 8 month old and she says in a lot of ways, moving OUT of the city will be more inconvenient in that it's so easy here to only have to walk a block to pick something up, and EVERYTHING can be delivered. To her, putting a kid in a carseat, driving to the grocery store, dealing with a baby in the shopping buggy, etc. sounds like way more work - I had never thought of it that way until she pointed it out!

So I guess I think now there are pluses and minuses of both worlds. The subway definitely would be a killer once the LO was too big to wear though - that would probably be my breaking point (if we don't manage to move before having a LO).

@artbee: That totally makes sense! My friend is a WAHM and her hubby works for a hedge fund so he has pretty long hours, so I think that's why the convenience factor is so big for her - he isn't home to help as much. I just remember when she mentioned that to me thinking "huh, I never would have thought of that as a plus of being in the city, but it sort of makes sense!"

it's freaking pain and hard. we take the subways often because we don't have a car, so mostly lugging our foldable stroller and using our ergo.

I used to live in Manhattan and I always said I would never have a baby in the city unless I also became a a multi-millionaire so I hire car service at all times and have a live in nanny. I was always in awe of the people who can do it!

@Charcole2011: that's one of the main reasons I would never move out of NYC--I HATE driving, and love being able to walk to anything I need here.