Kara Guppy & baby Sebby
BritMums Family Days Out Round-up Editor and blogger at Chelseamamma Kara Guppy offers an experienced perspective on attending a blogging conference with a baby. Over to Kara to explain?
?Back in 2014 I attended my very first BritMums Live accompanied by my son Sebastian.
I made the decision to bring him along as I was still breastfeeding and I had never spent any time away from him and was worried that he would spend the whole day crying. It was a decision I regret as in my heart of hearts I know my husband would have coped and if I am honest, having him there really affected my enjoyment of the day.
A blogging conference to me is a chance to network with other bloggers, meet exciting brands and learn some new skills but having a baby in tow made this almost impossible.
First of all, it was crowded ? especially during break-out sessions, and even I felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of faces in front of me. I saw so many of my blogging friends who all knew Sebby from my blog, however, he didn?t know them and was completely thrown by a sea of well-meaning faces peering into his buggy or coming to say ?Hello?.
Being in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by strangers turned my chilled-out boy into a grumpy, clingy and moaning mess. I attempted one workshop and gave up and left because he kept making noises and I was worried that I would upset the speaker and disturb all those who were trying to concentrate.
I spent most of my day at BritMums Live hiding out with the Heinz Baby Food team who Sebby had taken a real shine to, probably as they kept giving him yummy treats and had a play area that he pretty much had to himself, or wheeling him round the venue to try to persuade him to go to sleep which he refused to do as there was so much going on.
I didn?t get to go to the wine sampling, I missed out on interesting talks that I really wanted to attend and I didn?t get to relax, chat and be inspired as I would normally have done.
Blog Conferences are more fun if you do them without small people in tow ? FACT!
Do yourself a favour, get him indoors to look after the baby, get glammed up and be yourself for the day, without worrying about having baby sick in your hair or mushed biscuit on your trousers, because you and your blog are worth it!!?
If you haven?t yet got your ticket to #BML16 ? the biggest blogging event of the year, click below to secure your place!
About Kara Guppy
Kara is a busy mother of 6 children aged between 2 and 22 and lives in Dorset. The family love to be outside and live by the motto „Collect Moments, Not Things“. We can often be found leaping in muddy puddles, climbing trees, collecting seashells or hurling ourselves off cliffs down ziplines, and all for fun of course. Kara loves to blog about her and the family’s adventures and can be found at Chelseamamma.co.uk, arewenearlythereyet.eu and sharing videos of her days out on her YouTube channel. She can also be found on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, G+, Vine and Pinterest.