After reading 18 month gap…how to make a grocery trip? in our Babycenter community, the hair on my neck immediately began to stand up and I got a nervous feeling in my stomach. My heart began to pound. Then I felt like I had to pee. Eeek.

Can you tell that grocery shopping with multiple children was a bit traumatic for me? Sort of like Post Traumatic Multiple Baby Stress Disorder.

My first two kids were fifteen months apart, so how I handled that was…I just never went anywhere. Yeh, I said it. Just contemplating getting myself dressed, getting them dressed, feeding them, hoping no one funks up their diaper and having to juggle breastfeeding with a toddler running around…sheesh, it was just too much for this mama to handle. The first few months, I just wussed out and planned all of my shopping when my husband was home from work. Or my mother would babysit and I would rush to the store.

But when baby #3 was born, I obviously had stuff to do. I couldn’t stay home forever in my safe little baby gate bubble. I was a little more experienced. I knew what to do. So I slowly and ever so cautiously ventured out.

With three children under the age of three. I know. Freakin’ nuts.

My main objective was to keep everyone safe and within my sight range, even if this meant piling them all into one basket. I used a variety of combinations, but these were the most common: I would find one of those kid-friendly shopping carts shaped like a car and pile my two toddlers into the front and put my car seat directly in front of me. Of course, it was like hauling a trailer so I would bang into all of the racks and I couldn’t see a thing with the baby’s car seat right in front of me. Another combination consisted of my infant in a sling, toddler in the shopping cart seat and my other toddler sitting inside the basket. To get him to stay seated I would employ all manner of mommy tricks, such as snacks, juice and toys that I had no intention of buying.

However, if I had a sweat mustache, a burning stress knot in my shoulder, and a crazed look on my face, then it was time to pack it up and go home. If everyone was accounted for and I was able to buy a few items, I considered it a successful trip.

I can’t believe I ever made it out of the baby stage alive. That goes for my kids, too.

How do you manage a grocery trip with more than one child?