Long distance car trip with a toddler

Athena0809

Has anyone driven a long distance recently? We have to travel back to DH's home state in August and if we fly it's $928 round trip for all three (not including we would have to rent a car for the week!). Or the other option is to drive 12 hours! Someone told me we should start our drive when DS goes to bed so hopefully he would sleep most of the time...any thoughts?

dbadura01

We recently did an 8 hour trip, and it was amazing.  It just depends on your LO and how well they do in the car seat.  LO slept the first hour or two but then was awake the rest of the time.  We only ended up having to stop once to eat, get gas, change diapers, and let him run around a bit.  The rest of the time, if he got cranky, I would go in the backseat with him and we would read books and I brought a portable DVD player, but he only used that for about the last 30 minutes.  Just be willing to make stops often if needed and make sure to stop somewhere they can run around for 15-20 minutes to make getting back in the car more bearable.

CourtneyRenee9109

You know, DS HATES car rides that are longer than 15-20 minutes. We recently moved from WA to CA and drove 10+ hours a day...he did amazing. We bought lots of new toys & books from the dollar store to keep him plenty occupied. Maybe get a nice sing-a-long (well...my DS likes to dance rather than sing) which could do wonders as well. Also, snacks like cereal bars helped keep him happy. Try not to worry too much; I thought the move was definately going to be a disaster but it turned out much better than planned. Try and take short breaks every couple hours and let your LO strech his legs. Good luck!

Raquellyo

In August we drove for 8 hours and just went through the night.  It was a little rough on us so DH and I took shifts, but LO slept the entire way so it was awesome.

musicmama12

We did an 8 hour ride this Christmas and drove through the night. DD slept the whole time. It is a little draining on DH and I but at the same time we were able to make good time and there was no traffic anywhere so that is a plus to doing it that way.  We are moving next month and will be doing that 8 hour drive again but this time during the day so I'm a little worried but we got an attachment thing for my tablet and I downloaded some learning shows for her to watch as well as getting plenty of snacks, books, and toys for the ride as well! My dad will be driving up with me while DH is in the other car in case I have to get in the back with her. I'm prepared to have to stop a few times as well. 

emeraldfairy

We did a long car trip back in December, and will be doing another one in April. The trick for us was to buy new "car toys".  These were things that DS hadn't had exposure to and wasn't bored with playing with already.  We let him pick them out and it was a huge success!  He love things with buttons and sounds, so he picked out the Touch Magic Learning Bus by Leapfrog and the B. Woofer Guitar (both purchased at Target).  These were awesome because he'd switch back and forth between playing them, and was able to keep himself occupied.

https://shop.leapfrog.com/leapfrog/jump/Touch-Magic%22-Learning-Bus/productDetail/Learning-Toys-(3-5-yrs.)/TOUCHMAGIC19203/cat580010

https://justb-byou.com/toys/lively/woofer/

FitBalancedMama

We have driven twice to Orlando from Huntsville, Alabama {about 11 hours}.  We always travel at night, we leave here at about 5pm, stop for dinner at 7pm and then he zonks out about 8-9pm and sleeps the rest of the way.  We did this when he was 12mo and again at 18 mo, we'll do it again when he is 26 mo.  It seems to get easier because he's more adjusted to it now. 

 

LMBecky11

I know a family with 4 kids who starts their travels at night so the kids sleep through a lot of it. Not a bad idea if the parents can get enough rest to be able to drive all night.

I took my daughter to Virginia (from Michigan)--I think it was like 16 hours or something?--but that was last September so she was younger. But it really wasn't that bad. She fussed more on the way home than on the way there. But she also took two naps then regularly anyway so she did sleep a lot. I just had snacks for her and tried to talk to her and stuff while she was awake.