Long distance travel with infants - lots of questions

finallyreilly

I want to go see my parents in April and I have to decide between flying and driving.  Both have pros and cons.  Driving would be great because we could bring all of their stuff and cost-wise we would save tons of money.  The downside is can we really drive that distance (16 hours total) with 2 infants.  We plan to stop overnight, but that still seems far for them to go (10 hours one day and 6 the next day).  6 hours is the max we have done with them at this point.

1.  Did you drive or fly? 

2.  If you drove, what was the distance?  What was your experience with the infants?  How old were they?  Did you drive at night or during the day?  Did you regret not flying?

3.  If you flew, did you bring a pack and play and if not, where did they sleep at your final destination?

TIA!

lisa&andy

1. We drove 13 hours at Christmas

2. 742 miles. They were almost 6 months, we started driving at midnight, DH went to bed early and I took care of the kids bedtime. We got up, changed diapers and put them directly in car and left since everything was packed and ready to go. When we came back, we left at 4am and drove during the day and I hated it, the kids were irritable and wanting out of their seats. When/if we do that drive again, we will drive at night so they can sleep. No regrets for not flying, we could take whatever we wanted in the car and not worry about weight and suitcases. We were in Texas for almost 2 weeks so we bought diapers and food when we got there. Oh, we did it all one day.

pea-kay

I took all three boys to a work conference when they were 5.5 months old. It was 9 hours away (or would have been if I hadn't had three infants with me) and it was NIGHTMARISH.

But I think mostly because we drove during the day. In retrospect, we should have left at bedtime and drove through the night. That's what I'd recommend. Or fly. Oh god, yes, for the distance you have to go, FLY. FLY FLY FLY!!!!!!!

We stayed at a hotel and they provided three PNPs.

finallyreilly

MrsLee04:

3.  My mom arranges to borrow PNPs from friends of hers that either have children or grandchildren....can you parents do this?

They haven't mentioned it, but I know they know others in their neighborhood with grandchildren so that could be an option.

courtneyaok

1.  Did you drive or fly? We drove

2.  If you drove, what was the distance? I don't know mileage, but about 12 hours.  We were driving from MI to MA and back. I drove one time through the US with my mom (closer to 14 hours). The other times we went through Canada.

What was your experience with the infants?  How old were they?  Did you drive at night or during the day?  When I went with DH, we drove through the night and it went okay.  We basically gave them their last bottles, then put them to bed in their carseats.  I think I had more issues with it than anyone else because I was so worried about them waking up in the car. Generally though, they stayed asleep.  The one time I drove during the day was when I went with my mom, and it was brutal.  Part of the stress, granted, was my mom.  They did great the first day -- we drove from about 4 pm till about 3 pm and they slept most of the way.  The second day was torture though, because all they wanted was out of the car -- lots of crying    If you do it, drive through the night -- it's worth your loss of sleep!

PS - we also flew once, and they did great.  I would have done that every time, if it was affordable.  We only had to check a stroller though -- I wore DS in my Moby, had DD in the stroller, and we were going to my parents house who had a couple of cribs for them.  Sometimes you can rent baby items, rather than lugging them.  Have you looked into that?