Long car trips with LO

EVM1216

Hi Ladies!  I was a serious lurker before baby, but haven't been here as much since having LO.  DH and I are planning on going back to our home state (about a 7 hour drive from here) for a long weekend.   Our plan is to leave here about 6 or 2hours before LOs usual bedtime in the hope that she'll spend most of the trip asleep.  But, with it being such a long drive, I know that we'll have to feed her at least once, and have a couple diaper change.

What I'd like to know is if anyone has any helpful hints to make a car trip easier, or if there are any must have things that we should be sure to pack that may not be obvious.  We're going to be staying with the ILs, who will have essential things for us when we get there, but I'm still really really anxious about this trip.

JT0908

I just wanted to say good luck!! DH and I took LO on a 4 1/2 trip last weekend. Our LO gets really hot in his car seat so he ended up having a mini meltdown about 3 1/2 hrs into the trip.

We wish we brought more toys with music to keep him distracted. We ended up singing to him for the last part of the trip to calm him down.

sroszc

We took an 8+ hour road trip about 2 weeks ago and C slept almost the entire trip, there and back.  Agree that LO may get hot in the car seat so keep an eye on that.  We had a mini-melt down probably 5 minutes from our destination - poo blow out in the clothes, crying, etc.  But I can't complain.

Honestly, we didn't need anything to keep him occupied.  Your LO is a little older, maybe just some soft toys on the car seat handle to keep him interested?  And if he's sleeping, keep driving!  I started to stress when he hadn't eaten for 5 hours but I wasn't about to stop the car if he was content. 

PGASTL

Wow, I'm jealous of these mamas whose babies slept the whole time!

We took a 7 hour road trip and it was TORTURE. LO only slept 2 15 minute naps the WHOLE TIME. The rest of the time I was trying to actively distract her - which is tough with a 3 month old. She gets bored after 5 minutes of looking at / playing with 1 toy. We brought a basket, but still.

She cried probably 4 hours of the trip and had to be actively soothed with paci, any distraction method possible.

On the way home I took her out of the car seat twice (this was 8.5 hour drive) to feed her and let her look around.

Please don't flame - I am not looking for opinions on this. We did the best we could with our circumstances and I felt it was safer to have hubby be able to focus on driving versus stressed out by a screaming infant for four hours. If we would have stopped every time she was angry we'd still be driving home!

pitterpatter129

(On phone) we are currently in the middle of a long trip! It took us six hours, plus three stops to get here. LO slept except for stops. Now he screams when we put him back in the car though, then goes to sleep. I'm hoping he'll repeat his good performance on the way home. Someone said to pack all the kid's stuff in a laundry basket, and that has been genius! I might never use bags again! I also just tossed an unopened pack of diapers in, I figure you can never have too many. Poor little guy hasn't pooped yet on this trip though, so there's a concern. We start our 8 hr journey again tomorrow. Wish us luck! Good luck on your trip!

klinky

We did a 7 hour trip when LO was 4 weeks old.  I sat in the backseat with her (the dog sat in the front with DH lol) and she slept most of the way or just looked around.  She likes the car so it was no problem.  When we stopped, we'd find a quiet back corner of a parking lot for me to feed and change her while Dh ran it to get us food etc.  It wasn't bad at all.

We timed it so that we left as soon as she finished eating, so that we only had to stop once.

In 5 weeks I have to do the trip myself with her.  We are moving and DH will be in his own car.  That trip makes me nervous because I'll be driving and she will essentially be sitting back there by herself the entire time.

OhSewCrafty

I'm a crazy person and have taken C on several looooong car trips by myself. The trick is to plan, plan, plan. Have more stuff than you think you'll need and build in extra time for stopping. Good luck!