Driving accross the U.S. with 8 month old. YIKES! Insights?

noahchristopher

In about a month we are moving from Florida to Arizona to live near my family.  Our son will be 8.5 months old. 

The biggest thing I'm scared of is really ruining his schedule.  Both with the long drive over several days, and then when we get there and and dealing with the 3 hour time difference.

He naps at home now, and only does short naps when we're in the car.  He STTN and I'm so worried that this move is going to throw him WAY off.

Am I overreacting?  Will we be able to get back on track once we're settled?

We plan to take several days and check into a hotel each night so he can sleep in either a hotel crib or a portable folding crib.  We may even let him have his first nap in the hotel too each day before we hit the road.

Maybe he'll do much better than I think.  Anyone have experience with this?

And to top it off, we will have our two dogs with us too.  Good times!

kalioury

No advice but curious also, as we will be traveling with our nearly 9 month old in 3 weeks from Illinois to the coast of North Carolina... 16 hours! We too plan to stop at a hotel one night, but otherwise we're just going to play it by ear. My son always falls asleep on car rides and he doesn't STTN so I'm not too concerned about that... I'm just concerned about him getting really bored or uncomfortable =/

noahchristopher

ExpectantSteelerFan, you are hilarious! You sound a lot like me!  You should see how I have part of his room and our hallway rigged up with a curtain and blackout shades so when it's bedtime he thinks it dark and nighttime.  Doesn't look that attractive, but it works.

Anyway, I'm glad your son slept well in the hotels, at least.  I'm hoping we can find a one bedroom suite and I'll put him in the bedroom.  I checked out Residence Inn and they're prices aren't too bad.

How was it getting him to sleep in a strange new place like a hotel room?  Did you do his normal bedtime routine?  Is he used to sleeping in different places?

Our son hasn't really slept anywhere besides his crib and he's 7 mos.  We have a routine that we follow every night and he does great with it.  Hoping we can just do the routine and he'll be ok.  We plan to bring his crib sheet and his blankies and maybe his crib bumpers for familiarity.

memali26

We moved from the West Coast to the Midwest when DD1 was 3.5 months old. We drove the whole way... via Texas just to make it longer and torture ourselves :P Really, we decided to break up the trip and visit friends. We drove 3 days to TX, stayed for 2 nights, then drove another 3 days to our new home. We got a hotel room every night, and stopped by dinner time. We have also taken dozens of 3-6 hours road trips with both girls since then.

For sleeping away from home: if you have room in your vehicle, I'd take a PNP or portable crib that he's used to. Even let him sleep in it a few nights at home first so it's familiar. Take any loveys or other normal bedtime things with you, and do his normal routine before putting him down. We've found sticking to the familiar blankets and routine helps our girls sleep better away from home.

In the car: can someone sit in back with your LO? That way you can talk to him, read books, just interacting will help with some of the fussies. I like to keep a "car bag" with snacks, toys, books and pull new things out as needed. Just not too often or you'll run out of tricks. Even if he's not a great car napper, you might find he'll get so bored he'll want to sleep

vnstacie

We just did this, except LO was 6 months. Drove from TX to WY. My parents drove with us and kept the dog in their car, he weighs about 90lbs and is a Rhodesian Ridgeback, so there was just no way for him to be in the car with us and the baby.

She STTN and takes pretty normal naps so I was pretty freaked out about killing the schedule also, but it was fine.

Anyway, We left at about 2pm on a wednesday, which was her nap time, she slept until 5, when we stopped for gas. We fed her let her play for a bit and continued on the way. I think she stayed awake for a little while, and ended up falling back to sleep about 6. We stopped again at about 730 or 8pm for dinner and we fed her again. I sat in the back seat with her when we hit the road again and she fell asleep pretty quickly, it was dark.

We got to the panhandle that evening and about 11pm found a hotel and decided to quit for the night. LO woke up and we played for a little while, I fed her and we co-slept. I had her bassinet, but she was already in the bed, so we just left her there. I didnt want to risk waking her up when I moved her.

The next morning, we woke up about 7am, everyone got ready, fed LO then we went to have breakfast, we were back on the road about 11am. LO was awake for a while that morning, when we stopped for gas, and fed her, we sat outside for a little while and ate lunch. Then headed on the road.

OK! This is getting long. Long Story short, I literally went from front seat to back seat A LOT, including WHILE driving. She would have a meltdown and I would have to crawl to the back to entertain her. So that was fun! It didnt happen the first day of driving, except I did crawl to the dron after she fell asleep.

The second day, I did a lot of crawling from to back, back to front. I know I know it was dangerous for me, but we couldnt stop everytime she cried, and it wasn't that hard to get to the back. or front.

We CD, so I had bought a small bag of disposables, but we ended up just using the CD anyway, it was easier, and I was SO AFRAID of diaper rash, she hasn't had one yet!

Also, we didnt do solids those 2 days, it was hard enough on us because of the drive, I didn't want to add that to the mix.

We got to our new home about 7pm that evening, and settled in for the night. LO STTN that night and napped like a champ the next day. Our schedule was just fine once we got to our new home.

Also, I kept her in a onsie and babylegs (well target brand :P) and that worked pretty well, it was easier and she seemed more comfy, plus it was kind of hot in TX! until we got to the panhandle. She slept in regular pj's.

I am sure I missed something, so If you have more questions, just ask!

noahchristopher

Yes, the time zone thing has me the most worried.

anastasiacarmen, how long ago was your move?  Does your LO have a lot of night wakings now?  Hopefully it will get better soon.  Do you have a pretty good routine each day?