XP: Traveling with newborn

sunkissed7804

Hubby may have an opportunity to travel to Canada this summer for a month.  Our baby is due May 28th (we also have a 6-year-old).

How early is too early to travel with a newborn in your opinions? 

The possible plan would be the following: My daughter and I would drive, separate from my hubby, over a two day period (about 5 hours each day) so that we can take our time in getting there.  We would then stay for two weeks in Canada in an extended stay type hotel with hubby.  He would be working a lot but we would be free to roam and explore. We would then drive back in the same manner.

Thoughts?  We could use some input! 

ldpm

I was on the road to visit family for the Holidays about a month after my daughter was born. My family had always traveled a lot, so it's not major for me. Sounds like you already know travel will go slower have planned for that. I am a light packer, which annoys my husband he wants to pack everything : but that comes from.a childhood of international travel where less makes airports a million times easier. I take what I know I need nothing else. I am sure with this new one in the way we will be traveling again soon after I recover.

Amelia4

After the first few (say 3-4) weeks, the earlier travel, the better.  My son was a champ in the car at 2-3 months old.  We did a 10-hour drive at that age, traveling overnight straight through, and it was much better than I expected. 

lady dixneuf

I just flew from NY to Hawaii and back alone with a 2 month old. It was a lot easier than you would think. The hardest part was the amount of stuff I needed to lug. 

nosoup4u

We went on a really long road trip with DS1 when he was 10 weeks. It was 12 hours total, but we had a few stops in between. I think the longest time in the car was 5-6 hours a day.

He screamed a LOT. But, once he finally fell asleep we were able to drive like hell. I think I'd be worried I have a baby that hated the car, but I would probably be okay trying it around 4-5 weeks?

sucredee

We flew back East when DD was 11 days old for my SD1 HS graduation. She did great, it was pretty easy. It was early June so I wasn't really worried about exposure to illnesses plus she was breast fed. We flew the again at 2 months and then at 4 months we went to Europe.

I think as long as everything went fine with the delivery and neither you nor baby have any problems I would say even two weeks would be fine (for flying anyway. We flew sooner because we didn't have a choice and pedi was ok with that). My friend drove from CO to TX when DD was 4 days old (to go get her 18 y/o who had ran away). I guess for long distances I would say 2 weeks (unless it was an emergency). That gives you and baby time to recover (FWIW, at 11 days I was doing great and had had little bleeding...until I stepped on the plane. I ended up with a post partum hemorrhage and had a D&C at our layover destination. Totally unexpected since I had no problems until then) . I, however, would fly. If they are pretty young you will be stopping very 1.5-2 hours to feed and that can make for a long trip. And flying with an infant is pretty easy. 

sunkissed7804

Thanks everyone!  Now I have to look into passports for the kiddos!