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9 hour car ride, Are we crazy?

daniellecleasbydaniellecleasby
in Multiples
We are planning on driving back home for the holidays.  It is about 9 hours of a drive without babies so I am sure it will be longer with.  We are planning to stop 1/2 way.  My girls will be 4 months then, any advice on traveling with them?  Do you think it would be better to do it over 2 days or just drive through the night?  If we do stop do hotels have cribs or do we need to bring a pack and play?
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Re: 9 hour car ride, Are we crazy?

  • meldoo2002meldoo2002 member
    We did 2 nine hour car rides before they were a year old. Both times we drove through the night and they slept all night.  It definitely helped keep the trip peaceful.  I think some hotels only allow 1 crib per room so you'd have to check.  Would you be bringing a PNP anyway for once you get to your destination?

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  • emschottemschott member
    I'm interested in some tips here too.  We think we will be driving from Wisconsin to Montana this summer.  DH has to be out there for a few weeks to a month to finish up his masters.  Babies should be about 4 months old.  I'm not sure what's preferable a super long car trip out west with babies, or taking care of them on my own for a month.
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  • cadencaden member
    I just did an 11-hr car ride. My twins are 14months. We drove all night and they slept the whole time. The only thing that sucked was the next day we were exhausted. If you do an all-nighter make sure you have someone else to watch your kids in the morning. 9 hours is actually a little trickier if your kids usually sleep longer than that b/c you'll have to transfer to or from a crib. I would recommend starting them out in the cribs and driving later vs arriving earlier. In case your babies decide they're done sleeping at 4am ;) I hate long car rides so I didn't want to split the drive or make it longer/more annoying with awake and inevitably crabby kids.
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  • schoolsoutbrideschoolsoutbride
    When we drove that far when our oldest was a baby, we just left in the middle of the night and drove straight through.  I think we stopped when the sun came up to feed him and change him and it worked out fine.  It was much harder in the daytime.
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  • TinyTeacherTinyTeacher member

    We have done four 18 hour car rides with our twins (2 round trips, 18 hours there and 18 hours back both times).

    The first, they were 3 months old and the second time they were 14 months.  My advice is to break it up into two days. One time we didn't and it was even more miserable for everyone. The babies needed to get out of their car seats and stretch more than we allowed for. Also, BRING PACK N PLAYS! The only time we didn't, we stopped to spend the night and the only hotel that had any availability didn't have cribs... we ended up driving through the night instead (that was the only time we didn't spend the night).  Also, if your babies sleep with a white noise machine, bring it for the car.

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  • dr.kmokdr.kmok
    We did a long trip with our twins when they were about 3.5 months.  What normally was about an 11 hour drive ended up being 17 hours.  On the way there we did it straight through and we left in the morning after their first feeding.  The babies were eating every 3 hours, so we would drive for two hours and then stop to feed them and walk around and such, which took an hour.  They slept a lot and when they would get fussy, I would climb in the backseat and try to entertain them.  On the way back, we had a longer drive and we split it up.  We did 6 hours and then stayed at a hotel.  The babies were still sleeping swaddled and they didn't move around in their sleep yet so we got a room with 2 queen beds and put them in the middle of one of the beds surrounded by pillows.  We did bring our white noise machine with us, as a previous poster suggested, and that helped them sleep at the various places we stayed during our week long trip.  The trip was hard, but it was doable.  Good luck!
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  • nbk2d9qnbk2d9q
    I would suggest flying. No way in hell am I going to do a long drive with them again. LOL!
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  • meagamomma2bemeagamomma2be

    I'd just drive the whole way.  If you stop it's a pain the butt to unload everything you will need for the night.

    tips:

    feed babies bottles in carseats (if you BF, pump in the car for bottles)

    stop to burp, change (gas & restroom break too)

    Make sure you take care of everything when you stop because if not, you will need gas while they are sleeping and as soon as you stop they'll wake up and cry!

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  • mlkwmumlkwmu

    It was definitely easier to travel when my twins were younger.  I'd say up until 6 mths, they sleep alot of the car ride.  After that it wasn't so nice.  We had a 15 hour car ride and decided to split it up (2 days) when my LOs were 12 mths. We also took my niece with us.. so that she could hold one of them while someone went to the bathroom, or went to order some food, or to help unload the car, etc.  this way were were not out numbered.  We also brought the Pack n Plays since were would need them at our final destination.  We put the PNPs up in the hotel... i won't lie to you it was cramped, but still worth it.

    We told ourselves that we would not be going on anymore long car rides in the foreseeable future.  In matter of fact, we're moving and instead of driving, we're taking a 2 hour plane ride.  We don't even want to think about taking another 15 hour car ride with 2 18 mth old :-)

    GL

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