Car Trip with a 1 year old

TheGriffs · June 2012

Have you ever traveled with a 1 year old by yourself? I am thinking about visiting a friend in Mississippi, but it is 500 miles from me. We would be driving. Am I crazy?

deo · June 2012

I just did a 6 hour car trip with just my DS last week. We were moving to a new city so I had to drive my car while DH drove his truck. It wasn't so bad. He only slept for an hour during the trip. We stopped twice along the way, once at a park for him to run around for a few minutes and once to eat dinner. DS ate a lot of snacks the whole way. I just put a bunch of toys/books/snacks on the passenger seat and whenever DS would start getting bored I would hand him back a new toy.

He actually surprised me with how well he did in the car. He was only cranky for the last 30minutes and I think it was because it was getting close to bedtime.

toadstool · June 2012

We just did a 5 hour trip with our one year old. It was DH and I. I won't lie, it sucked. She cried about half the time in the car, both ways. After about 30 min of crying and us trying to verbally comfort her, I moved to the back with her to check on her. She continued to cry, even with me there.

On the way there, we tried to leave at bedtime and hoped she would sleep the whole way. On the way back, we left earlier to see if she would do better during her wake time. Neither gave us better results.

Does your child like the carseat? Fall asleep in it often? Our child is a no to both, so I guess it was to be expected.

memali26 · June 2012

We regularly do 3-6 hour road trips with our girls. I've done the 6 hours (just over 300 miles) with DD1 by myself twice and 6 hours with both girls by myself once. As long as we're prepared with snacks/toys/books and stop when we need to the trips usually go pretty smoothly. I expect a meltdown or two, especially from DD1 who doesn't sleep well in the car anymore, but they usually come right about time to stop for lunch or dinner anyway.

500 miles might be a little out of my comfort zone, but if I knew there were plenty of safe, easy spots to stop along the way I might try it.

lbaby08 · June 2012

I used to regularly drive from Atlanta to Savannah to see my parents when DD was between 1 year and 18 months. Not quite the same since it is only about 250 miles. I never had any problems but DD loved the car and we normally scheduled it around her nap so she would sleep at least half of the time. GL!

lollitots · June 2012

I've taken them all on car trips by myself. We went to San Francisco from LA when DDs were 11 months, 3 yo and 4yo. Last year we went to Galveston Texas from here, which was a three day trip with just me and the girls (DH flew out and drove home with us). The girls were 3, 5 and 6 for that trip, so not babies. We also used to drive to my parents house which is four hours away every few months from the time they were born. They usually suprise me by how well they do. I admit, I did use snacks alot when they were babies and kept a pile of new toys to whip out. Sometimes they would get cranky and we would stop to run around a while. I liked restaurants with play areas to wear them out. It is totally do able.

MyaMaternity · June 2012

You aren't crazy. It can be done. I have traveled alot with kids. Just have activities, snacks and plant for tons of stops. Expect the trip to take a little longer than normal.

Ktande22 · June 2012

We traveled with DD mind you it was 9 mos not a year. close to 800 miles. Given it wasnt alone. The way we chose to tackle it was mostly overnight. We decided to just do it during her sleeping hours. It was crazy but we made it. Obv. we shared driving although DH did most of the trip I only did the last 2 hrs. I think timing can be a big part of it. Not doing it while your 1 yr old is amped and wanting to run around. So maybe start during or just before an afternoon nap and plan on arriving where you're going late night so 1 yr old gets some night sleep started? That will cut down on how much fussing happens.. Anyways thats worked for us in the past.

TheGriffs · June 2012

Thank you for all of the replies, I might just have to bite the bullet. It would be from the Houston area to Mississippi, so there are plenty of places to stop. I don't think I could do it at night because I am uncomfortable doing that by myself. She does OK in the car, I can't say she loves it, but she doesn't hate it. Thanks!

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