Long car trip at 9mo- Advice?

Re: Long car trip at 9mo- Advice?

• Little Dawson member

  July 2012

  Well, don't know if I'll be much help, but do try and expect to stop a couple of times to take her out shortly, change her etc... with maybe one longer stop for an actual meal where you can take her out to move. I just got back from a 10 hour trip with DS and he does pretty well in a car though. He does eat in his carseat which makes bottles easy as well, and it doesn't take that long, as long as he's tired, for him to fall asleep for a couple hours or so at a time. Good Luck on your trip and hope all goes well

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• mama31 member

  July 2012

  We just took a trip with LO.  Last year it was a 6 hour drive without DD2.  It  took us an extra 30 minutes this time.  We ended up making three stops.  Two for 10 minutes to let her stretch and change diapers.  The third was  a 30 minute one where she ate food. She did well with taking a bottle in the car.  I don't think she would have lasted longer than she did in the car.  In fact she had a melt down and we had to stop when we were 15 minutes away to let her calm down.  She usually does well in the car.  

  If I had to do a 13 hour drive I would either do it at around her bedtime or stop overnight and make an extra day of it.

  

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• svonstetten

  July 2012

  We drove from new jersey to floridia (19 hours) with our 7 month old. The way down we did it over night and he slept through the majority of the trip. ( he sleeps 8 pm-7am) we left 6pm and he lasted until 10 am the next til he got annoyed.  The way up we started at 11am. We stopped about every three and half hours to fed him during the day. Though there were some feedings i sat in the back with him and fed him bottle and solids which he was ok with. We used pandora radio to play toddler music to help calm him when he got irritable. When we did stop just made sure to stretch him out and let him move around. We also made sure to put comfortable clothing on him. We used the iPad to play sesame street for alittle bit. We made sure to give him plenty of toys especially one that strapped to the car seat.  He was wonderful for the most part but I think your def going to need to stop if you don't go over night because at that age, I know my son is not always a fan of being strapped in for long period of time. You could probably get away with doing some feelings in the car but for you LO"s sanity, you might need to stop some.

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• jgoetz1 member

  July 2012

  We just took DD on a 14 hour car trip and she was 9 months old.  We stopped every 2.5-3 hours for her to eat and have a diaper change.  Each stop took about 30 minutes.  It's usually a 12 hour drive, so it wasn't too much longer.  We were actually surprised by how good DD was.  She napped most of the time and did get fussy after being put back in her car seat after her breaks, but stopped pretty quickly.  Good luck!
  

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• ElatedMom2B member

  July 2012

  All depends on the child.  My kid cannot go for car rides any longer than 2 hours.  Though she has no choice - my mom lives 5.5 hours away and I have done the trip with both girls, by myself, a few times.  Each time I say that I am not going to do it again...but I still get suckered into it.  (Would be nice if my mother came up more than once this past year - and that one time was only right after DD#2 was born...whole 'nother issue).  Anyway, I have tried all kinds of toys, videos, music, stopping more often - none of its worked for us.  I usually have to deal with her screaming for the last 2.5 hours of the trip.  A total relief once I hit that Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel...

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• MegSowers member

  July 2012

  Thank you all for your input! I guess I wont  know til I try!!

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