Who has done a long road trip?!??!

slyrose123 · October 2012

We have a family reunion to go to in 3 weeks! Sooo DS will be close to 8 months old (a week away from it actually) and the car trip is about 6-9 hours (so says my husband..don't know for sure) I just know that I consider that; either or, it is a long time! What did you do? Any specific toys? How did your LO fare? Just ADVICE, STORIES, TIPS, ANYTHING welcome

!!! TIA

Zimger · October 2012

We did. We visited home when DS was three months old. It is typically an eight hour trip. DS really wasn't interested in toys at this point. His dad rode in the back with him and kept him as occupied as possible. We made frequent stops to get out, eat, change, ect. It became and almost 10-11 hour trip. But we made it!

slyrose123 · October 2012

Was your LO sleeping through the night at that time? I am worried he is going to sleep a lot during the car ride and then have a rough night that night! Know what I mean?

[Deleted User] · October 2012

We took a 6 hr trip when DS was 4 months, which became an 8 hr trip. He slept a lot but also played with his toys a lot, and one of us sat in back with him. He did fine until that last hour, when he was just over it. He slept fine that night, too. GL!

Wipz · October 2012

Have you thought about travelling overnight.. that way you and hubby could take turns driving/napping and LO will probably sleep through most of the trip. When I was a kid that is what my parents did
..and as we got older we'd still do most of our travelling at night .. back in the old days before set belts were law we'd throw quilts and pillos in the footwell and sleep in the back seats of the car... Cool

yes I am THAT old lol

Sparks in training! · October 2012

Our LO has already done done a few trips now all over ten hours. He did sleep most of time and it did not mess up his night sleeping. I used our ipad with fun toys and he loved that. Another thing was books and really just talking to him was generally enough. I did have bottels available for eating. I stopped and actually got him out of the car seat every few hours. Which was perfect nursing time and releif for his little tush.

I did find that driving at night worked best for me. I drove 5 hours one night from 5-10ish and he slept the whole time.

Zimger · October 2012

slyrose123:
Was your LO sleeping through the night at that time? I am worried he is going to sleep a lot during the car ride and then have a rough night that night! Know what I mean?

He was STTN but he slept fine that night. He did sleep a bit longer in the car but ut didn't seem to change his schedule.

krispy83 · October 2012

Wipz:
Have you thought about travelling overnight.. that way you and hubby could take turns driving/napping and LO will probably sleep through most of the trip.

This would be my suggestion as well. We haven't done a long road trip (more than 2 hours) but if we did, we would probably travel overnight. The 2 hour ones that we've done, we try to leave right at naptime and that way DS can sleep in the car without it messing his routine up.

countrygrl5533 · October 2012

KrsCrp83:
Wipz:
Have you thought about travelling overnight.. that way you and hubby could take turns driving/napping and LO will probably sleep through most of the trip.
This would be my suggestion as well. We haven't done a long road trip (more than 2 hours) but if we did, we would probably travel overnight. The 2 hour ones that we've done, we try to leave right at naptime and that way DS can sleep in the car without it messing his routine up.

Vote for driving at night here too.

We regularly did 3 hour trips all summer with 1 5 hr. Not as long as you will be taking. She did fine. That was August so almost 5 months at the time. We just stopped when she needed to eat and took a stretch/out of the car break while there. So it probably ended up closer to 6 hours. She just played by herself with some toys and took naps.

kel716 · October 2012

We did. We drove 11+ hours to the beach this summer. DS was almost 4 and DD was almost 3 months. We try to drive at night as much as possible too.

We left at 9, went 5 hours and stopped in a hotel. We got up the next day and finished the trip.

When DS was 11 months old, we made the same trip. It was much easier to drive at night with him... and we were going through Jellico, TN, so we just stopped at the rest stop to sleep for a few hours. My best advice is to sit in the backseat with them when it's not sleeping time.

christinaa722 · October 2012

We just drove our 6 month old little man from Ohio to Florida. It's about a 16 hour ride that we broke up in two days. It was extremely stressful to prepare for. We stopped whenever we needed which was usually when LO was in the midst of a total meltdown. So an 8 hour normal drive was about 10, but to be honest he did so much better than we expected. We had lots of little toys, rattles, white noise app for his iPod, etc. We did feed him while he was in his car seat which really helped, but we would have never been able to if he didn't burp himself. I think it's total doable to do road trips with a baby, but for me I definitely wouldn't do such a long drive again if we didn't have to. Patience will be your everything!! Good luck on your trip!

Berry271 · October 2012

Just last week we took a vacation to a destination 5 1/2 hours away. We considered going overnight, but thought we would then both be trashed, and not able to make up sleep with an awake baby. I nursed an hour or so before we left at 8 or 8:30 in the morning, not sure anymore. Stopped once for me to nurse while we got gas. Did one bottle in the car, and then stopped for a late lunch (at a sit down place) where I fed the baby some food I had packed. It went well. Better than we had anticipated. We arrived around 3:30 in the afternoon. I bought a toy bar before we left so that baby would have something new to play with. He enjoyed it but probably would have been okay without it too. Actually the car ride was probably on of the easier parts of the trip. He slept a lot in the car, and was fussy a few times, but not much. He did not sleep well at our destination, but I don't think that was because he slept too much in the car, as he didn't sleep well all week.

psychgirl33 · October 2012

We've done a couple 5-6 hour trips to Chicago. The first was at 1 month. We drove to Chicago and then flew to CA the same day (14 hours of travel) when she was 2 months old. We drove 20 hours to Telluride when she was 4 months old. We do frequent trips that are more like 2-3 hours. So far she's done really well. Sometimes I sit in back for a while and play with her, but generally she likes to look out the window or sleep. As she's getting older I'm sure she'll need more entertainment.

We have a 19 hour road trip coming up for Christmas. And we'll do another trip to Chicago in between now and then. No real advice per se, but good luck!

BitsKD13 · October 2012

We did our usual 750 miles/way trip this summer when L was four months old. We broke the driving into two days both of which he slept a lot in the car. He didn't go to sleep well those nights but once he was out he'd pretty much be done for the night. However, he wasn't really going to sleep easily at that age either so it could have been part of the problem.

During the trip one of us sat in back with him to give him bottles and tend to him in general. He didn't play with his toys much but did chew on Sophie a bit. Also the later in the day and the second day of the drive he was a bit crankier than normal but I blame that on the long stretches in his seat. Once we were off the road he seemed to be fine and was happily playing like always.

heathmarie43 · October 2012

We went on vacation to Tennessee at the end of July (day after LO turned 4 months) and it ended up being about a 12 hour ride with stops for feeding. He did wonderful and only fussed maybe the last half hour. We left in the middle of the night so he slept for a good portion and then we had a few small rattles and stuff for him to play with.

Then about a month ago we took a 4 hour trip to see DH's sister and their new baby. Our LO was great on the way down, but did fuss on the way back.

I suggest either leaving in the middle of the night when your son would normally be sleeping anyways, or leave right after a feeding so hopefully he'll fall asleep for a decent nap. If he's like my son, the car ride will knock him out anyways. Take a few small toys to occupy him for when he wakes up. Even try putting up a mirror for him to look at and you to see him with if you don't already use one. If someone can sit in the back with him that may help occupy him as well!

Good luck!!

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