Traveling with a 7month old

jezebk · September 2013

First of all, I would like to finally come out of the dark and say hi. I have been lurking on this board for over a year and have appreciated all the advice everyone has so kindly given. Until I discovered Candy Crush, this was my go to site at night to visit while I was nursing my son:) Now, I mix it up between this site and beating another level.

Anyway, I am taking my career-altering national board examination next week and am driving to Ames, IA (from NC) with my mom and my 7 month old. I know people have posted about car traveling with children previously but I don't have time to comb through and see what was said. I am just hoping to get some advice before I blindly go into this adventure from people who have car traveled long distances already. How often did you stop? What are the essential toys/entertainment devices necessary? etc etc. Any insight would be much appreciated.

Again thank you ladies for keeping me sane during those first few months of nursing and sleep regressions ....

I've obviously never posted a picture so hopefully this will work...my son Dylan..the light of my life!

jezebk · September 2013

Nobody has any advice:(

Meggiemuggins · September 2013

Sorry, I have no real-life advice because I haven't traveled with DS yet. In November we're going on a six-hour flight and I'll try to help you out with some bits that may be transferable to you.

We're going to:
Bring several changes of clothes on board, for me and DS in case of an explosion
Bring lots of small, quiet toys for him to play with/chew on
Get up frequently and walk him around (in your case, stop the car and walk around)
For food, it depends on what you currently feed your DS. If he's FF, you'll obviously need to bring enough for the journey. If you BF, I've heard that stopping once an hour or so for a snack and a change is handy. If you're doing solids, bring something like an avocado, banana or a baked sweet potato that you can mash up with a fork right then and there to feed him.

That's all I can think of for now, hopefully more advice will come in!

colinsfebmommy · September 2013

I haven't traveled yet : ( If you get some share, I will taking my LO on a plane in Novemeber

pnwlover · September 2013

We have not traveled by car further then 2 hours but we have flown about 6 times.

~ Toys are a must

(new ones and a couple favorites)

~ I always sing in the car or have music playing

~ Pullover for them to play, walk around, change diaper, feed (every 1.5 hours? unless they are doing well then keep going for 2.5?) I usually want to stretch in this time frame anyways

~Have your mom sit in the back with little one and play games but know that when they get tired the entertaining should stop because they need to fall asleep

~Clothes

~Ziplock bags for dirty diapers (if no trash can is near!!)

~Pack a cooler with food for them (if they eat solid foods)

~ I always travel with fever medicine incase the baby gets sick

Hope this helps

jezebk · September 2013

Thanks for the advice - I wasn't really sure how often I should prepare to stop so that definitely helps. I guess the only thing I really need to know is that this actually CAN be done and that I won't go crazy in the process. I'm also hoping to study on the way there but I guess that really depends on how well he does in the car. I'm super nervous about taking him on such a long trip since the longest we have ever gone so far is less than an hour.

jkuhmann · September 2013

pnwlover said:

We have not traveled by car further then 2 hours but we have flown about 6 times.

~ Toys are a must (new ones and a couple favorites)
~ I always sing in the car or have music playing
~ Pullover for them to play, walk around, change diaper, feed (every 1.5 hours? unless they are doing well then keep going for 2.5?) I usually want to stretch in this time frame anyways
~Have your mom sit in the back with little one and play games but know that when they get tired the entertaining should stop because they need to fall asleep
~Clothes
~Ziplock bags for dirty diapers (if no trash can is near!!)
~Pack a cooler with food for them (if they eat solid foods)
~ I always travel with fever medicine incase the baby gets sick

Hope this helps

All of this. We just did a 12-hour trip to Oregon (split over two days, six hours each day). Definitely plan on someone being in the backseat with the baby at least part of the time. Bring a blanket or carseat cover to throw over the carseat during naptimes - the darkness helped mine go to sleep. We usually stopped every 2.5-3 hours to nurse, stretch, move around, get food, etc. We made quick stops if we needed to switch seats or adjust the cover. I dressed LO in long sleeves and pants to reduce the amount of sunlight that hit him, so we made sure that the car was nice and cool. Plan to be flexible is my best advice. Give yourself extra time to get where you are going - we allowed for an extra hour each day and ended up needing an extra hour on top of that. Good luck - both on your test and on the drive!

poppyc8 · September 2013

i traveled by 6 hour car trip with him when 4 months and by 6 hour plane trip when 6 months. both went pretty much the same.

car:

-stop to feed by following his cues. usually every 2 1/2- 3 hours. he slept most of the time since we were on the highway so it was constant comforting motion to him.

-if you have a sleep sheep those are amazing for getting them to settle down on a long car ride.

-2 toys

-bring diapers to allow 1 diaper change every hour you travel. though we only changed his diaper twice in 6 hour trip (once about 10 minutes after each feeding.

-change of clothes in case any poop explosions!

-if your LO is eating food then bring a jar of baby food for a breakfast & lunch

-what worked for us and made him way less fussy was to just go for it and try to drive as long as possible. too many stops would make our LO more fussy.

good luck!

babywisher · September 2013

We are on vacation now. This is our second trip that we have gone on with dd. The first she was only 2 months and we went 4.5 hours. She was great! This one we drove 5 hours the first day and she was pretty good. When she would get fussy we would stop. Only 2 stops. We did have to stop for the night much earlier than we expected though. The next day we drove 6 hours. She did great until the last hour where she was fussy on and off.

Just plan to go with the flow. Follow his cues. We brought a lot of her toys to change our when she got fussy. Be sure the car is cool and bring a light blanket. We do have the pull down shades for the windows that help a lot.

Good luck on the exam and the trip.

alake · September 2013

We did a five day road trip over the summer. I have two bigger girls and three younger ones.
DD1 is seven and a half
DD2 is six
DS (Adopted) is 2 and a half
DD3 is 1
DD4 (Adopted) is six months.
We stopped many times and let them stretch their legs and get out of their car seats. I put DD1 beside DD4 and DD2 in between the other two in the back seat. They were able to help with them. We don't road trip often, but fly lots. We have been to Italy, Ireland and back and forth to Canada from our home in Florida many times.

downtown80 · September 2013

We've taken quite a few road trips with our two kids (2 years and 7 months). Here's what works best for us:

- Leaving closer to bedtime. They both tend to fall asleep and just stay asleep until we stop. Ocassionally, we will stop for a bathroom break, stretch our legs, nurse LO, chane diapers, etc. Kids always wear their PJs, so when we get to our destination we just put them to bed.

- I load a small basket of toys, books, etc. I place in on the seat between their two carseats.

- I always bring my breast pump and one bottle/nipple. I cannot tell you how many times we have gotten stuck in the worst of traffic (with no place to stop - like the GW Bridge in NYC) and that is the EXACT moment that LO decides he wants to eat. I've had to pump in the car while DH drove, then climbed into the backseat to give DS the bottle. Sure I gave some other people a nice show!

- Pack plenty of drinks and food for yourself. If baby is sleeping or not fussy, no need to stop just to eat or drink. Keep driving!

- If staying in a hotel, I always bring our white noise machine. I think it helps drown out all the outside noise from the halls/other rooms.

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