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Advice needed for traveling with my 4 month old!

KaitlindESteelKaitlindESteel member
in Babies: 3 - 6 Months
Hi Mamma's!

I need some advice for traveling with my 4 month old by way if a 10 hour road trip in a couple weeks! Are there any items or tips that make traveling with LO easier? I need to rest my nerves! Thank u all!
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Re: Advice needed for traveling with my 4 month old!

  • taraleannetaraleanne member
    edited November 2013
    Hi, I did a 10 day road trip with my 3 month old (now he's almost 5 months) and we travelled about 1500 KM total.  Are you doing the 10 hours in one day??  Personally I think that's too much car seat time for a 3 month old and you could end up with a fussy pissed off baby. If you can, break that up over 2 days for a happier baby. We never travelled more than 4-5 hours per day (broken up usually over 2 spurts) on our road trip. Also doing the bulk of the travelling in the morning/early afternoon is best as babies can be notoriously fussy in the evening- but perhaps your baby is different. In any case, time it so the travel is during his or her least fussy period.

    Are you breast or bottle feeding? This will make a difference on what you plan to bring.

    Bring a cooler full of drinks and snacks for you and your travelling companion because you may not want to stop if your baby is peacefully napping....

    Make sure you have room to sit beside him or her while the other one drives in case you need to entertain or hold a pacifer or just talk, read to or stroke his or her head to help get to sleep.

    Have some easy toys to grasp attached to the car seat. 

    A garbage bag for diaper changes roadside. Some sort of portable change pad too. Your fully stocked diaper bag should always be within reach. A couple extra pairs of clothes in case of a blow out! 

    Hand sanitizer and wipes to clean up any blow-outs on the car seat or spit-ups etc...

    And finally, a lot of patience and just be prepared to stop frequently and follow his or her cues. We tried to time it so that naps were while we were in the car and his wakeful periods during our own food/bathroom breaks. As I said before, it will probably be easier if you did it over 2 days, and honestly, nicer to the baby, I wouldn't want to be stuck in a car seat for the majority of my day either. Babies at that age need to stretch and move about alot. 


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  • KaitlindESteelKaitlindESteel member
    Tara you are awesome! Thank you for that advice! We were planning on trying to do it in one day, but I totally agree with breaking it up into two days!

    I'm ebf-ing my LO! He's never even had a bottle (a little extreme I know lol). But that will definitely make things easier I suspect!

    I'm traveling in a smaller car.. A 200. I am nervous about the room bc it will be VERY limited, and I was thinking about renting a van or SUV for the ride!

    I can't say thanks enough. That was really helpful!
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  • taraleannetaraleanne member
    Oh you are welcome!!   We have travelled a lot by car with our baby so I am glad these tips helped!

    I also BF but will give bottles when I'm not around. I EBF the whole trip too so Yes, this makes it alot easier on the pack list!  Do you have a nursing pillow? That will help a ton in the car.

    Have a great time!
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  • lacey828lacey828 member
    I ebf too and did a 9 hour drive during the day and my kiddo did great. At that time she bf every 3-4 hours so we just made sure we planned out meals and filled up on gas when we stopped to feed her at the same time. Dont stop the car as long as baby is happy or sleeping is my motto. Actually easier trip at 3-4 months compared to 10 months old now.
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  • taraleannetaraleanne member
    Actually I've also heard of travelling at night but every baby is different, mine would NEVER have that. After dinner he is a home body and has made it pretty clear he doesn't like to be in a car seat. During the day he is super flexible but in the evening he likes to be windingdown for bed by 7pm and that means NOT in a car. I've tried and learned the lesson many times! It's not fair to him nor to me. It makes it very difficult for us to go anywhere in the evenings and going out for dinner we have to go EARLY but he STTN so I can't complain about this.  OP- you know your baby best so travel when you think you LO would be happier or will sleep long stretches! 

    I was just thinking that I could probably do a whole day like that if we woke him up a few hours earlier than he usually wakes so he'd be so sleepy in the car seat for the first good leg of the journey (in fact we have to do that tomorrow for our first plane ride- wake him up almost 4 hours before usual wake up time!) and we could drive for longer but I still feel like that's way too long to be in a car seat. I would do it in a pinch but if I had a choice I'd like to give my LO some more stretching time to play and not just to BF in the car. Fresh air, change of scenery etc...    
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