WWA12D: Traveling

piphigirl · December 2013

Tomorrow, we need to drive to Wisconsin to DH's grandparents house. It is five hours away. We do not travel with Charlotte. I mean, at all. So this is totally new to us.

What time would you leave for a five hour drive to make it manageable?

I am thinking bedtime, which is 7:00 PM. This makes a late night for us but we think it will be easier because we can do bedtime and just put her in the car with the white noise machine and go. (She has napped like that before and it works fine.) This would necessitate a midnight car-to-hotel room transfer.

Another option is to leave at 3:00 PM after her nap, hope she is a trooper in the car, and put her to bed at the hotel.

Which option sounds good? Other ideas of a good time to leave?

CoUnTryBB1 · December 2013

I would not do option two especially if she isn't used to being in the car for an extended period of time. I would leave at either 7 and just get their late. Getting her out of the card and comfortably back to sleep even though later will probably be less stressful then her being uncomfortably awake in the car.

If you want to get there earlier, I would definately leave before she naps so she could sleep in the car for some of the trip.

NeneCakies · December 2013

I'd leave at nap time, not after. She sleeps part way hopefully and she can have a normal bedtime at the hotel. Interrupting night sleep is playing with fire for us plus setting up anywhere at midnight totally sucks.

We have traveled with B repeatedly from 4 up to 8 hrs at a time. Safe travels!

sdlaura · December 2013

That's tough. We also do no long driving trips with our daughter. I agree with NeneCakies - I would leave at naptime. Then hopefully you get two hours or so of nap, entertain her for awhile (maybe one of you sits in the backseat with her and reads to her, etc.), and then when she can't take it anymore, you could stop for an early dinner. Then hopefully night sleep isn't messed up.

SJandVA · December 2013

This is hard to answer for sure. I would tend to try to leave around a nap. But that's because the one time I traveled at bedtime with DD1 she screamed the whole way. I was so surprised because she was always good in the car. Good luck!

austenfan919 · December 2013

NeneCakies said:

I'd leave at nap time, not after. She sleeps part way hopefully and she can have a normal bedtime at the hotel. Interrupting night sleep is playing with fire for us plus setting up anywhere at midnight totally sucks. We have traveled with B repeatedly from 4 up to 8 hrs at a time. Safe travels!

yeah, if this is an option, I would try this. We tried the night drive when DD was 2 (so not quite the same) and she didn't sleep in the car. So she was up until we got to the hotel at 11 p.m.

sadeathe · December 2013

I've done both with Albert.

We've left at his bedtime 7:30p and driven 4 hours to Grandpa's house. He woke up and was awake for about 10-15 minutes, then went right back down. I think a lot of it depends on whether your lo sleeps well.

When we left at his nap time, he didn't do as well on the four hour trip. When he woke up after a couple hours, he was fussy. We had to stop at a store and let him walk around and get dinner. I think he was pretty stiff from sleeping in the car seat and definitely didn't want to be in it any more. I would plan for it taking about an hour longer than you expect if you go with the nap time trip.

drunkindonuts · December 2013

We usually leave at nap time so at least Caroline sleeps for half of a long trip! Most of our friends travel by night, and that seems to work really well too. I just prefer earlier arrivals:)

piphigirl · December 2013

I think we're going with late night. If we cover the seats with a dark blanket and crank up the white noise, she will sleep. We have done that twice before for naps and it generally works like a charm.

We think we may leave from daycare at 5:00, grab a quick dinner at 6:30 and change her into her overnight diaper and PJs, and then out her to "bed" in the car for the rest of the trip.

vic8504 · December 2013

I agree with others that I would leave sometime before her usual nap time. This is what we do when we travel with DD and it works out really well. We are sticklers for bedtime so I never want to mess with waking her up late at night to put her back into bed.

ccam · December 2013

We've done our share of trips with DS. For 5 hours, I would probably leave at bedtime and just transfer him to the hotel. But I also know DS would be fine with that. If not, like the others said, I would leave about an hour before a nap time, hang out in the back with her, play, maybe have a snack and then let her fall asleep. Hopefully she'll take a longer than normal nap!

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