14 hour car ride

meghan7319 · May 2014

Leaving in the morning for a 14 hour car ride with dh and lo....any suggestions and advice?????

LC122 · May 2014

Leave at night so LO sleeps during most of the drive.
Stop at places you can get out & stretch and relax and that have decent changing tables. Cracker Barrel can be good because they also often have changing tables in the men's room.

mancila60 · May 2014

I agree with leaving at night or as late in the day as possible. It is so much easier. Be prepared to stop often for LO to stretch and move around. Also be ready for someone to sit by LO in the back to entertain. Bring toys and lots of bottles! Rest stops can be good if they have a grassy area where you can lay out a blanket for LO to crawl around on.

MissLauraPants · May 2014

We are about to take a long road trip that normally takes 16 hours..I'm sure it will be more with the baby. What do you guys think about leaving like 3 am? I do not want to do the night thing because I'm scared to drive mostly in the dark for safety reasons but thinking if we leave the first time the baby wakes in the night then he can go back to sleep in the car. I don't know...it will be rough

DisneyMamaToBeTTC · May 2014

We did 12 hours with LO in April, he was about 6 months. I bought an adapter for my pump and pumped in the car and fed bottles at our stops. We left at 4 am after his motn feed so he could sleep a few hours of the drive. We stopped about every 3 hours to pee and get gas, feed LO and take a break. Worked great. I changed him in the car, it's just easier for me. One of us always sat in the back, the cooler of bottles and toys were up front. Surprisingly getting him to nap was the hardest and took some additional Soothing. Just bring lots of toys and food. I had a car organizer with diapers and everything else handy plus the diaper bag handy with extra clothes etc. I kept dirty bags for used bottles, clothes, etc. we were also feeding solids - FYI a lot of the convenience stores now have a microwave out so check for that if you need it. Our bottles and food stayed super cold in the cooler so try to get them out a bit before you need them. I mapped out a rough route so I knew the last stretches I would need to stop and get gas etc so we could make sure we didn't get stuck minimize gross rest stops. Good luck!

yesthisiskim0401 · May 2014

Vodka.

MangoMama82 · May 2014

We just did a 3.5 hour drive. He woke up at 6:30 as usual, and I made sure to get some good vigorous play time in. When it was nap time I threw him in the car seat and hit the road. He napped for about 1.5 hours. When he woke up we stopped and I fed him, changed him, and played a little. He started to have a melt down after the stop, but I gave him a net teether with pears and he was happy. Slept the rest of the ride.

Kittymom6 · May 2014

Thanks for asking this! We are taking a long road trip in August, and maybe one in July. My DH thinks that we should drive 2-3 hours away from home one weekend night and turn around and drive home to see how she does. I think he's crazy.

slh6363 · May 2014

We will be doing a 12 hour drive in July...plus 2 dogs. I'm a little nervous so also looking for tips!

calibr8te · May 2014

Yes I am doing this in about a month. I will be driving alone with LO and driving 7 hrs one day and then the rest of the way to mom's the next day. I can't handle night driving, my night vision is terrible and I always feel like I am hallucinating things. So I will just get on the road really early and take a couple big breaks in that time.

NatesCupcake47 · May 2014

We just did a 3.5hr tripwith dd. We stopped once each way. Took a long lunch to stretch and change her diaper. We are heading to Yellowstone this summer and its about 16hrs from home. We are splitting the drive into two days and will probably try to stop every 3-4 hours or so to stretch. DD has always done really well in the car and hoping that holds true on our trip :-)

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