Road Trip. Any advice?

ErikaLynn75 · June 2014

Next Thursday we're road tripping to visit the grandparents. We're leaving when H gets off work (5-ish but they usually get off early before holidays). It's normally a 5-5.5 hour trip with one stop. Expecting it to be more like 6.5 hours with having to stop and feed. Crossing a time zone so we'll be getting there around 10:30 pm. I'm nervous that LO won't sleep that night because he always sleeps in the car.

Anyway, we're staying 2 nights at ILs, then driving 1.5 hours to my parents' house and staying 2 nights with them.

Anyone who has taken a trip with a newborn, any advice for a happy weekend? LO will be 5 weeks old.

Unknown · June 2014

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haylo33 · June 2014

We are leaving for vacation on Tuesday so I've been planning. No real advice as we haven't tried this yet but this is what I'm doing. Instead of freezing my daily pumped milk, I'm saving it for the trip. I'm going to sit in the back and feed LO while driving. Then since LO always poops after eating, we are going to stop after he eats to burp and change. Hopefully since we can feed in the car, it will cut down on stop times. Then once we are back on the road I'm going to pump and save that milk for vacation while family watches him. Hopefully my plan works as well as it does in my head. Good luck!

pistolpackinmomma · June 2014

Frequent stops. If LO sleeps in the car then consider yourself lucky, you should be able to get by with minimal stops.

Stess22 · June 2014

If LO sleeps in the car I would plan to try and sleep in the car too (I assume H is driving ) and I would pack a pillow to help this

Good luck !!!

letal316 · June 2014

We took a road trip to Montreal from Toronto when DD was 6 weeks and she slept pretty much the whole way. We stopped once to feed and change her. It was quite seamless. When we arrived, she needed to eat again and then went down for a nap an hour later. Her schedule didn't seem to be affected. I feel like her napping in the car isn't the same as napping in her crib or basinette so she still needed lots of sleep when we got there.

pistolpackinmomma · June 2014

Oh and I typically try to stick to our "home" time if our plans allow. It won't be as big if a deal yet but for future trips, something to keep in mind.

gutsysneakers · June 2014

Leaving on Thursday and our road trip will be 9sh hours. I bought an adaptor for the pump. We are planning on leaving at 8pm so LO will sleep in the car and I plan on stopping once to nurse her and then will pump and put in the cooler, if needed. We are also bringing the dog. Eeesh.

cowpoly959 · June 2014

Sounds like everyone is hitting the road for the holiday! We are road tripping 6 hours this week with a 9 week old and our Labrador. Thanks for all the tips

LUCKY22 · June 2014

We just did a 3 hour trip this week, but I would recommend trying to make some room in the back seat in case you want to crawl back there with LO. Our back seat was packed but more than once, I wish I would have been able to crawl back there to help with DS without having to pull over (mostly to help with is paci - not sure if that is an issue for you guys).

ErikaLynn75 · June 2014

@haylo33‌ I like your plan. It seems like it would make stops shorter. But do you have a way to warm bottles in the car? Or will your LO take it cold? I'm planning to bring some pumped milk in a cooler so the ILs can feed him and we can go out on the 4th. But I think we'll just stop to breastfeed on the trip so I don't have to mess with pumping in the car.

ErikaLynn75 · June 2014

I'll definitely sit in the back with him. It will drive me crazy to go hours without being able to see him if I was in the front. Good idea to bring a pillow and nap back there, though! That could potentially be the longest stretch of sleep I get all week!

haylo33 · June 2014

ErikaLynn75 said:
@haylo33‌ I like your plan. It seems like it would make stops shorter. But do you have a way to warm bottles in the car? Or will your LO take it cold? I'm planning to bring some pumped milk in a cooler so the ILs can feed him and we can go out on the 4th. But I think we'll just stop to breastfeed on the trip so I don't have to mess with pumping in the car.

When we leave, I'm going to just let the first bottle sit out to warm up a bit. My LO isn't picky and will take it if it is a little cold. Haven't tried right out of the fridge. I also plan to sit in the back. My guy has trouble keeping his paci in his mouth in the car