Traveling with a newborn

flowerintherain · February 2016

I don't think this has been discussed..if it has, forgive me and point me in the right direction.
So as I've mentioned quite a bit, I'm giving birth in my hometown where I'm currently staying (with family) and my doctor is here.But H and I have our own house in a differnt part of the state (about 9 hours away) where he works and is currently staying. So our plan is for him to come down with my MIL for the birth. Then once we get discharged from the hospital, we are planning to get a hotel room for a few days so family can meet baby and I can get a couple of days to rest. we have the pack and play for baby to sleep in and everything he will need for the first week of life. Then we plan to check out of the hotel and head back home to our house upstate. H will drive my car, and we know we will have to stop every couple of hours to feed the baby and change him. But my mom called me this morning freaking out because she's worried that it's not safe for a week old baby to travel that distance and it will make him sick or kill him to be in a car seat for 9 hours. I keep telling her we plan to stop A LOT and that not going home for a month or 2 is not an option as H has work and we have dogs and a cat to be taken care of. I told her I would double check with a pediatrician, but wanted to get other people's opinions first. So is it safe to travel 9 hours by car with a baby that's 4-8 days old?? I know it won't be easy, but we don't really have another option.

lilqt3929 · February 2016

I think you answered your own question, stopping frequently to tend to baby and you don't have any other options. It's not ideal but I dont know how it would make him sick or anything like that. Check with the pediatrician to see what they recommend and just get home safely. Maybe they will even reccomend doing the drive over 2 days, who knows...

moomee · February 2016

Baby should be totally fine. He'll most likely be sleeping most of the time anyways. I think your mom is overreacting just a tad bit.

egraves4 · February 2016

Same as PP, my suggestion would be to plan to travel over 2 days. Realistically your trip could turn into a maybe 15 or 16 hour ride and it would probably be best to do it that way. Also, you may still be recovering and it could be uncomfortable to be in the car that long!

ladyofsummer · February 2016

As long as you stop frequently to stretch your legs and take care of the little one you should be fine. Drove cross country from NC to MT at eight months pregnant and stopped every two hours or so for potty/leg breaks and was fine.

Your little one is going to sleep most of the trip and won't be moving around much at all. Being in a car will have no effect on him. You should be fine, I've known people who have FLOWN cross country with newborns to no ill effect.

VitaLuna · February 2016

It's true that babies shouldn't be in car seats for long periods, but it's not like you're going to get any kind of long stretch with a newborn.

It's obviously not ideal, but everyone will be just fine. Like PP said, I'd plan on breaking it into a 2 day trip. LO could decide to nurse for an hour every hour and a half, or blowout a diaper every stop.

surferP528 · February 2016

Just out of curiosity, how did this situation come about that you're giving birth there and not near your home? Gosh, it seems like it would have been so much easier for family just to visit you.

I hope everything goes well!

flowerintherain · February 2016

Thanks for the responses ladies! I hadn't even thought about breaking the trip into 2 days, but it seems like a great idea that'll make it a bit more bearable. It's good to know that being in a car seat for too long isn't fatal or damaging. My mom is just being her crazy self.

@surferP528 well DH got a job there a couple months ago and was staying with his parents. I planned to move up as soon as we got a rental house there, but unfortunately we didn't find the right one and get all our furniture moved in until last weekend. And at this point it's way too late for me to switch doctors and it takes a month for my insurance coverage to switch to that area and baby will be here before it would switch over.

RissKay · February 2016

After DS1 was born, we drove the 8 hours up to my parents house for a month. Thankfully, DH had the time off saved, plus Christmas PTO days, so it worked out.

He he was just under 2 weeks old when we made the drive, and we stopped three-four times.

Go slow, stop when you need to, and it'll all be ok. To think anything else is honestly ridiculous to me. Why wouldn't a car drive going slow and steady be ok?

smn14 · February 2016

We have to take an 8 hour car journey up to Scotland when little one will be c.4 weeks old. We are planning on booking a hotel room halfway up to break the journey and stop for feeds, changes etc along the way. I've been told lots that they can't stay in seat for longer than 2 hours, but from talking to my midwife it seems that the rule has come about more from people 'storing' their newborns in car seats in the house all day, rather than one off car journey. With lots of stops I'm sure our littlies will be fine :-)

cbou · February 2016

Like @smn14 said, i think the worry about not leaving your baby in the carseat is because the carseat will not be at the optimal recline angle for baby when just sitting on the ground. However, when correctly sitting in the base in your car the carseat is at the proper recline angle to keep baby's chin off her chest and keep her airway open. I honestly think the biggest challenges will be baby wanting to be on top of you or on the boob a lot and you will be physically pretty uncomfortable. Bring a boppy to sit on and make sure baby is always securely buckled in when you are moving. Don't try breastfeeding while moving. There was a recent article about that. As always - dont take any advice on here as medical advice, so still talk to your pediatrician. Good luck!

ARogers26 · February 2016

I have talked about this in other posts before. My 1st son was born July 29 -- My FIL died Aug 24. They live 1.5 hrs away one way. We made that trip almost everyday after my FIL went into the hospital when Levi was 10 days old. I would say it was about right for needing a break/diaper/feed. I would stop every 1.5-2 hours. Babies are super resilient and it sounds like someone is adding unneeded stress to your already stressful situation.

ashesmart90 · February 2016

I would say just making sure your little one is well burped and gets a good amount of out of car seat time after eating. I am traveling with a 1 month old 18 month old and our dog to MS for a military move so I understand the stress. But like you said just take your time and don't be afraid to split it in half.

good luck

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