Got any tips or tricks for long distance driving with a newborn?
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at
7:06 pm
My husband and I are going to be traveling with our 2 sons (18 months and 3 week old) from Illinois to Maine by car. I wanted to know if there are any tips/tricks to traveling that long with a newborn, whether or not I should sit in the back with them, etc. I know there are going to be frequent stops for diaper changes and feeding. We also know its going to take 3 or 4 days or so to get there. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
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I have tried, and now we fly. Your kids are both under 2, so they fly free. If that drive is going to take 3-4 days, that means you are paying for food and lodging for days - would be cheaper and so much easier to just fly. If extenuating circumstances are forcing you to drive, I highly suggest a dvd player for your vehicle (they can strap on to the back of the front seats and are only a few hundred) and Baby Einstein dvds.
lots of activities for the 18 month old like portable dvd player or coloring books and things. i don’t think u have to sit in the backseat. most babies sleep while in moving vehicles. so u may only need to feed and change the newborn. u will need allot of things for the older one tho snacks and maybe turn the road trip into a learning game show him different places and things of importance along the way. never too early for children to start learning.
I really don’t have a ton of tips, because both my sons are wonderful travelers. They sleep the entire way, pretty much. Well, not the older one so much, he’s almost 4, but he’s very quiet during car rides, which is a miracle, because we live nearly an hour from the nearest town. When we go 8 hours north to Cleveland, though, he sleeps almost the whole way, just waking up to eat and pee. The littlest one sleeps the whole time, too. Just stop uber often for feedings and diaper changes, and bring some little tummies in case the baby gets carsick. Is there something else for carsickness in newborns? If there is, check that out. If his ears pop going through any foothills or mountains, make sure you have a pacifier or a bottle handy.
edit: Now that I’ve thought about it a minute, we had to go north for a funeral recently, and my dad let us borrow this portable DVD player. Jason watched Spongebob the whole way and we never heard a peep out of him. Make sure you get the adapter for the car cigarette lighter to charge it.
What I am going to do when we take our 8 month old to disney land this summer,is I will sit in the back with him.I will do it in case he needs a bottle,I can grab one for him,and if he needs his toys or his blanket.We are going to bring tons of toys for him to play with in the car.We have a dvd player in our car (Thank god for that!!) So he can watch movies when he does not want toys.And we are going to bring LOTS of diapers and wipes too.
Sorry this is not much,because this is the longest trip we have been on.
~Good luck and hope it helped!!!~
I always sit in the back on trips longer than about a half hour - I just feel so helpless if I am in the front and my dd is upset, or wondering where I have gone. You cant’ always stop on a highway either, if there is a problem - it is def easier to have someone in the back to hand out toys, put the pacifier back in, etc. The newborn will probably sleep most of the way, not really a lot to help there. Make sure you are also factoring in that you have to stop long enough to feed - even feeding bottles in the car is not a great idea, you can’t burp them for instance and it is kind of a difficult position. For the 18 month old I would identify favorite toys that are small enough to bring and then set them aside for a few days prior to the trip, so that when you bring them out in the car they are new and exciting again. And plenty of foods that are good for non-messy snacking.