Road trip advice

[ldubhawksfan]

Give it all to me!! We have a family vacation that is a 6 hr drive away soon. The longest road trip we've done with DD was Nor Cal around 11 months which was 3 hrs and very hard.

We are trying to figure out when to leave. We don't really want to drive through the night, but it sounds ideal for a sleeping baby. We will be zombies though.

[leviosa]

I have been across the country with my kids several times. Once already this year in fact.

Personally, I wouldn't travel at night. My kids don't sleep that well for long periods of time so it wouldn't work out as planned for me.

The easiest trips I have made have been when I started early in the morning. I was able to get further without stopping and eventually the kids took a morning nap which extended the time we traveled without stopping. I always feel like once we stop our momentum is gone and we end up stopping more often.

Just have plenty of snacks and water and maybe some toys to keep them occupied.

[ldubhawksfan]

Mar 30, 2017 17:50:54 GMT -5 leviosa said:

I have been across the country with my kids several times. Once already this year in fact.

Personally, I wouldn't travel at night. My kids don't sleep that well for long periods of time so it wouldn't work out as planned for me.

The easiest trips I have made have been when I started early in the morning. I was able to get further without stopping and eventually the kids took a morning nap which extended the time we traveled without stopping. I always feel like once we stop our momentum is gone and we end up stopping more often.

Just have plenty of snacks and water and maybe some toys to keep them occupied.

Yeah I'm planning on packing lots of snacks and toys, and sitting back there for a portion. I agree about the momentum. That is what we found with our 3 hr drive was that once we stopped to stretch/for a break, it was a nightmare to get her back in and she was super fussy after, so the next leg was always shorter too.

I was worried about trying to leave at bedtime and getting a hotel, that she may wake when we move her to the bed and be ready to rally. DNW.

When you say leave early, so you mean like right after their normal wake up time? Or try to leave at like 4 am and take advantage (hopefully) of a good 2+ hrs of her nighttime sleeping? She is down to one nap now, around 11, so I don't know about taking advantage of that by leaving around 9. But at best that would get us to our destination by like 4-5.

[whatsit]

Family are all 4-5 hours away so we do this drive every month or so.
G has always done really well in the car though so I don't know how helpful I will be ( He tends to sleep a good portion no matter when we leave). I would suggest leaving just before her regular nap time - the movement of the car might help her sleep longer too. whenever she wakes up you could take a break of driving and then move to sit beside her and distract her for the remainder.
This is how we managed road tripping last summer anyway.

[leviosa]

Idubhawksfan, I would try to leave around 6:30. Get up early and feed the kids breakfast and then put them in the car. My kids seem more content in the mornings and they don't need all the entertainment. Then they eventually fall asleep and I can get 3, sometimes 4 hours down the road without stopping. I try to not drink much so I don't need to stop for the bathroom.

[sunfrogger88]

I would leave around 4am and try to take advantage. But the last time we did that E ended up awake for a bit. We also did the tablet in ziploc thing to hang from the headrest and we basically played movies the whole time.

When she wakes is when we try to plan our stop/s. Bathroom, diapers, food, try to walk around a bit.

Our next trip is up to New England jumpingpuddles heyoo but we aren't leaving until 9am, my husband has a networking group mtg at 7am. So we'll get a movie in and then a nap and hopefully by the time she wakes up we'll be over halfway there and will stop for lunch.

[sunfrogger88]

ashleymarie26 and sassypantzz would have great advice too!!

[ashleymarie26]

Hiii! We do a 5 hr trip every month or so. We leave tomorrow actually.

We typically leave around 3:30pm. We bought a Kindle Fire for Christmas and we have loaded a few movies on it. We got:

Fintie Universal Car Headrest Mount Holder for 7" to 11" Tablet PC Inclu. Fire 7 (2015) /Fire HD 8 /Fire HD 10 /Kindle Fire HD 7 (2014) /HDX7 /Kindle www.amazon.com/dp/B01F8P7ZMM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_ogh3AHlYIU6HO

To hold the tablet. This will usually occupy a good 2 hours- then we stop for dinner, change diaper, put on pjs, and give her blanket or "na-nite" and she is out within 30 mins or so from leaving dinner.

She will sleep until we get home, and then typically gets a burst of energy when we arrive- my mantra is "making memories are more important" And that is how I rationalize her going to bed at 10pm after we arrive and get settled.

[sassypantzz]

We were good for about 6 trips per year back to Ohio. Each trip being 8-9 hour depending.

I don't have a ton of advice because we are weird parents lol. Both kids have made the trip from weeks old so it's just know as the "long drive" to my DD. We like traveling at night because the kids just sleep. We've never done tablets or standard activities. I do remember the Mickey Mouse clubhouse song on loop one trip though. That being said I am confident I could have an amazing cross country road trip with my DD. We sing and talk and she sleeps. DS also did fine throughout our trips and has probably made a solid 8 by now.

Good luck! Just be patient and take your time. If you take the pressure off and stop when you need to for leg stretches or a meal you will be fine. Happy travels!!

[sassypantzz]

Oh and to add- any time I tried to sit in the back it was a nightmare. I high do not recommend it. It made both my kids want out of the seat and they felt my presence made that an option

[samelly]

Six hours isn't too bad, I would plan for at least two stops to feed and change the little one and let them move around a bit.  I would leave in the morning and try to make it a couple hours and then stop somewhere where LO can play for a bit.  An outdoor picnic area, maybe.  Get some food in her, change the diaper and then hope she naps after so you can make it another couple hours.

I wouldn't do the night time thing either.  Your LO might sleep the whole time, but you will still have to take care of the child when you arrive.

[ldubhawksfan]

Thanks ladies. I think we are going to leave early in the AM, hope to get a few hrs then stop for bfast, keep going and hope to get another leg with her nap. If it's hell to do it in one day on the way up, then we will think about breaking it up on whether way home.

[leviosa]

Apr 1, 2017 6:26:27 GMT -5 sassypantzz said:

Oh and to add- any time I tried to sit in the back it was a nightmare. I high do not recommend it. It made both my kids want out of the seat and they felt my presence made that an option

L screamed at me for over an hour on my last road trip. I ended up having to move his car seat where he couldn't see me. So both kids were in the third row and I had the middle row to myself. It made getting L in and out harder but I just couldn't stand the screaming.