Car Travel Tips?

Question

I’m wanting to go somewhere this summer with my husband and son. We are smack dab in the middle of the US, so anywhere is a decent drive. We previously flew with our son and he was GREAT. Now that’s out of the question and we’ll have to drive likely 8+ hours. Anyone have any tips on car travel? My initial thoughts to plan for:
- too much sitting and baby going stir crazy
- how to change diapers without stopping all the time
- how to give snacks/drinks
- does one parent sit in the back seat with baby?
- any good toys or games or anything?

Answer

Drive at night! We took a 9 he trip and she slept the entire time👏👏👏

Answer

I have already insisted that we will not be taking long car trips for the foreseeable future because my son absolutely hates the car. We’ve finally gotten to the point where he doesn’t scream the entire way for ten minute trips. Every few weeks we drive to my parents cabin and it’s two and half hours. I have to sit in the back with him and provide nonstop entertainment. We have the tablet with videos, I sing songs, we have toys, snacks, his water cup, my water cup and we usually don’t make it to the first place we can stop, at the hour and a half mark, without screaming. Definitely plan to get out often and spend reasonable amounts of time out of the car at your stops. He loves watching the cars drive past the gas station and walking around. And then we get back in the car and the last hour is usually torture. Mine would not make it 2-3 hours at a stretch but yours might. He also won’t sleep more than 20 minutes in the car (and that’s a miracle) but maybe you can drive at night or plan for one leg to be a nap. I’d just look up possible stops along the way. On our drive, there’s two sections of nothing and nowhere to pull over. So it makes it hard when he decides to lose it and we can’t really stop. He also tends to cry so hard he throws up, so I try to prevent it from getting to that point. If you’re considering it, though, I’m assuming your son is more pleasant in the car at baseline. And I’d definitely change diapers in the car every few hours over taking him inside a gas station to do it. I’ve also used night time diapers (we size up at night) for the trip just to get a little extra protection in case. We’ve never had a poop in the car seat, so I’m not sure on that front. Good luck if you decide to do it! I know lots of people who have and it goes pretty well!

Answer

Honestly drive at night as much as you can and get a tablet/portable DVD player so they can watch shows and lots of snacks

Answer

Hey! Fellow Kansan here. I wish I had the answers. We drove to Topeka yesterday and struggled with that. Haha. My daughter loves The Wiggles, so on the way home, I let her watch an episode of that on the iPad. I make sure she has some of her favorite toys, so that helps.
I personally never let her eat or drink in a moving vehicle. I would recommend snacks when you stop for gas or a bathroom break. I think kiddos are supposed to get out of their car seats every 2-3 hours. I know that makes for a long trip though. My daughter drinks a lot, but can usually go 2-3 hours without a diaper change. 
I would sit in the back if it’s not a time baby will sleep or if they seem unusually fussy. 
Wish I could be more help! 😬

Answer

I think stopping to change diapers is unavoidable. I’m not sure if I’m misunderstanding the question but i would highly advise against changing and driving at the same time. 
Like others have mentioned, snacks on snacks. An iPad or tablet would be a good idea too. 
I would basically plan for each extended trip to take way longer than the gps says. Like he/she stretch and walk around every couple of hours.

Answer

We’ve done 9 12 hour car rides and 1 21 hour car ride with our son. We use his tablet, and lots of toys. We stop every couple hours and he stretches his legs. We do diaper changes in the car when we stop. Sippy of water and lots of snacks

Answer

We just got back from an 8 hour drive from the beach. My daughter has never been a huge fan of being in the car. I sat in the back and packed lots of her favorite toys and books. I also had plenty of snacks within reach. I would never feed her food in the car without being beside her. We do not let her watch hardly any tv at home but we did download several episodes of Mickey on the iPad. That was a lifesaver. We stopped and went in restaurants to eat and did snacks on the road. She absolutely needed time out of the car to eat a meal and so did we. We also stopped 1 or 2 more times to use the restroom/change diapers and let her walk each way.

Answer

My family drove from Columbus, Ohio to Seattle, Washington at the beginning of May. We had our 14 month old and our cat lol. We were traveling to stay with my parents for financial reasons from the pandemic, so we need our car which made flying not an option. I was so impressed with how our son handled it. He’s usually pretty chill anyway, but he was a champ. Either my husband or I were always in the back with him to help keep him entertained. We stopped everyone 2 or 3 hours so he could eat and diaper change. Some stops were longer than others. Our longest day was 8 hours or so. We covered the distance in 4 days. Its pretty amazing how adaptive littles are. I recommend putting some toys aside that will be for the trip so he doesn’t see them for a while and they will seem new to him. Make snacks and diapers etc very accessible. We used a portable noise machine for naps. Good luck!

Answer

why is flying out of the question? I'm flying with my son and I next month. its going to be interesting but at least its only 4 hours total flight time 😅

Car Travel Tips?

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