Traveling with baby

[kcd0531]

Getting ready for a 16 hour drive to Illinois to visit family. And K is hell bent on driving as much as possible in as little time as possible. I'm giving him the major side-eye and have told him he needs to be prepared to be more flexible since EJ may not put up with that itinerary. And just try and argue with a 5 month old breast-fed baby. His response? "Be prepared to pump." ^o)

I'm ready to be a bitch about this if I have to and have, at the very least, gotten him to agree to actually have a stopping point at some point that late evening/night at a hotel. Otherwise I could totally see him doing the whole stopping for a 2 hr. nap at a rest stop.

We grew up on such different ends of the spectrum when it comes to traveling styles so we're struggling to reach a compromise on this. The drive home will be much more relaxed as we won't be in a hurry to reach our first destination. The kids are back in school this week so we want to be able to visit as much as possible over the weekend and start moseying our way home come that Monday morning.

Have any of you traveled like this? Suggestions or tips for survival?

[Deleted]

My parents were the same way. I would stop half way and see if there is a cool sight to see or attraction. Traveling doesn't have to be torture and I'm not sure why people are so rushed to get to where they're going that they rather be uncomfortable and miserable for the last half of the trip. I would stop at 9 hours.
The farthest I've traveled is 14 hours. I really felt it for days afterward. This was alone. My driving was unsafe for the last 3-4 hours as in I was speeding more, not paying close attention, etc.

[kpol]

I don't have kids but I would try to plan a few longer stops during the day like a 30-45 min lunch stop at a rest area and a 10-15 minute stop every two hours or so. Book the hotel so he can't change his mind. It will be better for everyone that you are well rested when you arrive.

[JakJak]

When Jackson was around that age, travel was actually not too bad. He slept most of the time and really had no idea that he could get out and roam around. I breastfed too, but he refused to take any bottles with pumped milk in them at all, so I basically "hovered" over him and let him breastfeed when he was hungry or upset, that way we could keep going and didn't have to stop all the time. It was incredibly uncomfortable, but he was still safely strapped in.

I would definitely book the hotel and split it in two. 8 hours is manageable with a baby, I think any more it pushing your luck. When we do our 8 hour drive to see family we just stop halfway and get him out of his seat, let him play on a blanket in the grass for 20 mins or so and then get back on the road. Just be prepared for a cranky baby whenever you arrive, car travel almost always throws off Jackson's schedule pretty badly!

[Dumbledork]

Hey, it's a 16 hour drive to Illinois for me too! I just did it in July. I'm like your H though, before Bean I could do it in about 17 hours with breaks and with Bean, the most it's taken is 30 hours. The biggest thing with Bean is that she gets motion sickness like DH does so we have to factor in a few hours for clean-up. Now that she's older she knows to get sick in a bag and clean up is a lot faster.

We did it when she was a month, no problem. My mom drove and I pumped in the backseat with a cover. I'd rather do that than the gas station bathroom. We did it again at 9 months and I think that was one of the longer ones. Still, with regular stops to let her stretch out, she was fine. She even had a tooth pop out that drive.

The thirty hour drive was the worst because I was by myself and her motion-sickness really kicked in. I was so exhausted from cleaning up every hour that we stopped to sleep for a few hours. Problem was, she thought getting out to sleep meant we were done. The second day sucked. She was cranky to be back in her seat, she was tired from sleeping in a strange place, she just hated the world.

We always time it so that we'll arrive at night with a few hours to do the "hey, good to see you" thing and then we crash and are good to go the next day. I'm a total advocate of getting a good night's sleep before you leave, bringing a stocked iPod and getting it done asap.

[texaswildflower]

We did a two day drive from California to Texas when R was 4 months old. We drove about 12 hours each day. R slept most of the time. We tried to stop about every 3-4 hours. I had a small stash of pumped milk in a cooler and I had my pump with me in the truck. I nursed him at night when we got to the hotel. I also nursed him in the morning before we left the hotel. I was pretty nervous about the drive, but it went much better than I thought.

I think splitting the drive into two days is a good idea. Stop every few hours and stretch your legs, and baby's too. Good luck!

[twoslicehilly]

We did this a few times with DD. It was a little hellish, but we didn't have a set schedule to adhere to. I'm more of a "we have to get there now don't stop" person than H, so that might have helped. I leaned over the Carseat to let her eat every now and then, so I didn't have to get her out. But since you stop for diaper changes any way, it's just how her schedule works out.

[iluvmytxrgr]

My husband was the exact same way right before we took our first road trip. My older kids were 5 and 8. The baby was 3 months old. He was hell bent on only stopping every three or four hours. I literally fell over laughing when he starting telling me is plans for the trip from GA to TX. "Ok, Buddy. We'll see how that works out for you." One hour in was the first poopy diaper. Thirty min up the road from that was, "I have to pee!!!! Right now!!!!" He learned quite a lesson on that trip. Now, he knows we will have to stop about every hour or two for potty breaks and to let the short people run some energy out. I say don't argue with him about it. Just let him learn the hard way. That's really the only way he's going to figure it out.

[kcd0531]

Aug 22, 2012 7:59:00 GMT -5 iluvmytxrgr said:

My husband was the exact same way right before we took our first road trip. My older kids were 5 and 8. The baby was 3 months old. He was hell bent on only stopping every three or four hours. I literally fell over laughing when he starting telling me is plans for the trip from GA to TX. "Ok, Buddy. We'll see how that works out for you." One hour in was the first poopy diaper. Thirty min up the road from that was, "I have to pee!!!! Right now!!!!" He learned quite a lesson on that trip. Now, he knows we will have to stop about every hour or two for potty breaks and to let the short people run some energy out. I say don't argue with him about it. Just let him learn the hard way. That's really the only way he's going to figure it out.

I'm definitely leaning towards your way of thinking. L is a good kid, but she is only 8 (9 in November!) and still a kid. Thank heavens she will get to run out some energy the morning that we're leaving. And babies can get cranky too. There is still so much he has to learn when it comes to babies, kids and "schedules."