I am about to make a drive down to see my family with my four month old, husband not coming. Does anyone have tips/tricks/recommendations for such a long drive with a baby?
I’m planning on leaving around 7 PM and driving as much as I can through the night so that she sleeps. Is that a horrible idea? Help
@eugeneim1991 Take her out of the car seat every two hours to feed, change diapers and play if needed. Their necks aren't strong enough to last that long upright.
@eugeneim1991 That sounds dangerous. Driving drowsy in the dark.i thought about going on my own and wondered how I would pee. I suppose they have family bathrooms.
@eugeneim1991 I would drive during the day unless you can find safe/comfortable spots in the dark to pull over and feed/get out of the car seat every two hours. Personally wouldn’t feel safe at night doing that alone.
Do you have a plan to stop every 2 hours & mapped out where you will stop that is safe in the middle of the night?
Have you mapped out safe spots to stop if any is having a freak out between the 2 hours?
Plan to have much longer then a 13 hr drive, have your plans on where you can stop that is safe and you can probably do it. Main thing is that it’s not recommended for baby to stay in the car seat for more then 2 consecutive hours.
@eugeneim1991 I’d plan on it being a two day trip. I have friends who drive from Minnesota to Colorado with their 6 month old. They left at night, thinking he’d sleep. They still had to stop every couple hours to feed, change diapers, and get him out of the car seat every so often. Took them a lot longer than expected to get there.
@eugeneim1991 You need to stop every 2-3 hours for about 30 minutes and baby has to come all the way out of the seat. Car seats can asphyxiate babies if they are in them for long stretches like that so you’re 13 hours turns into close to double. Fly or train if you can.
@eugeneim1991 I just did an 11hr road trip with my 4mo, broken into 3 days each way. One day each way was just me & baby for 3 hours, the other days my mom drove & I sat in the backseat with baby. Longest day was 5 hours of driving time, took about 8 hours of actual time. Would've taken even longer without me in the backseat to help keep baby calm. By the time we were coming home, baby would start screaming when the seat clicked into the base in the car. It was tough even with me in the backseat to soothe her, would've been worse alone.
I don't think it's realistic for you to do this drive by yourself unless you can take 2-3 days to drive each way (4-6 days of driving in total). Once you consider hotels, gas, eating out, etc., it's probably about the same cost to fly & would be much less stressful for both you & baby.
@eugeneim1991 Do not do it by yourself! I made an 8 hour trip with my 3 month old. It took us 12 hours for all the stops we had to make for her. I would recommend flying for solo traveling
@eugeneim1991 We did 16 hours over two days with a younger baby. I’d actually say that driving at night versus daytime doesn’t make a huge difference with that age because they sleep so much anyway. And you have to stop every three hours to feed/change them which I would personally not want to do at night.
Overall it is not that bad since they don't really get bored yet buy it does take a while.
@eugeneim1991 We did a 16 hour drive with a 2 month old, I sat in the back with her and husband drove. In no way could we have done it without each other (the breaks, food, preparing bottles, pumping, changing diapers, entertaining the baby etc), I would really advise against it. By the 8th hour I had a mental breakdown .
Obviously you’ve thought of this already, but can’t your family come down to see you?
@eugeneim1991 You're supposed to take baby out of the seat for a break for a bit every two hours. That's going to add several more hours onto your trip. I wouldn't do it, you're going to be exhausted, it just doesn't sound safe to me.
@eugeneim1991 You should not be driving that far, on your own, with a child that needs to be taken out of the car seat every two hours for their own safety. This 13 hour trip will never be 13 hours. If you can’t fly to the destination, it is the responsibility of family to come to you, for the safety and wellbeing of your child.
@eugeneim1991 We did seven hours when our baby was like 2 months old. He slept the whole time the car was in motion and we stopped every two to three hours to feed. It was totally fine.
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