Would a 10 hour drive be ridiculous with a 2 month old?

[thomasmann]

@hurting4help Same! Just had to make some extra stops and over pack but it wasn't terrible. Definitely depends on your baby though. Ours is a dream when it comes to sleeping / naps, etc.

 

[jackinthepot221]

@effervescenteye My partner and i did an 11 hour drive for my BIL's (very small) wedding when my son was 2 months and it took 2 days each way. We were in the car and moving roughly 5 hours each day and went no longer than 2 hours between stops but it was often more like an hour if bub was very upset (my son was never a pacifier baby). Each stop was minimum 30 min with a diaper change, nursing, me and my partner both using the bathroom, stretching legs, getting a snack, etc. We stayed in a motel halfway.

It's definitely doable but not exactly pleasant, and it also largely depends on if you have a baby who likes the car. My bigger concern at this time of year would be flu/rsv/covid/cold season. My son was an early summer baby and the family event we were attending was outside with a small group of people who are relatively covid-conscious. If he had been 2 months at Christmas we would not have traveled by air or car.

 

[marcelkunze23]

@effervescenteye We did a 5 hour drive with our son when he was 6 weeks old. You have to stop every two hours to take them out of the seat. We changed and fed him during those stops. He slept for the most part. It ended up taking maybe 7 hours after all the stops.

 

[karubin]

@marcelkunze23 We took a trip to visit family w our 1 month old and same. It’s usually a 5hr drive but ended up taking 7hrs. If OP wants to they can but man that would be a very long drive for everyone

 

[gomez2219]

@effervescenteye Do you have to do either?

I would not be traveling this far with a two month old. Is it possible? Sure. But it's gonna be HARD. The pressure on the plane will likely make a newborn cry incessantly, on top of just all the hassles of trying to deal with a 2 month old while also dealing with holiday airport traffic.

And if you drive, you'll need to stop constantly. Assume at least 20 minutes of stoppage every two hours. And that's without any major issues. So it's really more like a 12 hour drive, minimum, and many of those hours may involve a screaming newborn.

Is there maybe a train you can take? That can be a bit of a "best of both worlds", but still tough.

 

[dlmoodyfan]

@gomez2219 Not true about the incessant crying on the plane. As long as baby suckles on paci/bottle/boob during takeoff/landing all will be fine

 

[gomez2219]

@dlmoodyfan

all will may be fine

FTFY

 

[srdenelsbeck]

@effervescenteye I would not go. Take it from me as I'm currently standing ina tiny closet with a water heater rocking a baby in the carrier becusee it's the only dark/quiet place. This is NO FUN. They can visit us, but I'm not doing this again.

 

[jack871]

@effervescenteye We drove from Palm Springs to Seattle with a 2 month old and 1 year old - 25+ hours. Just dropped every couple of hours, etc. Was fine. Someone sat in the back with them the whole time.

 

[kaska]

@effervescenteye I don’t think it would be ridiculous if you are driving with the two of you! You can take turns in the back seat and a lot of their time spent will be asleep. We drove 6 hours when baby was about 2 months and it was so much easier of a drive then expected!

 

[nic227]

@effervescenteye At 8 months we did a 22 hr drive, took plenty of breaks. I know this is very different to a 2 month old, but if they are fairly ok in the car, then I would go for it.

 

[theriversedge]

@effervescenteye We did holiday road trips with both our kids at 2 months old, with mixed results. Our older child screamed the whole time and it was a total disaster. Our younger child slept the entire time so it was actually really easy. (But our next road trip with him at 4 months old was a disaster.)

You’ll need to stop a lot, so embrace “getting there is half the fun” and find some interesting places to stop along the way. We almost always break up longer trips with an overnight stop.

 

[greengables]

@effervescenteye Bear in mind it is not recommended that babies so small stay in a car seat for longer than 2 hours, since they have trouble breathing in a C shaped seating position that they usually adopt while in a car seta

 

[cfiscel]

@effervescenteye I don't think you can leave baby in a car sera for that long. It would be hell on their poor little developing spine.

 

[manpl]

@effervescenteye Stay home. Or fly if you must but consider sitting this one out.

 

[edwarayers]

@effervescenteye I couldn't have imagined doing it, there would have been a lot of stops to feed and change her. If you do end up doing it though, get a lie flat car seat. Unfortunately there's no way you can have a baby that young in a regular car seat for that long and have it be safe, even if you're watching them

 

[aryyor]

@effervescenteye With my first son, it wouldn’t have been a problem at all. He was so easy going and mellow. We took road trips when he was young. They were never 10 hours but long trips nonetheless. With my second? Hell no. You couldn’t pay me to do it.

It really depends on the baby.

 

[lwh]

@effervescenteye A 10 hour drive with a 2 month old sounds like literal torture to me and could easily end up being a 20 hour drive. No thank you!

 

[ziro]

@effervescenteye In UK you’re not recommended to go more than 30/45 mins in one sitting without a break to stretch baby as sitting up for so long isn’t recommended

 

[mamacub63]

@effervescenteye I think anything over an hour with an infant is a no for me. Unless there's some serious medical stuff going on on extenuating circumstances like that, I'm a firm believer in family coming to visit the new parents within the first year.