# Long car trip with a 10 month old!! What in the world am I going to do??i



## ChristusG (Jul 23, 2004)

My DD is 9 months old right now, but she will be 10 months when we take an 8-10 hour car trip in a few weeks. I'm really worried about the trip. I feel so mean locking her up in her car seat all day long. I've never been the type to stick her in her playpen or Exersaucer for more than 10 minutes at a time......actually we never even use the play pen! So being in a car for that many hours seems like would be really hard on her. She's at that stage where she's always everywhere and into everything and very active. I'm going to bring a lot of toys and books....and we will probably stop every 2 hours so that I can nurse her, change her, walk her around a little.

I'm actually considering buying one of those DVD players for the car. DD has never watched TV and I'm not an advocate of TV, but I may be willing to try it for a long trip. I dont even know if she will watch it, but maybe it's worth a try?

Has anyone else ever taken a long car trip with an active babe? If so, please help!!!! I'm really worrying about this trip. We have to go to DH's cousins wedding in another state.....DH is a groomsman so we have to go. I actually considered staying behind, but all of DD's cousins will be there and I would like for her to be able to "meet" them and everything. Any advice??


----------



## cmb123 (Dec 30, 2004)

One thing that worked for us was to do the drive at night, when it's mostly bedtime anyway. Even if you are usually a co-sleeping typa family, the car is always like a magical sleeping place for babies.
If you can't do that, try planning it so you can make a lot of stops. Sit in the backseat as much as you can to keep her company.

It's never a big thrill to have to drive that long with a baby, but you may be surprised that it goes a lot smoother than you think.

Just a side note..i think a dvd player would be a waste of $ for a 10month old.


----------



## eugenemama (Oct 16, 2004)

We've gone on several 5-8 hr drives to visit family. We work each trip around ds' nap schedule so that we're leaving (assuming this doesn't totally mess up our own schedule as when to arrive) about the time of his first nap. That way, the trip starts with him sleepy and hopefully snoozing in the car. But the biggest thing we've discovered helps is have 1 parent in the backseat also. That way, ds can interact as much as possible with at least one of us when he's awake. We do stop more often than otherwise, but it's not too bad. Bring cds your child likes. Bring toys that your child doesn't usually see (maybe even buy a couple new ones to bring out in the car).


----------



## MountainLovinMama (Mar 11, 2004)

My dd is three years, ds is two months - we regularly drive 11 hours (each way) to visit the grandparents in AZ. Once you get into the groove of it, it is really not as hard as it sounds! I very rarely get in the back, but interact a lot from the front (stories, games, etc, etc). For us, having an adult in the back doesn't work - there is not much space for starters, and even before ds was born and there was more space, it just didn't work as well - having an adult in the back seemed to inhibit dd's ability to be content! That said, we live in rural CO - a trip to the pediactrician is a three-hour round trip adventure, so my kids are used to being in the car for longer journeys.

What does work for us:

Novel snacks, new books (from the libe is fine, just new to her!), a few new toys (stickers, crayons and a coloring book or notepad...), magnetic games, puppets, finger puppets...

Books on tape - we get a whole bunch from the libe before we leave

Music - lullabies for when you want to calm things down or get her to nap, fun sing-along music for when everyone is getting punchy and you need a good sing!

As far as stops - we don't take a whole lot of long breaks - it is sometimes much harder to get going again after a stop! We stop for potty breaks (once dd was potty learning, we brought along our own little potty and she could pee or poop in it anywhere - if we knew she was going to poop, we'd put a plastic bag in it to contain the mess and save it for a dumpster later on! We're in the rural west, so we have plenty of quiet outdoors places to stop, not so many "rest areas"). For a snack/potty break, sometimes a grocery store is a great option - you get to walk around a bit and find healthy snack options, we often get something like a new pack of stickers, etc, and they often have nice clean bathroom facilities. Or dh will stay outside and play in the grass - or even a playground - while I go in and stock up. We stop for a good walk somewhere along the way. But I would recommend stopping when you NEED to, and then enjoying it, rather than planning a bunch of stops because you think you "should".

Hmmm...pack a good sense of humor? And plan on vacumming your car when you get home!!

Good luck!


----------



## Queen of Cups (Aug 29, 2003)

It may not be popular advice here, but I found a DVD player in the car and a couple of Baby Einstein DVDs to be priceless for long drives! At Christmas we drove 15 hours cross country and back with DS, and there was a total of 10 minutes crying (about 5 minutes the first day and 5 minutes the last day). I also kept a big bag of toys in the backseat with us so I could hand him a new one every few minutes if he wasn't watching tv. I just played with him the whole time and we stopped every couple of hours and walked around for a few minutes. I also realized that I could nurse him in the carseat if I leaned far enough forward - I could even keep my lap belt on! I found that DS slept a lot more than usual on the trip, actually. I was sooo worried about the trip before we left, but it was a piece of cake!


----------



## bendmom (Sep 4, 2003)

We do a ton of 5-8 hour trips too...

I would sit in the back and get in this awkward position and bf ds in his carseat. That always seemed to do the trick, if you have room. We also would stop every 2- 3 hours to get and feed, otherwise they just fuss for a while, and go to sleep. Do you have a laptop you could play something on so you don't have to buy a DVD player?


----------



## ChristusG (Jul 23, 2004)

Thanks for all the help mamas! Maybe I'm just worrying for nothing.....hopefully it will go alot smoother than I have been anticipating!!

As for nursing, we will definitely have to stop. I have itty bitty boobies that do not stretch very far at all, lol! I even have a hard time nursing lying down. So nursing stops are a must for us!

Not sure about the DVD player yet.....I may check on ebay and see what kind of deal I can get there. DD loves Dora, but has never watched her on TV, so maybe I could get a Dora video for her to watch.

And I like the idea about buying some new toys that she's never seen before.....that should be a hit!


----------



## Queen of Cups (Aug 29, 2003)

I think that buying a dvd player is a lot safer than using a laptop because a car dvd player is mounted to something, whereas a laptop would become a (hefty) projectile if you were in a wreck.

As far as nursing in the carseat - I'm only a B cup -- it just takes a lot of contortion! But its so worth it if you're not at a safe place to stop and baby is upset...

ETA: We got our DVD player at the evil place (Wal-mart) for about $150 - best money I ever spent there!


----------



## annethcz (Apr 1, 2004)

We've taken our kids on lots of long car trips, at all different ages. My experiences with travelling with children at around 10 months of age has been really good. We don't even have playpens, exersuacers, etc., so my kids are very used to running around during the day. But at 10 months, although my children might get restless, they generally travelled well. A 10 month old is old enough that you won't have to stop every hour or two to nurse the baby, and young enough to sleep well and not need to get out and run around every few hours. My experience has been that kids sleep a LOT more in the car when we're on vacation, but since travelling can be tiring anyway, their sleep schedules haven't been totally decimated.

I did use a VCR in the car when I took a multi-day trip a few years ago, for my older kids. I think you'd have to have a van for it to work with a rear-facing baby, though. And I don't know if it would be worth it. I used a VCR once for older kids, but haven't used it since, even though we've been on longer trips since then. It just took up too much space and wasn't as useful as I thought it would be.

Good luck, and have a good trip!


----------



## LizD (Feb 22, 2002)

A friend of mine said driving from PA to FL with a baby the same age got her over her horror of using formula. She found that feeding the baby a bottle (of course you could use breastmilk or try to nurse yourself) bought them some time. Stopping frequently can be a real drag.


----------



## aniT (Jun 16, 2004)

I have gone on a couple 10 hours car trips with dd. Once when she was 8 months and the other at 9 months.

The first trip DH drove. We left at 2 am and dd sleep most of the way. She was only awake for maybe the last 3 hours or so of the trip. On the return trip she was awake a great deal more since we left during the day. I sat in the back with dd and nursed her when she needed nursed. Also, we do have a car DVD player. They are much smaller and lighter than a laptop. I did have to put a blanket on dd's legs (this was summer and she was wearing shorts) cause the dvd player got warm, but that was the only problem. I played the "Your baby can read" DVD's. They were so much help. http://www.infantlearning.com/yourbabycanread.html

On the 2nd trip, it was just me and all 3 kids. Becasue I got such a late start (we were moving) I only went about 3 hours the first day and 7 the next. Again, DD2 and DD3 took turns with the DVD player. I also had to stop every couple hours to change and feed the baby. (on first trip dh refused to stop unless it was nessesary so I had to change quickly at gas stops and use doublers and such) The older girls were happy to get out of the car and streach their legs at rest stops as well. Personally I have no desire to do this trip again. I thought about visiting grandma during spring break, but I changed my mind. I don't want to do that drive again.







Good luck with your trip


----------



## meco (Mar 1, 2004)

Take lots of breaks. We did a 22 hour drive, but we broke it up. If there was a rest stop, we stopped. If there was an attraction of some sort, we pulled over.

It was all about the breaks. I also did most of my driving at night b/c my son would sleep for longer periods.

Lots of music and talking too.

The DVD player did not go over so well. My son would watch it for 10 minutes and be done. Needless to say, not worth it.

I did the drive alone, had I had someone to be in the back to read to my son it would have been fewer stops.


----------



## mollyeilis (Mar 6, 2004)

If it is at all possible, my first bit of advice is to take the train!







I love the train and so does DS.

But if there's no train going your way...

Expressed breast milk is a good idea. Our son has never needed it so we would just dump it at the end of the journey, but it felt good to have some with us.

If baby is rear-facing, I'm not sure you could mount a DVD player (as someone mentioned) so the baby could see it...unless you have a really big vehicle.

I really wouldn't nurse the baby in a moving car...as convenient as it might seem, if there's a car accident while you're contorted like that, snap-goes-your-spine.









My second best bit of advice, and I don't know if it works for everyone...YOU do as much driving as possible. Our son does SO much better with my hubby in the back seat, rather than me...I think he looks at me and imagines how much he could be eating, and so he's more fussy. But when he's got papa in the back seat, he knows there's little to be gained there.









Good luck with your trip!


----------

