Long car ride with 3 month old

[bec28]

In a few weeks DH and I will be driving to Pa to visit family with our 3 month old. The trip is about 6 hours and I'm really nervous about it! DS does really well in his car seat sometimes, and other times he screams bloody murder till we can stop and take him out. He refuses to be calmed down in his car seat. Well, a few times I've been able to stop his crying before it starts by getting him to suck on my finger. He also seems to do better if I'm sitting in the back seat with him. He's absolutely not interested in a pacifier or any toys.

Do you smart mommas have any tricks up your sleeves for helping this trip to go smoothly?

[HeliMom]

I had to do a 7 hr car ride with DD when she was that little.

The first step is leave very early in the am! This way the baby will most likely go back to sleep. We got 3 hrs of quiet sleeping by leaving at 4:30 am. Be prepared for an extremely long trip. Our 7 hour trip took 12 hours because of baby girl needing changes/ being breastfed(didn't pump) and sanity walks. It helps to beak up the drive with a meal and a walk in a park/ rest area. Relax and re adjust. We break when she wakes up and can't be calmed down.

Clapping, oh my god so much clapping. It may drive your vehicle companions nuts but a song with clapping in rhythm could usually stem the freak-out for 1/2 an hour to an hour.

Hope these help you, they work for us, some of the time

[odoole]

We did a 12 hour car trip (turned into a 16 hour trip with all the stops) with DS around that age. We decided to leave in the evening and drive through the night in the hopes that DS would sleep through the whole trip, and he did! We were prepared to make it a two day journey, but since he kept sleeping, we kept driving!

So yeah, see if you can keep him up during the day and drive when he's tired.

Now DS is almost 6 months and much more fussy in the car seat than he was at 3 months. My current strategy is to have a bottle ready for when we put him in the seat. He usually calms down once we start driving. But if he does get fussy again, I generally have to go sit in the back with him and sing lots of silly songs and give him toys to chew on.

[galincognito]

we did a three week road trip with dd1 when she was that age. things that worked for us: having someone sit in the backseat with her, regular rests to play (for example when we'd stop for supper, we layed her down on the table so she could kick and squirm), finger sucking, passing of different objects, tickling of toes, singing songs. but truthfully, she slept a lot. she probably only woke up every 4-6 hours (even during the day). i'd just plan on taking longer than necessary to get there and hope for the best.

[Lula's Mom]

Originally Posted by odoole

We decided to leave in the evening and drive through the night in the hopes that DS would sleep through the whole trip, and he did!

We always drive long trips at night when the babies are little. We just did a 7.5 hour overnight drive with our 3 month old and he slept great. If he woke, we stopped to nurse and change the diaper and then he'd fall asleep while we kept right on going. You'll be tired the next day, but for me the lack of stress and screaming in the car is completely worth it.

[cristeen]

I do 2 hour trips alone with my little guy. The only thing that makes it work is timing it so that he'll sleep. I have to power through it - if I stop for more than 5 minutes, he'll wake up and be UP (and scream the rest of the way). I put him in a night-time dipe, dress him moderately so he's not too hot or too cold (assuming you're keeping the car heater on), feed him right before we leave, and if I need to stop, hit a drive-thru (I love that Starbucks have drive-thrus).

[coldandsleepy]

We drove 13 hours from here to Oregon to visit the in-laws at Christmas. Our son was just under 3 months then, and we broke it into two days of driving each way.

I don't have any real tips other than to try and be on the road at times when your baby would be napping anyway. My son always takes a nap about an hour after he wakes up (so usually at 8:30), and we found that if we were in the car when nap time rolled around, he'd both fall asleep like usual and STAY asleep for a longer chunk than usual. Maybe the constant motion, I don't know.

When he was awake and somewhat fussy in the car, I moved in back and sat with him. That seemed to work well for keeping him fairly happy though he did lose his patience a couple of times.

Another thing that I guess kind of helped us was our mindsets... we didn't plan on making good time or anything and we fully expected to have to stop at every freakin' rest stop on the way. It actually turned out we didn't need to stop hardly at all, and that was a pleasant surprise that helped us deal with the overall annoyingness of the experience.

Good luck, I hope you guys have a wonderful trip!

[Dmitrizmom]

We moved about 6 hours north the week before dd2 turned 3 months... The biggest trick for us was stopping before she got too wound up and upset. So much easier to stop, nurse, change her and get her settled than to have to calm her down first. She did really well and our extra stops only added about an hour to the drive.

Good luck.

[bec28]

Thanks for the ideas everyone! DH wants to leave during the day, I think I'll have to try to time it during Aidan's nap. I told DH that if it doesn't work, we're driving through the night on the way home

We'll have to try to stop before he gets too upset, I think that's a really good idea. I'm still a little nervous, but am feeling better about it. Hopefully it will go better then I'm expecting!

[Harmony96]

Timing it during his nap is a good idea.

We all went up to visit my family over Christmas, and b/c of DH's schedule, we left in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, right after that HUGE snowstorm. It was supposed to be a 6.5-hour trip (even w/ the stops). It ended up being a 23-hour trip. The only "stops" we were able to make was while traffic was at a dead stop. I fed DS in the front seat w/o even leaving the highway, and changed diapers on my lap, all without the car moving an inch, lol. The good part was that both of the kids slept for the first 12 hours, so that was nice.

You can do it. Just plan for some extra time, like others have said, and don't be in a huge hurry or anything. If you need to stop just 15 minutes after your prior stop, that's OK, b/c then it might mean that the next 4-5 hours will be cake.

[nicole528]

We did a 3.5 hour trip with my DD, who hated the car and her carseat, when she was 9 weeks old. What worked for us was white noise. We would turn static on the radio up real high and it usually calmed her down. I also pumped in the car and gave her a bottle (although it only worked one time during the trip). When she got really upset, we just pulled over and I nursed her and held her for a little while until she was calm and then we would try again. She actually slept most of the way there. The way home wasn't as smooth, but we survived and just took our time. But the white noise really did help us and it still does when she fusses in the car. Good luck!!!

Nicole (and Maya 11/09)