Over the last few months my little family has gone on a handful of road trips- each about 4 hours away. At the end of this month we'll be embarking on our longest yet- 6 hours to visit our friends in the middle of nowhere! However, I can confidently say that trip will be a breeze with the tips and tricks I've been picking up. If you had told me a few months ago that I would be excited to take my almost 4 month old for any long trips in the car I would have scoffed at you. I remember the days where I couldn't even fathom taking a walk around the block with her! Anyway, I thought I would share some of the things that have worked for me in case anyone else is experiencing the cabin fever that was once terrorizing me.
Timing Is Everything
-What has worked for us is to make sure everyone is fed right before we get in the car. That includes mom and dad, but especially baby. Babies love the car so they will snooze if they're happy. Duh right? The key to keeping them asleep and happy is to time your travels (if you can) with regular nap times. For instance, my daughter takes little naps throughout the day but takes the longest ones at 11:30 and at 5. Of course we take into account what time we need to be somewhere, but more often than not her nap times have helped us avoid traffic too... its a win/win! My real secret is leaving after she eats dinner (between 7pm and 9pm) when we are on our way home- we're night owls anyway so getting home late is easiest for us, because we can all crawl into bed and leave the unpacking for the next day and she'll sleep the entire trip home without missing any major feedings.
-Plan your 'lunch break' into your travel times (as far as your arrival) but leave the actual lunch break timing to the baby. I threw the timed feeds out the window a long time ago and just feed on demand now. We let the baby dictate when we stop to eat in car rides. The goal is to cover as much ground as possible while she's asleep, and we pack snacks to munch on so we aren't tempted to pull over at eat before she's awake. We've even gone almost 4 hours with her napping and without stopping in the car before she wants to eat, and while I wouldn't normally go that long, she is more than happy with this arrangement for car rides. We try to pick restaurants where I can breast feed and feel comfortable, otherwise we go through the drive-thru and I nurse in the car.
Nursing On The Road
-Bring that nursing pillow ladies! My go-to position when I have to nurse in the car is pretty simple. I sit with my back against one of the back seat doors and sit cross legged facing her car seat. I put my nursing pillow on my lap and then get her out of her seat. If it's dark out or deserted I don't even bother with the nursing cover. I realize that car seat placement and how tall you are may make this more difficult. We have her seat in the middle of the back row and I'm not even 5 feet tall- so I fit perfectly in one of the side seats in this position- but if you have yours all the way to one side you will have even more room.
-Nursing covers are becoming the villain to our nursing story. As my daughter has gotten older shes much busier and is less happy about being covered. She will thrash around until she's either exposed me or gotten me to give up a feeding and move myself to a quieter, more secluded nursing spot. In the car I still want to keep my modesty if its a busy area so I put the neck strap on the back of my husband's driver seat head rest and let one side of the cover rest on the car seat and the other on my shoulder. It creates more of a tent-like atmosphere that she is a lot happier about.
-WATER! WATER! WATER! Especially in this heat, keeping hydrated is key. I have found that when I am most hydrated, our feedings are shorter and more efficient... which means getting back on the road sooner. Maybe I'll finally be the one to invent a safe way to nurse in the car, but until then- water is my BFF.
Keeping Baby Happy
-My daughter is only a car sleeper for about 40% of the time, so I have to keep her occupied. This may be obvious to some but for me this is took some trial and error. Putting baby in comfy clothes for the ride. Before, I tried to be the most efficient and put her in the outfit for whatever occasion we were going to. Dress and go right? Nope. Now, I'll just put her in a onesie and then change her into her 'party clothes' then. It also makes changing diapers on the road a lot easier.
-Diapers could be your worst enemy on any car trip. This I also learned the hard way- we stopped because she was fussy and wanted to eat... we were stopped for 30 minutes between her eating and us eating and then we were on the road again. I had completely forgot to change her diaper and had to stop again to fix my mistake. Now, if we have to stop for any reason I change her diaper. Sure, we go through a few more diapers on road trip days vs normal days, but I never have to make extra stops because of a wet toosh.
-Mommy sits in the back. In the first 2 months of her life I only sat in the back with her, but in the last month or so I have felt confident enough to move to the front. The only time I revert back to my old ways is on road trips. This I have also learned the hard way. Instead of unbuckling and leaning into the back and risking my life, it's far easier to just resume my old post in the back seat. A lot of the time, she just needs her binky replaced and we are good to go- something I would mistake for needing to eat again from the front seat. Being in the back also helps me with the next part:
-Distractions! Even little babes need something to look at. We aren't fancy-schmancy with infant mirrors we use old fashioned methods of keeping our babe happy. Here are some of my favorites:
-a colorful bib does wonders (especially because we're in a particularly drooley phase) she just loves looking at the colors, and you can dangle it from a head rest.
-singing is one of my favorite past times anyway, and even when my voice is not at its best it still manages to get a boat load of smiles from my daughter. She loves anything- but especially loves the Beatles. That's my girl!
-I am a dedicated car reader. If I'm not sleeping on a car trip, I'm reading. It doesn't really matter what you read- it's the tone of voice (thank you Tom Selleck in Three Men and a Baby) on our trip this weekend I read her most of The Hunger Games and she loved it.
-I am addicted to putting bows in my daughter's hair but in her car seat they usually fall out so I like to clip them to my seat belt, or to the side of her car seat and she will stare and coo and talk to them for hours. It's seriously the best and it literally takes no additional planning!
-This one you are going to laugh at- I keep my nails painted bright colors. I know that sounds crazy but she will hold my hands and twirl and bend my fingers around and focus so intently on my nails. It keeps her busy and I enjoy the fact that she's holding my hand for long periods of time. Plus, I can pretend that mommy-time is spent for the greater good!
So that's it- a lot of this may be common sense, but for me it is all new and valuable information that I acquired first hand. I love research, but I couldn't find much about traveling with littles because everyone says "oh they just sleep the whole time" but I am not so lucky. I am hoping all these trips now will get her used to being comfortable in the car in the long run. My family took countless road trips while I was growing up, and I remember how much I loved them, so I'd like to pass that along to her too.
