Going on a long car trip...

cryswilkins · Jun 25, 2007

We are driving 10 hours to go camping and I was wondering if anyone has any advise for me. My DD is about 7 months and RF (obviously

) in a RA. This will be the longest road trip that we have taken with her. On the way there we will be driving at night so I am hoping that she will sleep but the way home is usually during the day. Any tips for me? Stoping frequently once we get over the Mackinaw Bridge is not really an option because there are very few places to stop. We camp in the middle of nowhere, lol.

TIA!

doriansmummy · Jun 25, 2007

I would plan on sitting back there with her. If you nurse I use to be able to nurse over the seat (yes, with my seat belt on!

) on long car rides.
New books to look at, playsilks, fun new textures to touch, music making toys...
Thos eare my ideas hope that helps!

sfeitler · Jun 25, 2007

doriansmummy said:
I would plan on sitting back there with her. If you nurse I use to be able to nurse over the seat (yes, with my seat belt on! ) on long car rides.
New books to look at, playsilks, fun new textures to touch, music making toys...
Thos eare my ideas hope that helps!

Leaning over to nurse is dangerous, for both you and the baby. If you crash right then, you're both going to suffer...

Even in the middle of nowhere, you can pull over and get out. The baby doesn't care if there are restrooms, food, etc. She just wants to get out. Seven hours is a long time... with my DD1, we had to drive from Cleveland to Detroit one evening when she was 6 months old. It's a 3.5 hour drive. DH and I sang the whole dang time, 'cause whenever we stopped, she started screaming. It was awful.

At night, you might be able to drive straight through. During the day, though, do your driving during nap time as much as possible. When she's awake, she's probably going to get bored, and you'll need to find a way to entertain her.

-Sarah

southpawboston · Jun 25, 2007

no advice other than the PP's, but wow!!! camping with a 7 mo!!! that's awesome! has she done it before? that would have been impossible with either of our DDs... take them out of their routines and they're all out of sorts...

Connor's Mom · Jun 26, 2007

I would suggest trying to split the drive up into 2 days if possible. 10 hours is a long time for a baby or toddler to sit in the seat even with frequent stops.

Patriot201 · Jun 26, 2007

I know you said stopping often isn't really possible, but I would try to stop as often as you can. You all need to stretch your legs!

ajay · Jun 26, 2007

We just took an 8 month old on a 22 hour drive (each way!) to Florida. We drove straight through. He did GREAT!! It actually worked better for us to NOT sit with him- if he saw us, he wanted out. You'll figure what works best for you.

We also left at night, so a lot of the drive was while he was asleep anyway. Then throughout the day we just stopped when we would stop for gas, got him out and played and he was a happy camper. Bottles and toys helped for the inbetween times.

Have a great trip, it sounds like fun!

natysr · Jun 26, 2007

My first suggestion would be the oh so controversial DVD player. That you can make your own opinion about, but it really helped us alot.

Like some previous posters said, sitting in the back with her may or may not help. In our case, there were times when it did help, and there were times when it didn't.

I did recently see this product in a catalog that I thought was really cool and wish they had when my son was a baby. It looks safe to me.

http://onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=148757&itemNumber=10313

southpawboston · Jun 26, 2007

natysr said:
My first suggestion would be the oh so controversial DVD player. That you can make your own opinion about, but it really helped us alot.

Like some previous posters said, sitting in the back with her may or may not help. In our case, there were times when it did help, and there were times when it didn't.

I did recently see this product in a catalog that I thought was really cool and wish they had when my son was a baby. It looks safe to me.

http://onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=148757&itemNumber=10313

yes! we had the carseat gallery! great for young infants, but both our DD's grew tired of it by 6-7 months. and yes, it's safe. i would have no problem using it again.

CrabbyBunchX3 · Jun 26, 2007

We made a 20 hr florida trip with a then 8mth old, and although we didnt drive straight through(2, 10hour days) we stopped as we normally would for gas or food (or if somone had a poopy bottom) and had DD out and about then. She was GREAT! She had been horrible in the car seat before this trip, but was an absolute doll during the drive and has been great in her seat since.

We had soft toys for her and sippy cups. We also bought a mirror for the back head rest for her and I think this helped as well. Oh and an elmo cd lol she loved to hear elmo sing.

good luck and I wish I were going!

MomToEliEm · Jun 26, 2007

We have taken 16 hour car rides before with our two daughters. We really were surprised at how well they did. We tried the DVD player on a couple of the trips, but it really wasn't a hit (maybe my kids were too young to car about it). We had planned to stop often (had several stopping spots picked out), but the girls did so well that we really didn't stop as often as we had expected. We played a lot of music and had some new toys for them. One of the biggest hits was some new puppets. We were able to do puppet shows over the side of the carseat and they thought that was so funny.

solmama · Jun 26, 2007

We take a 12 hour trip 2x's a year to visit family. My ds didn't like it at all and nothing soothed him...we just had to learn to tolerate his crying. Me sitting where he could see me only made it worse. On the other hand, our dd, at 3, is a great traveler and will sit for hours w/o stopping. My only advice is to do whatever works...does she have a favorite song/cd she finds soothing, favorite toy? We sometimes purchased inexpensive, new toys to entertain. We also found that more frequent stopping made my ds's agony worse...putting him back in his seat after a bit of relief only made him scream louder. Ugh! Eventually he 'd go to sleep. We also figured that dividing the drive up into 2 days (if the kids were miserable) would only make for 2 bad days, so we always drive in 1 day. Good Luck!

monzogary · Jun 26, 2007

I am taking the same length trip next week, and its sounds as if I am going in the same direction as you as well! I live in SE MI and am going to my parents' house in the U.P. and it takes me 10 hrs to drive with the kids. I usually try to do it all in one day if I can. There are places you can stop in the U.P. if that is a problem - I know the area from US 2 at the bridge up through Seney and on to Marquette adn beyond quite well, as I have been making this drive at least once a year for the last 17 yrs. The hardest drive for me had to be the one I took when Heather was 2.5 and Laura was 8 wks, I drove with them by myself. I let them sleep as long as they would, and would stop otherwise at least every 2 hrs. Now that they are older, we do have a dvd player with 2 screens for them. I am driving them alone again this time and am hoping I don't have to stop too often lol.
Good luck, and let me know if you need any more help with traveling in MI.

doriansmummy · Jun 26, 2007

sfeitler said:
Leaning over to nurse is dangerous, for both you and the baby. If you crash right then, you're both going to suffer...

Even in the middle of nowhere, you can pull over and get out. The baby doesn't care if there are restrooms, food, etc. She just wants to get out. Seven hours is a long time... with my DD1, we had to drive from Cleveland to Detroit one evening when she was 6 months old. It's a 3.5 hour drive. DH and I sang the whole dang time, 'cause whenever we stopped, she started screaming. It was awful.

At night, you might be able to drive straight through. During the day, though, do your driving during nap time as much as possible. When she's awake, she's probably going to get bored, and you'll need to find a way to entertain her.

-Sarah

Sorry I did not mean to list something that was dangerous, I guess take that off my list. I pretty much had no choice in the matter when I did it on our trip as my son was a car screamer and we drove to California over night (my brother and hubby drove) and that was the only thing that helped.
But, I did not know it was dangerous, now that I think about it.

natysr · Jun 26, 2007

I just wanted to add that all stops should be done in a safe area. Not on the side of the highway. Pull off the highway and into some sort of a parking lot.

I say this because of the danger of "target fixation" tired drivers (or even alert drivers in bad weather) tend to target fixate on the cars they see in font of them (even sometimes if they are on the side of the road).

This happened to my friend's father. The weather was really bad and it was raining really hard that he did not feel safe driving on the freeway, so he pulled over and parked on the shoulder of the freeway. Another car saw his tail lights and thought that they veared out of their proper lane and tried to get back in the lane behind my friend's father. He was hit from behind and was killed.

melniemi · Jun 26, 2007

Are you going North of the Mackinac Bridge?? Do you mind me asking where you camp? I live in the UP so I am curious! We have camped nearly every year since my dh and I have been together - 3 years ago we went w/our 5 WEEK old dd for 10 days, no running water or electricity!! I drove 11 hours from Peoria, IL to Bond Falls, MI - with our 2 and 3 yr olds as well, by myself and we managed fine! My dh followed w/the truck and camper. My only advice is to be prepared to stop often even tho it may seem inconvenient! You may find that your baby does fine and may not need to stop any more frequent than if she wasn't with you! Good luck and have fun camping!

cryswilkins · Jun 26, 2007

I can't believe that any of you all know where we are going. We camp at Mclain Stat Park in Calumet. My Best friend has family in South Range and we go for the 4th every year. I know that there are places to stop but we just don't like to and in the early morning hours I would like to keep the stopping to a min. if possible. I love it up there. Zoe has never been but we have been going for 3 years. We are just considering it an adventure! She is going to have to get used to going eventually.

ETA: We are tent campers in case anyone was wondering.

melniemi · Jun 26, 2007

I bet she will have a blast and I know exactly where McLains State Park is!! I grew up about 8-10 miles from South Range in Chassell!!! Welcome to the U.P. I would bet that all the fresh air will wear your baby right out and she'll sleep like a dream! Have a blast. By the way, if we camp this year, we'll be tenting also since we sold our camper last fall. We felt it would be too small for this summer since we had our 4th baby in January! Have fun!

cryswilkins · Jun 26, 2007

melniemi said:
I bet she will have a blast and I know exactly where McLains State Park is!! I grew up about 8-10 miles from South Range in Chassell!!! Welcome to the U.P. I would bet that all the fresh air will wear your baby right out and she'll sleep like a dream! Have a blast. By the way, if we camp this year, we'll be tenting also since we sold our camper last fall. We felt it would be too small for this summer since we had our 4th baby in January! Have fun!

We have been to Chassell. I do love it up there I was just a bit worried about it being cold, but it has been HOT this year so I am not worried anymore. Our first year there we wore our winter coats at night. Its the only place that I have ever been that you pack all seasons worth on clothes in July.

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