Rpoad Trip with 4 1/2 Month Old!

Wow,that's quite a trip! If it's financially feasible, I would suggest you find someone to make the trip with you, then they could fly back on a ticket you bought them.

Good luck,

M.

I traveled with my daughter when she was 4 months for an 8 hr drive, she slept the whole way. I left at like 4am gave her a bottle, she slept until about 10am, I stopped and gave her breakfast and she fell asleep again when we started moving.
Best of luck.
p.s. Gerber baby puff snacks are life savers.

Best of luck with the move. I hope it all goes well. I have lived in Michigan and loved it. I am a native Chicagoan living in Albuquerque now. Anyway, driving with your 5 month old will be a fun adventure. We drove from Texas to Chicago (16 hour trip) with my son as a baby, and he is now 4 years old. We are planning on driving 21 hours to Chicago this holiday with our 6 month old and 4 yr old. That should be fun.

Here are some things that worked for us:
* When you stop for gas, if your son is awake, let him out of his car seat and change his diaper and feed him.
* If you are bottle feeding, we found that buying one of those coffee mugs that plugs into your car outlet helps. We would put the bottle in it and then fill with water and warm it up while driving. It worked a lot better for us than those bottle warmers. Also you can just pay more and buy the pre-made bottles and do the same.
* Since we knew he was going to out grow his car seat (the travel system one), we bought a car seat that goes from 5 pounds to 100 pounds. It has more padding for the long trip. (We are planning on doing the same for this long ride for our 6 month old.)

I hope this helps, if you need anything else, just drop me a note.

Good luck and happy holidays.

Fly!
It will probably end up being cheaper, especially when you factor in the enormous amount of time. His airfare will be free sitting on your lap, and he'll probably sleep the whole time that way. You can nurse or give him a bottle and it will only be 3 or 4 hours
I fly AZ to Wisconsin quite a bit with my 2 kids.

I think it would be totally worth it if you could get a friend to travel with you. That would help keep you sane as well as help with the baby. We moved here from Alabama when my son was 4 months old...and we were also traveling with cats so it was a double adventure. He slept a good deal of the time but when he got fussy, I would actually sit and read my book to him. He couldn't understand the story, but appreciated the eye contact and the vocal stimulation. Maybe you could tape a few stories with your voice and that would help. And books on tape for you are a great idea as well. I think there are a bunch of great ideas here. Keep your expectations low and it will most likely be a wonderful trip. I hope it goes well. Good luck!!!

I agree with Kathy, You have a lot of great advice. My husband and I have made the drive to and from Arizona to Illinois (a 28 hour drive) several times with all 3 of our kids when they were different ages and I have to say they all traveled best when they were infants. Just try and relax, don't stress if you don't make it as far one day as you did the day before and stop when you need to.
Take Care and Best of Luck!
J.

Get a new toy for him....that will keep him intrigues for awhile. The Color Wonder book and markers are great! Fun to color, yet they won't color on your car seats or anything else but the books. Have lots of snack that are small and will take awhile to eat - graham craker bears, raisins, chopped up fruit. Bring along kid type music so he can sing along. Bring a map of where you are going and mark along the way with stickers and every 30 minutes you can show him where you are. Bring a container or bag and everytime you stop you can collect somthing (a rock, leaf, etc.) that will be souvenirs from your trip. Plan out the trip and find McDonalds that have play places an area that may have parks and bathrooms and these will be your break stops. Benedryl is a good medicine and will put most kids to sleep so you can relax and he can sleep when it is his bedtime. We have older kids (5 & 7), but recently we have a point system that whever they work out solutions together or help us with something during a trip, they get point or tickets. The tickets determine what souvenir (how much) they will get at the end of the trip!
Have a good trip!
K.

bless your heart!! I used to travel with my kids but only one day at a time.. Lots of fun music stop at fast food places for your baby to crawl around and by all means if he is sleeping drive!! try to wait until he wakes up to stop. I will be praying for you!

My first piece of advise is to relax and enjoy the trip! I took off from Colorado and headed to Delaware when my little ones were almost 3years (boy) and 4 months old (girl)and they did awesome!

Make sure you dress him as if you were in the house, my first day out I had my little ones bundled like we were headed to the store and mid day they were both hot since the car's heat was toasty! Bring blankets to cover him if he gets to chilly!

Call ahead to the hotels and make sure that they have a crib set up for you... and if I were you bring your own sheet to use! Usually a pack in play sheet! ALso don't let him roll around on the comforter toss it on the floor and let him have his tummy time and such on the sheets, they get washed more then the comforter and blankets..and we won't go there about the floor!

It has been my experience that rest stops suck to put it nicely! Even the nicest and cleanest ones usually don't have a changing table! But the truck stops seem to be the cleanest and I have not found one yet that didnt have a changing table in the ladies!

I stopped to feed Lauren every 3-4 hours and usually had to wake her up since the car puts her to sleep! If I wasn't hungry I would just pull off and sit in a parking lot and feed her while my son played the driver of the car for a few minutes!

And my biggest piece of advise! Don't go by your watch! I was to only drive 8 hours a day but it turned out most of my days were 10 or 12 hour days!

Have a safe trip!!

I know he's young, yet wee sing on tape or cd can be fun to listen to, since it's mostly kids singing it captures the attention of kids.
Hopefully he'll sleep most of the way, yet you could potentially attach some toys to his car seat for him to check out here and there.
Books on tapes may help you stay awake and the narrators rhythm may help your son stay soothed.
good luck and safe travels.

maybe a mirror or toys that play music and light up

When we traveled with our daughter at this age, we hung toys from the headrest with the colorful chains for babies. She would kick the toys, stare at them and coo as she played. We switched the toys at one of the rest stops and that kept her entertained for another hour. I wouldn't overwhelm him with too many toys at once, but perhaps you can keep some toys in a plastic box on the front seat that you can toss back to him while driving, if he starts to fuss. Music is always a big hit in our car, as is the dvd player. Our children rarely watched tv as infants, but when they did we popped in a Baby Einstein dvd and they were good to go. Most likely if you time your departure time correctly he will sleep a lot. Good luck! You are a brave woman for taking on this long of a roadtrip!

Hi there
First of all good luck you're very brave. I go back and forth to CA alot and started when my daughter was 2mo and when my son was 4 weeks. I found that if you can travel while they are sleeping (at night) they sleep more. It makes it harder for you but they are not so restless. Also bring stuff to play with but remember they don't have a long attention span. What I will reccommend is to make sure that the seat belt/ carseat straps that go by your baby's neck are padded. I traveled with my daughter once and it cut up her neck from rubbing =( Thats one of those times when you think 'oh I'm such a bad mom' (lol)Good luck again and Merry Christmas!

You may want to check out www.travelingwithkids.com and www.momsminivan.com which both have great information/products.

Be safe and happy travels!
C.

Plan in breaks for lunch etc. since you are going to be alone, know that he is going to get messy diapers, need to eat, and cry sometimes because he just wants to be held. Just don't try and rush it and you will both be a lot happier... that said, you don't want to drag it out any longer than you have to. So if you figure you have to stop at least every 3 hours for him to eat etc. make the stop at least 10 min so that you can play with him... and if he is asleep, don't stop for anything! Make sure the sun is not going to be in his eyes before you leave as that will be a pain to fix. Find some music that you think he will like as that can sometimes help. Link/tie some toys to his car seat so that he can't throw them down in the first 5 mins. If you can, position his car seat where he can see your face... he will probably stay happier longer. I go for the opposite side back seat position so that I can give them my hand to hold if they need it.
Good luck!!! and drive safely.

Hey S.,

We traveled a lot when my boy was a baby. We lived in N.C. and would visit family in P.A. About a 10 hour trip without stops. Your son will probably surprise you. The only time my son would cry is when he was hungry. He slept most of the time. We did make sure to get him out his seat and let him move around when we stopped. I

I would suggest that you, if possible, avoid the car for at least one day when you get to Michigan. My daughter (a good traveler, but not as great as my son) will do great during the trip but will completely REFUSE to ride in the car for a day or so after we get to our destination.

Good Luck. Drive carefully and have a Merry Christmas.

Good morning S.,

I traveled as a single mom, with my son years ago, very often on road trips with just the two of us, and I also had lots of different baby nursery cds and music can be entertaining and joyful and also very soothing when they are tired and it allows them to fall asleep faster and stay asleep too! Also, may I suggest putting blankets with lots of different colors and shapes on the back seats, to give them something to look at even though their vision is still adjusting, it's still stimulating for them. Talking to my son constantly throughout the drive was also very reassuring.

Good luck and have a safe trip.

Happy Holidays,

R.

You have lots of great advice, but I will just add my kids slept most of the way too at that age. We traveled 14-16 hours from California to Arizona. They really do well when they are young normally. I love the suggestions about music and books on tape. But, mostly I think if you relax and don't stress about getting somewhere by a certain time, it makes the trip much more enjoyable. And make sure you get lots of rest tonight.
Take care and my prayers are with you,
K.

I moved from California to New Mexico about a year ago with an 11 month old, doing about 8 hours of driving a day, and it isn't bad. It will be much easier travelling this distance with your son now than when he is a toddler. I would recommend plenty of breaks--I never went more than 2 hours without stopping so my daughter could get out of the car seat for a bit. I also recommend having a supply of toys for him that you can dole out, some new ones and some favorites. Hope this helps. Best of luck with the move!

You've gotten some great advice so far. Here's one more thing to add if it's not packed yet...

We traveled a lot with our kids growing up since our families are far apart. When the kids were babies, I attached their mobile from their crib to the back rest of the seat. It was a familiar sight and sound.

I moved from Wisconsin to Utah (24 hour drive)this past summer and my son was 5 1/2 months and my daughter was 3 years. I was lucky enough to have my sister-in-law driving with us so I wouldn't go crazy! We left at 4:00 in the afternoon after she finished school(she is a teacher)and we were planning on stopping late that night at a hotel, but after the beginning of the drive, we decided to drive through the night because my son did not want to be in his seat! That would be more difficult with only you though without being able to switch off or have company to stay awake. We lucked out because when we did stop the kids slept in bed with me for another 5 hours, I am sure because their quality of sleep was not that great in the car.

I think the big thing is to not specifically plan for stops at specific times in certain places. Does that make sense? Don't plan on being somewhere by a certain time because you may have to make more stops than planned, or stop for longer than planned. It would be more stressful if you are planning on sleeping at a certain hotel and you are further away than you originally planned. But by all means, it could go faster than you think too! I think leaving it at 6-10 hours a day is good to keep it open.

I would try to get new toys for him to look at hanging from his car seat or to play with, or just don't let him see old toys for a couple of days so they are like new to him. Good luck with the move and I hope all goes well!!