Road trip with a 5 month old...Is this a bad idea???

[mommyj]

DH and I are trying to figure out whether to fly or drive to my parents' for the holidays. It's 14-15 hours each way, but we could break it up into 8 shorter trips by staying with friends who live about half-way between us.
So...is this a terrible idea? DS is exclusively BFed, and he still eats every 2-3 hours. He's not a huge fan of the car, but he seems to like it a lot more now that we put him in his new Britax Marathon (he's a super-chunk, so he already outgrew his snugride).
Anyway, have any of you taken road trips with a 5 or 6 month old baby? If so, would you do it again? Also, if we do decide to drive, do you have any suggestions on how to make the trip a happy one?
TIA!

[jd11365]

FLY! (If you can afford it.) While we took a road trip when Kayla was 10 weeks old, it was ok because she slept most of the way because of her age. She was pretty unhappy for the last 4 hours though. Now at 6 months, there is no way she could handle it...but that's just my baby. What stinks is if she's screaming, you have to either listen to it...which is not so possible in a small space like a car/van or pull over...which is a pain if she is fussy for a longer period of time. DH had to take the "family road trip" to satisfy some fatherly need he had when the baby was born, but Kayla and I flew home...lol! She didn't want to get in the car seat for weeks afterward...we swore she was thinking we were going back on the road for the 19 hour trip to Pennsylvania!

Have fun whatever you decide!

Jamie
Mommy to Kayla
5-1-03

[starrynight]

It depends on your kid. Alex never minded long trips but Daria always used to hate long car rides. She is much better now that she is older and ff. We took a 6 hour drive to Florida when Daria was 4 months old and it was awful! She cried most of the way there, most of the way back and hated the car for weeks after like Jamie mentioned. I think she always thought we were going back on the road for a long trip.

[Melanie]

Uhm...we did a 3 hour-turned 5 becauase of traffic-road trip when Ds was 8-9 months old and it was too long (we didn't stop). Why not take a shorter test trip somewhere and see how that goes?

[houseof3boys]

We made that trip when DS was 2 months old! Ryan eats about every 1.5-2 hours too. It was a very looooooong day of driving, I will tell you that. Lots of stopping for all of us to stretch and for Ryan to eat. When we took a much shorter trip of about 6 hours, I pumped in the car and DH went into the back seat and gave him a bottle so we didn't stop everytime he needed to eat and that sped things up. Our DS was much happier in the luxurious Britax too and I think that made a big difference in how much he would tolerate the car as he hates it too. If you have the time and want to break it up, I think it is a great idea to stay with your friends because if you say the trip is 14-15 hours add a few hours with a baby. You really need to make sure that he gets out of the seat to stretch too! DH would recline the front seat and just put him on his chest so he could stretch and get a little tummy time in while I went to the restroom or ate.

Have one of you sit in the back too as that makes for a much happier trip. We brought books, toys and all kinds of distractions for him.

We are making the long trip to Florida in January again instead of flying since I just couldn't see getting on a plane with flu germs everywhere!

Good luck. :)

[MKH76]

I may be getting in here a little late as it is Thanksgiving evening. We did a cross country drive (from Cape Cod to Seattle) when DS was 10 mos old. We did a lot of stopping to feed the baby. I think as long as you know a head of time that you will be stopping alot, you can do it.

When DS was 5 mos, I would drive (just him and me, daddy is in the military and was away) 5 hours each way to have lunch with my father who was dying of cancer at the time. I didn't have the option to fly, because I made this trip about once a week. I would get on the road at 5am while my cuddle bug was still in his jammies. Pull over to feed/diaper/change clothes at about 730 ish and try to stretch the next leg of the trip until about 10am (when we would be pulling into the nursing home) then I would feed/diaper again before going in to see Papa. We would visit until about 2 and then hit the road again before afternoon rush hour, again stopping to feed after about 2 hours (actually, it seems like I always stopped twice on the way home, DS was a cluster feeder in the evenings). I would usually make it home by about 9pm, feeling bushed. I share my story so you know anything can be done with a loving heart. I am so glad Josh got to spend some time with his grandfather even if he will be too young to remember.

[C99]

We've done a few short road trips when Nate was 5-7 months old. He did OK, but they were under 6 hours each. I don't think he would have lasted much longer though.

[MelissaTC]

We drove from NC to NY last Christmas which is about 10.5 hours driving time. We hit terrible traffic in NJ but that is another story. Matthew was 6 months old. He slept a lot. We stopped a few times for him to nurse, etc.. He ate his solid foods at the rest stops and nursed in the car. It was a great trip.

Be prepared to stop and sit with him in the back, if necessary. We planned on stopping and I think that helped us. I was more of a pain than DS was! I attached toys to the seat belt (he too was in a convertible seat - RA) and he was as happy as a clam.

When I tried to drive from NC to AR which is a 14 hr trip with DS at a year old, that was a different story! LOL... If your little guy can handle the car well, I say go for it.

[AngelaS]

Driving shouldn't be a problem. :) Last winter we took Gabrielle at 8 months on a 10 day, 4100 mile trip. We drove from Iowa to western Montana in two days, stayed a week, then drove to Las Vegas in two days and home in two days. It was kinda nuts, but a fun trip.

She nursed every 4 hours at the time, so when we'd stop, I'd feed her, we'd get gas, often eat a meal ourselves and continue on our journey. I sat in the backseat to entertain her and then when she got tired, I'd give her her lovey and she'd go to sleep. She took some GOOD naps. :D

Driving can work....just be prepared to sit in the backseat. :D

[amp]

We haven't flown with DS yet, so I can't give you a comparison, but I will tell you that a car trip is doable. We traveled for Thanksgiving from Kansas to Michigan. It's about a 13 hr trip (pre-baby) with food and pit stops. On the way there, we spent the night just over halfway, in Indianapolis. On the way home we just ended up driving straight through. Jake slept a LOT, so that helped. I'd do it again, but hopefully not real soon. He hated being put back in the carseat each time, but eventually he'd nap again. Oh, and as for his age, he just turned 6 mths on this trip.

[Jen in Chicago]

We plan on it!

We have a weird loop we do each Christmas to see my Grandparents, so we will be doing it with a 6 mo old this year. He has done 2 10+ hour trips when we was less than a month old b/4 we flew with him (4 rt trips so far.) To fly our trip at Christmas it would be $500 per person. We are going to rent a big car and hope for the best. I hope to travel at some off times.

[mommyj]

Thanks for all the feedback. Now I know if we do decide to drive, it can be done. We still need to make up our minds.