Doodle did amazingly well on our recent trip to Atlanta. The drive up took us right at 10 hours and we only had to stop twice. The first leg we made it about 4 hours and 250 miles. The second leg we made it another almost 3 hours leaving the last leg at just about 2 hours.
He wasn’t perfect in the car, but just the fact we only had to stop twice was amazing and made me very happy. I was nervous he would start screaming and I’d have to make extra stops and also that he would have trouble loading back into the car to continue on (these worries were based the experience we had on our drive up to Ocala a few months ago) but he was great, he never fussed about getting into his car seat and only cried a handful of times, most of them calming pretty quickly. Only once did he get hysterical but did eventually cry himself to sleep after about 20 minutes (and I would have stopped but we were in the middle of nowhere South Georgia and I couldn’t find a suitable place!)
While I’m not an expert car traveler with kids (most of my experience has been flying) I do have a few tips that I found really useful on our trip:
Plan for your baby or children to sleep in the car. If on a strict sleeping schedule, try to leave a little before they usually go to bed/nap. Kids are way easier in the car if they’re asleep!- Prepare baby the same as for a nap or sleep. Feed them just before leaving, change their diaper and put them in comfy clothes. Also give them any lovey items they usually sleep with to help them understand sleep is expected.
- Bring entertainment. We don’t have a DVD player or anything like that so have to rely on “old-fashioned” entertainment. For the girls I always buy a small craft or drawing kit at the dollar store (or dollar racks at Target or the craft/fabric store) so they have something new and exciting to do in the car. For Doodle, I packed a bag full of all his soft toys. Because he is still in his infant carrier and I was by myself, I needed things I could kind of toss into his seat that wouldn’t hurt and cause unnecessary drama and/or stops!
- Take lots of snacks! This is more for the driver than the kids (a trick I learned when driving to my Nana’s house for school holidays in college!). Not only will the food give you energy if you start to get bored or tired, but even just the act of eating can keep you alert! I always take my favorite foods and forget the diet for the day. For older kids, I recommend snacks that are not messy and that you can help distribute, we like things like baby carrots, fresh snap peas, and fruit snacks.
- Don’t plan your stops unless you’re doing an overnight or sightseeing. I recommend to just keep driving (driving, driving…) so long as the baby/kids are sleeping and/or content. I would never wake a kid up for a stop over unless absolutely necessary for fear they would not go back to sleep!
- BUT pay attention to what’s on your route and know your limits. If you can’t stand to listen to your baby cry very long, pay attention to what amenities are close by at all times. Part of our journey was on the Florida turnpike which has limited access and very sporadic rest stops. I paid very close attention to how far I was from the next rest stop and knew I could do 20-30 minutes of all-out hysteria so decided as I approached each one whether or not I’d be able to make it to the next one if he lost control right after passing the current one.
Know where you’re okay stopping. I’m comfortable with the Florida Turnpike service plazas. The Georgia state rest stops looked okay as well. I am not okay with a truck stop or a gas station off a small exit. I prefer bigger cities with more stuff and bathrooms in restaurants (I find Chick-fil-A are always clean!)- Create a soundtrack you love. Pick some songs (not too many, 6-10ish) that you love, can listen to for hours and jam to. As soon as you know you’ll be roadtripping start playing the soundtrack in the car ALL.THE.TIME! Getting baby used to hearing the songs in the car will be similar to having a bedtime song/sound routine and should help calm baby at least sometimes plus singing along will help keep you alert! (We lucked into this one since the girls are obsessed with Frozen and insist on listening to it all the time so Doodle is used to it and I know all the words!)
- Pay attention to the sun. If possible, put the rear-facing (or most whiny child) on the side of the car that will be out of the sun. The air conditioning doesn’t easily reach rear-facing children and the beating sun in addition only makes for an angry, hot mess of a baby! (To get air to the back, though, try setting the air to go on the windshield which will help push it up and over into the back and cool the car overall).
Let the kids run free! Whenever you stop, feed the kids, take them to the bathroom or change their diaper but also give them time to stretch and move. When I stopped for lunch with Doodle, instead of putting him in a highchair like I usually would, I let him stand next to me in the booth instead.
