Road Trips- Post Baby

After driving 16 hours to Florida and back, my mom says to me, “I told you road trips with a baby are awful.”

Well, yes and no.

Road trips with a baby with my parents WAS awful.

Road trips with a baby with my husband and I wasn’t actually terrible.

The difference being: we are used to being around a baby 24/7 and had a totally different mindset going into the road trip. I think my parents forgot what it would be like and still in their minds pictured something entirely different.

Their goal was to get to Florida ASAP with stops as needed but they didn’t want them to be long stops.

My little one is under 1 year old and we have made this trip there and back twice. Road trips DO NOT have to be awful.

I’m not saying they will be entirely pleasant and you will enjoy every second of it. Your kiddo will still cry or scream at some point and you will probably want to rip out your hair but that comes with the territory.

Welcome to parenthood 😉

What I am saying is: it’s possible to go on vacation, not regret it, and still want to go on vacation in the future.

Here are some practical trips to make road trips easier with an infant!

1. Don’t have an itinerary

This one is huge. For some of you type A people, you may be freaking out. Hear me out though! Follow your kiddo’s lead, not your own agenda.

The biggest difference between our trip and the one with my family was that I watched my baby for cues.

When she needed to stop, we stopped. We knew we would break our trip up and stop halfway so we waited until we thought she was done in the car for the day and THEN booked the hotel. Don’t set yourself in a time crunch and get frustrated.

2. Stop when you need to

This kind of goes with number 1. Stop as often as needed! We tried to find fun places a long the way to stop and would stop as soon as she woke up from a nap. I knew her schedule well enough to know about what time she would be getting up so I used Google maps and searched along the route.

We made sure to pack a picnic blanket and let her crawl around and move during our stop. The biggest thing is not to rush your stops! Every time we stopped, we stopped for 45 minutes to and hour. We really wanted her to stretch and use up some energy. .

3. Know their schedule and use it! The first trip, we decided to leave during one of her night/super early morning feedings. We left around 4 or 5 because we were already up with her. We had the car packed and simply loaded her up and got in 3-4 hours of driving time because we knew she was going to continue sleeping.

The second trip we decided to drive through the night. This worked really well but left all of the adults super tired. We wouldn’t have done this if we weren’t planning on driving 16 hrs straight. I recommend splitting it up and timing it around the tail end of bed time or nap time!

4. Have a bin of toys within reach We came prepared with a basket full of toys. It was so handy for when she would start fussing. I didn’t have to search all over for toys or dig into her diaper bag. When she got sick of a toy, I just reached in and grabbe another. It was something so easy to do and really helped us keep her happy for longer in her carseat!

5. Have a basket of snacks/food

This was super handy as well!!! We put sippy cups, bottles, puffs, cheerios, rice rusks and baby food in a basket. It was easy to access for our pit stops. I loved how organized it was. It made it a lot easier to grab a quick bite for her when she was fussy.

*Also, food pouches are amazing for this too! It’s so much less messy to give them food pouches than feed them with a spoon! Normally I make my own food, but this was worth it. It was muchhh easier for all of us!

6. Baby Einstein and Barney

Enough said. Haha! Baby Einstein was perfect for keeping her content and there wasn’t too much noise going on to distract the driver. Barney is perfect because they have a lot of songs. I may know just about every song by now… but it was worth it in exchange for a content baby✌

7. Pack a hotel diaper bag

This is something that seems like common sense but it is easy to forget in the midst of packing chaos. Pack a diaper bag with the necessities for staying the night in a hotel and changes on the road.

Make sure it’s easy to access. I liked putting diapers and wipes on the very top because we would need to access them before jammies on pit stops. It’s something small but it made it a lot easier!

Last but not least: have fun and cherish this time together!!!

No, road trips aren’t the same as they used to be pre-baby but that does not mean they have to be awful!

Be prepared, be organized, be patient and your vacation is off to a great start with these simple tips!

Xoxo,

One Merry mama