Hi, I just wanted some advice. We are taking our 10 month old to the beach
for the 1st time in June. This is a six hour drive. Do you think it's better
to leave at night and hopefully he will sleep the whole way. Or is it better to
leave in the morning and just take alot of breaks? Hope someone has had so experience with this. Thanks, M.
My experience with my three children at that age is to leave early a.m. (around 5). We took a few breaks (no more than 20-30 minutes) at nice rest stops, stretched the baby and kids, snacked and back on the road. Normally, we would arrive at our hotel just in time for check in and depending on the kids, we either napped or went straight to play.
Hello, I just want to tell you about our experience back in Jan. I have three children and we took a trip back home to South Florida. On our way we left in the AM and it was so bad, everyone was cranky and did not want to be in the car! By the way I have a 5 yr old and 2 yr old and a 7 month old. Anyway, the two younger ones cried for about three hours straight and we almost turned around because we knew it was a twelve hour drive and we would not make it all the way with crying kids. Well we made it and it took us around 12 1/2 hours. Well on the way back to GA we decided to leave a 10PM and as soon as we got one the road everyone fell asleep and only the baby woke up once to eat and be changed so we had such a good drive home. It only took us 9 1/2 hours!!! For us it was better to leave at night, we lost a little sleep but the stress level was much lower! Good luck!
I have taken 12 hour drives to see family since my kids were born... and usually do it without my husband, so I never wanted to do it at night. He'll probably at least nap for a little while, right? Try the DVD thing... at that age my kids were entranced by the Baby Einstein DVD's.
We did it...You can do it too! Leave at night no more than 1 hour before bed time. Take turns driving and thank your lucky stars you didn't mess up his schedule. I think thats harder than missing a few hour sleep....good luck!
Hey! Yeah, I have two boys who are 2 and 4, and have lived in 3 different states with them. So I understand the travel thing. Even on a vacation I would weigh cons.
Con's about night time driving:
-it can be unsafe to some
-you will want to go to sleep in the morning and he will be up
from sleeping in the car!
Con's for the day time:
-lot's of stops, can't drive straight thru, which adds a much longer trip than 6 hours!
Personaly I always opted for the night time drive. i was relieved that the baby wasn't fussy and uncomfy b/c he was sleeping. And If you drive in turns you could get some sleep too. Well, Just thought I owuld give you a few tips! Make sure to pack a good baby first aid kit and travel needs for him just in case. Have fun!!!
The best thing we did was invest in a dvd player for the car. We take a lot of trips to South Fla to see family. We usually leave like 5am/6am because its a 10-12 hour drive depending on how many times we stop. My son usually takes 2 naps a day, not sure how much your child sleeps. And he loves watching baby einstein and sesame street thank god. Between naps, stopping to eat and stretch, and watching a couple of movies, the trip isn't bad at all most of the time. 6 hours should be a piece of cake. Good Luck & it will all work out
I did an 11 hour drive when my son was that age and it is much better to center the trip around naps/sleeping. He probably won't sleep the whole time if you leave at night so it might be better to leave and count on him taking a nap. You'll definately need to schedule breaks for food etc. with him. I'm sure it will go better than you think!
When my son was six months we started doing the dreaded 10 hour drive to St. Louis to see family. We left no later than 4:00 am. We drove until our son woke up. Then we stopped got gas and got something for breakfast that we could eat on the rode. His best time was in the morning so he was usually content to sit in the car for the rest of the trip. My son is now 2 1/2 and we still do this trip the exact same way we started. It works great. We have made the mistake at leaving to come home in the middle of the afternoon and he does a lot more complaining in the backseat. Pack some snacks and some little fun things that he has never seen before and the trip will work out fine.
Good Luck
We lived in TX when my 3 kids were born. Which is over 18 hours away.....We always drove at night, it interrupted the children's schedule very little, the car motion kept them asleep longer and we ended up with more time wherever we were going. Not to mention less stress on us, we did not have to deal with the fussy "I have been in the car too long" attitude, which makes everything so much more enjoyable.
Good luck!
