Major Trip This Week

I can add a suggestion observational games for the 2 1/2yr old. Play "I spy" The conversational version. Talk about what you "spy". It not only makes the trip more memorable for the older, but it makes the time go by faster as well.

As far as the 9mo old, What about those play stations that attach to the car seat? Or mobiles that attach to the car seat?

First of all - best wishes. The only thing that has worked for us on long trips is bringing a variety of toys the child has never seen or played with before. We traveled multiple times with my son when he was under 1 and found that new toys worked the best. The toys don't need to be new, only new to the child. Garage sales are sometimes a great option.

Best Regards

In our experience, it works better for the infants if one of the adults rides in the backseat next to them. That way if there are problems, you won't have to stop too often and the baby will have someone to coo at the whole time. If you are a working mom and probably don't get too much down-time with the kids, it might turn out to be a great idea. Just make sure all bottles and nuks (if you use them), plus any other necessary items are always within YOUR reach, NOT the 2.5 year old. Let us know what you do and how it goes. My kids are 7 and 3 now, and believe me, traveling only gets tougher with them.

*~J.~*

We took our son on his first big trip when he was nine months old. Our trip involved plane transfers and a fairly long drive as well. It all went fairly well, here's what we did:

-We tried to time the flights we were on to correspond with regular naptimes.

-We fed him a bottle at take off and gave him his pacifier at landing time, to deal with ear popping issues.

-We brought some new toys and pulled them out on an as-needed basis. Nothing fancy or terribly expensive, just new and different.

-We brought a copy of 'Finding Nemo' for the travel DVD player- if you haven't tried this movie yet, it seems to be universally appealing. I assume because it's so color saturated and because there are only a few characters to focus on per screen.

And finally, before we left we talked to our pediatrician, who gave us a recommended dosage for Benadryl, as a last resort. Definitely not something to do without talking to the peditrician first...We used this on the final leg of our trip home, as our son was just too wound up to calm down and was absolutley miserable. He slept for the entire flight, woke up as we were landing, and was fine.

One caveate re: the Benadryl is that in some children it has the opposite effect and actually gets them more wound up and hyper. Only way to know how it will effect your child is a trial run at home prior to your trip.

Hi K.,

We took our son to Hawaii when he was 12 months and he played with a plastic cup for most of the 8 hour trip! I wouldn't worry too much about the 9 month old. We packed a small, purse sized bag full of new, interesting things: something shiny, a spongy ball, a few books, a couple party favors from his birthday, etc. But like I said, he played with ice and a cup from the plane ride most of the time. Good luck!

books on tape and children's music are great....also calm instrumental music is good. timing the drive around a nap as well as using lavender oil and/or a lavender scented body mist which stimulates relaxation and sleep are good....actually rubbing the lavender oil on the bottom of the girls feet about 1/2 hour before the trip will start them relaxing. Let me know if you need more info on essential oils and all. We too have done some long trips with our girls ages 5 and 2 over the last year. T.

I've been taking very long (17 hrs) car trips with my girls a couple of times a year ever since my oldest was 2 months old (they are now 3 and 16 months). The DVD player is a life saver for sure. For both girls, I've found singing many rounds of "If You're Happy and You Know It," "Old McDonald," "Wheels on the Bus," and the like are the best way to keep them entertained. Maybe not much fun for you, but it really does keep them happy when they're about to lose it. My younger daughter learned many of her body parts, animal sounds and lots of baby sign on our last trip (she was about 10 months). Mostly, I've found you just have to spend a lot of time talking to them, playing peek a boo, and doing silly things since there's just not much that you can give a baby that will keep them entertained for a long time. Also, when my older daughter is just about to lose it, I've found singing songs with the wrong words ("Twinkle, twinkle little potato") can get us through that last stretch. I think the biggest thing is just not to expect to have hours of time to just talk with your spouse while your kids hang out in back. My husband has had a hard time accepting that if the kids are awake, someone has to be talking to them. Of course, if you can go when they're sleeping, even better! If you don't already have it, try picking up a book of baby games. There's lots of car friendly finger plays, songs, etc in there.

We take out kids on car rides often and they have their good and bad moments. If you plan it just right to where it is right around nap time we have always found we are better off. Music is always great and tons of peak-a-boo work as well. It always seems to zoom by faster for us when we pullout toys that the kids have not seen in a while. If your 9month old is heavy enough turn her around so that you can see her and then the child can see the DVDplayer as well. It will interest the baby as well.

Hi K.,

First of all good luck to you and your family during travel times! Here are some suggestions from past travel experiences that our family has used. Lots of exercise before driving/traveling if possible. Also with driving, try driving as early in the morning as it is cooler and the kids are more apt to slowing waking up with cartoons, etc. Pack lots of snacks, water, crackers, fruit, even candy (anything to get the last few miles in). Another idea if possible, leave when they are still sleeping for a couple hours then you'll most likely have only two hours with them awake.

These are things I would also pack, lots of kid music even some simple musical instruments like a little shaker, simple whistle, sticks. You will be the entertainer if possible while your husband drives. Also books that you can read in the car/plane.

Don't forget if your driving to bring a light blanket for the kids to cover up with, as it does get cold with the air conditioner on and some thicker blankets to shade the windows from the sun by rolling them in the window.

I know this sounds crazy, but I've done it, pack some simple make-up for you 2.5 year old girl like some lip gloss with a little brush and some eye shadow, etc. Let her put some on you and on her and don't forget the little mirror. All this is fun stuff just remember to put an old shirt on her, anything to keep them busy and occupied. Don't forget you will most likely be sitting between them in the back seat, as I have in the past just to keep my sanity!

good luck with it all and let me know how it goes!

K.

(mother of two girls, ages 5.5 and 2.5)

K.,
Recently, what I have done with my daughter, age 5, is back a goodie bag. I let her, with little help from me, pack a bag of her favorite books (coloring books, reading, etc. - nothing messy), toys and CDs. This helps her keep occupied when we take trips to Chicago, MN, etc. Unfortunately for you it doesn't seem like your little one falls asleep once you put her in her car seat. My daughter did and sometimes still does but the goodie bag really keeps her occupied.

My only other suggestion would be to keep your youngest up as long as you can the night before. This was a little trick my husband and I discovered on one of our trips to Puerto Rico, a 5 hour plus trip. She was close to a year old and was very excited to go on the trip that she stayed up all night with us packing. As soon as we got on the plane she slept like a log and people were surprised that she was even with us. After that we've learned to give her a little freedom when preparing for trips because it makes her feel included, it makes her feel like a BIG girl (sad face) and it really wares her out. I hope this helps. Let me know.

Have a safe and enjoyable trip.

We also do long car trips that are 6+ hours and whenever possible we travel at bed time. We have sometimes left around dinner and have had no problems. They are full and sometimes tired. We pack enough new toys crayons for my 2 1/2 year old the portable dvd player and alot of new things for our small son 11 mos. Listen to childrens cds. We have a little mirror that faces our son and it plays music and has flashing lights on it, he seems to stay stimulated. We play games with our daughter Like Car Bingo. We make up little cards of things we would see on the road and put them on sheets of paper. For example: Red Car, Barn, Green Sign Ect. She really enjoys it and it passes a lot of time. Hope it helps

We have traveled quite a bit with our girls and here are my tips.
Bring a car seat for the little one to take on the plane. When checking in ask for seating with an extra empty seat for the carseat and baby. Usually you can get the extra seat so the baby can ride in the car seat instead of on your lap.
I always give my kids a dose of Dimetapp (recommended by their Ped.) right as we are getting on the plane. This will help to encourage sleep.
Make sure they both have sippy cups, nuks or bottles to suck on during take off and landing for their ears.
Bring lots of snacks and drinks.
Buy or borrow some larger diapers or put night time diapers on for the plane ride. I also used plastic pants in case of a leak it wouldn't get on me too.
You can bring your stroller right up to the plane entrance and leave it there and they will carry it down and stow it under the plane so don't leave it behind.
I got backpacks for all of us for our carry-on so it's easier to get stuff around and keep your arms free.
Don't forget headphones for the DVD player so they can hear it better on the plane. We put the tray table down and set the DVD player on it and plug in the headphones and it keeps our older one occupied for hours.
Be sure to bring some little fleece blankets because those planes can be very cold.
As far as the little one, if you can bring the car seat and some toys she should be fine.
Best of luck,
J.

We do 6+ hours car trips with both our boys 18m & 3. They used to sleep in the car so we'd drive at night, but recently they've stopped and it's becoming more difficult to drive that long with them. Hopefully they'll adjust to it or we'll have to find anotehr way to grandma's!

Toys don't seem to work for them well. They are always dropping them and then complaining that they don't have any toys!

The biggest lifesaver we've found is books on tape (or CD). They both are very quiet while the book is on and they don't mind listening to it over and over (as long as you don't mind ;)

Good luck, you're not crazy, it'll be over before you know it.

K.,
Don't worry so much it will go faster than you think it might. My extended family live 15 hours away. The first time we traveled my son was 26 mos. We took every thing under the sun to keep him busy. He did really well and a lot of the time he just looked at things going by. Now my daughter took her first trip down south when she was just 3 mos., that was a little hairy but we made it through. After that they both got easier to travel with. Now the best advice I could give you, that works for us, is traveling when they sleep. Other wise have music and fun songs to sing, a brand new toy works well. Don't show them the new fun thing until you get on the road or plane. I have a friend that also has done the traveling thing with 2 small children. She was alone and the boys were 3 and 1. It was not as bad as she thought it would be. Just put the entertainer hat on, jump in the water and stay positive. But most of all just have fun with your little ones while they are little.

Michele

Hi K.,
I have a 9 month old son that we travel with quite a bit. He had his first plane ride when he was 4 months and did great. The other passengers didn't even know there was a baby on board! My in-laws live 6 hours away and we also make that trip quite often. We generally leave at after work and supper so that he's tired and will sleep most of the way. But on the way home we always leave in the morning. We are always sure to feed him just before we leave and make sure to have his favorite toys, a blanket, and a nuk within reach. He does great!
Good luck!

I used to do several long car trips/year with my daughter who is now 11. Each trip was 7 hours if you didn't count stops. I would find new songs and hand games (ie pat a cake) - anything the baby had never seen before. I sat beside her while dad drove, and keep things coming at her. I'd watch for signs of irritability (we called it car poisononing) and stop before she got all wound up. Then we'd have fun and diversions during the stop - throwing her up in the air, diaper change, nurse, swing her around, let her crawl. Then when it was time to go back in the car seat, have some nummy treat to nibble on to distract her. With luck, some of the 4 hours will be spent napping. I would never drug her though! Sue

Ok, I can say that you are not crazy for taking this trip. I a 26 hour road trip with my 4 girls and at that time their ages were 12,9,7,11m old. So I can safely say that I understand what you are talking about. For my 11 month old I had my older daughters to help out, but since you do not have that luxury you may want to get plenty of toys, food, juice, water and music. Since your trip is only about 4 hours long you may want to think about trying to tire the baby out before you get on the road, because once you do that you will see the affect soon after the car starts moving. As long as they are dry, feed, and played out he/she should fall asleep soon and stay that way for the majority of the way.

We just drove from WI to Maine and RI with our 16 month old. We packed a DVD player also and brought his favorite DVDs (Blues Clues, Elmo, etc.) only to find in IL that the thing wasn't working. We also packed a TON of toys. The only suggestions I have is to drive at night if possible (if not keep bringing out a new toy when she gets bored with one) and stop for a little bit if the little one gets antsy. It also helps to have some little snacks to divert attention with. Good luck!!!!!!!

I have a 3 year old girl and a 1 year old boy...we have taken a few long trips and here is what I have found works for us. I bring small toys that the kids haven't seen for a long time or new toys and put them in a little bag. We hand them to him one at a time and he will play for an hour or so. I also buy treats that they have never had - last trip we tried yo-gos for the 3 year old and baby fruit snacks for the 1 year old. During our lay overs we keep the kids moving as much as we can in hopes that they will be tired on the plane. That is the part I was most nervous for but it went just fine. We have another trip planned for November! Good luck!