What to Do When Baby Is Hungry/ While on the Road

Omg NEVER take that baby out of his car seat in a moving car. A crying baby is much better than a dead baby - I'm sorry to be so blunt, but that's the reality if you get into an accident. You feed and settle the baby, buckle him in, and you don't unbuckle him until the car is stopped and safely parked - period. Babies cry and such, we've all been there and it will rattle your nerves to no end, BUT you are his mother and your first job is to keep him safe. If this is a constantly crying baby, have your pediatrician check his growth, make sure you're producing enough milk, rule out reflux, etc.

You pull the car over at a rest stop/grocery store/fast food restaurant...ANYWHERE...and you feed the baby.
What you NEVER do is feed your baby when the car is MOVING!!!!!
Gah.
Years ago, when my first child was a newborn, he was in the car seat next to me screaming his face off. He was 3 weeks old and breastfed on demand. I asked my boyfriend (now husband) to pull the car over so I could feed him. He says, "Oh, just feed him while I drive to the restaurant." I look at him like he has 12 eyes and tell him to wait and let me feed the child. That it's dangerous to feed a baby in a moving car. He waits, we chat while I feed the baby, and then I put my son back in his car seat and we drive to go eat. 2 minutes later we are T-boned and my son is being airlifted to the trauma center. Then transferred to Children's Hospital. For 7 weeks. Do you think my son would have lived if he had been in my arms? Not likely. His car seat saved his life.
Do not...I REPEAT....DO NOT feed your baby again in a moving car. Pull over, feed, keep driving.

If you have a baby, you're going to pull over for one reason or another. You just factor in that time. Even if you feed a newborn by a bottle, which you could do, maybe, while he's in a carseat (if the angle is okay), you still have to burp him and deal with spit up and so on. Keeping breast milk cold and then heating it up isn't that easy - you just need to have the flexibility of doing everything without you being out of your own seatbelt to feed a baby in a car seat.

Bottle choices are really individual - it's hard to know what each baby will enjoy and use. I do think he should be using a bottle at home, not just in the car though, so he gets used to it. If you can pump, it's truly wonderful for the other parent to be able to feed to, for the bonding as well as for your sleep. It's not for everyone, but if it works for you, don't let anyone talk you out of it.

We've all been where you are - trying to figure it out! It's not easy! Try to make it less about the destination and getting to a place that's 4 hours away in anything close to 4 hours. Start enjoying the trip, the scenery, the places to pull over, the calm time with your spouse, and so on. We had wonderful road trips from when our son was 3 months old (and we took forever to get where we were going!), fun when he was a toddler and an elementary school child, and through high school. We even did the auto train to FL and took 3 RV trips (one of which was the "college tour" during his junior year. If he was in a fussy phase as an infant, we just changed plans and didn't travel so much - Grandma came to us, you know?

We didn't have DVD players or every gadget either. We sang, we played highway "bingo," we had car games, and we stopped to see things en route. From age 6 on, he started to learn to read a map - we didn't have GPS then, and I think everyone needs to learn how to do this!

It's a new way of thinking from what you've been used to, but it has value!

I imagine you would take breaks when driving and that's when you feed/change the baby.
When I say take breaks - I mean you pull over and park at a rest stop, stop at a fast food place, get out, take a walk, use the bathroom, drink water (especially since you're breastfeeding), tend to the baby, then settle back in, buckle up and get underway once again.
I know people take their infants everywhere but we pretty much stayed home when our son was small and didn't really travel much till he was about 4 yrs old.
It worked well for us.

Additional:
No, you do NOT breastfeed in a moving vehicle, not ever.
Child needs to be in his car seat.
At the least you would get a ticket if caught, at worst you and child get seriously hurt/killed in a traffic accident due to not using car seat/seat belts.
This is why most new parents don't travel much.
Baby and exhausted parents are most comfortable at home.

For chores/errands - one parent stays home with baby while other parent runs errands.
You and husband can switch it up so you both get breaks by being out of the house for a bit.
For things you both need to be at - you get a baby sitter or relative to watch the baby while you handle what ever needs both of you.
Talk to your pediatrician if you have to but what you are currently doing is not safe and it needs to stop immediately.

Frankly, we just planned a lot of extra time in our road trips to stop and nurse. I would do this at rest stops, or if we near a small town, pull over somewhere safe and nurse. I tried to reserve bottle feeding for my husband to do. Packing breastmilk and heating it on the road is no small task. Far easier to take a break and nurse. Less fuss. Just more time.

I used the Playtex Vent-flo nipples with our son. (I pumped so that my husband could teach him how to bottle feed.) I believe I used the formula nipples instead of the breastfeeding ones as they had a faster flow/less work. That said, my strong recommendation is to buy both kinds, knowing that you might eat the cost on one. People are going to give you a lot of different recommendations, and each baby is different.

Oh, and before I forget-- be sure to have your baby get familiar with the bottle feeding as soon as you can; try not to do it during the trip itself. Don't hesitate to ask for tips and ideas on that here-- many of us did both, breast and bottle, and again, each baby is different. :)

ajust the schedule so you put baby in the carseat with a full belly. then when you get the pump make sure you bring a bottle for baby every time (my son was on formula for a short period because i didn't make enough milk so i kept room temp water and pre measured formula with me at all times just in case he got hungry while we were driving.

When you travel with a baby you can expect to pull over, get out, walk around, go to the bathroom for your own needs plus caring for the baby. This will help the baby not be sore from sitting in their carseat for hours and hours. It will also help you just by stopping and being able to move around.

Feed the baby, offer the breast each stop, sit in back by the baby and entertain him when he's awake. If he is hungry before your scheduled stop you just have to stop again.

I had pacifiers for when my babies just needed to suck for soothing. Worked great for us. I breastfed exclusively and didn't bother with pumping. When we supplemented with formula and transitioned over - we used Playtex bottles - they had the most natural shaped nipples at the time.

You need to plan your times out of the house around the feeding schedule. I usually fed the baby and then immediately left the house so I know I had a couple of hours. If you're going to be out long then plan your stops where you know there is space to feed the baby at that location. Please stop unbuckling your carseat and feeding your baby without any protection as you are driving down a road. That is a terrible idea, really. In a violent accident you will not be able to hang on to your baby to stop it from flying out of your arms.

Your baby is still quite young. You will have to plan your days around his feeding schedule for a while still. You can still go out and do things but plan ahead so that you are making safe choices for yourself and the baby.

When my babies needed to be fed (or get a diaper change) during travel, I'd keep an eye out for a rest stop, gas station, or other parking lot area to safely pull over. Just plan ahead for your trip to be a little longer than it would otherwise be if you need to be there by a certain time. Once your husband parks the car, you can safely feed the baby.

When you're talking about short in-town distances, feed baby just before you leave the house if possible. He may still fuss in the car, but you will know that he is not hungry.

My second born hated being in the car for any duration, so for the first year or so we mostly didn't take him anywhere that could be avoided. We also liked to go to the grocery store together, but we out a pause on that for a few months until he outgrew it. You have to adapt your life to suit your circumstances at the time. It is temporary. :-)

A lot of the challenges you are facing are temporary. At 7 weeks, he's still figuring it all out. He hasn't been out of the womb for very long, and it's a huge transition for him (and definitely for you). It's very normal for you to feel like all you do is breastfeed. I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but it won't be long before your son lets you go a couple of hours without feeding. Keep in mind, he's likely to do this again when he's about to hit a growth spurt. That's baby's way of preparing your body for the food that he's about to need when he's about to grow. But it doesn't last forever, and he will be back to eating every couple of hours.

For now, you just have to try and hang in there a little longer. As much as you can, feed him right before you go anywhere. Also, you'll become a pro at nursing in public! And try not to worry about what other people think. Your baby needs food. That's just a fact. I nursed my son in many public places (never used a cover), and the only person who every made me feel uncomfortable was a teenage boy at the mall. My son was hungry, and all the nursing rooms were full. So I sat down on a couch and took care of things. Once he saw what I was doing, he was out of there. I was ok with that :-)

You can introduce a bottle if you want. It might be a bit of a challenge since he's already 7 weeks old (I don't know. Both my boys had a bottle before they were a week old with no issues.) I've heard it's tough and that you might need your husband to do it. I don't know that it really matters what bottle or nipple you use. They all claim to be "just like the breast." I think your best bet is to just pick one and stick with it while he learns.

Hang in there!!!! I know it's hard right now, and you probably feel permanently attached to him. It really will get easier.

We found somewhere safe to park and fed while parked. I'd make sure to offer at stops before moving on and before we left the home. I never pumped, didn't even own a pump. My kids didn't like pacifiers so we didn't bother. I got really good nursing in the sling while I continued on with my shopping and we learned all sorts of nice shaded places to stop along our heavily traveled routes.