6 hour drive

My dad is retiring on May 17 and the hospital he works for is having a party for him on May 15. Without babies, the trip is a 6 hour car ride. I have no idea how long it will take with them along. Am I crazy to think about going?

 

I would say go for it, you can do it just plan lots of extra time.

When my girls were 4 months I drove from Barrie, Ontario to Kentucky usually 9 hours, took me 12 hours so not too bad.

amanda

 

I agree...go for it, just allot for extra time.

Dianna

 

I agree, go for the road trip. My mom's retiring at the end of this month and we're driving 3 hours for that...we've done the drive before and it's taken us about 4.5 hours if the babies wake up and want to eat. Obviously, a 6 hour ride is a lot different than a 3 hour ride b/c there's no hope of them sleeping for that long. Unless you drove at night when they are usually in bed? That way maybe they'd sleep through the entire drive.....

Good luck!

 

Go! Just allow extra time. I travelled very early & often far when mine were little. They were easy as they would sleep quite a bit.

 

If you're crazy then I'm a stark raving lunatic cause I'm getting ready to drive from Canada to Texas for the summer with three kids (and my Mom to help)...so 6 hours should be easy, peasy!

 

As long as you are realistic and know you may have to stop a lot... go for it!

 

At 5 mo we took the babies 6 hours to UT, and in the next month they also went 4 hours to CA, 5 hours to AZ, and a plane trip alone to VA with a 3 hour drive on the end to get to my parents. It is definatly do able. I did all the traveleling at night and all but 1 trip was great, one trip the last hour was bad, but we pushed through. I recommend traveling at night so you don't have to stop and feed. Feed before you leave and then drive, drive, drive. We played music (baby einstein CD) the whole way and that helped ( they love music and we did it at night to teach to STTN) GOod luck, you can do it.

 

YOu are not crazy, we did a 6hr drive when the babies were 2.5mnths old, it took us just over 7hrs, we left right after a feed, and planned to stop twice during the drive. The babies liked the car when it was moving, so the trip was relatively painless.
We drove until the feeding time, which was about 2.5-3hrs, then stopped, peed ourselves, changed babies, bf in the van and played with the babies for a little bit, then back in the car seats, and once the car was going they were pretty much asleep again. Then we stopped once more and did the same routine, yes there was a bit of crying, but that is normal! Hopefully your babies like the car.

Good luck, and you can do it. I expected the worse and the trip turned out to be pretty good - we took my elderly cat on the trip before the babies were born, and that was harder then taking the babies on the trip believe it or not!

 

Go for it!

 

Have fun!

 

I hope it goes well!

We're taking a 10 hour trip to see my DH's family next weekend. Part of me thinks that we're absolutely insane.

 

You'll be fine. We've taken the babies on 3 trips 7 hours and longer. The first was when they were 4 months old. It took us about an hour and a half longer than usual, but they did well. It wasn't so scary, we just stopped for bottles and they slept most of the rest of the time.

 

My parents live about 5 1/2 hrs from us and we've gone up 4 times since they were born (6 weeks, 2 months, 4 months and 5 months) I think it's getting a little bit harder now that they are older and want to be entertained. I ended up sitting in the back with them and a big bag of toys. It's still honestly not that bad at all... We usually stop once for a bottle and diaper change.. They end up sleeping for probably 1/2 the trip or so..

 

Drive at night. That worked for me. We took our twins to see our family last Thanksgiving and they were only 3 months at the time. 5 hour drive. They slept the whole way without a peep and no pit stops.

 

for the most part you may only have to stop once to feed them. If you feed them right before you head out, they'll probably sleep for a good 3-4 hrs. Good luck and drive safe

 

I did it, and it went fine, they slept almost the whole time. I had my parents with me to help and I wouldnt attempt it alone. We stopped half way to feed and change, they were only 4 weeks old then.

 

We just got back from a trip to my parents', who live 6.5 hours away by car (without babies). On the way down, we drove at night, starting at 7pm (their usual bedtime). The slept the entire way and we made record time (no trafffic at 1am!). On the way back, we started our trip around 9am (usual nap time), and they slept for the first 3 or so hours. We stopped once to feed and change diapers and play a little bit. They dozed off for a little longer after that. For the last hour of the drive, I sat in the back of the van between them to entertain them (they were getting fussy by then), and they thought that was the greatest thing. All in all, it wasn't bad at all. We are moving to North Carolina in July and will be making another long drive then. Just plan on stopping a few times and adding maybe an hour to your trip time and you should be fine. I'd much rather drive thany fly with two babies -- haven't even attempted that one yet! Good luck!

 

I agree with all the other PP's - GO FOR IT!! Just definitely allow plenty of time to stop for feedings, diaper changes and for breaks for the babies to get out of the car seat and stretch. HAVE FUN!!

 

go for it. I travel 3 hours by myself with the twin every other weekend and they are 7 weeks tomorrow. All I can say if you are by yourself... do not drink anything!!! Bathroom breaks are killer! I almost lost it on the way back 2 weeks ago... debating on peeing in a cup is just a sad thing. Needless to say I held on to all hope and pee and made it home. I didn't have a problem besides that. for every 3 hours plan on stopping for 30 minutes to change or feed or just get them out for a few minutes if need be. I have a six hour trip in a couple of weeks as well. You can do it! Good luck.

 

Go for it! We just drove 5 hours (it took 7 total w/ stops) from South Florida to Gainesville for my sisters' college graduation. We left at 9am (usual morning naptime for our twins). My 2 year old loved having a DVD on for the first hour and napped after we stopped for lunch. The babies slept most of the way, so we were very happy! We have an 11 hour drive to visit my Dh's family in Birmingham in a few weeks (since the drive to Gainesville went well, we think we're ready...;-).

Have fun,
Erin