Driving long distance with 8 month olds

We are planning a trip to PA that is about an 11 hour drive from where we live. My DH has gotten totally freaked out about flying with the boys and wants to drive. I've searched the threads for info about this, but all I've found are stories about long drives with tiny babies who still sleep around the clock. Mine sleep about 12 hours a night, so I am trying to figure out if driving all night would be our best bet. Has anyone tried this? How did it go?

The boys are now in Britax carseats and did great on our 3 hour trip last week for thanksgiving, but is it realistic to expect them to actually sleep in those carseats for 11-12 hours? Am I totally crazy for wanting to do this? Should I just tell DH to get over it and book the flights? I hate to fly, but the driving seems like it could be a disaster.

Any survival stories, tips, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

TIA!!!!!!!!!!

 

We just took a 7.5 hour drive with our 11 month olds. We left around 2 pm (a little late for their afternoon nap but we pushed it out) and they slept for about 1.5 hours. Then I got in the backseat with them and entertained, fed bottles and some fruit for about 2.5 hours. It actually went pretty quickly. Then we stopped for dinner and gave them a little time to stretch and they ate a bit more. We got back in the car and since it was totally dark and now their actual bed time (7 pm) they fell asleep almost immediately. They did wake up off and on for the next 2.5 hours and would do some moaning but went back to sleep. This was the first time we had tried them sleeping at night and it did seem to work. Not sure if they would have made it the entire night though since they love to sleep on their stomachs.

 

I don't think you're crazy! You won't have to go thourgh the airport hassle, when you arrive you'll have your own car and car seats, and can have anything you might need for the babies right with you. I used to travel with my older girls when they were little. We would leave very early around 3-3:30am, and they would sleep the first 5 or so hours. Then you can stop, change and feed them, everyone stretches, and only have about 6 hours left! Take anohter break in a few hours, and you're in the home stretch! It was a lot easier to travel with mine when they were very little, under 1, than later when they were old enough to say "I'M BORED!"
Good luck on your trip! The long distance drive, in my experience, was always worse in theory than in reality! We always dreaded doing it, but it never ended up being bad at all! (On a plane trip, however, my oldest once threw up all over a lady in the next seat! )
Helen

 

Thank you so much! I think the idea of doing it is much worse than the actual drive. That is a good idea leaving in the middle of the night. Maybe we'll leave around midnight, so we can all get some sleep first. Thanks - I appreciate it!

 

Thanks for asking the question. We plan on taking our twins via car down to the Columbia-Lexington area to visit friends this summer when they are about 6 months. We live in Pa.! Let me know how the trip goes...

 

I've never taken a trip quite that long but leaving at bedtime after a bottle and bath works well for our boys when we go to the cottage (about 3 hours). We transfer them to pack and plays once we arrive without much of a fuss.

 

I don't think you are crazy at all. We just went to Disneyland with our 8 mo twins and our 2.5 yo, which is about a 7-8 hr drive for us. I wanted to drive at night, but my DH didn't, so we ended up leaving around 7 a.m. and they still slept for most of the trip. We stopped about 3 times for feedings, diaper changes and potty breaks for mom.

There is no way I could handle the hassle of the airport with all 3 kids, carseats, rental cars, etc. So much easier to drive and have all that we need with us, as we needed a lot.