Long car trip, any suggestions?

Hi Everyone! We'll be making a 10+ hour car trip in a few weeks. Our first thought was to drive overnight so that the kids would be sleeping for most of the trip, but then we wondered if that was too long to be sleeping upright in a carseat. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

We have never done a 10 hour car trip, but we have taken several 5 or so hour trips. For us we use our DVD players, mini-magna doodles, and books (we also do sticker books and I sit in the back with them and hand them to them individually and have them stick them). It usually keeps them pretty busy and I just keep rotating them through when they get bored of something.

I have no idea about the logistics of driving through the night as we have never attempted that. Good Luck and I hope you have a wonderful trip!!

 

Hi,

Last month, we took our 16 month old girls on a car trip from IL to AZ and then back from AZ to IL. We drove straight through (32 hours). We thought it would be best to drive through the night so that they would sleep, but it turned out that they were up most of the night. I think they had a meltdown around 2am until 4am. We put baby einstein dvd's on throughout the whole trip which helped. The trip was rough, but we got through it. Your trip is a whole lot shorter than ours was so I'm sure it will be fine. Good luck!

 

In May we drove from PA to Michigan (about 12 hours). Our original plan was to drive through the night, so they'd sleep. They did sleep except they woke up every time we stopped to switch drivers. However, we got a flat tire at 2am and wound up having to get a hotel for the rest of the night until we could get the tire replaced. On the way, we drove home during the day and kept the kids occupied with toys and books. Good luck!

 

We just made an 8 hr drive and on the way down drove at night. It went really well for us. They kind of woke up when we switched drivers, but they fell right back to sleep. I think you just need to know if your kids are decent sleepers. I don't think the upright part is an issue for just one night, but I'm no doctor. We drove home in the daytime and snacks were our salvation. And singing. And puppet shows... Good luck!

 

After our Labor Day trip, I can safely say that there is no such thing as too many animal crackers. We tried to drive at night when they were supposed to be sleeping, but they cried most of the way. Usually they're great car-sleepers, but they were not having it. Snacks were the only thing that consoled them.

 

We did a 17 hour drive last spring when the kids were almost two and tried doing the overnight deal. Not fun for us. :nea: They barely slept, got a bit cranky... but we were beyond tired. I found that during the day worked best for us. I agree with pp's that books, dvds and snacks were great! :good: What I also found helped my two was stopping every two hours or so, so that they can stretch their legs for a few minutes. That did wonders for them (and us ) and made the trip back alot more fun!

 

We did a 10 hour car trip when our girls were 14 months old and it went pretty well. We left at 3am and arrived at 3pm (because our 10 hour trip quickly became 12 hours with stops for diaper changes, eating, and allowing the girls to run around). Leaving at 3am worked great - the girls woke up for 5-10 minutes as we transferred them to the car, and then fell right back to sleep until 7am. Between 7am and 3pm we relied on all the tricks - new books, new toys, stickers, magnadoodles, etc.

 

We just did a 14 hour trip from Texas to Iowa over Labor Day. Drove with my parents as DH didn't go. I started in the car with my parents and had to get out of there. They were so mad that I was sitting behind them and they couldn't be with me. Since my brother was following us, I got in his car and left all my kids in my parents' car. They were perfect angels at that point. Little brats. So anyway, I have no suggestions. For me, being out of their sight did the trick. You would think it would be the opposite but it wasn't. Brats.

 

We drove to Southern Georgia from Michigan back in May. We've done this drive before and it usually takes about 14 hours. On our way down it took about 15 hours with stops. We drove with my parents and drove through the night. I tried to keep the boys super busy that day so they would be tired when they got in the car. We left at about 3:00 and stopped for dinner at 6pm. It was good to get out of the car and stretch. After dinner they slept until we stopped at 10pm for pajamas and gas. They slept pretty well for us the whole way. We would get gas every time we switched drivers and they would wake up slightly, but would go back to sleep within a few minutes of driving again. We arrived at my Aunts house at 6am.

On the way home my dad's brilliant idea was to leave earlier in the day and get home earlier...BIG MISTAKE....for us anyway. The boys were horrible the entire way home. We left Georgia at noon and due to weather, traffic and babies we didn't make it home until 6 the next morning, adding 3 hours to our trip compared to the way down. They were not entertained by movies, toys, books, us or anything except getting out of the car. As soon as we would stop and get them out, they were happy, but as long as they were in their seats they cried...FOR 12 HOURS....only stopping when the car stopped. I truly feel that if we had left late in the day when they were already sleepy, it would have gone much better for us.