should I do it?

I'm not sure if I am shooting myself in the foot by doing this or what....
we are taking a vacation to the outerbanks and the drive will be 6-7 hours nonstop (obviously we will stop so it will take longer) . My plan was to wake them at 3am or so to leave...
has anyone done this? Will they go back to sleep after we get them in the car or will we be listening to screaming babies??? Yikes..I'm thinking that hopefully they will fall back to sleep and that will give us about 3-4 hours of driving time...then once they "wake up" give bottles/ breakfast etc and then get moving again to finish the trip...I hope I'm not setting ourselves up for a horrible drive.

 

We usually travel from south Texas to Memphis a few times a year. DH *always* likes to leave at some ungodly hour so we can get there and have plenty of time to see everyone. We usually pack the car first and then right before we're ready to hit the road, we get the boys up and in the car. Our seven year old doesn't fall back to sleep anymore (used to), but the baby does no problem. It always seems to work out for us, though it does take a day or so to get back to a somewhat normal schedule.

 

With Ari, we always just dressed her appropriately for the next morning, then loaded her - sleeping - into the carseat. I actually prefer to travel this way.

This past weekend we made our first official fairly long road trip since the babies were born and we did the same thing. Loaded everyone up at around 3am and headed out. Made for a peaceful trip for everyone. Then we headed back at bedtime so everyone was asleep for both legs of the trip.

 

It sounds like a good plan. With kids, though, there are never any guarantees!!!!

When my first were that age and we travelled, a friend gave me the bright idea to have a bag full of toys and whenever there would be a fuss, pass the toy to the baby. When they dropped it or got bored, pass another one. Also, for fussy times on the highway, they quiet down for a bit if you crack the windows and they hear all that air.

 

Car rides usually make babies fall asleep. I'm sure they will be well rested when they finally do wake up!

 

We often travel from colroado springs to iowa, a 12 hour drive on a normal day. We have tried driving at night and during the day. Driving at night is definetely the way to go. Our older son didn't like it as much, but he watches his movies on the xbox, and the twins sleep through except for a few minor stretches and groans. Then we'd feed the girlies in the am, then be on the way again.

good luck.

 

Our experience has been that they don't really go back to sleep. We've tried a variety of options for long car trips. What's worked best for us is to get them up maybe just 1-2 hours early (6-7 am) go out for a nice breakfast and hit the road from there. They don't sleep as much in the car - but ours are good travelers so it's not too much of a problem. In our case the KEY has been to use our laptop as a dvd player and let them watch a couple of videos during the drive.

HTH!

 

We went away last weekend and I was faced with a similar dilemma (although my trip wasn't quite as long). I did their usual bedtime routine (bath, massage, pajamas, bottles, etc.) and then instead of putting them in their cribs I put them in their car seats, with cozy blankets, sooters, etc. Well, they feel asleep within 10 minutes without a peep and slept for hours (until we arrived). It worked perfectly and I'd try it again in the future.

Your way might work just as well.

 

when we travel, we plan it so that we leave around their bedtime. These days, bedtime is at 8:30 or so, so that's the ideal time for us to begin a road trip. That way we're nearly garanteed a peaceful drive. Of course, it's also put us at our destination in the middle of the night, but it still seems to go more smoothly for us and our host if we can all arrive in a pleasant mood and catch a few hours sleep before the day begins. Good luck!!