traveling 7 hours by car

My husband and I are going on vacation in Aug. We have a 7 hour drive and we are trying to figure out how to do it...the problem is checkin isn't until 2 or 3pm. Should we get up wee hours of morning (3 or 4 am) and drive straight there with a couple of stops? SHould we leave after their 1st bottle (7am) and drive with what might be more stops?
Do you stop for every bottle and feeding? If so we would be stopping every 2 hours or so...
here is their current schedule:
7am bottle
9 or 10 solids
11 bottle
1 or 2 solids
3 bottle
5 or 530 solids
630 or 7 bottle then bed

 

We just did a 3 hour trip - which actually took a lot longer because of feeding etc. We timed leaving right before they would normally go down for their afternoon nap. We stopped for feedings and quick diaper changes. I would also suggest having a lot of toys to toss in their car seats. Oh - and if they take pacifiers I would get something to attach them to them or the car seat.

Good luck!!

 

By Aug. your babies will be what 9 mos. old? I would leave after you give them their first bottle in the am. As far as stopping goes, I would not stop to give bottles. When we have driven for an extended period of time, I sit in the backseat and give them their bottles while we drive. By nine months, mine did not have to stop and burp. I would stop and give solids though, that could get a little messy! Make sure you have plenty to entertain them with. I know at 9mo. mine were very mobile and didn't like to stay still for a minute. This past weekend we made a 3 hr. drive and they were horrible. Did not want to be in the car seats, they have so much to do these days, very, very busy boys. They got so frustrated having to be in their seats. So the food wasn't as much of an issue to me as them getting mad was. We made way more stops that we used to when they were younger, to give them (and me) a break. Just take your time and try to enjoy it. Good Luck and have a great vacation.

Carrie

 

I would skip the solids unless you guys stop and get out to eat then you could do them. Missing one or two days of solids will not mess things up, they are just for practice anyways.

 

Not sure if this will help, but we are planning a 5-6 hour drive for a trip at the end of June (ours will be 7 mos by then). Our bedtime is a little later than yours, usually 730-800pm but we were planning to leave around 5 pm so that we could do the bulk of the driving when they would be sleeping so we wouldn't have to disrupt their daily routine as much and not have to stop as much. It'll be tough on us but we can handle it better than they can!

Good luck and have fun!

 

Great advice! Don't forget the Traveling Tips for Twins thread at the top of FY! Have a great trip! We are traveling to the TS Sesame Place Gathering this weekend and it's a five hour trip for us --- so I guess we will see how it goes and get back to you then!

 

If you don't want to skip solids you could give them stage 2 foods in a feeder. I have this Sassy one (actually I have 2.) I got mine at TRU. Don't use them much any more but when we're on the move and I don't want to mess up a feeding schedule, it helps.

 

I have done 8 hour car trips many many times with my oldest and he was great. He really enjoyed Laurie Berkner CDs when all else failed. Instead of nursing I pumped and just fed him the room temp milk...no stopping for bottles. I kept a cooler to store snacks. We sometimes used a thermos to carry hot water to heat bottles (use thermos cap to sit bottle in). If you have a portable dvd player, they are a wonderful thing. At the very least, put a basket of toys in between them. I also carried books and read them. Make sure you apply a good diaper appointment during the trip, too. Even the toughest bottoms can have issues with sitting on a diaper for that long even if they aren't wet/dirty. Good luck!

I strongly encourage you to leave around 3-5 am. My husband would just put our son in the carseat asleep and he would stay that way past his normal wakeup time due to the ride. Whenever we left after normal wakeup time he was too jazzed to go back to sleep and we were stuck entertaining for a larger portion of the trip.

 

I am planning a trip with my 3 at the end of June and the twins will be 10 months then. I am nervous about it but I was thinking of leaving very very early in the AM maybe even midnight since I have an 8hr drive. I want to drive mainly while they are sleeping so I am thinking of doing this. It might make more sense but we will see how it goes. The only bad thing about it is I will be traveling alone :icon_eek: