Road Trips with Infants
Tips for road tripping with little ones
Just because you have young children doesn’t mean you need to say goodbye to your road trip dreams; you just need to be more prepared. If you’re planning to bring your baby with you on a road trip this summer, here are some tips prior to leaving:
Drive at night
This may sound like strange advice, as almost everyone prefers to drive during the day, but it will mean your baby may spend more time sleeping. This means they’ll spend less time on the road trip hungry, bored, crying, and needing changes. Sure, you may be a bit more tired yourself, but it will be a less stressful drive overall.
Plan more stops than usual
Just because you can last four hours without needing to go to the bathroom doesn’t mean your baby can. Regular stops every one-to-two hours will help ensure your baby is happy and in clean clothes.
Take the quickest route
Oftentimes, drivers prefer to take the most scenic route possible when going on a road trip to make the drive more enjoyable. While this approach may be fine when you’re with a group of adults, the longer your baby spends in the car the more agitated they’ll likely become.
Break up the drive
While you may prefer to do all you’re driving in a single day, it may be a bad idea to endure that much stress over a period of eight-to-ten hours. If you’re able to break up the drive over multiple days, you should really do so.
Driving with young children for even an hour can be a stressful event, but an eight-hour road trip can be downright exhausting if you’re not prepared.
Keep all supplies nearby
You may have packed all the baby supplies you need, but they won’t do you much good if your baby starts crying while you’re driving on the highway and the supplies are stuck in the trunk.
Pack the night before
In order to ensure your infant is happy, you should try to minimize the amount of time spent leaving your house. A good way to cut down on this is to pack everything you need the night before. When it’s actually time to leave for your trip, you can simply walk out your front door and begin your travels.
Learn some baby massage techniques
If you don’t already know a number of baby massage techniques you should take the time to learn some before your trip. Infants can get extremely restless on long trips, which is why it’s important to keep their legs and feet loose.
Stay calm
Even if you’re well-prepared, something could still go wrong on your trip. It’s important to enter the drive knowing that unpleasant situations may arise. When they do, it’s important to stay calm and not to overreact.
Safe travels!