6 hour drive with 15 month old tips and advice please :)

[AGTR]

Hey I'm taking my DD to my grandparents to finally meet the rest of my family (grandparents have seen her) just it's a 6 hour car journey away (we are staying for the week) and she rarely goes in the car as my partner only driver and is in the RAF and not around much. Anyway I was just wondering what tips and advice anyone could give me about travelling with her?
Thanks xx

 

[jd83]

Are you planning to stay overnight or is that possible? If so, I'd leave an hour or so before lo bedtime, so lo will fall asleep in the car most of the drive.

if you're planning to travel during the day, I'd plan 1-2 stops to break it up, pack snacks and drinks to help occupy lo.

 

[Foogirl]

If its a 6 hour drive, expect it to take 10 hours! Plenty of long stops, plenty of time out of the car.

Unless you are certain LO will sleep for a long time in the car I'd actually avoid doing the night time driving thing. It is great if they sleep, but even our daughter who is well used to the car and would frequently sleep in it at that age, would decide on some journeys not to sleep. Trying to deal with a tired and grumpy non sleeper, especially whilst driving at night is not fun!

I'm not really a fan of them but we did invest in an in car DVD player for those long journeys. It was a lifesaver. If she isn't really a TV watcher, plenty of car toys helps too.

 

[Ganton]

We drove to France (about 12 hours across 2 days) when LO was 14 months old. We set off at 3am, so that we could get a good 3 hours in before he woke up. Other than that, we planned to drive through his nap times, took a few favourite snacks to give him in the car to keep him going until we stopped if necessary, we always had one of us in the back with him for some entertainment, and we took some new toys for him to enjoy. He was actually really good all the way there and back, despite not being great in the car prior to that holiday.

 

[Gc85]

In car DVD player
iPad
Lots of snacks and drinks
Small toys that she can keep hold of in her car seat
Magnadoodle is an in car favourite

We've took LO on 8-10 hour journeys frequently and luckily it's always been pretty trouble free. We set off early (3-4 am) LO has a travel grobag so we just lift her out of her cot and pop her in the car and set off imidiately and she falls back asleep till her normal wake up time. We take her clean clothes, toothbrush, washcloth etc in her change bag and when she wakes up we stop at the nearest services, get her washed, dressed and then all have breakfast. Then I'll normally sit in the back with her and keep her entertained until she starts getting sleepy again. We generally find that she sleeps for longer and more often in the car than she would at home, just means that she's generally up late when we arrive at our destination.

 

[Mrs R]

I wouldn't take my children on a 6 hour drive (I'm not saying you shouldn't). They would drive me mad, and I think it would be unfair to make them sit that long. We limit car journeys to 2 hours (with a break) and take the train or fly for longer journeys.

 

[Scottish mum]

I took my 16 month old 9 hours away lots of snaks, toys and a portable DVD player with Mickey Mouse clubhouse! We stopped every two hours or so x

 

[SarahBear]

Traveling close to bed-time can be useful because then you can do a big chunk of your traveling while she sleeps. For a shorter trip, I'd suggest traveling during nap time. A bit before a nap can be a good time to start though. If you get an hour before sleep and then one to three hours for a nap, you can get a good chunk of driving done before a little break. Then you can stop, have a meal, get out of the car, et cetera. Then when you're done with your break, back to the car! I'll be going on a 5 hour drive with my 17 month old in a couple weeks. She's used to traveling though.

 

[SarahBear]

I wouldn't take my children on a 6 hour drive (I'm not saying you shouldn't). They would drive me mad, and I think it would be unfair to make them sit that long. We limit car journeys to 2 hours (with a break) and take the train or fly for longer journeys.

I completely understand and felt bad with all the travel we did recently (it was for work), but if you work in some sleep and breaks, it isn't too bad.

 

[izzlesnizzle]

Drive at night. We live 200 miles away from my family and a 4 hour drive can take 7 in the day time and that's just traffic, not to mention all the stops we would have to make adding on another couple of hours. We do the bedtime routine, put her in her pyjamas, settle her into the car seat with a blankie and her teddy and shes asleep half an hour into the journey and we don't stop, we do the whole drive and she sleeps all the way and we transfer her into the travel cot when we get there. So much easier than the day. We did a day drive once and it was the worst trip I ever did and said never again.

 

[tommyg]

I'd try and set off really early in the morning 4/5am so she'll sleep a chunck of it, get her dressed at the services or just keep her in her pjs and have breakfast at her normal time. Have a play about and get back in the car. Depending on your times and her normal nap times she might have another sleep the motion tends to make kids nod off.
Depending on your route I'd try and find places with a playground (small towns / villages) off the motorway to stop. Motorway service just aren't geared up for toddlers who have a need to RUN!!!!
DVD players are a god send I've no idea how the pervious generation did it. I don't really think LOs can hold ipads etc for that long.

 

[AGTR]

Thanks, We are staying for a week I forgot to put it in xx

 

[ruby09]

We made a 6 hour drive to Canada when lo was 11 months old, and it really wasn't as bad as I expected. We had lots of snacks, and we loaded movies onto the ipad for him to watch, and we just kept alternating toys for him. We also stopped about once an hour just to get out of the car. It turned a 6 hour trip into an 8 hour trip, but it defintely helped to get some air every once in a while. All in all, lo was very good throughout the ride.

 

[aimee-lou]

lots of snacks, books on cd and plan in regular stops. we regularly do 2hour + trips as our family are scattered. kids have to learn to occupy themselves and even at this age simply listening to music and spotting stuff out of the window is ok. We spent days in the car when i was younger.....its just part of the trip.

 

[Sqwidge]

I travelled with Josh A LOT, from 2 weeks old onwards - my parents house is an hour and a half away, so we regularly do that trip (and that was his first long trip at 2 weeks). I play wheelchair basketball so take him to games and we go and watch tournaments etc, and at 3 months we drove 3 hours to Manchester, we probably had 1 stop in that. Luckily because we drove here there and everywhere with him he was used to it, so it wasn't that bad. If they're not used to it I can see it being more of an issue. Just take a lot of things to entertain, stop every couple of hours and like others have said a portable DVD player or iPad or something.

 

[Foogirl]

I wouldn't take my children on a 6 hour drive (I'm not saying you shouldn't). They would drive me mad, and I think it would be unfair to make them sit that long. We limit car journeys to 2 hours (with a break) and take the train or fly for longer journeys.

Nice if you can afford it! Plus, to be honest, being able to chuck stuff you might need in the car, for us was far less stress than trying to cart it all about not the plane/train. We've done a few long journeys 6hrs plus and the only one that was a nightmare was when she was pre-chicken pox. We didn't know it at the time and she screamed most of the way!