Babies and long car journeys (3-4hr)?

[Serene123]

If you read my other thread then you'll know, if not, I'm going to York for 2 weeks to get away at my sisters. Anyway, it takes 3 and a half hours to get there. Caitlyn is NOT a car baby anymore. She will sleep for a bit and then cry. Do I keep stopping? How many times should I stop? You're not allowed to have them in there continuously over 2 hours are you? How long to you stop for?

 

[missjess]

Luckyly Josh is a car baby and fall asleep right when we get going. When we drove to London he slept for 4h without waking up.

Maybe get her some new toys? put some relaxing music on and bring a blanket that smells like you?

I hope it goes smoothly xx

 

[Serene123]

Hopefully she will just sleep the whole way then! Thanks Jess x

 

[Abbys_Mummy]

Abby is a great car baby to i turn the music on and she goes to sleep the whole time even to the shops sometimes lol!!

 

[nikky0907]

Lola likes car rides in general but she doesn't like to be sat still for a longer than an hour so I put some music on,bring her little playing box so she has something to keep her entertained.
Good luck!

 

[Serene123]

She has loads of toys on her carseat, everyone says there's too many but she doesn't sleep much in there usually. Hopefully the long journey will send her to sleep.

 

[Samantha675]

Drive until you can't take the crying anymore. That is what I have had to do on long journeys. My parents live about 3-4 hours away. We have also waited until evening, and as soon as Bren was down for the night (haha) we popped him into his carseat and hauled ass. He slept for most of the way, woke and nursed and fell back to sleep.

 

[mylittlebubs]

Lincoln is not a car-seat baby,lol
But when he was 7 weeks old we took him to visit my parents and it was 6 hours journey. I fed him and waited until he's happy before i put him in the car-seat and we made 2 stops to feed and change nappies, about 30 min each time. Usually during the day he doesn't sleep much but he likes to sleep when he';s in the car ( the motion of the car when its moving calms him down )

Have a nice journey

 

[Lizziepots]

I've got a journey the same when we move to London next week. I plan to....

make sure she's fed and winded just before we set off
make sure she as comfy as punch
turn the heat up in the car till we can't stand it and it sends her to sleep (then turn back down so she doesn't overheat)
and cos our car seat has a handle over top as part of travel system and you have to have that up when driving, she has one toy to look at (a black and white buzzy bee thing) and I drape a blanket over the handle thing as a back drop and keeps out the sun/ distraction of passing trees/ shadows/ changing lights that she can see

I'm hoping all these tricks will work. The longest she's been in car till now is about an hour and it worked and got her to sleep.

I'm honestly hoping that we'll manage the journey in one at that. If she's asleep the whole way, why wake her up by stopping?

I tend to find that when the car stops moving she wakes up....fingers crossed there aren't any traffic jams on the way!

Good luck with your journey

 

[x-amy-x]

york is not far from me! it's pretty too! When we've taken caitlyn on a long car journey we have made at least one stop to change and feed her. She's been fine. Have a nice time!! xx

 

[Serene123]

I've decided to leave at 8pm when she normally goes to sleep, so she should sleep the whole way x

 

[Stef]

When I drive down to my parents I just do the whole journey with no stops, Luckily Olivia likes being in the car so its bareable.

x

 

[Tegans Mama]

Tegan is definitely a car baby. The hospital she was in is 1 and a half hours drive away, and she slept/window gazed the whole way home. She was 8 and a half weeks old and it was her first time in a car! She did really well.

Hope it goes well

 

[ColtonsMom]

Drive until you can't take the crying anymore. That is what I have had to do on long journeys. My parents live about 3-4 hours away. We have also waited until evening, and as soon as Bren was down for the night (haha) we popped him into his carseat and hauled ass. He slept for most of the way, woke and nursed and fell back to sleep.

This is what I was going to suggest. Try going in the evening, right around her bedtime. Then even if she wakes for feeds she will probably fall right back to sleep.

Colton is a car baby. He falls asleep everytime until he JUST woke up from a nap, but he is usually still good unless he gets hungry.

 

[moomin_troll]

we had a long car jorney wen zane was only 1 week old we went to glasgow n it took us 8 hours! we only stopped twice just make sure u stop for her feeds other than that play music n only stop wen u cant stand it lol

 

[Ragirl]

The first month of my daughter's life she went on a 10-hr car ride and 5 six hour car rides. She is soooo not a car baby either. Refuses to sleep much at all. On the 10-hr ride, I managed to go about 2-3 hours before actually stopping. I judged when to stop by when she cried non stop for 20 minutes. In any 3 hour period, she would cry for 10-15 minutes, stop for 10-ish minutes, cry for 10 minutes, etc. Only when she went 20 non-stop did I stop. I also figured she was hungry because she was eating every 2-3 hours at that point. On the 6 hour car rides I managed to stop only once in the middle to nurse. One thing that helped tremendously (I unfortunately didn't figure it out until our last trip) was how to swaddle her in her car seat. I also found a particular CD of music she likes and if I swaddle her and play the music really loud, I can usually get hour long stretches without crying. Good luck!!

 

[Donna79x]

Hi hun..... hope all goes well for ya... why dont you try taking her out each day from now until you go to get her used to it a little and you can try all the tips too that the ladies mentioned.

Rihanna loves the car apart from yesterday when she screeeaaaammmmmed for 20 mins non stop but I was on the bloody motorway!!! Grrrr

xxx

 

[marley2580]

We always travel long distances at night, then she always sleeps the whole way - then again our journeys tend to be 8-9 hours.

 

[clairebear]

jacks not a car baby when we went away only a 2 hour journey we fed and changed him beforewe left and waited for him to fall asleep he was asleep before we got out of the town. and woke up when we got there xxxxx

 

[1st_baby]

We did an 8 hrs trip when max was 2 months old and he slept all the way but hes a real car baby .the faster you go the happier he is lol