sillygirl

I'm planning on taking a road trip with my mom and my son in about a month. He'll be about 8 months old at the time. He just got his big boy car seat, Doc said he can be forward facing now, and he loves it, so I think that him facing forward is going to help keep him from getting too bored too soon.

The trip straight through will probably take about 12 hours. I know we'll need to stop every couple hours or so to let him wiggle around and stretch. I'm planning on getting him a few new toys before we leave and letting him have them one at a time on the trip. We're planning on being pretty relaxed about whether or not we'll stop about halfway and split the trip in two days or if we'll make it the whole way through. We're letting little man decide for us.

Does anyone have any tips for traveling with an infant that age? I know that taking him out of his comfort zone for almost a week and on such a long car ride will mess him up a little, and I want to minimize our issues

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Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly-Rose Franken
....absence makes me miss him more...

tinfoil

Whew, not a trip that long. Whenever we head up to the cottage, a 4 hour trip, we always schedule it so we leave just as it's the spawn's naptime, which normally buys us 2-3 hours. The kid is pretty easy going and really enjoys watching the cars go past, which helps alot as well. Mrs. Tinfoil will sit in the back seat if Maddy gets a little upitty.

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fresnelly

What will he be sleeping in overnight? If you're travelling with a folding playpen, be sure to bring along his other nighttime comforts that he's used to such as favourite blanket, music box, mobile etc... That will help him with the sense of displacement.

As you realise, regular stops during his awake periods are paramount and give him lots of mommy time during those breaks.

Plan ahead to do your longest stretches when he's asleep and don't push him too much when he's awake. On some level, you'll just have to plow ahead, but don't push him. If he's becoming increasingly frantic on a long stretch, forget about making that "next town" or goal. Just stop in the nearest gas station or parking lot or hotel or whatever. His state is more important than the perfect hotel or restaurant and it will make returing to the car easier.

Also, do your best to engage him while driving. Sing along and talk to him as much as possible when he needs it.

We drove our 8month son 13000km over 6 weeks awhile back, and it's actually a good age for it. We couldn't subject that to him now that he's a willful toddler wants to walk and tumble more than anything else in the world.

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Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life