Roadtrippin With a Newborn Tips

I have never been one to do things in order. Even when I was drafting papers in college, I always wrote the body and conclusion of the piece before going back and writing the introduction. With that being said, my first post is going to be regarding a question a friend of mine has about traveling instead of the normal "who I am" post. So, here I go...

Seven Tips For Traveling With a Newborn

My husband is in the military and we have had to move across the country twice with a newborn. The first time I researched and planned for how to make the trip easier with my two month old son. The second time I completely winged it with my three month old daughter. It became very clear that preparing for the trip depended on how I was as a mother, and how my babies were as well, BABIES! However, with both those trips I came out with a few pointers that might help other mothers facing the same daunting task.

1. Don't Drive-I know this is a hard one to manage since the majority of households have more than one vehicle, but if you can manage it, it is SO worth it. Our first cross country trip, we knew we would only be gone for about 1-2 years and opted to leave my husbands car at home and pull my car behind the moving truck. Our second trip, my sister-in-law flew out and took over most of the driving for me. This allowed me to be able to attend to the needs of my lil one whenever they came up.

My lil man all ready for a road trip!

2. Plan Your Stops Around Feedings- I loosely followed the Babywise method with feedings and sleep times. This gave me a rough estimate of when my newborns would need/want to be fed. With both my children at the time of our travel they were wanting to be fed roughly every three hours. We did NOT stop every three hours (see next tip) but we did make sure that we stopped for food, potty breaks, or gas around the time I was supposed to feed, thus cutting down on how many times we needed to stop during our trip.

3. Don't Stop At Every Feeding-This one depends entirely on your driving situation and whether or not your baby can physically handle it. Neither of my kiddos had issues with spitting up or reflux so thus I felt it was safe to feed them while the driving was still going on. NO, I DID NOT TAKE THEM OUT OF THEIR CAR SEATS. I invested in a breast pump and would pump and then afterwards give them the bottle of collected milk. They never had any issues, but I can see how some babies just could not handle not being burped or eating in a moving vehicle. However, if you can manage this it is so worth it and will make the trip shorter (less stops). We worked it out to where our stops were every other feeding, and then I would pump in between. This gave us a good balance between pushing forward to our destination and taking those much needed breaks.

4. Invest In A Baby Mirror-This one is mostly for if you have to drive. With a newborn and the amount of weird noises they make I found myself constantly getting that "mommy intuition" to check on my child. While driving, this means you either have to pull over and check on them or sit there worrying the entire time you are driving if your baby is still safe. The mirror will help cut down on stops as well as ease any nagging feelings you may have.

5. Bring Some Music or Play A Book On Tape- If you are driving alone with the newborn this one is especially important. The music or voice recording may just be the white noise your baby needs to stay calm or fall asleep during the trip. If not, it may be the ticket to your sanity if the baby is in the backseat screaming.

Here is my wonderful sister-in-law having some "niece time" after spending two hours listening to her screaming from the back. She was such a good sport and a GREAT help!

 

6. Get Sufficient Amount of Sleep- My husband was very wise when he decided we were not going to push ourselves each day until we were exhausted or until we reached a certain spot. He gave us a drive time: The amount of time we were going to spend traveling that day (including stops). Once, we reached that timeframe, we were done and started looking for a place to sleep that night. Now granted, my husband still had our trip mapped out on where he thought we would make it to and had a sleeping destination in mind. Sometimes we made it, other times we didn't. Flexibility was key.

7. Have Necessities Within Arms Reach- A friend of mine had an awesome tip for traveling which I copied on my second trip and loved it! She invested in a deluxe utility tote from Thirty-One and then purchased the fabric boxed containers from Target. Two of them fit perfectly in the tote. On one side I had diapers, wipes, powder, an extra pair of clothes (really anything you would think you would need for the day for your baby). On the other side, I had my snacks: nuts, granola bars, fruit...etc. Anything I thought I would use for the day. Then, I would place it to where I could reach wherever I was in the car. For the snacks, that just meant I didn't have to pull over to reach one when I was hungry--cause we all know how hungry breast feeding mommies get! For the diapers and such, it just made it easier to have everything in one centralized location so if you did need to stop unexpectedly to change that smell coming from the back seat, it was a quick stop with no digging for all the necessities you need.

Well, those are my top seven tips for traveling with a newborn. Everything else may be just a preference. However, I could have also missed some. Let me know if you have any other tips and tricks to make traveling with a newborn easier.