Road Trip with a 1+ yr old

Last year we made the trip to NC with Jake no problem...it went so smoothly. But he was only 4 months old.

This year...I'm not as confident. Last year we left at his bedtime (around 8pm) and drove through the night. He slept the whole way.

But now... I watch him in the monitor at night and he is ALL OVER the crib...could he possibly sleep through a 9 hr drive in car seat?

DH wants to put him to bed at 7pm (as usual) then WAKE him at midnight and head out then...fully expecting him to go back to sleep. I think it's BAD idea.

1. I HATE HATE waking him. I won't do it, even if it needs to be done. DH has to do it.

2. What if he doesn't go back to sleep? At that point he will have already slept 5 hrs...he might think it's time to be up and play... or be cranky!

Any suggestions?

Re: Road Trip with a 1+ yr old

Well I have never taken DS on a road trip so I don't know if this helps...

I would NOT wake him up after he has slept for 5 hours and stick him in the car. He will not go back to sleep and you will have a loooong ride on your hands.

I think I would try to push his bedtime to 8- even 8:30 and then leave. He will be soooo exhausted he will fall asleep in the car and hopefully stay that way a large portion of the trip.

As for moving around... DS has always since an infant moved around LOTS in his sleep. I am amazed he has never fallen out of bed. He falls asleep in the car all the time with no problem and as long as the car is moving he stays that way.

HTH!


ETA: I would also feed him a nice meal right before you leave. With my DS at least if he has a full belly, and it is around bedtime and it is dark out, he will be out like a light for hours.

Message edited 10/24/2006 9:11:55 PM.

Re: Road Trip with a 1+ yr old

I have been making long car trips with my son since he was 6 months old and now at almost 3 he is still an angel in the car. If we have to drive for longer than 6 hours we mostly do it at night. Usually we leave right after dinner, drive for a couple of hours and then stop somewhere. At this point I let my son walk around and stretch and then I put his pj's on and get him comfortable. He usually falls asleep shortly after that and will stay asleep for the rest of the time. I definitely would not wake him in the middle of the night. I think this will throw him off completely and you run the risk of him not going back to sleep right away and being very cranky. I would just leave early evening and just let him fall asleep on his own. He may stir or wake up a couple of times, but I think you will be better off in the long run. I have also taken the trip with my son during the day and he is absolutely fine. He watches tv or sings to his cds on the radio and even will sleep for a couple of hours. Bring lots of kids music and a travel tv if you have one. It works wonders! Good luck!

Re: Road Trip with a 1+ yr old

I think you are right. I can keep him up as late as 9, maybe even 9:30pm if I really push it (so I can give DH a few hrs to sleep since we work that day)... I agree with you ... I think it's better to do that than to wake him in the middle of the night.

Re: Road Trip with a 1+ yr old

We went to NC with Katherine about a week before she turned one.

We put her to bed at normal time. We woke up and got out by 5am. She fell back asleep after about 10 minutes. She ended up waking up around her normal time--8am-ish and that's when we stopped for breakfast.

She stayed awake pretty happily, had a bottle, took a nap and she woke up in time for us to stop for lunch. Then she stayed awake until we got there. She was cranky for about 30 minutes just prior to arrival.

The way home was a bit of a disaster because we left much later than I would have liked and we hit TRAFFIC!!

I would be worried about driving while he slept through the night. What happens at the destination when he's ready for action and you guys are ready to crash?

I don't know if Jake is too young for this, but friends of ours got a portable DVD player/screen and their son watched those in the back of the car on their ride down...kept him pretty occupied while he was awake.

Re: Road Trip with a 1+ yr old

We took Alex for a 5 hour drive over the summer- she was only 8 months old, but we left aound her bedtime & she slept the whole way up. We also hit MAJOR traffic on th way home (took 7 1/2 hours) & she didn't wake once- I couldn't believe it! (We also left at her bedtime for that drive).
I think if I were you I'd leave around his bedtime again.
Even though he moves around in his crib, the motion of the car seems to keep most babies asleep comfortably.

We woke Alex at 4:30am just the other day to go to the airport & she was awake the entire car ride!!!
Waking him in the middle of the night could go both ways.

Good Luck with whatever you decide!!!

Re: Road Trip with a 1+ yr old

Re: Road Trip with a 1+ yr old

I'd say it's definitely a mistake to wake a kid after 5 hours. Think about taking a 5 hour nap & how rested you'd be.

I agree - leave after dinner, stop at a rest stop for a potty break/diaper change and then have him fall asleep.