Road trip tips

DD is 12 months and doesn't love the car unless it's her regular nap time or a very short trip. During our last road trip she cried for about 3 hours of a 5 hour round trip!

When driving at bedtime or nap time is not an option, how do you keep your LO content?

We don't have smart phones but I do have a nook color. I don't really use it other than reading so I don't really know how to take advantage of that, lol. Any other ideas for me to keep her busy? We're really hoping to drive to SC this summer so I want this next trip to go well.

Re: Road trip tips

Could one of you sit next to her? Perhaps she feels that she can't see you and that bothers her.

Road trip tips

At that age I would probably leave the night before around 7pm and drive as far as I could. I am not a big fan of driving straight thru so I would probably stop somewhere and then start again after breakfast during a nap.

Road trip tips

At that age I would probably leave the night before around 7pm and drive as far as I could. I am not a big fan of driving straight thru because the next day I would be useless the following day, so I would probably stop somewhere and then start again after a big breakfast so she has a nice nap.

As for keeping occupied, can you take turns sitting in the back... Read books, new toys she has never had before, favorite toys she plays with for longer times. Can your nook play shows and movies?

My babies always found mirrors fascinating. There was this fold up fabric book they had from BBB (it was like $5.00) that had baby faces all over them and then one page was a mirror. They loved that one. That was a tough age for my twins, they have short attention spans.

Road trip tips

We're driving to NC in a couple of weeks with DD who will be just shy of 23 months. We're going to leave late at night so hopefully she'll sleep as much as possible. Otherwise, my plan is:

DVD player (kid loves Elmo)
iPad
Magnadoodle
Crayons and coloring books
Books (she can sit with a book for quite a while)

There are some other ideas I found on Pinterest like using a cookie sheet and putting magnets on it that seemed pretty neat.

Re: Road trip tips

the only thing that calmed dd down and it took us almost a year of crying in the car for hours on end, unless it was nap time, was downloading movies to the ipad. We found a contraption that held the ipad on the back of the headrest so she can watch it. ever since then lond road trips have been piece full. If you don't have an ipad then I would get a dvd player.

Road trip tips

Thanks everyone. I'm going to see if I can borrow a dvd player or zoom from my parents. I'll have to look for something that can hold it though.

I'll definitely sit in the back with her for the ride up when she'll be awake. It's only 2.5-3 hours but lately she starts to get cranky after about 15 minutes. Distracting her for another 15 minutes or so is one thing but another two hours doesn't sound fun. We do a lot of shorter road trips during the summer so I'll definitely be trying any idea I can.