Help with Traveling with Spirited LO

[teamcarbone]

We are planing on visiting my MIL this weekend and I'm not quite sure what time of day to travel with my DD.  My DD is 4 mo. old and doesn't sleep for long in her carseat and the trip usually takes us 3hrs. without stopping.  I feel that I have three options:

1. Leave at night at her bedtime(Do our typical night time routine, BF and pop her in the carseat and go)
2. Go in the morning after morning feeding which means half of the trip will be her A time and hope she'll sleep for her 1st nap for the other half of the trip (AM nap is her best usually 2.5hr nap)
3. Go in the morning, but leave after A time and hope she's tired enough to fall asleep most of the drive.


She is a Angel/Spirited LO and sleeps best in the dark and loves to sleep on her tummy. Oh I think she gets hot in her carseat which makes her uncomfortable any suggestions???

Thanks for reading my post and appreciate any advice.

K-

[daybyday]

honestly...I would choose option number one..

when my DS was little we always left for our long trips (12-14 hours) after his "early morning" feed (about 5am) and then he would hopefully sleep for a couple hours...or we left at bedtime....

It's really hard when they don't sleep well in the carseat. I would watch him doze off and see him struggling to change positions and never get truly comfortable...

To this day he doesn't "sleep" in the car...Doze for 15 mins max...But I must admit...It's a 3 hour trip...totally doable for getting your LO back on track once you're there...

Don't stress and have a GREAT time!

[macdee]

Hi there, I'd either go for option 1 or 3. If you really prefer to go in daytime, I'd leave about say 20-30mins before actual nap time (am assuming she winds down for a bit before her sleep)... Admittedly I haven't done long car trips w/ my lo (11mths now) but personally I reckon that options 1 and 3 would be safest.

However, my lo is going to do her first long haul flight next wk Friday...yikes! Am nervous as hell but more or less prepared. Thankfully we leave at night so I can give her a bottle on take off and hope she gets back to sleep for the 12 hrs of flight time. Any advice daybyday?

[Deb_in_oz]

i would go with option 1.  my spirited one will sleep in the car if it is timed for her nap (or even later and she will  pass out within 5 min day or night in the car).  worse case scenario of her not falling right asleep i imagine she would eventually fall asleep as there will be little distraction (what time does it get dark by you??), she will have eaten and will be tired and bored    then transfer / resettle at MIL house.

if you go during day and she really won't nap in the car seat then you are faced with a possibly cranky overtired baby.

my other thought would be to go in the afternoon so she is well rested from her big morning nap (rather than sacrifice it for a short car nap)  and if she does not sleep in the car you can put her down for a catnap when you get there and then clear her of tiredness before bedtime.

[teamcarbone]

Hello Ladies! 

Thanks for your opinions and I'm planning on making the trip in the evening around her bedtime. I think we'll try option 3 on the way home.  I'll let you know how we make out.  My DD now sucks her thumb and softy to fall asleep in her crib, hopefully she'll do that in the car seat too. We haven't tested it out yet because she just started that in the last week and all naps have been at home.   

Debra- It will be dark by the time I'm finished BF my DD and we put her in the car. This option also always us to make the trip without stopping. 

macdee - Good luck with your 12hr. flight I'm sure it will go smoother than you're thinking  . Keep ups posted

daybyday-I understand your frustration with the carseat, I feel awful that my DD can't get comfortable.  Funny how she did great on our first road trip with her which was an 8hr. ride but she was eight weeks old, I guess all she wanted to do was sleep back then.

I will report back once we return home. 

[macdee]

Good luck teamcarbone!! Hope all goes smoothly for you too!

[teamcarbone]

Hello!  We're back from our short trip.  Well our trip went really great. The traveling part was okay, but Makayla did great sleeping when and where ever I put her down.   We decided to leave in the evening around 8:30 just after our bedtime routine and feeding.  I think she was a bit OT at that point which could be why it took her 1hr 45min. to finally fall asleep in the car!  The up side was she didn't cry, just grumped every now and again. Once we arrived at my SIL she woke up crying, but it didn't take me long to settle her back down.  I popped her into her pack 'n play and she fell right to sleep.  I had a restless night, but DD did great.  Like I said she napped and slept at night great even when she was OT, of course I had to keep her away from distractions and keep her in a dark room  .  The ride home was a different story...we left in the afternoon when she was tired (OT) and she only slept for 20min!  She was awake for the rest of the trip which was 3hrs long.  It wasn't until the last hour that she started to fuss a lot and cry, at which point I got in the backseat and to keep her company.   

I really hope she grows out of this issue with not liking to sleep in the car...

[daybyday]

OH so happy the vacation went well! Bummer that the ride home was yuck...I've been told that the more often you do it, the better they get at it...(meaning Car trips LOL)....

 

[teamcarbone]

Good to know!  We'll certainly be doing "it"  ;)a lot more with the holidays just around the corner...

[Deb_in_oz]

sounds good to me and in the realm of normal... IYKWIM.. even kids who sleep in cars "well" might struggle when OT. i think the fact that she slept and napped in a pac n play is awesome and lots of people would be jealous of that alone    good luck with the upcoming holiday trips too 

[lauri]

funny, I was about to post the same question when I came across this topic. My DD also HATES the car seat, squirming when she sees it because she knows she is going to be stuck in an uncomfortable position and its hot! Also, as we are doing so well on EASY, she now NEEDS to sleep lying down and in the dark, forget stroller or carseat...we are now off to the airport (2 hours) and then a 2 hour flight, I hope all goes well and I am not the "passenger from hell" with OT, OS baby...but there is no other way. I though of creating a little eye-mask LOL to block out the stimulation...what I have also done is to make a tent with a scarf or blanket so you have them in your arms with a blanket over your shoulder so they dont see everything around them  - this is for the plane ride...too many people...too light...no space..