road trip with baby!! HELP ASAP! LEAVING SOON!

[skibbit]

my baby only sleeps in his crib or bassinette and is almost too big for it. we cant lug a crib a state away! were have to go to cali to see myu sis back from iraq and michael(baby) has to come. we are traveling by car. he will not sleep at all or not long in a carseet and we went on a 4 hour long drive a few weeks ago and it took 10 hours because we had michael with us!! we had no air conditioning and my mom would not be quiet. michael sleeps without noise. he hadnt slept in over 12 hours becasue of that trip. he wouldnt eat, wouldnt slepp, overheated, got dehydrated, and screamed! about 25% of the time! it was so stressful! he doesnt sleep well in another place. what do i do!? this trip will be longer. the only difference other than that is that this car has airconditioner and we will have my husband in the car too. (better for me so i dont have to be the one to deal with michael alone the whole time.see last timewe had to stop 2 or 3 times for at least an hour so he could cool down and rest and so I could rest too. poor us. i was afraid that he would die of overheating and dehydration! i di! i was so scared and stressed out! i will nevewr  take him in a car ride that long without air again! but this trip is a must and i dont know what to do. we are leaving in justless than 4 hours pleasse help soon!

[rinajack]

If will sleep a bit (ie 45 mins) plan pn lots of these - my little one is a 45 min napper anyway, but tires more easily in car, so can often do more of them. 

She is also much happier with me in back with her, so she can hold me hand etc.  This may help. Think of something baby likes (usually mummy), and accidental parent to your hearts content - this isn't an every day occurance.  If will take bottle, feed to sleep (can bottle feed if you sit in back).  Paci is a necessity if likes it - I allow to have whole trip if necessary.

Screaming baby in car is awful. 

Oh, and do you have one of those CD that play sounds in the womb and household sounds etc?  Didn't put my LO to sleep, but def calmed her down - try to get your hands on one of these - if not, try radio on static - it is white noise, which can help.

Good luck.  Oh, and I also put lovie over face so she can't see, helps her fall asleep.  A friend of ours once said that they read if you can get a baby to keep eyes closed for 3 mins, they will fall alseep - just gotta find a way to get eyes closed.

Again, good luck.

[Erin M]

Oh dear, I'm guessing you've already left.  We find with our DD sitting in the back seat with her helps, many people swear by portable DVD players too.  Snacks are good, toys -- all of this is easy if you're sitting there with him.  Hope the trip went well!

[skibbit]

the trip went better than expected and i think that after all this he finally learned how to sleep in the car seat. all i do is when he wailes i take the paci out and when it slows down i put it back in and he will start to fall asleap for a few sec. and if i repeat this eventually he will scream less and drift off more untill he falls asleap. thanks for your posts though. by the way, where do you get a cd that has heartbeats or household sounds?

[rinajack]

I got the CD from a baby store, but you could try searching online?