Driving to the Fort with a 7 month old

[Just Whipperwhirl 24]

My kids will be 12, 7 and 7 months for our next FORT trip (probably - still thinking about switching to Thanksgiving instead of April) - We are traveling from CT with 1 - 2 stops - Do you think that kind of journey is too much on a young baby? I told my husband I thought it would be better if I flew with the baby but if I fly - he says all the kids are comming with me - he doesnt want to be the sole caregiver for the kids while handling the camper. Three airline tickets adds up. I flew down with the kids for our last camping trip at the Fort - It worked out Ok - We all drove back though - with no stops - and everyone was miserable. This time we will definately stop - once perhaps twice - still planning. Any thoughts or advice?

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

My wife and I drove from NJ to ME and back when my oldest was 8 months old, and she did fine. The last two hours on the way home though were horrible, she had finally had enough of the car seat and wanted out., but all in all it was an ok experience. I think the combination of the car seat than stroller, back to car seat than back to stroller over and over while seeing the sites finally had its toll on her. She definitely would have been better if she had time to roll around on the bed more often and have a little freedom. I would do an overnight to give her the freedom and leave early so you can cover some miles while she is sleeping.

Best Regards,

Norm

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

We took our almost 10 month old granddaughter to the Fort in the MH. She did fine, we did let her dictate our schedule, which was fine with all of us. Gramma got to take naps with the baby. I'm still not sure who needed the nap more though

[MLM5.. aka Judy 97]

Whip, I travel ALOT with my kids, the longest trip by car was from Long Beach California to Alabama when Xander was a few months old. I know it's hard to let the baby dictate the driving time but it's really the only way to go. Xan and Izzy can usually do about 4 hours at a time before we have to stop and strectch. Even at that young age a Dvd player is a nice distraction. We do alot of snacking when we are traveling, i have a little plug in fridge for he car so I can take cheese, milk and stuff with us. It can be done, just dont push your self or baby to the point of misery. It takes a while to recover from that. Also, finding a car seat that is actually comfortable for baby will REALLY help alot. Izzy has been through 3 but we finally found one that she doesnt fight me over. She doesnt like anything touching her ears I found out.. lol.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

My kids will be 12, 7 and 7 months for our next FORT trip (probably - still thinking about switching to Thanksgiving instead of April) - We are traveling from CT with 1 - 2 stops - Do you think that kind of journey is too much on a young baby? I told my husband I thought it would be better if I flew with the baby but if I fly - he says all the kids are comming with me - he doesnt want to be the sole caregiver for the kids while handling the camper. Three airline tickets adds up. I flew down with the kids for our last camping trip at the Fort - It worked out Ok - We all drove back though - with no stops - and everyone was miserable. This time we will definately stop - once perhaps twice - still planning. Any thoughts or advice?

Right now I think it's too hard to say. It all depends on the baby. My son (now 15) was always a good traveler for both plane trips and car trips. My daughter (10 years old) not so much :argh:. Did find that she liked traveling better in the day when she could see things than at night. We would try to get her to go to sleep, but she just fussed. Even now she is more "pleasant" during the day when we travel. DH has gotten to the point that if we are traveling to somewhere and it's more than 10 hours than he breaks it into 2 days just to give everyone a break. My youngest (9) is a go with the flow kinda child. She has always been that way. As long as she has her bags of toys then she is happy. :rofl2:

I will tell you that the one thing I noticed with my own children and others who have the age gap that my youngest and oldest have is that the baby tends to very flexible. By this I mean unlike the oldest one, who basically we only had to worry about his schedule when we planned things, the youngest was getting toted around to baseball, football, and basketball practices and games pretty much as soon as she was born. She could sleep anywhere and eat anywhere at anytime.

If you do decide to fly could maybe the baby and the 7 year old fly with you and the 12 year old go with dad? They might enjoy that bonding time.

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

I drove from AL to Charleston Sc SOLO when my oldest was 2 months old and I was nursing. I TOOK 3 DAYS AND WE BOTH DID FINE. they usuallydo great in car seats.

[SCTigerCock 171]

No child experience to pass on.

But I do have a question about the topic title. Do you plan to travel home with said 7 month old too? Or just to the Fort? :rofl2: :heart:

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

No child experience to pass on.

But I do have a question about the topic title. Do you plan to travel home with said 7 month old too? Or just to the Fort? :rofl2: :heart:

:rofl2:

[Just Whipperwhirl 24]

We will see how the baby does - we may be flying back.

[BouncingTiggers 98]

We drove from MA to WDW towing when my DD was 13 months old. She did great. We drove a couple hours & would stop and let her & my son out to play in the camper for 10min or so. Took us longer to get there & we had 2 stops. However things went as smooth as could be.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Movies, lots of snacks, and periodic stops to stretch. And if that doesn't work, duct tape. Lots of duct tape.

[Just Whipperwhirl 24]

hmmm - duct tape - never heard of it.

[Chuggs 2]

Sorry the details are not too sharp...but I have taken such a trip. We drove from Altus, Ok to Charleston, SC with an 8 mo old.

We left after diner and drove through the night. Our little one, Corey (now 25, Married, and Father to a beautiful 8 mo old little girl) slept in his car seat comfortably thru the night.

It's a technique anyway...

I would probably do it that way again. On a long trip --- plan a stop or two along the way. Dad, go to hotel and sleep all day. Mom and kids go to a zoo, water park, playground...Have a big day and wear everyone out. Have a nice meal together...then hop in the car and drive at night. Dad will be refreshed and not distracted...everyone else will battle for who snores the most.

Of course, this would not be a prudent idea if Dad is uncomfortable driving at night. But it worked out very nice for us...a quarter century ago (WOW time flys)

[polkadotsuitcase 12]

I drove with my son when he was 9mo from NC to Disney. I tried to skip his nap during the day, and left around 3pm or so. He did great, fell asleep for much of the drive. But when I checked in to All-Stars (around 1am), he woke up and was rarin' to go. I was exhausted and he just had no plans to sleep, kept chattering away and keeping me up, lol.

With two adults, it might be easier, but I'd definitely plan on maximizing the potential for the baby sleeping during the trip.

I'm usually the only adult traveling with the kids -- while towing the camper -- and have done it since the kids were infants, so you might suggest to your hubby that it's completely do-able and not that bad at all. It might actually be fun for all of them!

[disneylitch......Debbie 61]

We drove from Maryland to The Fort with our granddaughter when she was 3 months old and again when she was 6 months old. My daughter and son in law purchased a portable DVD player and she watched movies the entire trip. I think that really helped. Her favorite is Jake and The Neverland Pirates. Many people have said that infants don't recognize people, but when we took her to see Jake at Hollywood Studios, she was like a teenager that saw a star that they had a crush on. We will be traveling again is September and she will be 15 months old. I have a feeling that traveling with her when she was an infant will be easier.

[LONE-STAR 370]

We drove from Texas to the Fort and back with our little girl at 2 months 14 month 17 months and 26 months. While there were moments I wanted to jump out of the truck, all and all it was ok and we would do it again. When she was 14 months we bought a I pad. I put cartoons and movies and games on it and that helped a lot.

[jjbescher 17]

I agree with others that making use of electronics have helped us out a lot.  We are try to drive a lot during the night.  We have been to Disney with our 3 year old 8 times so far and we drive from NC every time.  Once in a while we break the trip with a stop, but most of the time we drive straight through.

 

Your stops will be longer then you are used to, but it is nice to walk around a little bit or just sit and relax and not be in the vehicle.

 

jon

[michelb 3]

Yeah, I really don't know how previous generations travelled without electronics !!!

 

We use to fight it and try to limit their video watching while travelling but now we've accepted that riding on the highway (particulary from the backseat)

for hours and hours really isn't all that interesting to kids and if it keeps them calm and happy to watch movies, we let them.  I figure the calmer they are, the less they'll distract me and I'll be safer on the road too.

 

We do try to change it up a bit: force them to get out at rest areas, play games like 'I spy ...' for a while, etc but eventually the movies will go back on.

[Retired and Happy (Ken) 101]

We took three teens to the Dollywood area this summer.  They were CONSTANTLY texting friends back home.  Phones were constantly needing recharging.  We had a tire probl;em in Birmingham and they went inside and found an outlet they could use during the tire change.  it was amusing to watch them survive in an electronic world.

 

We have RV'd for many years with a variety of infants/children (foster and adopted) and each one is an individual with their own wants and needs.  I swore-off planes many years ago, and DW has never flown, so that is not an option for us.  A good RV is just the ticket in our hosehold.

[ftwildernessguy 778]

I just can't imagine what the back seat of that truck will smell like.

[Retired & Tired (Judy) 90]

As my dh (retired and happy) said, traveling with teenagers is a blast.  Just watching the things they do is fun.  When the cell phones need charging....look out.   However, they soon learn to keep them charged so they will be ready when they are away from the RV.  My grandchildren loved traveling (and still do).  When they were toddlers/young children their parents bought them a small DVD player for the backseat and that kept them entertained for hours and hours.  They never tired of it.  Then they moved up to I pads and that still helps them all. 

 

Our adopted and foster children love to travel.  You put the little ones in a car seat and they know they are going for a ride.  We have never had even 1 foster child (I have had 55) who did not love to ride.  We have been on the road for 10 or more hours and they are fine.  They sleep, play and just entertain themselves.  Of course we do stop to change diapers and feed them but the little 6 month old who left us yesterday and little Brad ( 16 months old on the 22nd) would go for 24 hours without food if we would let them.   I could feed the 6 month old while she was in her car seat and take her out to burp her and back in.  Brad can be fed through his feeding tube so that helps.   I actually waited as long as I could to feed JJ in April while we were traveling from Ga. to the Fort just to see when she would start wanting her bottle.  She never did. I had to make her eat.  I realize not all children are good travelers but all of ours are great little travelers.

 

Kimberly 15 and Shawnee 17 have special and medical needs but they have been super travelers since they first came to us at almost 6 months of age and 5 months of age.   And neither of them sleep on the ride.  Kimberly use to but now she sits up in her adult car seat (special car seat for adults who can not use a regular seat belt for medical reasons) and sings with the CD's and laughs and enjoys every minute awake in the RV.

 

Whipperwill, I think your children will all enjoy the trip.  The baby may be the most contented of all.  I think they travel better when you start them out at a young age.   I have known of babies who did not want to go to sleep at night so the dad would put them in the car and drive around for about 30 mins. and the baby would fall asleep and stay asleep when he got them home and put them in bed.

 

Good luck and do let us know how things work out for you.    God Bless you.

[michelb 3]

We travelled from Orlando to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada when our youngest was about 8 weeks old (who doesn't travel particularly well) so it can be done. 

 

As long as you don't mind working around their schedule it's do-able but as everyone else has mentioned, it depends a lot on the child.  Also depends on when you want to drive - if you don't mind driving at night and the 7 month old (and all your other kids) sleep well, you can get alot of mileage done then.  I'm guessing that by '1-2 stops' you mean 'overnight stops'.  We do about that travelling from Canada but we also usually stop every few hours for snacks / meals / bathroom breaks / stretching our and their legs / etc with our now 8 and 3 yr old.  We also make heavy use of electronics - it used to be that we'd have the odd movie playing once in a while - now it seems that as soon as we leave for a long drive we put something on and don't turn it off until we arrive at our destination.  Also probably depends on what you are travelling in.

 

With a toddler, I'd plan on stopping every hour or two and I think you'd be doing well if you can do 400 mile / day so plan for at least 2 nights (unless you want to drive a lot at night).  Another factor is if you are breastfeeding - if you are, I believe you probably will have to stop more often than if bottle fed (I believe breastfed children often drink a bit less each time but more often).  If bottlefeeding you can probably feed your toddler in their car seat while driving but you will still have to stop to change them.