We had quite the adventure going out of town for my gramma’s funeral. It was the first road trip for Aerissa. The longest car ride she’s been on so far is about 45 minutes one way. This trip took us 170ish miles away from home. But, for being a 2.5 month old, she did well.
Our trip was extended by about 30 minutes to an hour since we had to stop a couple times to feed and change her. She slept most of it otherwise. She did frequently try to fight sleep since she usually has wake ‘n play time after eating. The poor thing would get sick of just being in her car seat too.
What I really noticed what how much extra stuff I ended up packing. We might not have needed all the diapers I brought, but I made sure to pack extra… because if you don’t – then you’ll need them.
The Stuff
Here were my guidelines for packing:
– Average number of diapers we go through in a day plus two; packing that amount for each day we’d be gone (Now, I knew we were only going to be gone overnight.. for about 30 hours total, but I still packed it as though it was 2 days)
– 2 outfits for her a day
– A couple bibs & 2 burp cloths per day
– A couple favorite toys and a couple she hasn’t played with a lot yet
– Extra receiving blanket (I had a total of 2 receiving blankets and 1 heavy one – it’s winter here!)
– Extra hat
– 2 pacifiers
– An extra shirt a day for me in case I’m the one covered in spit up
We also brought along her rocker chair that she loves so it’d be easier to entertain her in the hotel room
The Drive
I decided to ride in the backseat while my husband drove. This way I could keep an eye on her and let him know when we’d be needing to make a stop. I figured I could also help entertain her and (attempt to) soothe her better if I was back there. It did help with stopping to feed because then I didn’t need to move from the front to the back. I just had to take her out of the carseat once we were parked somewhere.
I know her schedule pretty well, so it wasn’t too difficult to estimate when she’d need to eat and be changed … timewise. But this didn’t always coincide with where we could pull over. This isn’t a route or trip we take often, but if it was, we’d be able to plan our stops better. We started the drive at the beginning of her nap time, which was helpful since she wanted to sleep right away anyway.
She slept more on the way back. On the way there, we stopped twice for her and only once on the way back. When we stopped, I gave her time to hang out on my lap after eating rather than sticking her back in the car seat right away. This gave her time to coo and play a bit as well as enjoy a different position for awhile. I know how stiff and sore I can feel from riding a long time in the same position, I imagine she can feel the same way about being strapped into her car seat for a long stretch of time!