Road Tripping with a Baby

A while back, we took the tiny dude on his first big road trip, down to our old stomping grounds in LA. I had asked my mom pals on Instagram for tips on taking long car trips with an infant, and got a wealth of knowledge handed to me! Lots of the tips came in handy on our trip, and we also learned a thing or two on the fly. I figured I’d impart some first-hand knowledge here, just in case any of y’all are tossing a kiddo into the car for a good old fashioned road trip.

Try to stick to your routine or schedule. We’ve got Henry on a (flexible) schedule, so we tried to plan our driving and stopping around the times that he would usually eat. I also wanted to try to give him a little bit of time up and out of his carseat, so we tried to make it all coincide, along with the times that the grownups needed to grab a meal.

Just a few (really great) toys should do it. I was trying so hard not to overpack, and in the end we probably brought a few too many things. But we nailed it on the toys. All he really needed was a little hanging toy to look at in his carseat for the times when he was awake and bored. If he got overwhelmed with it, we just removed it and he would calm down. Lesson learned — no need to pack the whole toy bench.

Mind the sun. The only times he really got fussy in the car was when the sun was blazing down on him through the window. We even have those window shades in the back seat, but they weren’t cutting it. So we did a little improvising with some scarves and it cut the fussiness right out.

Bring something comforting. For Henry, that means a pacifier (yikes — I’m kind of scared of letting that go for too long, but for now it works). For other babies it might mean a blankie or a special toy. But whatever it is that helps the kiddo be comfy and sleepy, bring it. And don’t be afraid to use it.

We have lots more travel plans for the little guy — you know we love to keep moving! So if you have more brilliant travel tips for the little ones, please please leave them in the comments! Next up for us is our first flight with him, probably around six months or so. Tell me what I’ll need! xoxo

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