Has anyone taken a long road trip with an infant?

We are probably going to drive to NC for Thanksgiving and I'm looking to hear some experiences for those who've taken long road trips with their babies. Any suggestions for making the trip go smoothly? What are the bare essentials I need to keep baby happy while we are there... I don't want to pack the whole house but do I really need to bring the bouncer, and the pack n'play, and everything else?

Re: Has anyone taken a long road trip with an infant?

I went to Albany (certainly not as far as NC) but thought I'd share anyway. The ride there was great. She slept for 3 hrs and we just had to pull over 30 minutes from MIL's house to feed her. I am BFing so I actually brought a manual pump so the milk would be warm. I pumped while she slept and when she woke up and started crying I had the bottle to tide her over till we could pull over. Worked great.

BUT....on the way home I did same thing. I pumped while she slept. But for some reason the nipple for the bottle SMELLED like sour milk. I washed before we left but did not have a chance to sterilize. BIG mistake. I couldn't give her this bottle and when she was hungry my boobs were basically empty so she FREAKED. It took us 6 hrs to get home cause we couldn't get her to stop crying.

ANYWAY....we brought the cosleeper, her activity mat, a monitor, the Bjorn and thats about it. We only stayed the weekend though.

Have fun and Good Luck!!!

Re: Has anyone taken a long road trip with an infant?

I will be taking a road trip to Pittsburgh for New Years (about 7 hours from my house). We will probably drive through the night (hopefully Hayley will be sleeping thru the night by then). We did that last time we went(before she was born), we hit no traffic and got there faster. Let us know what you do...

Re: Has anyone taken a long road trip with an infant?

we drove from northern virginia to long island when isabella was 9 weeks old. along with our two other girls ages 8 and 9 and our two dogs! alll i can say is feed the baby before you get on the road. stop when he/she is ready to feed again and hang out for a little while after you feed. it seems to make it easier if they still get some play time w/you after the feeding. also if you have to sit in the back with the baby do it. on the way home i had to sit in the back for the last 2 hours of the ride. she just needed to see and smell me. also i put a tshirt i had worn in her seat behind her so that she could still smell me. (sound weird but i did it in her crib the first couple of nights she was in there and it worked so i figured it couldnt hurt)

good luck!! its definatly and adventure to travel w/kids!! LOL

Re: Has anyone taken a long road trip with an infant?

Re: Has anyone taken a long road trip with an infant?

I live in NC and we drove up to LI with our son when he was 8 weeks old for his Christening. It was fairly easy. He slept most of the time, except when he was hungry. I was BF'ing so we would pull into a rest stop (secluded area) and nurse him. It wasn't bad at all. I also just checked his diaper every once in a while and if I needed to change it, I would change it.

We brought his bouncer, pack n play, some toys. That was it though. Since he was so young we didn't need much at that time.

Good luck, and it should be an easy ride if your little one like's the car. My son loves the car, so he just sleeps.