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ashap215
LIF Adult
Member since 8/09 1283 total posts
Name:
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Has anyone done a 13+ hour road trip with a toddler?
My sister just moved to Atlanta and we're going down there for Thanksgiving.
We can't afford to fly but I'm afraid of that much time in the car. DD will be 17 months then. We're thinking of leaving at her bed time so she'll sleep for most of it.
Can anyone share their experiences and/or tips?
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Posted 9/1/12 7:12 PM  |
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Long Island Weddings
Long Island's Largest Bridal Resource |
mommyIam
Member since 7/09 9209 total posts
Name:
Shana
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Re: Has anyone done a 13+ hour road trip with a toddler?
leaving at his bedtime might be a good idea, but we didn't want to do that because we'd be low on energy when he woke and at that age he was a handful
we are very anti tv ... but we got a video player for a 9 hour trip to Tornoto, Barney was a huge hit for that anything with singing children, or animals works on DS .. cartoons not so much
We thought if we woke him up at 4am, gave him some milk and hit the traffic free road, he'd fall back asleep.. nope that was a disaster ... he didn't go back to sleep, was cranky for 2 hours then threw up :(
so we stopped at a shopping area, got some wipes, cleaned out the seat, some frebreeze aired out the seat a little bit, changed him wipes him down cleaned up the car best we could, gave him some crackers for breakfast and drove off, and he was pretty miserable the whole trip there. didn't even nap, but the tv helped a bit.
Lollypops helped too.
On the way back, was much better, we left an hour after lunch, a little late for his nap. He slept 4 hours then we watched some of the video, stopped for dinner and he was in good enough mood to play with stickers for a long time.
but we did take breaks stopped at scenic view spots and stretched out, collected leaves/flowers/rocks etc, and also walked around with him, and if it was safe played chase (he chased us around a parking lot)
hope this helps
Message edited 9/1/2012 7:25:05 PM.
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| Posted 9/1/12 7:23 PM |
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Maddie180
LIF Adult
Member since 2/07 1992 total posts
Name:
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Re: Has anyone done a 13+ hour road trip with a toddler?
We've done it about three times and it's been fine every time. DS has a dvd player and we brought his leappad and games. I collected different arts and crafts, stickers, etc he can do in the carseat. I also got him a big magna doodle and that kept him quiet. We took stops about every three hours and it was fine. We had great trips each time!
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| Posted 9/1/12 7:43 PM |
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NewLeaf2012
LIF Adult
Member since 1/11 2741 total posts
Name:
....
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Re: Has anyone done a 13+ hour road trip with a toddler?
We leave early in the morning and he followed his routine while on the road for the most part... leaving at night screws us up too much and its not fun to be that tired while on vacation... DVD player, books, new little games, etc.. Been to florida twice at 5 months and 23 months with no problems.
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| Posted 9/1/12 7:47 PM |
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LulaBell
:)
Member since 1/06 3508 total posts
Name:
J
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Re: Has anyone done a 13+ hour road trip with a toddler?
Posted by Maddie180
We've done it about three times and it's been fine every time. DS has a dvd player and we brought his leappad and games. I collected different arts and crafts, stickers, etc he can do in the carseat. I also got him a big magna doodle and that kept him quiet. We took stops about every three hours and it was fine. We had great trips each time!
Same exact experience with out DD. she was better behaved than the adults!
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| Posted 9/1/12 8:35 PM |
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MrsM9703
LIF Infant
Member since 3/11 299 total posts
Name:
Robin
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Re: Has anyone done a 13+ hour road trip with a toddler?
We drove to Florida when my DD was 21 months, and it wasn't bad at all.
We have a DVD player in the car, so that kept her pretty quiet. She slept a lot, I would sit in the back from time to time to play with her, and we brought her magnadoodle and some other toys for her to play with. We also stopped a bunch of times for food and to let the kids get out and run around.
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| Posted 9/2/12 10:08 AM |
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mrsmcd
Olivia & Grace...my girls!
Member since 12/07 1705 total posts
Name:
Andrea
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Re: Has anyone done a 13+ hour road trip with a toddler?
15 month old! We drove from NY to TN. She was still rear facing. I sat in the back with her. We left at about 1. Stopped at 7 for dinner. That's when she ate dinner and we put her pjs on. She fell asleep at around 9. Usually her bedtime is 7.
I had new toys (a baby doll and accessories) and the iPad with her favorite shows. We only broke out the iPad when necessary.
It's totally doable. Good luck!
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| Posted 9/2/12 10:38 AM |
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Mere09
So Dam* Lucky
Member since 10/08 6368 total posts
Name:
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Re: Has anyone done a 13+ hour road trip with a toddler?
We've done the drive from Wisconsin to South Florida a few times. I've even done Wisconsin to Atlanta by myself when my kids were 1 and 2. You'll be fine.
We drove through the night 1 time and it totally backfired on us. The kids were uncomfortable and couldn't sleep, so they were up most of the time and just MISERABLE!! So we do all our driving during the day now. Just bring a lot of entertainment and a lot of snacks. Stop when needed and let the kids run around and get some energy out.
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| Posted 9/2/12 1:45 PM |
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NewlyMrs
Laugh-Live-Love LIFE!
Member since 10/06 14432 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: Has anyone done a 13+ hour road trip with a toddler?
Posted by Mere09
We drove through the night 1 time and it totally backfired on us. The kids were uncomfortable and couldn't sleep, so they were up most of the time and just MISERABLE!! So we do all our driving during the day now. Just bring a lot of entertainment and a lot of snacks. Stop when needed and let the kids run around and get some energy out.
That's our problem too. They could barely get comfortable to truly sleep & wined/cried because of it. So we day travel too.
I do periodic small gifts that entertain them (stickers, stick on crafts, etc) a few new movies, bunch of favorites, snacks, & they are fine.
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| Posted 9/2/12 6:04 PM |
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jamiemarie12
LIF Adult
Member since 10/09 1651 total posts
Name:
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Re: Has anyone done a 13+ hour road trip with a toddler?
We did it and I will never do it again. DS was so good but or a few weeks he did not even want to go in his car seat. I really felt so bad.
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| Posted 9/3/12 8:16 AM |
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sarahbelle
Little drummer boy
Member since 5/05 2377 total posts
Name:
Sarah
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Re: Has anyone done a 13+ hour road trip with a toddler?
Posted by NewlyMrs
Posted by Mere09
We drove through the night 1 time and it totally backfired on us. The kids were uncomfortable and couldn't sleep, so they were up most of the time and just MISERABLE!! So we do all our driving during the day now. Just bring a lot of entertainment and a lot of snacks. Stop when needed and let the kids run around and get some energy out.
That's our problem too. They could barely get comfortable to truly sleep & wined/cried because of it. So we day travel too.
I do periodic small gifts that entertain them (stickers, stick on crafts, etc) a few new movies, bunch of favorites, snacks, & they are fine.
Same here.
We leave very early in the morning and try to keep to our schedule. We've driven to South Carolina, practically Georgia really, several times with our kids from age 3months on. Pack lots of snacks and little toys. Mini oreos are a life saver 
Having the Fresh Beat Band album on the phone has helped us out a few times!
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| Posted 9/3/12 8:53 AM |
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BeachMom
Love my 4 kiddos!
Member since 11/08 8346 total posts
Name:
Kristie
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Re: Has anyone done a 13+ hour road trip with a toddler?
We did an 10 hour trip with an 18 month old and 2.5 year old this year.
When we drove there we left at night right around bed time and they slept through most of the car ride which was good, but by the time we got there we were exhausted and they we're wide awake and raring to go!
On the way home we decided to leave early in th morning and drive back during the day. We left about 5 am, put the sleeping kids in the car and stopped for breakfast when they woke up, let them run around a little bit and stopped a few extra times on the way to visit local scenery and let everyone stretch. Took us an extra 1-2 hours to get back but it still wasn't bad and the kids we're surprisingly good being in the car all day long.
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| Posted 9/3/12 9:20 AM |
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allIwant
Love my crazy life!
Member since 1/10 9170 total posts
Name:
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Re: Has anyone done a 13+ hour road trip with a toddler?
We have driven to nc a few times...it is about 12 hours. We have done both day and night and they were both fine.
one time we left around 3 pm drove for 3 hours, had dinner and put kids in pjs and kept driving they slept the rest of the way.
We also left around 9 am once after bfast and they did great. Just had to stop a few more times during the day to change poopy diapers!
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| Posted 9/3/12 9:34 PM |
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jellybean78
:)
Member since 8/06 13103 total posts
Name:
Mommy
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Has anyone done a 13+ hour road trip with a toddler?
We drove to Florida when DD was two almost 3. It was MUCH better than we thought. She slept a lot of the way and we took enough breaks to stretch, eat, potty etc. It went much better than I anticipated.
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| Posted 9/3/12 9:46 PM |
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Bridex100
Two Under Two Mommy
Member since 3/08 10420 total posts
Name:
Momx100
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Re: Has anyone done a 13+ hour road trip with a toddler?
I'm not a fan of night driving but our kids do much better when they are passed out. I personally think driving at night is dangerous but DH and I both start dozing off. We never drive past midnight.
I would probably break up the 13 hours into 2 days.
My little one doesn't do well with traffic. We do DC-NY often and a 4-5 hour trip becomes 7-8 hours and the last few hours are usually painful unless they are passed out. Now we only drive at night when the kids pass our or we break up the trip so we never drive more than 2-3 hours at a time. The last time we went up, we stopped by Adventure Aquarium in NJ. At the end of the month, we will stop by Philly.
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| Posted 9/3/12 9:47 PM |
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