LONG road trip with 4.5 month old, any advice???

Lisa - posted on 09/22/2009

Thank you Sarah and Sara! -- I think it will end up taking close to 18 hours, I hope I am wrong by about 3 hours would be great! - My friend who is going is a nanny, but going for driving, entertaining Adam, and to sit while I am with my friend at the NICU. I think the BF and pumping idea and serving right away is a great idea! THANK YOU. Especially since I will not be running after a 2 year old, I will be able to really pump a lot once I am there. - My friend and her fiance are doing as well as can be expected. Their little Robert Lee Jacob is doing well for 30 weeks. He was 3#1 when he was born, lost a little and has already started to gain again so =)!!! I just feel really terrible because she wanted me their for the birth, just didn't expect it to be 10 weeks early. =( GOD willing he is hard headed and determined like his mother and will be home by his due date which was Nov. 25. (LOVE her dearly) Thanks again, and if anyone else has any more tips, bring them on!!

*Fluffy Bunnies - posted on 09/22/2009

Well, I can actually relate. We live in Houston, Tx and the rest of our family lives in Southeastern Ohio. I believe it is 1200 miles one way (maybe a little more). I also breastfeed. What I did was I took one bottle of breastmilk with me (along with lots of empty bottles and my pump). When she was ready to eat I fed her the bottle I already had while she was in the carseat. It actually worked out well because she has reflux and because of the angle of the seat she didn't spit up at all. When she finished a bottle we stopped to burp, change her diaper and give her a chance to stretch. I pumped after that and put it in the next bottle (freshly expressed breastmilk can stay at room temperature for up to ten hours). In between feedings I tried my best to entertain her. I also cleaned my pump at the next stop with soap and a bottle brush that I brought and water from gallon jugs. She slept alot. We drove home when she was 2 months so she could meet everyone. We also just drove home last week for a family emergency (she was just over 4 months). Your baby will probably throw fits and get mad just like he would if he was at home. Take lots of toys especially ones that make noise. The most calming thing for my daughter was listening to her heartbeat that I had on my cell phone from when I was pregnant with her. Just try to stay relaxed and know that it will take you longer than normal. If we can do it (twice) then you can too! :)

Sarah - posted on 09/22/2009

Plan for extra time. We travel about 5 hours to hubby's parents and 3.5 hrs to my parents and it would usually take an extra 1hr to 1.5 hrs when my kids were newborns. To my parents I could usually do it with only stopping once to feed, but hubby's I would have to stop at least once and sometimes twice. So just plan in your stops when planning your time. When they are newborns it is nice because they sleep much of the time. The down side is that it can mess up their sleep schedule for that day, so now they are up more that night. If your friend is going with have her entertain (or you if switching driving). I would bring a huge diaper bag filled with toys (tried to get ones they loved to play with and ones that they had not seen yet). Usually by the time we reached our distination the bag had been emptied at least once and toys were all over the back seat of the car, but we would make it there with not much crying. Hope your trip goes well and your BFF's baby is doing well.