Traveling with babies

WOW!!! Traveling with babies is hard work. We went back home for Easter and just got back last night. The trip is five hours drive time, but of course with kids it makes it more like six or six and a half hours which really isn't bad, but it is long with 10 month olds. When we first made the trip with the boys they were 3 months old. The trip wasn't bad because they slept the whole time and we stopped once to feed them and other than that they were perfect. Now that they are getting older it is getting harder to travel. First of all, they don't sleep all the time like they use too and they want to be entertained or out moving around when they aren't asleep. Of course it's not safe to have them out of their car seats, moving around the car when we're traveling.

The boys were pretty good on the trip down. We didn't leave until 5:00 and I hadn't let the boys take an afternoon nap so they were ready to go to sleep for a little while. They slept for an hour or so then we stopped to feed them. When we got back in the car I sat in the back of the van so I could read to them, sing to them, and play with them in their seats. They were ready to go to sleep for the night after about and hour and a half. The only problem came when we did get to my mom's because we had to wake them up to get them out of the car, but I nursed them and they went right back to sleep for the night.

The trip back was much harder because we were traveling earlier in the day. The boys took their afternoon nap as soon as we got in the car. Then they were awake for the rest of the trip except for the last half hour when they fell asleep. I spent the trip in the back seat trying to two the peace, but all they wanted to do was get out of their seats. I had to try and feed them their baby food on the road which was interesting, and a little hard, but I got it done without too much of a mess.

Some tips for making it through a long car trip. Have new toys (or toys your kids haven't seen in a while that will seem like new) ready to keep them entertained. Have snack foods that aren't messy ready to grab. Make stops every hour of so (if the kids are awake) and get the kids out of the car to stretch just like you do as an adult. Try and find out about your route before hand and find some parks or rest areas that have room to run. Depending on the age and ability of the kids try running some races along the sidewalk, playing a quick game of tag, or playing with a ball (make sure you are far enough away from the parking area that your ball won't roll out in front of cars). You can play lots of games in the car while you travel too. You can play eye spy (finding something in the car and give a clue about it and let the others guess what it is...like dad's shirt, the car radio, a car seat, the window, or some of the toys you have along). You can also go on a color scavenger hunt (look out the window and try and find things that are all the different colors and call out what you find as you pass by). This is a game that can encourage kids to look at the world around them and the scenery in a whole new way. Look for green grass, brown trees, brown rocks, the blue sky, white or gray clouds, the yellow sun, or the color of cars driving by. Just a few ideas, I'll include more as we get closer to summer and the big travel season.