11 Tips to a Stress-free Road Trip with your Baby

Living five hours away from family, road trips with a baby have become second nature to us. Traveling with a little one isn’t the easiest, but there are some tips I have learned along the way that make things less stressful. 

Most of these tips are product-related, but my first tip is…

1. Patience – Expect any road trip to take anywhere from 1-2 hours more than usual when traveling with your baby. You’ll be making several stops for diaper changes, feedings, and general breaks from the carseat. Account for this ahead of time so you don’t feel stressed about arriving by a certain time.
2. Plan your feedings– If you are breastfeeding, you will be stopping to feed every few hours. Typically, we would find a safe exit, and I would nurse my son in the parking lot.  But if you are bottle-feeding, like I am now that my son is one, I suggest counting out how many bottles you will need throughout the trip, and make those PLUS ONE MORE in case. You never know if your baby may need an extra feed, or if something might happen to the milk.
3. Pack a cooler – Store all of your bottles or sip cups in a cooler with lots of ice packs, and keep plenty of snacks in here as well if your baby is eating solids. I suggest yogurt pouches, apple sauce pouches, Puffs, and cut up cheese for easy road trip snacks. You can also pack lunch food, but we typically find a Chick-Fil-A and eat lunch there. My son loves the fruit and grilled nuggets. — Side note: ALWAYS pull over to a safe spot for snacks. Snacking in the carseat can be a choking hazard, not to mention a mess. The only way I would say it’s ok for them to eat a snack in the carseat is if you are sitting in the back supervising. Looking in the mirror isn’t enough.
4. Backseat mirror– Not only does this give you reassurance that your baby is doing fine, sometimes looking in the mirror is entertainment enough to keep your little one happy.
5. Toy clip – Unless someone is sitting in the back to keep handing your baby their dropped pacifier or toy, clipping one to them helps keep that item in reach. 
6. Fan– No matter how much I crank my A/C, I find that my baby gets sweaty in the carseat. When we go on trips, I like to clip this fan nearby to help keep him cooler. Just make sure to clip it in a place where he can’t grab it or it won’t fall on him. I like this one because its foam blades can’t hurt them. I keep extra batteries in my car in case it dies.
7. Diaper Changing Mat–  I prefer to change my baby on this mat in the tailgate of my car rather than take him into a gross bathroom changing station.
8. Travel white noise machine – These are helpful because the sound will either lull them to sleep or calm them if they are fussy. If you do not have one with you, you can use the White Noise app on your phone and stream it through your Bluetooth. I love The Shusher, but the Marpac option clips on.
9. Take breaks – The American Academy of Pediatricians recommends stopping every 2 hours to give your baby a break from the carseat. Make sure you only do this when the car is parked and in a safe place. It is never safe to have the baby out of the carseat when the car is in motion.
10. Tablet holder– Screen time with young ones is a controversial topic, but if your child is over 1 year old, I think it is ok to let them watch a show on the iPad for a limited part of the trip. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and road trips with young ones require you to give yourself a little grace. I cannot recommend doing this if your baby is less than one year old, and if they are one, I recommend no more than an hour total.
11. Diapers– Just like any outing, pack more diapers than you’ll think you need. Blowouts happen. 

Road trips with a little one just aren’t easy, no matter which way you slice it, but I hope these tips make it easier.