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Traveling with Newborns?



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 12th 03, 06:51 PM
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Default Traveling with Newborns?

Hiya, I was wondering when is it safe to take a few hour trips with a new
born? My wife is due in Nov and were thinking about dribing down to Central
CA. We are in Central WA. Its about a 18 hr non stop drive down. Do you
think that it is wise or we should wait a while longer? Thanks for your
input.
Mark
EDD 11/03


  #2  
Old September 12th 03, 07:35 PM
JennP
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Default Traveling with Newborns?


wrote in message
...
Hiya, I was wondering when is it safe to take a few hour trips with a new
born? My wife is due in Nov and were thinking about dribing down to

Central
CA. We are in Central WA. Its about a 18 hr non stop drive down. Do you
think that it is wise or we should wait a while longer? Thanks for your
input.
Mark
EDD 11/03


Really, newborn time is a great time to travel because usually all they do
is eat and sleep. Sometimes you get a baby who hates the car (like mine) but
I think that is more rare than babies who just sleep in the car. Once the
baby is a couple of weeks you should have an idea on whether or not they
like it or not.

Also, consider your wife. At even a month pp, there was no way I would
consider sitting in a car for an 18 hour trip. I was still somewhat sore and
a car drive would aggravate it.

--
JennP.

mom to Matthew 10/11/00
remove "no........spam" to reply


  #3  
Old September 12th 03, 08:50 PM
Karen
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Default Traveling with Newborns?

I think people find on long car trips that you need to plan on the trip
being even longer, to stop for feedings and diapers, especially if
you're breastfeeding. The baby needs to nurse very often that early on,
and usually needs diapers about as often. So I think you should plan on
stopping for at least one night, half way through the trip, if not
splitting it into thirds and stopping 1/3 of the way for the night and
again the next 1/3, if you can afford the time. It's certainly a
beautiful drive down the coast, with plenty of really nice places along
the way. Just curious, where on the central coast are you heading for?

-Karen, mom to Henry 3-

  #6  
Old September 12th 03, 09:33 PM
HollyLewis
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Default Traveling with Newborns?

Hiya, I was wondering when is it safe to take a few hour trips with a new
born? My wife is due in Nov and were thinking about dribing down to Central
CA. We are in Central WA. Its about a 18 hr non stop drive down. Do you
think that it is wise or we should wait a while longer? Thanks for your
input.
Mark
EDD 11/03


When is it *safe*? Well, any time, really. However, you can't drive nonstop.
For one thing, you've got to stop to feed the baby, and to change diapers, both
of which will have to be done every hour or three. Second, a newborn shouldn't
spend such long stretches of time in a carseat; it's not great even for an
older baby, but with newborns the position they need to be in for safety in the
car can negatively affect their ability to breathe easily.

We did our first longish car trip with DS when he was only 5 weeks old -- a
weekend ski trip. It's normally a three to four hour drive. Our trip there
was fine; we stopped once about halfway for a feeding and got there in not much
more time than we usually would if we'd stopped for a meal ourselves. The trip
back was horrid, though; there was heavy traffic and DS did not like the
stop-n-go motion in the car. We had to pull over to try to comfort him about a
million times and it took all day to get home. I'm not sorry we went on the
trip, but that drive home is not an experience I'd care to repeat.

I'd suggest waiting until your baby is at least a couple months old and, if
you're lucky, has developed something of a regular routine, so you'll be able
to predict the necessary feeding interval, and you'll have some idea of whether
s/he is usually happy in the car or not (some babies love the motion, others
hate it). If you want to make it a leisurely road trip, then drive down the
coast and stop frequently to enjoy the view while your wife nurses. If you
want to arrive in Central CA as quickly as possible and then spend time at your
destination, consider doing the bulk of your driving at night, when the baby
would normally have a longer stretch of sleep anyway. (We like to drive from
the Bay Area to Southern California that way; DS sleeps the whole way, and
there's no traffic, so we make good time, and when we arrive we can hand a
now-waking baby over to his grandparents while Mom and Dad sleep for a while!
But we didn't do it until he was 7 months old.)

If I had it to do over again, I'd've planned a more ambitious vacation for when
the baby was about 4.5 or 5 months old. We were over the exhaustion and
craziness of the newborn period and he was sleeping a good long stretch at
night, so I was pretty well rested and energetic; we were past the big growth
spurts, but he was still exclusively breastfed so no hassle of bringing baby
food, bibs, sippy cups, etc.; he was still small, quiet and immobile enough to
be carried in a sling and brought with us just about anywhere, but had enough
personality to be charming to anyone we visited or met.

I didn't do it at that time because I had just started back to work (part time)
and didn't feel I could take a vacation just after my maternity leave. But if
that hadn't been a consideration, it would've been the perfect time.

Holly
Mom to Camden, 2.5 yrs
  #7  
Old September 12th 03, 11:51 PM
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Default Traveling with Newborns?

Opps. I should word it better. I am sure glad its friday and my work day
is almost over... I need a break from working 18 hr days...
Mark

"Chotii" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
Hiya, I was wondering when is it safe to take a few hour trips with a

new
born? My wife is due in Nov and were thinking about dribing down to

Central
CA. We are in Central WA. Its about a 18 hr non stop drive down. Do

you
think that it is wise or we should wait a while longer? Thanks for your
input.


I'm confused. Since when is an 18 hour drive "a few hour trip"? That's two
full days of driving. Hard driving.

But I do agree that if you can stretch it into 2 days, or even *3* days,
you'll be happier. Take it easy, stop when you need to, feed the baby,
change the baby, stretch your legs, get baby out of the car seat for a
change of position for a while. This assuming you don't get the luck of

the
draw in the baby lottery, and get a baby who wants to nurse every 20
minutes.

--angela




  #8  
Old September 12th 03, 11:53 PM
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Default Traveling with Newborns?

Thanks for all the great info..
Mark

wrote in message
...
Hiya, I was wondering when is it safe to take a few hour trips with a new
born? My wife is due in Nov and were thinking about dribing down to

Central
CA. We are in Central WA. Its about a 18 hr non stop drive down. Do you
think that it is wise or we should wait a while longer? Thanks for your
input.
Mark
EDD 11/03




 




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