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First roadtrip with baby: How much slower?

Started by Sub-Urbanite, March 11, 2016, 05:03:32 AM

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Sub-Urbanite

Next week, I'm driving across the Great Basin, from Portland to Phoenix, what should essentially be a 16 hour drive.

But it's also my first roadtrip with my 8-month-old.

Now, I have a vision of her sitting in the back eating Cheerios and being generally merry except when she needs to be changed. She's a pretty relaxed baby and cars have not fazed her in the past.

I'm not sure my vision is at all based in reality. So, parents, realistically - how often am I going to have to stop as I'm cruising across Nevada at 80 mph?


JKRhodes

Generally I allow 1.5 times my normal ETA for roadtrips with my 7 month old daughter. She also has some special needs, on top of the normal diaper/fussy/typical baby stuff. :)

froggie

Stopping every couple of hours is a good rule of thumb anyway, regardless of whether your children are with you or not.

Jim

One of our fastest-ever NY-Florida runs was with with our then-4-month-old baby.  It was really just our usual stops, and food stops probably got faster.  Our slowest trips have been some with both kid (up to and including current age of 6) and dog.  Even then, I'd say it adds just 10-15% total travel time.  However, that's in part due to an overnight segment where we can really cover some ground while all (except the driver) try to get some sleep.  We found that getting a child used to the idea of long travel early helped a lot.  I know a lot of kids who can't handle an hour or two in the car, while mine thinks a 27-hour ride each way to and from Florida a couple times a year is just a normal thing.
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noelbotevera

Quote from: Jim on March 11, 2016, 08:13:42 AM
...while mine thinks a 27-hour ride each way to and from Florida a couple times a year is just a normal thing.
Same...I can handle that long of a trip, with nothing, but at some point I'll either sleep or begin drinking soda to keep me awake.

US 81

Using the very unscientific method of trying to remember what my kids were like: infancy was not a problem; I would allow an additional ~15% of total time. The fraction definitely went up during the toddler years, though.

kphoger

We stop every 1.5 to 2 hours, whether there's a baby in the car or not. The big difference for us is that every stop takes significantly longer.
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slorydn1

Man, it has been a long time, but I do remember the first time we took Rich Jr to south Fla when he was less than a year old. Our normal 12 hour condo run became almost 17 hours. He wanted to be held, alot-and I refused to let my wife pull him from his car seat with the vehicle in motion. I feel like we hit every rest area in SC,GA and north FL (not true, but it felt like it).

I will say he did much better on the return trip that year, and in later years. We had none of the usual toddler on a long trip issues-he's my kid afterall, he loves cars and roads 8-)
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leroys73

You are doing it right.  Start them out young on road trips and they will be easier to travel with from then on. 

The extra time sort of depends.  Part of it is you driving style, such as the number of hours you like to drive. Some people travel at night with the little one but I never liked that.  I have done a lot of traveling with little girls from babies to full grown teenage :fight: brats.  With babies and toddlers you need to have food, drink, and diapers at the ready.  Believe me it is easier if there are two of you.  One can tend to the child while other drives.

By myself a 1000 mile day was not unusual but with a young child like you have it would be a two day trip.  When I was the only one in the car I could still do it in two days with 8 to 10 hours turning into 10 to 12.   

I changed the diaper at every stop, which were probably 2 to 3 hours apart, unless it was a number two I could smell.  Then it was an emergency.  If they start fussing and won't stop something needs to be done so the next exit needs to be taken.  If you are lucky the child will sleep a lot. 

I was 17 when my younger sister was born.  About 5 months later my dad was transferred to Germany.  My mother, sis, and I followed 3 months later.  I was sort of the stand in dad.  We followed him to Germany when my sis was about 8 months old.  We traveled by car from Oklahoma to Ohio (2 days) to visit relatives then to Charleston, SC (1 day) to hop a plan to Germany. That was my training ground for my future travels with 3 daughters as a single dad whose ages were, 18 mo, 4 years (special needs), and 7 years.

Be sure you are rested well before you leave.  Expect unplanned stops and each stop taking a little longer.  They really are not that difficult to travel with once you get used to it.

Wish you the best and have fun.  Your child will probably do better than you.  Also, they will become a good traveler the more you do this.
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NWI_Irish96

As I recall, more time got added to the trip after my kids were potty-trained than before.  At that point, someone "absolutely has to pee" and if you have more than one, the other one absolutely doesn't have to when you stop, but then an hour later that one "absolutely has to pee"  We've made up to 4 stops on a 4-5 hour trip before.  Never more than 1-2 stops when they were both in diapers.
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leroys73

 :banghead:  Man, I know what you mean.  Diapers were great compared to "I don't have to go".  Then about the time I would hit highway speed one would say, "Dad, I have to go".   :pan:  I had all girls and often it was just me and them.

I wasn't ridiculous.  I did limit the liquid intake to reasonable limits.  I would stop between fuel stops.  I had to go too.  I finally adopted the rule at each stop:  I don't care if you don't have to go, get in there and sit and pretend you are going.  If you pee yourself I will tell all of your friends, especially the boys in your school.  Usually that helped, but not cured, the problem.  They got worse the older they got. My oldest was the worst.  I am sure my oldest did it just to irritate me.  She succeeded.  :poke:

I am glad it is over for me.  Well, my granddaughter goes with us at times but so far she is pretty good about it.
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1995hoo

Quote from: cabiness42 on March 25, 2016, 12:39:36 PM
As I recall, more time got added to the trip after my kids were potty-trained than before.  At that point, someone "absolutely has to pee" and if you have more than one, the other one absolutely doesn't have to when you stop, but then an hour later that one "absolutely has to pee"  We've made up to 4 stops on a 4-5 hour trip before.  Never more than 1-2 stops when they were both in diapers.
Our parents kept a "pee jar" somewhere for such situations, I guess because Dad didn't want to stop on the shoulder of an Interstate unless someone had to puke (which I remember my brother doing on the side of the Thruway once).
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slorydn1

Quote from: 1995hoo on March 25, 2016, 06:47:54 PM
Quote from: cabiness42 on March 25, 2016, 12:39:36 PM
As I recall, more time got added to the trip after my kids were potty-trained than before.  At that point, someone "absolutely has to pee" and if you have more than one, the other one absolutely doesn't have to when you stop, but then an hour later that one "absolutely has to pee"  We've made up to 4 stops on a 4-5 hour trip before.  Never more than 1-2 stops when they were both in diapers.
Our parents kept a "pee jar" somewhere for such situations, I guess because Dad didn't want to stop on the shoulder of an Interstate unless someone had to puke (which I remember my brother doing on the side of the Thruway once).


Oh the memories of the right front tire on my old F150 getting that  extra special Interstate shoulder pressure washing by my son, usually 5-10 miles past the last rest area that had the sign "Next Rest Area 78 Miles" or something like that-good times.  :p
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leroys73

Quote from: 1995hoo on March 25, 2016, 06:47:54 PM
Quote from: cabiness42 on March 25, 2016, 12:39:36 PM
As I recall, more time got added to the trip after my kids were potty-trained than before.  At that point, someone "absolutely has to pee" and if you have more than one, the other one absolutely doesn't have to when you stop, but then an hour later that one "absolutely has to pee"  We've made up to 4 stops on a 4-5 hour trip before.  Never more than 1-2 stops when they were both in diapers.
Our parents kept a "pee jar" somewhere for such situations, I guess because Dad didn't want to stop on the shoulder of an Interstate unless someone had to puke (which I remember my brother doing on the side of the Thruway once).

When I was a youngster a "pee can" was carried in the car for me.  It is a little easier for boys but I had better not miss.  That way the car stopped only when parents had to go or the car needed fuel.  I still "pressure wash" the right side tires from time to time.

Just don't pee on the hot exhaust of a motorcycle.  It takes a long time to get the smell burned off.  It leaves a spot on the chrome muffler that takes a little effort to remove.   
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formulanone

#14
If at least one adult is helping with the baby's feeding and entertainment needs, then there's just the added time distraction of changing it. By now, you're a pro at that, right? Eight months means it can probably sleep 2-3 hours at a time during daylight hours, even longer at night (6-10 hours...hopefully?) which is a wonderful time for parents. To them, it's largely just another day of being a baby, but if they're used to rolling around and crawling a lot, the long periods of restraint might cramp their style a little. And waiting around to pick things they've dropped on the floor (that never really goes away).

I found when my daughter and son were 3, there were much more frequent potty breaks. Even though they were toilet-trained by 2.5, diapers were required for long trips until 4. Routes with more rest stops become the norm, and those 800-mile day trips vanish to preserve everyone's sanity...400-600 miles a day becomes the the limit, or ten hours a day, and it's more tolerable if you as least give them room to run around or play on the breaks. They may show some limited fascination in the trip itself, just don't count on more than an hour's worth of it, until they're much older.

Finally, I've noticed kids find a miraculous "second wind" once they've reach their daily destination; even a commonplace hotel room or restaurant seems to break the spell of boredom and they're suddenly flooded with excitement at everything. Just keep a little patience and energy in reserve for those moments...you'll know it when they're toddler age and older.

Pete from Boston


Quote from: 1995hoo on March 25, 2016, 06:47:54 PM
Quote from: cabiness42 on March 25, 2016, 12:39:36 PM
As I recall, more time got added to the trip after my kids were potty-trained than before.  At that point, someone "absolutely has to pee" and if you have more than one, the other one absolutely doesn't have to when you stop, but then an hour later that one "absolutely has to pee"  We've made up to 4 stops on a 4-5 hour trip before.  Never more than 1-2 stops when they were both in diapers.
Our parents kept a "pee jar" somewhere for such situations, I guess because Dad didn't want to stop on the shoulder of an Interstate unless someone had to puke (which I remember my brother doing on the side of the Thruway once).

Mike Watt paid loving tribute to this tradition in song :

http://youtu.be/-DcA0p8Tvnk

Sub-Urbanite

Results: The kid did great. We had to stop & move someone to the back seat some times for feeding/entertainment purposes, but generally she did fine. Can't say it was *that* much slower.

US 81

Aw; this could be the beginning for a baby road-geek.  ;-)

leroys73

Great.  Just keep the road trips going and she will be a great traveler. 
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Sykotyk

I'm going to be in that boat. My wife is 8mo pregnant right now and we're planning a few moderately paced trips for this fall. The one was 700mi in a day (each way) and the other is 1100 miles, but we usually zigzag a lot on it, which makes it a 3day trip. I figure by them time they're 6-7-8mo old, they should be capable of handling it, but will be a slower pace (700 mi trip becomes 2 days each way, 1100 miles turns into 4 days, as I don't like to push it harder than necessary).

In the end, though, I want them used to a car trip, and hopefully as they get old make it fun for them as I plan to travel a lot and I don't want a ton of 'are we there yet'. I want them to enjoy the trip. Not the destination so much.

kphoger

For what it's worth, let me offer my experience in traveling with children.  Our three sons are eight years, five years, and 18 months old.  We moved from southern Illinois to Wichita when our eldest was three weeks old, and have done long road trips every since:  every year generally includes both a trip to México and one to Minnesota, plus some shorter ones thrown in.

N.B.! the biggest game-changer of all for us has been a portable DVD player.  We plug it in to an auxiliary power outlet and set it on top of a cooler, center console, folded-down seat, whatever happens to work best for that particular trip.  When kids start to get fussy, pop in Monsters Inc or Looney Tunes; works like a charm.  They're also great for motel rooms, because you can usually hook it into the TV with composite (3-patch) cables.

As I mentioned earlier, we always stop every 1.5 to 2 hours, and our rule is that everybody pees at every stop.  I also specifically tell my boys to "try and poop" as well, because sometimes kids forget that.

As for needing to pull over in between planned stops, there are several things to mention.  First, we don't let our kids have anything to drink in the car until 30 to 40 minutes before we plan to stop next.  Secondly, we always try and push the kid to his limit of holding it in, assuring him that we can't stop right now but he can hold it till we get there; I consider this to be another form of "training".  Lastly, if your child was potty-trained only recently, then do not ignore a plea to stop:  a recently trained child cannot hold it in for more than a few minutes; cleaning poop out of both clothing and seat is more of an annoyance than stopping an hour early.  Once, we brought the potty chair up to the passenger cabin and let our son do a 75-mph poop on I-35 in northern Iowa; this was no gain, because we couldn't stand the smell and had to stop anyway to dump it out on the shoulder.

For very small children, bring your own booster seat.  We especially like the ones that you strap on top of any adult chair, although we've been know to use a Bumbo seat plopped on top of a table (not how they recommend you use them).

Pregnancy and breastfeeding require additional considerations.  Someone who is more than, say, six months pregnant needs to get up and walk around every 100 miles or so in order to keep blood circulating well.  They make leg sleeves that assist with circulation, but we have no personal experience with them.  Breastfeeding is pretty easily accommodated by simply planning to feed the baby every time you stop; plan your stops according to how often your baby eats (or even a little more frequently), and this should go swimmingly.  Do keep in mind, though, that your stop will take as long as it takes your baby to eat.

Lastly, remember that not all children are the same.  Our eldest was a champ from his very first road trip at three weeks of age, and has been great ever since.  With our second, it took two or three trips to get him used to it, and it was kind of miserable until he warmed up to the idea; now he's great.  What each child needs will also vary:  regular run-and-play time at rest areas, snacks, books, a movie, etc.  Just like the rest of parenting, road trips are something you have to adapt to your child's needs.
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JKRhodes

We're planning a trip from Tucson, Arizona to Provo, Utah at the end of this month. think it'l be a good litmus test of how much time my daughter can tolerate in the carseat collectively in a given day. We've done plenty of day trips from Morenci to Tucson and back; between the open road and the putzing around town, I'd say it's about 7 hours in the car.


Our longest leg of the trip is going to be from Tucson to Bryce Canyon, which is just over 8 hours according to Google Maps. I'm interested to see what the variance is, accounting for pit stops, baby needs, etc. along with how well she does. That'll determine if I take one day or two when we go home.

CanesFan27

Our son is great on roadtrips but we know we can't do long trips as we used to.  Somethings we do:

Leave early in the morning like 4 am - this way by the time he wakes up we're 4 hours down the road ( we did that on the way from Raleigh to South bEnd for a Notre Dame game a few years back)

Split the trip up if you can (staying at a hotel or relative):  The Notre Dame trip we stayed in Columbus and went to the Children's Museum that afternoon - we were about four or so hours away from Notre Dame so we were able to at least leave at a decent time in the Am to get there. 

When we drive to Pittsburgh about 8 hours - we will sometimes stay at my sister's in Manassas.  My work is on the route to PA so my wife will take me to work that day (or i ride with a colleague) and she picks me up at five and we head up.  This saves us time as I don't have to drive back to Raleigh and go.  We did the same this January to Disney as we drove to Jacksonville - went to the zoo and then stayed the night there and only had a 2.5 hour drive the next day.

We like to find places to stop and play on the way.  When we drove from Pittsburgh to Boston last October - we stopped at Hershey World so he could run and play and make his own chocolate bar) and at Crayola Place in Easton so he could get out and play.  IT was a lot of fun for all three of us.  a friend of ours on their family roadtrips will research playgrounds along the way.  He even blogs about them - http://actionallen.blogspot.com/

Every kid is different - our son is great on trips and we always have an adventure as we go and all three of us have a lot of fun on our trips.  Our second is due any day now (by June 2nd) and as others mentions we have no idea how he will be.

slorydn1

#23
Quote from: CanesFan27 on May 06, 2016, 08:24:34 AM
Our son is great on roadtrips but we know we can't do long trips as we used to.  Somethings we do:

Leave early in the morning like 4 am - this way by the time he wakes up we're 4 hours down the road ( we did that on the way from Raleigh to South bEnd for a Notre Dame game a few years back)

Split the trip up if you can (staying at a hotel or relative):  The Notre Dame trip we stayed in Columbus and went to the Children's Museum that afternoon - we were about four or so hours away from Notre Dame so we were able to at least leave at a decent time in the Am to get there. 

When we drive to Pittsburgh about 8 hours - we will sometimes stay at my sister's in Manassas.  My work is on the route to PA so my wife will take me to work that day (or i ride with a colleague) and she picks me up at five and we head up.  This saves us time as I don't have to drive back to Raleigh and go.  We did the same this January to Disney as we drove to Jacksonville - went to the zoo and then stayed the night there and only had a 2.5 hour drive the next day.

We like to find places to stop and play on the way.  When we drove from Pittsburgh to Boston last October - we stopped at Hershey World so he could run and play and make his own chocolate bar) and at Crayola Place in Easton so he could get out and play.  IT was a lot of fun for all three of us.  a friend of ours on their family roadtrips will research playgrounds along the way.  He even blogs about them - http://actionallen.blogspot.com/

Every kid is different - our son is great on trips and we always have an adventure as we go and all three of us have a lot of fun on our trips.  Our second is due any day now (by June 2nd) and as others mentions we have no idea how he will be.

Congrats on the soon to be second kid!!

I know I had posted in this thread from the parent point of view. Re-reading some of the posts made me go back and remember some of my childhood experiences.

The one thing my parents always did was keep us involved in the trip itself. They pointed out things we were passing, the signs on the road, where we were on the map (etc).


I can really remember the Grand Rapids, MI to Dover, NJ or Levittown, NY marathons. Back then, in the early 1970's, that was a 16-18 hour enduro, and we didn't stop unless the gas tank was dry or we ran out of the sub sandwiches and coffee that my mom got up extra early to make before we set out. A stop just to pee was as illegal as ripping that tag off the mattress, according to my dad. My mom says that I was an absolute gem in the car, all she had to do was give me a map and I could go almost as long as the car could go on gas before we would have to stop. My dad always joked that when I did finally get cranky its was like having a low fuel alarm -it was time to start looking for gas for the car-who knew that low fuel alarms would be standard on most cars 20 later, lol.

Then my little brother came along. Cranky as all get out, and when he was still in diapers, the smell of a recently placed log was met with a loud EWWWW from the drivers seat followed by both front windows being dropped with a quickness. November 1975 was when I first got to see what a rest area was like up close and personal.


By the time we moved to the NW Suburbs of Chicago in 1979 and started the yearly trips to Miami I was the hardcore navigator and my little brother was past the blowing up the car stage, we got to a normalcy of trips being broken up into 10 hour (max) travel days, which meant 450-500 miles max before the national 55 mph limit was taken down. It was 4 days to Miami, 3 days back and 7 days there (the extra day down was because my dad liked to get to Sunny Isles in the early after noon, go to 5 or 6 hotels top haggle on price for the week before picking one).

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JKRhodes

Our daughter's done great on this trip.

We drove from Tucson to Bryce Canyon yesterday, then from Bryce Canyon to Provo today. We took a detour through Ephraim, taking US 89 all the way up to US 6.

Most if not all of the significant delays in travel time have been of our own volition, stopping to visit family and friends, stopping at restaurants, etc.



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