Road Trips with Infants and Toddlers

With a little bit of advanced planning and preparation, you can have an enjoyable trip with your infant or toddler. Car travel offers a flexible way to get your family from point A to point B. Road trips offer families more flexibility to make stops and visit areas that are poorly served by public transit and pack more gear.

Car travel is one of the easiest ways to get your family on the road and on vacation. The following tips will help to ensure that your next road trip with infants and toddlers is a happy and no tears for anyone trip.

Try to plan your trip to coincide when your child sleeps

• Motion may lull some children to sleep, but even infants are unlikely to sleep through an entire trip unless it coincides with their regular sleep pattern.
• Make the environment in the car as similar to the child’s room as possible with a favorite stuffed animal or blanket.

Keep the kids safe and comfortable

• Make sure your child’s safety car seat or booster seat is properly installed.
• Dress your child in comfortable outfit, not something new or cute!

Kids’ stuff

• Pack toys, snacks, wipes, paper towel, plastic bags and at least one change of clothes in your diaper bag.
• Keep milk and refrigerated snacks fresh .and cool.
• Compact bottle warmers will ensure your child’s milk is the right temperature and prevent you from having to make another stop.

High and low-tech fun

• Rotate books, toys and games as you would at home.
• Individually packed snacks are great for toddlers and can provide hours of fun. Juice boxes are great too and can be thrown away in bags.
• Children’s music can be used to establish quiet time as well as relieve a toddler’s restlessness. Some toddlers even like IPod’s or MP3 players. Keep volume low and children’s music or classical music choices.
• DVD players are great to keep toddlers busy and new or rented movies are even better!

Sit in the back seat

• Move to the back seat if need be. Sometimes when your child is acting up they just need someone next to them.

Manage expectations

• Use free mapping sites like Mapquest or your GPS devices to help plan your route. Still keep a map!
• Plan to make a 10-minute stop every hour your children are awake.
• • Expect to clean the car during the trip and when you arrive at your destination. The plastic bags and wipes you packed will come in handy now!
• Break the trip into smaller segments. End each drive at a mini-destination such as a special meal stop, tourist attraction or park. You want the trip to be fun for everyone while getting to your destination.

The key to car travel with kids is to take it slow and easy. So go pack your bags…get ready for some fun and take a vacation!