...to think that travelling by car for 8 hours two days in a row is unfair on a 1 year old

[Cmagic7]

Just this really. Need to drive to another country and take the dogs with us and don't have time to spend a week travelling there and back. The last time we travelled with the small was only three hours and when he was a lot less interested in doing his own thing and happy to sit in his chair. Would this be unfair on him and a nightmare for us?

That really sounds excessive and boring.
How did it only take 3 hours before? Did I miss something?

My kids can't last longer than an hour and I also get car sick if not driving. Can u not fly?

Aaah - sorry. The three hours was a completely different journey.

We’ve done this a few times with ours. We stopped at 3 hours for an hour, then again at 6 hours so it broke it up really nicely.

The dogs are the sticking point here!

Meh, the kid will be fine. It isn't ideal but it isn't every day. Just stop for a couple of breaks.

I've done loads of long journeys with mine.

I did long (6hours) car journeys on my own with 2 DCs under 2. I usually left after evening rush hour and drove into the night so they fell asleep at their natural bedtime and made sure they got some fresh air and exercise during the day. It worked really well. Can you do that?

Mine would be bored, frustrated and crying to get out. I can barely manage the half and hour to town.

I suppose it depends in you DC and how they are with car journeys. I put Hey Duggee on when on long car journeys.

My older dc are well used to long car journeys of up to 6 hours but it’s a lot for a one year old.

Can you go at night? We regularly drive 10 hours to see family at the other end of the country. Dh goes to bed at 5pm. Dc go to bed normal time, about 8ish. I stay up and wake dh at midnight so he’s had a good 6 hours sleep. Then we get the kids in the car in PJs and we leave by 12.30am.

I go to sleep in the car and get my 6 hours, dh drives through the night and the dc wake around 7am, by which time we’re only 3.5 hours away. Much more doable for the dc.

Did this when DD was 1 although I wasn’t driving luckily, just had to keep her entertained in the back. I was also heavily pregnant.
It was really hard and a looong time in the car. She barely slept either.
Nursery rhyme CDs on a loop, books and a couple of breaks to run around were my saviour.

That's a good idea Festering.

We fairly regularly did six hour round trips at that age (broke up with the day in between) and tbh it isn’t great at that age.

Could you time it with their bedtime or round stopping for tea and then carrying on?

Could (presuming you have a partner) one of you drive and the other fly or get the train with the baby?

As long as you can break it up, say max of 1hour driving without a break, it is doable if you have no other options. If someone can sit next to the child to entertain them and keep them company it's helpful.

Is the actual driving time 8 hours, before you add stops? Or is the whole journey including stops 8 hrs?

We've done 10-14 hours trips with little ones though all driving in 1 day, no overnight stops.

If it's 8 hrs driving plus stops, I'd factor in 3 stops, so every 2 hours, 2 X 30 mins and 1 X 60 mins. Find places they can get out and really run/crawl around. Try and estimate where you will be at X time and google parks near the motorway in that area, or research which services have the best facilities .i.e play areas. Find a couple in case you're behind or ahead of time etc.
Don't try and feed them when you stop, as that involves more sitting down, you want them moving about. It'll be messy if they're only 1 but feed them once you get driving again. Put a plastic sheet under their carseat! At that age they will sleep for some of the journey too.

As a 1 off, sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. It might not be the most pleasant 16 hours of your life but you'll all survive! I hope the destination is worth it!

I'd fly with the DC, send DH in the car ahead with the dogs.

Another vote for driving through the night when LO will be asleep. We regularly did this as we needed to do a fair amount of 6 hour journeys and it worked well. Wouldn’t have been possible during the day as he didn’t like being stuck in the car.

You could drug them. Couple of diazepam should do the trick

We had to do it when we moved. Dd hated the car so it was miserable. What we did was have DH drive the pets to our new home in one car and then fly back. Then we made the trip with Dd. I sat in the back with her even though I get bad motion sickness. We stopped frequently. The two day drive got turned into 3. We all survived.

One of you drive, the other fly??

Or do it overnight.

I had to do this a few times in the past, not with a 1yo though admittedly. But I did plan a constant itinerary to keep them occupied. Dvd's, sing-a-long music, drawing, mini teddies etc etc. I looked up rest points in advance for frequent breaks. One of my kids fav games was 'If you had a dog'... & I'd say, 'Would he be pink or blue?' & they'd choose, then we'd do 'floppy ears or perky ears?' etc etc and I could spin that out for a good time. Next it was hamsters/kittens etc. It will be very tiring though. It needs careful planning with one so young. Can the adults take goes sitting in the back with the little one?

If possible I would set off at 4ish, stop at 6 for tea at a pub with play area if possible and then finish the drive hoping they will sleep the rest of the journey.

We've done a lot of long journeys with ours. Tried to coincide journey times with nap times and stopped off for lunch and dinner/ leg stretch. Toys and talk/ sing/ play music to him when he's awake. It's a lot to do, even for adults, so go prepared with snacks and regular stops.

I'd go at bed time, bath and pj's before you leave, story tape in he car and lo will sleep all the way. Or if that makes it too late for the driver. Do 2-3 hrs then stop for bedtime routine. We did all our journeys at bedtime with DC under 5.