On the motorway alone with baby

[firstpregnancy1]

My son is 3 weeks old and in a few weeks time I need to make a trip that would normally take me via the m25, in an area where there is often either heavy traffic or some sort of hold up due to an accident or lane closure etc.

What would you do if you were driving on the motorway alone with a newborn and there was a traffic jam resulting in standstill/ stop start traffic for a period of time. Some queues can delay you well over an hour sometimes longer. If your newborn started screaming for a feed, and you were stuck in stop start traffic, would you just try and hold out? For how long? Would you use the hard shoulder to pull over to feed baby? If it was 100% standstill then you could just feed baby there but 99% of traffic jams aren't just standstill it's usually moving and very slowly which wouldn't be safe to have baby out to feed!!

I've decided to take a slightly longer route to avoid the motorway so as to avoid this potential scenario but it got me thinking about what I would do/what others would do / what the best thing to do would be..

So what would you do?

Baby is due a feed, you're stuck and have been for 90mins, it's stop start traffic and showing no sign of improvement, nearest services is miles away..

This happened to me on a dual carriageway, 5 mins away from my exit there was what massive tailback and we were stuck for 40 mins (felt like 40 hours) my baby woke up as soon as the car stopped as traffic was stationary and then screamed the whole time and I couldn’t get him out. It was awful. I’ve never seen traffic issues on this road before or since and I drive it every week. I think planning a route with quieter roads is sensible and definitely feed baby before you set off and time your journey for nap time so hopefully they sleep through it. Good luck!

I wouldn't do a long journey alone with a 3wk old at all to be honest but I presume its unavoidable. I would be worried about this exact thing. I travelled decent distances though with my baby when a couple of months old and always did that with someone else in the car so I could watch baby and feed. I did this by pumping out milk and bottle feeding. Is there noone at all who could accompany you? If not, do the longer route but stop every 30min to get baby out as pp said

I used to drive at odd times, leave late evening etc. Once drove down a motorway with a screaming toddler for about an hour and I don’t think I even really noticed - you get used to it after a while (am I a terrible mother!)

Please DO NOT stop on the motorway/hard shoulder. It's the most dangerous place to be!
Take another route, or heaven forbid leave baby to cry. Better hungry than dead!

This happened a couple of times. Hard shoulder and fed baby. All was well.

Another time a tyre blew on the motorway, I was with my then one month old, and AA substitute didn't turn up for 3 hours. Urgh... loads of feeding by the road, and then police helped me move to services to wait there. I was given free snacks and drinks there! Then some random guys sorted my tyre. Was kind of a good day weirdly, restored my faith in people.

This happened a couple of times. Hard shoulder and fed baby. All was well.

firesong You were lucky; that was a very stupid thing to do and you should never do it again.

Newborn babies shouldn’t be in a car seat for more than half an hour at a time so it would be pretty irresponsible to go on a longer journey anyway. If trapped in traffic then it would just have to wait as the hard shoulder is the most dangerous place to stop.

@firesong please don’t stop in the hard shoulder again to feed your baby. It’s the most dangerous place and you’re putting your baby in danger. Stop in a safe plaice when you can.

chasingpandas we were stuck for aaages (beach day mania) but it's ok, mine aren't babies now so it won't be happening anymore

I’d get on the motorway and get on with it. However, being in the car has always pulled my 2 into deep dreamy sleeps.

Put the baby in the front seat and a bottle in the cup holder.

Take the longer route

Op I once got caught on the motorway with my son screaming at about six months old. I was in a traffic jam so diddly squat I could do. I waited. It broke my heart hearing him cry his heart out but his safety was paramount in the end. He fell asleep and I pulled over at the next junction and all was fine in the end. Had I been able to predict it I would've gone the long route. Goodluck op

This is a funny thread. The OP isn't really interested and everyone else is just repeating the same things over and over without responding to each other.

To sum up:
-OP was just musing about something. She's not really going to do it

-It's better to take a longer route than go by motorway

• get a lie flat baby bed or stop every 30 mins to change the baby's position

• never stop on the hard shoulder to

feed a baby

Use the Waze app. It will always take you the quickest route, is almost 'real time' up to the minute traffic info and you compare the motorway/non motorway journeys before you leave. You can also choose to show service station/toilet/food icons on the map.

The map is constantly updated so if there's a jam up ahead the route is red and it will also automatically update the route to always be the fastest.

Very easy to use.

It's excellent.

Relax drive on the motorway, he will be 6 weeks by then, what is the big deal? When my son was 10 weeks we drove from London to the south of Italy! If he needs a feed, next exit and feed them get back on. Goodness me if you don’t get out and about with baby you will be stuck on the side roads forever!!

@doctorhamster

The 30 minutes rule wasn't a thing 10 years ago and sounds a bit ridiculous to me. My dc don't seem to have come to any harm from being in their seats for a couple of hours at a time, and nor do any of the dc amongst my friends and family. It's not realistic.

My plan on a motorway would be to stop at the next safest place op (services or pull off at the next junction)

Lots of things weren't rules then.

But things move on, we find out more. And the 'never did us any harm' argument really doesn't bear water.

FWIW I don’t know anyone who sticks to the 30mins idea. Most people use the official advice of 2 hours which is very doable.

Why shouldn’t babies be in a car seat for more than half an hour???

This happened to me - I came off at the next junction (that was an A road and not another motorway). Parked up in a country lane and fed my baby.

Do not stop on the hard shoulder - if for any reason you do ever need to stop on the HS you should not stay in your car - you should get out and wait on the other side of the barrier.

I've stopped on the HS in an emergency and it was terrifying - I got as far up the embankment as I could.

Get a taxi. Babies that young need to feel you nearby and when they cry it's gut wrenching if you can't hold them. Either get someone to sit in the back with baby or find a different mode of transport. Better still get someone else to drive. And before anyone with more time on their hands than I have says "ffs read the whole fing thread", I simply don't have the time so this is my advice! Good luck xx

“Get a taxi”??? Ridiculous!

30mins. Really. We stopped every 2.5 hours :o

I’d stop when the baby wakes up and needs a feed or a nappy change. Most babies sleep in the car if they are dry and comfortable.

@Sexnotgender

You shouldn’t be putting your baby in a situation where they’re likely to be in a car seat for over an hour.

Erm?? Wait what?? Utter nonsense 🙄