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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Terrified about long car journey to Cornwall with five week old. Any tips?

32 replies

Jane7 · 08/11/2008 18:26

I'm taking my mum with me for support but i'm still dreading it. At the moment, by little one is breast feeding about every hour so the thought of a six hour car journey makes me feel sick with nerves. I'm scared he'll cry in his car seat and cry and cry and we'll have to plough on regardless.
Has anyone done similar and survived?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

morningpaper · 08/11/2008 18:27

You will need to stop every hour or two for feeding/changing

if possible, go late at night so baby can sleep!

BoysAreLikeDogs · 08/11/2008 18:29

Take the A roads then you can stop and feed easily, without having to wait for the next service station.

Or, could you get there by train? That might be easier, all depends on how far the destination is from the station, and whether you need your car for getting about.

Good luck

Oh, congratulations

StealthPolarBANG · 08/11/2008 18:30

do you have to go?
iirc first journey of over an hour was with 5 week old and it was much better than i expected...even so wouldn't choose to do a 6 hour one!

SoupDragon · 08/11/2008 18:32

"if possible, go late at night so baby can sleep! "

My 5 week olds sleeping at night? Never happened in the Dragon house

It won't be as bad as you expect. Plan your route carefully with potential stopping places earmarked and stop at these regardless of whether your baby is howling (because otherwise they'll wake up just as you've gone past it)

SoupDragon · 08/11/2008 18:33

You can change him and feed him in the car. If you're not breastfeeding, you'll need to factor in how to prepare the feeds though.

LadyLaGore · 08/11/2008 18:34

i had to do lots of 2 hour-ish journeys when my 1st was teeny. and often too when he was all of 13m and no2 was new...
i found that speaking to them was really unhelpful... i would have to bite my finger but if they can see or hear you when they are crying for you and you dont pick em up, they just dont get it, and get more hysterical. so, keep quiet and they will usually give up and go to sleep for a fair old while pretty quickly.
expect to stop and feed him every at least 2 hours.
day or night, makes little difference imo.

mind you, my 3rd baby was un like the others in that he didnt pass out the minute the car was running... but then, he never cried either, just laid there and smiled.

good luck

oh, have lots of drinks and snacks for YOU in the car, so you can pull over anywhere convenient and sort yourself out at same time.

hoxtonchick · 08/11/2008 18:35

hello, didn't you post about this when you were pregnant? congrats on birth of your baby . i think v good your mum will be with you, who is driving? you might have to stop a lot but you'll do it eventually. i'd allow a whole day to take the pressure off yourself. good luck .

FourArms · 08/11/2008 18:54

I'm sure that it will be better than you expect if your DS is normally OK when in the car. DS1 would have done this no problems at all that age. With DS2, car journeys were a sure fire way to keep him asleep, so if I knew somebody was doing a drive to a train station, I'd send DS2 with them so I could have a break

Whereabouts in Cornwall are you going to? I used to live near Truro.

Original poster

Jane7 · 08/11/2008 18:55

thanks for all this.
yes, hoxtonchick, i did post about this when i was pregnant. i'm still fussing about it. it's a work thing that i've really got to do, but i've been so tempted to cancel in the past few weeks when it has seemed enough just to be coping with a new baby in my flat...
anyway, what i'm hoping is that after this trip, everything will seem easy. i'm still finding it quite traumatic when baby wails as he looks so miserable even if there isn't much actually wrong.

OP posts:

poshtottie · 08/11/2008 18:55

I would plan your journey and try and find out what facilities are on route. When we took ds to Cornwall we stayed in Devon for a night (luckily my mum lives there).

If you are passing through Dorset, I live two mins from main road so you can swing by here.

Original poster

Jane7 · 08/11/2008 18:56

FourArms - I'm going to somewhere called Trelowarren which is on the lizard, i think. About as far away from London wehre I live as I could manage... fresh Cornish air will be lovely when I get there though.

OP posts:

FourArms · 08/11/2008 19:46

I used to live very very close to there - in Helston.

Word of warning - it will take you an hour to get from Truro to Helston, and then another 20 minutes to get out to Trelowarren. It's really gutting when you think that you're only 10/15 miles away, but Cornish miles are slow miles.

You know, I really would go down by train. There are some really good train links from Cornwall to London, and it would be so much less stressful, esp since you're bfing. You can get a taxi from Redruth to Trelowarren - there's a rank opposite the station. There is a bus service too, but I'd imagine that would be a bit much after the journey!

spottedandstriped · 08/11/2008 20:17

I have been down to Cornwall (approx 300 miles from where we are) several times with my baby who is now six months (MIL lives there. It was actually generally fine - time your journey carefully - i.e. you don't want to go when it is v busy and get stuck on the M5 in a major traffic jam. I found my baby sleep most of the time and we just stopped at service stations for feeding/changing/stretch outs. Don't worry about it - it will be fine. Enjoy your break!

goldilocksandmylittlebear · 08/11/2008 20:24

Lie flat car seats are great, bubs may well sleep lots anyway in the car.

llareggub · 08/11/2008 20:25

Right, this is really, really environmentally unfriendly, but why not fly to Newquay airport, then hire a car?

fledtoscotland · 08/11/2008 20:52

i would take any form of transport other than drive tbh with such a young baby.

when i visit family in devon (500miles from me) i fly to bristol or exeter and drive the last hour. I know air south west fly to newquay or failing that get the train. 300miles is a very long way with any child let alone a baby.

FourArms · 08/11/2008 20:54

If you do decide to fly, then hire a car, it might be as well just to get off at Plymouth. Often the flights stop at Plymouth, then take off again. That would avoid two take off and landings for the baby (not ideal for ears, although bfing helps with this).

lauraloola · 08/11/2008 20:55

My dd used to sleep for hours when we were travelling in the car and then cry as soon as we stopped! You will be fine, plan your route with all stops you can make just in case. Pack a lot of everything, you probably wont use it but make sure the basics to hand in the car so that you dont have to start rummaging. Cornwall is lovely even at this time of year - The waves are fantastic x

I remember reading about this when you were pregnant too - Congratulations

snorkle · 08/11/2008 20:58

It could well be fine. Babies often sleep more in the car - the rhythm of the engine calms them or something and small babies tend to sleep a lot in any case. I did a 7 hour car journey with dd when she was 1 week old & it was fine. We took plenty of breaks and did it bit by bit without any major difficulties as I recall.

FourArms · 08/11/2008 21:01

Paddington to Redruth by train is only 4h30m with no changes. Then you'd have about 40m by car.

There are direct flights from Gatwick to Newquay which are only 1h10m with Air SouthWest. Then you'd have another 1h30m by car to travel.

Depending upon where you're actually travelling from in London, the train journey might be quicker (check in times etc).

Swedes · 08/11/2008 21:03

I drove 325 miles (6 hours) with a six week old baby, on my own. It was very bonding and felt very Thelma & Lousise. I think I was first smiled at during that journey. T'was marvellous.

I also did the same journey at 8 months pregnant with 5 Springer Spaniel pups and their mother in the boot of my Volvo estate. Unfortunately I didn't have a dog guard and at one point I had one pup on my lap and one in the driver footwell; they kept raising themselves up by layering themselves so as to topple over from the boot into the backseat. It was incredibly stressful and I had to stop about 320 times.

kiLLf · 08/11/2008 21:12

I did a twelve hour journey with an eight week old

I was v. worried. DH was driving, and I managed his expectations that it would take a loooong time.... but it was actually fine.

I discovered one very eccentric coping tactic... I expressed in the front seat into a bottle, then fed him the bottle while driving. It more than halved the number of stops needed, since it was a good solution to those 'I'm not really hungry but I'd like to suck on something milky smelling of mummy' tiny baby moments.

Disagree about stopping whether you need it or not. On each trip he had at least one uncharacterisitcally long and deep sleep.

GreenPenguin · 08/11/2008 21:16

Surpisingly, this will be much easier than when he's 8 months old. I bet he'll sleep all the time you're moving, as long as you stop to feed him regularly. In a few months' time I bet you'll look back and see how relatively easy it was.

flippineck · 08/11/2008 21:19

We drove about 250 miles when DD was 3 weeks old, to see my family who can't travel. TBH it was easier then than it is now that she's 18 months old! We stopped 4 times I think, so the longest she was in the car seat was 90 minutes. The stops were a lot longer than we'd do pre-baby, but she was BF, changed, cuddled etc and just out of the seat. It was all fine.

I'd just second what pp have said about timing it to try to avoid the worst of the traffic where possible, we got stuck in traffiv on one journey back to parents when DD was about 5 months old, and she got really upset, so I had to get out of the car (on the hard shoulder ) and get in the back with her to feed her. Luckily we were stuck for a while...

glamourbadger · 08/11/2008 21:31

My inlaws live in Cornwall (a good 6 hrs drive) and we've been traveling down regularly since my twins were born. To be honest it was easier in the early days - we would put them down for bed in their carseats and drive until they cried for a feed. Stop at the next service and feed then continue on till the next feed. Will your DS take a dummy? I found them a lifesaver on long car trips.

Pack everything you need to hand - nappies, change of clothes, etc. We had to empty the boot and rummage around for babygros after a vomiting incident, never again!

If you go M4/M5 then there are reasonable services that stay open late.

TBH it got more difficult from 8 months - carsick, refusing to sleep, needing to be entertained, etc.

You will probably be surprised at how easy it goes after all your worry. I find things usually work that way with babies!

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