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

[Jane7]

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?

you might find your lo sleeps better in the car.im in cornwall but north.

it'll be fine. it'll take a long time - but it'll be fine. we took dd on what is usually a 3 hour journey but turned out to be 6 hours due to traffic when she was 10 days old. we only had to stop once - she slept most of the way. just be prepared to stop. and be prepared to drive for a short period through crying, if needs be. it's not the end of the world - she's safe and not in pain - you have to switch off from it and drive safely to somehere to stop. but preferably avoid that by preparing to stop when she starts to grumble - rather than holding on and letting it build to full-grown crying.

I have done 6 hr car drives down to cornwall x4 times now.

I always drove at night- starting around 7pm. With another driver to take over thru the journey. Advantage that the traffic is usually less and baby may sleep.

1.be aware the lights on motorway can be strong and give a strobing effect and wake them up.
2.be aware of not keeping the temp up too much and roasting the little one!

Of note I have also flown and caught a train- both were delayed and the train got cancelled half way due to signal wire being stolen- hence a very expensive taxi ride ( who had to stop for me to boob feed!!)

so in short a well planned drive in the not so busy times is a winner for me

I had to make a 6 hour journey when my ds1 was 3.5yrs and ds2 was 3 weeks. It was to stay with relatives whilst my dh was studying (to give him peace and quiet!!!!). Looking back , I must have been mad. It wouldn't have been so bad if my ds1 had been toilet trained for longer. He needed a wee every hour or so and then ds2 would need feeds inbetween that. One stop included ds1 needing a poo whilst I was feeding ds2 - not a great scenario wherever you are!! Having said all that, whenever my dc were small, they always slept for much longer in the car then at home. so long as you plan your route with stops in mind, I'm sure you'll be fine.
Good luck!

We drive to Cornwall every year.We went when DD1 was 3 weeks old. We always leave at 2.00am and arrive at 7.00am. I fed her a big feed just before 2.00am,and then she slept all the way there until 6.30am,and then we stopped and I fed her. Just before we stopped for Breakfast.The momentum of the car kept her asleep,I don't think at 3 weeks she would have slept for a 4.5 hour stretch normally.

Personally I have done loads of long journeys with babies as my parents and family all live 5hrs away.
BF makes life simpler. You will probably find he sleeps lots due to the motion or if not will be happy to nosey around him. All I did was feed directly before leaving, whether my dd2 wanted it or not and then when 1-1.5hrs had elapsed looked for a stop. You can feed and change in the car- feed in the drivers seat pushed right back and change on the back/passenger seat. This saves time going in to the service area. Also you can do it anywhere! Choose a time when the gaps for feeding are longer, so if he cluster feeds in the evening don't travel at that time iyswim. If he goes longest in the afternoon then set of after the last morning feed iyswim.
I agree with everyone who says its easier at weeks old

We did the same journey when DD was 3 weeks old and back when she was 5 weeks. It is do-able and our DD is not a happy car seat passenger. My best advice is set aside a whole day to do the journey in, do not expect to get there fast, best to take your time and not stress. There are lots of good services all the way down. We introduced a dummy on the return journey as she got so worked up, she took it brilliantly and it calmed her right down.
It will be worth the journey Trelowarren is lovely, great place for a holiday we spend lots of time on the Helford river.