Advice on long car journey with 17 week old

[TwistedBoycey]

Hi all,

My wife and I will be travelling with our 17 week old boy from London to Newcastle which is 300 miles and about 5 hours drive. The only thing I've worked out is that we should travel late at night so that he sleeps most of the way. Is this ok for him to sleep in his car seat for this long or is it worth trying to get hold of a baby-sleeper seat type thing and can you rent them?

Any advice would be great as this will be our first long haul drive. We've done loads of shorter trips for up to an hour and he's been good as gold and usually sleeps.

Also, are there any better services on the A1 than others, any recommendations would be great too.

Thanks in advance

The advice is not to let your dc spend more than 2h at a time in a carseat. OTOH the conventional carseats are all much safer in an accident than the carrycot style. Personally, I would set off during the day, drive for a couple of hours,then stop for a feed, nappychange and kickabout. Take your time, ensure he has got his wind up otherwise he will be miserable for the next leg of the journey. Then continue on your journey but follow his lead: if he's asleep keep driving, if he wakes keep stopping every hour or two.

The journey to the ILs that used to take 3.5h straight up the M1 with a quick stop at Leicester Forest for a piddle, now takes 5h with children who need two piddle-stops, one meal, and a runabout. When we had under-ones it took even longer, usually needing at least two stops. Still, it's better for the driver to have a goiod rest as well.

Moto generally provide good baby and child services. I'll ask dh when he wakes whether there are any particularly good services.

I second most of what PrettyCandles says. We have taken our LO from Sheffield to Perth in Scotland a couple of times since he was born last November.

Both times we set off when he was due his morning nap, after tiring him out best we could, then stopped after a couple of hours (or when he woke up) for a play and a feed. Then repeat until you arrive at your destination. We were both a little worried about how he would cope but it was actually all fine. The car's motion meant he slept more than usual but still slept when we got there.

We did Bristol to Newcastle when ds was that sort of age. He'll probably sleep most of the time if he's anything like mine. Still works a treat driving downtue motorway when he's fighting sleep!
Be aware of services an how far till next ones so can plan feed breaks. It's awful being far from services praying they don't wake up till you stop as they'll be ravenous!
Make sure you have changes of clothes/ extra nappies/ milk etc handy in car - ds went through 3 outfits on way home!
Maybe get new car toy to distract him from boredom in car.

It went a lot smoother than I thought tbh.

If your wife is breastfeeding maybe she could acquaint herself with how to feed him whilst he's still in his seat and she's still got her belt on. Sounds tricky but it is possible and has saved the day on a number of ocassions for us when DS has lost it whilst we're stuck in very slow moving traffic, not able to pull over and not willing to risk pulling him out of the seat for a feed. You have to push the carry handle back so I only do it in emergencies when we're truly stuck in pretty much stationary traffic.