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Original poster

Is 5 hour car drive too long for a toddler?

99 replies

hm167 · 10/10/2021 23:16

i was planning a little holiday to Cornwall. I have a two year old, would a five hour car ride from london to cornwall be too much for her? Has anyone ever done a car journey this long with a toddler? what was your experience?

OP posts:

Caspianberg · 11/10/2021 10:27

And I wouldn’t like to travel at night or wake him super early as I think it would be worse. He was up 6.30am, time for playing and breakfast. Drove 9.30am-12. 1 hrs lunch and run around. 1-3.30/4pm drive. Arrived at destination with time to unpack a bit, then play and dinner as usual. Bedtime as usual.

I wouldn’t drive at night with baby or toddler unless I had too as wouldn’t easily be able to stop and let them out to play at 1am

SMBH · 11/10/2021 10:36

You don’t stop to let them out to play at 1am, that’s the point. If that’s a key part of the journey for you then obviously you don’t travel during their nighttime sleep.

Caspianberg · 11/10/2021 10:54

@SMBH - yes I guess. Mine doesn’t sleep well anyway so he’s awake on night drives as well. Plus I would be knackered

JumperandJacket · 11/10/2021 10:58

I used to do that distance regularly when DS was that age, travelling between Brussels and London. It's fine, just build in plenty of stops.

iusedtoloveopalfruits1 · 11/10/2021 11:02

We’ve done it! Could you time leaving with nap time so they sleep for part of the journey and it didn’t throw off their normal routine.
We also got an ipad holder that goes round the car headrest from amazon that had some cartoons on to keep him occupied. we also brought some small toys (toot toot drivers and his toy remote) that we could easily play with while in his seat.
we also stopped lots!

Autumncoming · 11/10/2021 11:07

We find it's totally fine if we either:

drive overnight so they sleep
or during the day but have a couple of stops somewhere fun like a soft play or playground and give them an ipad pretty much the rest of the time

Hoglet70 · 11/10/2021 11:27

Toddlers are like dogs. Just stop a lot.

Branleuse · 11/10/2021 11:29

Depends on the children and what they are used to. Mine have been used to long car journeys their whole lives. We have whatever CDs they currently are into on repeat and make stops every couple of hours for the loo and to stretch legs or a little rest.

TheShades · 11/10/2021 11:33

We've done lots and it's generally fine but we try to do one of the following.

Leave really early. Straight out of bed into the car in their PJs so they go back to sleep for the first hour or so

Put them in their PJs and leave at their bedtime so they sleep most of the journey.

Plan a long stop off (e.g. we have stopped halfwayish for a couple of hours at a national trust place, country park or castle) as well as expecting to stop at the services at least a couple of times.

OneWildNightWithJBJ · 11/10/2021 11:42

We drive from London to Scotland and our youngest was probably about 2 the first time we took them. We always stop overnight, but still probably about 5 hours at a time. Take regular breaks and lots of activities.

I can't imagine not going far from home until the kids are older, by which time, if they've never spent long in a car, it probably won't be any easier.

Calmdown14 · 11/10/2021 15:20

The people never going beyond three hours clearly live in more central areas of the UK.
Try driving anywhere from Wick or Thurso. Kids get used to it. To live in some places you have to accept travelling is part and parcel of life.
Five hours is a fine length that can be easily split up.
And as for not starting holidays at 4am, this is totally normal for flights so what's the difference. I'd probably go for 5 as you get a full night's sleep but for us a 9am set off is much more stressful as you do breakfast, putting out bins, putting bits in car. For an early start we do everything the night before and basically get up and go

languagelover96 · 11/10/2021 16:43

Toys are a must
Stop overs are also required.

sashh · 12/10/2021 05:49

BTW anyone driving north south or south north on the M6, if you get of the motorway at 'south staffs' J13 exit and follow the sign to Stafford as you come off the roundabout there is 'Catch Corner' it has a pub with a wacky wherehouse, a McDonalds and a Holiday Inn express.

You don't get stunning views but it's a good place for a stop off.

Toodlydoo · 12/10/2021 06:02

I think mine would be ok with a scenic route (she likes to look out the window and basically ignores us on car journeys) with stops. She would need to stretch her legs a bit.

onelittlefrog · 12/10/2021 06:07

It depends on whether she's used to it, but it sounds like she's not, so honestly you will probably have problems.

That doesn't mean you can't do it, but it's probably sensible to spend some time acclimatising her to the car and longer journeys before you go.

What kinds of journeys do you do with her regularly and how long are they?

Hardbackwriter · 12/10/2021 07:34

Mine weren't really 'used to it' before our holiday - we did a couple of long drives when DS1 was a baby but none since before Covid, and we have one car which we don't use on a daily basis - and it was fine. We did do lots of bigging up the concept of a holiday with the three year old and he accepted the drive as part of that. That was also maybe helpful because we gave him the kindle for that journey but he's never asked for it in the car again - I think he thinks that a tablet in the car, like coco pops, are only available if you're on holiday!

babouchette · 12/10/2021 07:57

We did what others have suggested, ie leave London at bedtime and arrive around 1am, so DC would sleep the whole way there. We have a car sickness problem so couldn't do it during waking hours.

Verbena87 · 12/10/2021 08:01

We did it often. Plan a couple of hours contingency and stop for regular breaks somewhere toddler can safely have a run around. No urgency, and plenty of audio stories (we had thomas and CBeebies radio on loop, which drove the grown-ups fractionally less mad than toddler-distress)

MyDcAreMarvel · 12/10/2021 11:36

@TheLongDrop Comments like this really get up my nose.. it might be more normal in US if that's where you live or have lived but it's not here.
The op asked if it was too far and how their toddler coped. Toddlers that live in the UK do not have unique brains and bodies.

isitweds9thseptyet · 12/10/2021 12:00

Regularly undertook 5 hour journey from few weeks old. If traffic was bad could become 7 hours. If your relatives live hours away its just a part of family life and the kids have to learn how to behave in the car and you learn how to entertain them. Snacks. Breaks. Time it so they will nap for as much of it as possible. When they get seriously fed up bring out the big gun and offer a movie on the ipad or the cbeebies app or downloaded fave cbeebies programs on iplayer.

SMBH · 12/10/2021 12:29

[quote MyDcAreMarvel]**@TheLongDrop* Comments like this really get up my nose.. it might be more normal in US if that's where you live or have lived but it's not here.*
The op asked if it was too far and how their toddler coped. Toddlers that live in the UK do not have unique brains and bodies.[/quote]
Tbh the point is more that more people who live in the U.K. (and particularly during a pandemic) aren’t used to regularly making those sorts of long car journeys that are made in eg the US, Canada and Australia. You are bound to get more of these sorts of questions from U.K. parents. It’s hardly baffling really.

MattyGroves · 12/10/2021 13:24

Also traffic in the UK can be really bad - my kids aren't too bad on the motorway but as babies and toddlers really hated the stop start nature of getting out of London. American highways are fab

SMBH · 12/10/2021 15:28

That’s another reason for driving at night for us

SVRT19674 · 13/10/2021 10:07

No, it isn´t too far. My toddler has done 6 and a half hour drives from my house to my mum´s just fine. We stop every hour and a half, she has been stellar. We also take the ipad with us but she only uses it for about an hour. When we get to our destination she plays like mad in the park, so she does stretch her little legs in the end.

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