Long journey with a 2.5 mnth old baby

[zinher]

Hi. I have been invited to a close friend's 30th. and it is quite a journey. I am considering going as I have been cooped up at home since baby was born and it will be a chance to get to see my friends.

However I am wondering how it will be LO as it is quite a long drive. About 4 hrs away. I will be spending the night so she will be in car seat for around 8 hrs in a 48 hr period. I am particularly concerned about putting in the car seat for so long. Will taking her out in the middle for feeds and nappy changes help? I am considering not going for this reason. Am I being pfb or is this a reasonable concern?
Any other points I should consider for such a long journey
Thanks

i think if your baby generally travels ok you should be fine. we did quite a lot of long trips when our babies were very small as we have family a 6 hour drive away

stop as necessary, take baby out of car seat for a while, you should be fine :)

we did similar with dc3 at a similar age & unfortunately quite a lot of car time there too (visiting rellies & family wedding)

I made sure we had lots of breaks where he was out of his car seat and flat in his pram.

He slept for most of the boring motorway driving, I did time our departure to co-incide with his nap time so we could get the first stretch of road under our belts before he needed a feed, and my sister was in the back with him (she doesn't drive) to keep an eye on him.

Is the 30th going to be baby friendly? (she doesn't expect you to go clubbing with your dc in tow?!) if so, go, see your friends and enjoy showing off your pfb.

Just have a break halfway for a stretch and feed. Much easier to travel at this age as they just sleep. No need for any worrying!

Oh no we are a very boring bunch so it will be mooching around in the hotel with a trip to the spa. And just gossiping, enjoying the weather. They are all really looking forward to meeting the baby.

I used to travel between Glasgow and Newton abbot, Devon. Or Glasgow to Canterbury. Or Plymouth to Canterbury ( joys of being in the military!!) journeys could be 8 hrs +. We used to leave at 3 am missing most of the traffic and both ds were fine. We would stop for fuel , toilet breaks and everyone was fine .

I used to do London to Manchester with mine this little. Would stop a couple of hours in for stretch and loo for me and to feed/change the baby. IIRC advice is they shouldn't be in a car seat for more than 2 hours at a time, so I'd plan on maybe a 45 min stop, so getting on for 5 hours in total, to give you plenty of time to feed and let the baby have time out of the seat.

Also, give yourself plenty of time in case you need an extra stop for emergency nappy change etc. so if you're due at 5pm, leave mid morning so you either arrive early or have that extra time rather than having to rush.

Would it be possible to get the train?

I have a 2.10 year old and have regularly done 5-6 hour journeys from north to south with them. Trick is to find a nice place for lunch where they can run around a bit, plus a few toilet stops as others have said.

We go to visit the GP, who can find it a bit wearing to have a very hyper toddler, so it may be fair to see if the party venue has a place where your LO can let off steam etc too. We usually put our child in the garden for about 30 mins when we arrive.

We did a 4-hour journey when DD was 10 weeks. We stopped halfway for a feed and stretch and she slept most of the way. Being passed round the family like a little parcel tired her out so much she slept through the night for the first time!