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Original poster

Long-distance driving with a newborn

19 replies

Astraeus · 12/05/2022 23:06

What length of car journey (including with breaks) have you attempted with a newborn? What tips, tricks and pitfalls are there to a journey that, overall, would be more than 15 hours of driving.

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yforwankylol · 12/05/2022 23:14

Newborns aren’t supposed to be in car seats for any longer than 30 minutes or so. I have no idea why anyone would even attempt a 15 hour drive with a newborn?

LittleBearPad · 12/05/2022 23:14

6 hours with breaks.

15 hours is a hell of a drive. Can’t you fly? For that long I think you’ll need to stay somewhere mid journey otherwise.

Sussexmidwife · 12/05/2022 23:15

Please do look at information from the Lullaby Trust about safety of car travel for newborns. Very young babies cannot support their heads for long periods. A long journey like that is potentially very challenging

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Justkeeppedaling · 12/05/2022 23:19

Does your 15 hours include stoppage time for feeding and nappy changes?

Has the baby been born yet?
You'll change your tune when it has.

Original poster
Astraeus · 12/05/2022 23:23

Sorry, breaks were included as have time on our side to make the journey and was aware of two-hour limit. @Justkeeppedaling, I think your strikethrough probably answers it for me, thank you. 😄

OP posts:
BornBlonde · 12/05/2022 23:28

Look into lie flat car sears, the only way it's safe to do a journey longer than 30 mins

FandangoMango · 12/05/2022 23:29

Have a look at the Maxi Cosi Jade car seat. It means that your baby can safely lie flat. We had one and it was excellent. Had a long ish car journey to do and this made it much more do-able! It is expensive and only lasts until around 6 months but we got loads of use from it as it can also fit straight onto certain maxi cosi pushchair frames.
Good luck with it all!

Justkeeppedaling · 12/05/2022 23:32

Grin HTH

You'll find you could be feeding for hours, then the baby sicks it all up, over both of you, so you change the baby and yourself, and then the baby is hungry again, and then does a poo, and so on.

You don't know how you'll be either - bladder shot to hell for instance, or heavy bleeding. At the very least you'll be knackered from no sleep.

I really wouldn't.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 12/05/2022 23:34

We did hanover to London via the tunnel with a 4mo. We did it at night in the hope she would sleep. (It worked fortunately). O say in the back with her in case she didn't. Stopped every two-three hours as advised by HV (the baby is now 11, so regulations have changed there). Got he out for a good cuddle on the train.

So... night time and sit in back.

Justkeeppedaling · 13/05/2022 18:11

4 months is not a newborn though. You, at least, had had time to recover from the birth.

LittleBearPad · 14/05/2022 17:08

BornBlonde · 12/05/2022 23:28

Look into lie flat car sears, the only way it's safe to do a journey longer than 30 mins

This is overly dramatic!

Singleandproud · 14/05/2022 17:19

If you Had to do that sort of journey and needed to take your car, moving house etc I would have one person take the car and the other parent (mother if breastfeeding) go by train if plane not available. On a train you can move around and see to baby's needs much easier but a 15 HR car journey is still going to be a hell of a train journey too, you'd probably want to break that up too.

fossilsmorefossils · 14/05/2022 17:29

A 15 hour travel with a young baby sounds like my idea of hell tbh. Breaks or no breaks. You'll be exhausted from the sleepless nights and/or sleep regression and your routine will be fucked. Routine was the only thing that kept me relatively sane the first 10 months (I had a really non sleepy baby)

Trixabelle84 · 15/05/2022 22:12

I have a Jane travel system which includes a car seat that lies flat (which also doubles as a bassinet on the pram) up to 6 months, after that it can be changed to become rear facing. Its a bit of a faff and quite heavy but an absolute life saver for long car journeys. I haven't done one as long as 15 hours but 6-7 hours with a couple of feed breaks and he slept the rest of the time. I would definitely look into lie flat car seats.

buckingmad · 16/05/2022 19:30

I drove my newborn (4 weeks old) 240 miles when we moved house. Stopped twice to breastfeed. My mum sat in the back with her. I packed plenty of nappies and change of clothes (both of us).

110APiccadilly · 16/05/2022 20:30

BornBlonde · 12/05/2022 23:28

Look into lie flat car sears, the only way it's safe to do a journey longer than 30 mins

We had a lie flat and while we didn't do a journey as long as that (did do regular journeys that were longer than it's advised to leave a newborn in a seat for), it was brilliant not ever having to wake DD because she'd been in it too long.

I'd definitely recommend getting one if you're going to need to do a 15 hour journey with a newborn.

autienotnaughty · 16/05/2022 21:54

The no longer than 30min rule doesn't mean take them out for a few seconds then straight back in. A baby that young would need regular significant breaks. It would have to be a very important trip.

EcafTnuc · 16/05/2022 22:05

LittleBearPad · 14/05/2022 17:08

This is overly dramatic!

Show quote history

The safety of a newborn isn’t dramatic it’s just sensible. If you’re lax about the safety of the most precious thing you have then that’s fine but calling others dramatic is ridiculous

RosieBdy · 16/05/2022 22:12

Second the Jane lie flat car seats.
We regularly used to do 3 to 4 hour journeys and it made such a difference.

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