Long car drive with 12 week old baby?

[tinierclanger]

This is probably a stupid question but...

Our first baby is due at the end of July and we have been invited to a wedding in the middle of October. These are close friends and DP is supposed to be best man. The wedding is about 4 hours away from where we live.

But... I have just realised that the advice is the baby shouldn't be in a car seat for more than a couple of hours at a time. When does this 'reset'? If we take a long break after a couple of hours driving, is that ok? Or is this just not going to be feasible?

Any advice appreciated!

We did a 3.5 hour journey when DD was 9 weeks, again to a wedding, we took a break as good for all of us, had a coffee, fed DD, stretched legs.

I drove 400 miles when DS1 was 12 weeks old. It was fine - he slept most of the way.

Just take a break and it will be fine.

We drove from Lincolnshire to the IoW when dd was 11 weeks - we had one of the Britax car seats with an insert so she was flatter than in her travel system seat and made sure we left plenty of time for breaks for feeds. She slept most of the way, it was loads easier than we thought it would be. Just woke for a feed once.

What type of car seat do you have?

will be fine with one stop, taking baby out of carseat to feed/change

leaving baby in carseat sat on cafe table does not count as a stop (see this too much and it makes me cross)

Hi all, thanks so much, so many quick responses!

We have got a Maxi-Cosi Cabrio, which does look pretty comfy. Will be more than happy to stop as many times as we need to, as long as it keeps baby safe and happy (hopefully!).

24 weeks into pregnancy, I am realising I know pretty much NOTHING about how to look after a baby.

Me too MrsB

Even at 11 weeks dd was incurably nosey - there is no way that she would have let me leave her in her car seat even if we wanted to . I'm not sorry we dispensed with the portable car seat fairly quickly, it was bulky and awkward to carry and dd was far happier without it.

tinierclanger - I knew nothing about looking after babies until dd came along, I have definitely learned on the job

Hi tinierclanger congratulations!
I asked a similar question a couple of weeks ago and got some good advice.here.

Thanks for the link PABLOP - I did try and search but didn't see that thread - obviously need more MN practice!

This site is proving a real lifeline for me in getting some real world advice.

Aside from stopping to break up the journey, I avoid travelling between 5 and 7 pm. Ds2 (7 weeks) seems to go into a meltdown at that time, and ds1 was the same as a baby.

Coming back from London a few weeks ago at that time of day (a journey that should have taken 1.5-2 hours took 3.5 hours) both dcs went into a meltdown about 5 minutes into the trip and screamed the whole way back.

The advice is just there so that people don't put their babies down for naps - or even night time sleeps - in their car seats. It's very easy to get a baby to sleep in a car - too tempting! So don't worry about a long journey. Just think about the undeveloped world mothers who work ten hours in a field with baby scrunched up in a sling who many western mums emulate by using slings all day long - something widely considered good practice for little babies but they certainly don't lie flat. What I'm saying is that we've been transporting our babies around for all of time, so there's no need to worry about four hours.
Good luck with your new arrival.

Hi tinierclanger,

I have the same car seat as you and DS (6 weeks plus) have done a few journeys in them. Once he was in it for ages as we had to go to the hospital and he slept the whole way there and also during the wait to see the doctor (about 2-3 hours), the only thing I was say is that there is a bit of a 'dent' in the maxi cosi seat (I suppose to accommodate bigger bottoms when they get bigger!) and what I noticed is everytime DS stirred, he kinda 'stretched' out so I assume at that age, they 'sink' quite a lot into the depression and not completely comfortable. If your child is 12 weeks then (and if he or she is a pretty big baby), you probably won't have an issue. Just thought I will point it out!

Ax

Thanks all - this is very reassuring, we SHALL go to the ball!

I am one of the 'bad' mummies (but then this advice is totally new to me) whose children did spend a certain amount of time in the car seat (never wake up a sleeping baby is the best advice EVER) although we never drove them around at night to get them to sleep. Husband took DS1 away to visit his mother 5 hours away on his own when DS1 was three months old (God I slept ALL weekend except when I wasn't fretting that they were both going to be killed in a car crash on the motorway!) Anyway, Both sprogs are huge, strapping lads of 13 and 7 now. Spines as straight as anything, and utterly wonderful. Also there was no 'you are the worst mother if you wean your child before 6 months' thing 13 years ago and both of mine were given tiny tastes of stuff at 12 weeks (DS1 hungriest baby in the world - now hungriest - and thinnest teenager!. I just think that you have to remember that this advice is given because there is 'the lowest common denominator' out there who will do daft stuff on a regular basis which then affects the development (social, physical, emotional, etc) of a child. All the health type advice is worth considering but certain amounts of it needs to be taken with a dose of sodium, ie, yes I did start to wean my 2 at 12 weeks - with a teaspoonful of mashed sweed and carrot at lunch - not with steak and chips.

I knew nothing about babies - I'd never even picked one up properly before DS1. If my two have survived (occasionally just) then you will be just fine.

Good luck

we managed south devon to north Yorkshire at 7 wk old & then devon to switzerland at 18 wks. in between driving spells ( 1.5-3 hours depending how long he slept) stopped at somewhere, all out of car for at least an hour, fed and changed boy gave him some wriggle time. Fed and toileted adults, took a wonder round where ever with the pram ( big flat bed thing) maybe. We try to not just stop at M-way services but go into a town, supermarkets with cafes are good what ever the weather.
HAve continued to do similar ever since. It takes a little longer than just driving till you get there but all arrive in better frame of mind.

Hey, we had wedding 4 hours away when dd was 5 weeks old. No probs at all! Stopped twice and took her out, cuddled, fed if required etc then she ell straight back to sleep in car

Much harder now she is 7 months!