Long car journey with baby

[ARodeoQueen]

I have a 3 month old and a 5 year old. At the end of the month we are going on holiday about 3ish hours away. Problem is baby does not travel well in the car! She can get very upset and scream which is obviously distressing for everyone. Does anyone have any top tips? When my son was little I used to sit in the back with him but obviously that is not an option. I have tried to squeeze myself into the middle but I don't fit! We have a mirror and I plan to give my son toys/dummy to keep her amuse. We will try and time the journey around naps etc but I am worried about it. Does anyone have any other pearls of wisdom? We are also going to purchase a roof box as the stuff to bring is unreal so any recommendations would be great too. Thank you!

Time it around naps as much as possible. At four months old, mine got good use out of one of the seat back kick toys sold by Halfords - I think ours was a Taf Toys Play and Kick. I think also plan for a really decent break in the middle of the journey.

Remember to make some air holes if baby goes in the roof box.....

I would time it around naps & feeds- nice long wake window and big feed before leaving, hopefully get an hour-hour an a half nap, stop half way and have a wake window at a service station then another good feed and back in the car for the next nap. That’s what we did & will be doing this weekend with our 4 month old, it makes the travel longer but a peaceful journey that spans 5 hours is better than a 3 hour one with lots of screaming

We had this
Little miss hated her baby seat- we upgraded her to a bigger rear facing seat and she was so much happier- I think for her it was positional- she preferred being more upright as she had cmpa and reflux.....

Time it around naps.

Could you & baby take the train?

Can you rear face the toddler in the front seat? Perfectly safe with air bag turned off. And you sit in back with baby

It could be something really simple like baby isn't quite fitted into the seat correctly and so is uncomfortable. You could post a photo here or on a car seat group and we might be able to help?

Put the 5 year old in the front with the air bags off and one adult in the back. Or time the trip around nap time

we had a six hour trip + stops to visit grandparents. Buying a big enough car that we could sit between the two did help particularly when number 3 came along. But also, sometimes we just had to get through it. Sat in the back and put the older one in the front. Once they’re a bit older audio books and CBeebies podcasts were a hit (we don’t have screens in the car). Little toys. I’m

If you aren’t driving then travel in the back with kids. means you can actually comfort / feed / entertain while still moving.

Halfords roof boxes are fab. Always go bigger than you think you need as the stuff just continues to grow as they get older.

My DS was only happy once we front faced him. Tried a bunch of car seats. Hated being rear faced, screamed and screamed. I paid a lot of money for a car seat that rear faces for a long time, I am very pro rear facing, but it's actually impossible with some babies/kids. It must cause them motion sickness or something.

The longest journey we ever did was 2 hours for this reason.

Random as it is, sometime sticking a picture of you on the babys seat helps. Mine used to scream because he couldnt see me as he was rear facing. Just gives that extra bit of reassurance that youre still there!

Thank you everyone. I will look at the carseat toys and a picture of me (I would never have thought of that!) My 5 year old son is forward facing. Would he be ok in the front with air bags off? He is in a BeSafe carseat. He only recently moved out of his rear facing seat as he was getting so frustrated - not an easy decision! My 3 month old is in an axkid spinkid2. She has the newborn insert in still so perhaps I can look at taking it out to see if that makes a difference. Sounds like we just need to time naps and take it slow. But yes in an ideal world I would sit between them both. 5 year old is good in the car we play quizzes, he has his tonie box, books etc. We don't do screens either.

Honestly two trips to Cornwall with this conundrum was the main reason we got a new car. The first thing we did when shopping was put both kids car seats in the back then see if I could sit in between them comfortably. 😂 We ended up with a VW Touran, deeply uncool but so bloody practical.

Anyway, given that buying a new car is probably something of an overreaction, I agree I'd get the fit checked on the car seat. We moved DS out of the infant carrier ones into one that stays in the car at that age and it made a big difference. Also time it around naps, and make sure baby can see their own reflection in the car seat mirror. They love looking at themselves......

We have a skoda octavia estate. Honestly one bum cheek fits in the middle - and I am not particularly large. Our second was a miracle surprise after having IVF for my first so very blessed but in hindsight should have got a van!

We were planning on getting an Octavia but likewise, not a chance was I squeezing in there and I'm not particularly large. On the flip side, this is a short season, they will be entertaining themselves by fighting over a Magna doodle and an "unfair biscuit distribution" (these are both things that have happened in our car in the past week) before you know it.

Is putting the infant car seat in the front an option? Then baby can see you and you are more accessible. If fitted correctly it’s just as safe as using an isofix - just make sure you remember to turn the air bag off (and back on again 😉 )

Ah just seen they are in an axkid spinkid so might be tricky. We have an axkid mini and with a bit of fiddling with the tethers it goes in the front - does affect visibility of the wing mirrors though!

My daughter always was (aged 7 still is) awful in the car. We only travelled at night for that long. Did the normal bedtime routine, bath, pjs and then instead of bed we went to the car. Or we would get up at 5am ish and keep her asleep, arriving at normal waking time. If your baby naps well definitely aim for normal pre nap routine and then straight in the car.
Do you know what it is? For my dd its travel sickness so she got an antihistamine from the Dr (depends on your baby's age), this has 2 excellent effects - 1, she isn't sick/nauseous and 2, it really knocks her out!

You can put your son in the front seat in a forward facing car seat but the airbags should be on. They should only be off for rear facing car seats.
That would be my solution along with a stop half way. You can entertain the baby and he’ll no doubt love the novelty value of being able to sit in the front.

I tried that after seeing it recommended somewhere. Didn’t work for my dd, but it did make me laugh so I kept it there for a while!

sorry op, I never found the solution for either of my dd’s. Just spent most journeys crying or screaming. We had one hell journey when we got stuck on the m4 and she nearly lost her voice.

just plan for it to take ages due to a million stops, and if you get there early it’s a bonus.

This is dangerous advice, a 5 year old should never forward face in the front. It's 12+ for that

Have you tried a lie flat car seat?

We had a very similar situation. Absolutely screamed to the point of gulping in air, and then couldn’t get the burp out without getting out the car seat. We also had a 3hr trip at similar age. We spent the week before going for a drive everyday with someone in the back seat (took out the toddler seat so they could fit) and stroked him; talked to him, kept dummy in mouth until he finally took it and fell asleep. By the third time he fell asleep with dummy and no crying (first time he cried for 25-30 mins before finally taking the dummy sleeping). For the trip we timed the journeys for naps and had a break each time he woke up and waited for nap time again before leaving (3hr trip took 6 hrs but it worked with minimal crying). My partner (in front passenger seat) had to basically lean back and put the dummy back in numerous times, critical to clip it on somewhere so it doesn’t get lost.