Travelling with baby

[ScatterBrain912]

I'm due at the end of September and we have a holiday booked at the beginning of November, so the baby will be around a month old by the time we go.

We're travelling about 4.5/5 hours in the car to get there. I'm a little worried about this amount of time being spent in the car with such a young baby. Does anyone have any suggestions? I was thinking that we would set off once the baby had been fed so that it will sleep most of the time in the car and then stop half way ish to get out of the car for a bit and then continue on with the journey. Should I stop for a long time like an hour or so just to let the baby have time out of the car seat?

I just don't know what is recommended with the amount of time spent in a car seat.

No longer than 30mins in a car seat up to 3 months, no longer than 2hrs after that (up to a year, I think). 15 min break is enough, I believe. Different rules apply if premature, but I'm not sure of them.

Any chance you can get a train instead?!

To be fair, you could get a carseat that allows the baby to lie flat, that's probably fine for longer periods. DH and I were still total zombies 5 weeks after the birth of DS1 though, make sure whoever is driving has had decent sleep!

@CoolNoMore I’m pretty sure the lie flat car seats should not be used flat in the actual car?! Might be wrong but that’s my understanding? Surely they would be unsafe laying flat in the car.

I believe your first post with times etc is pretty accurate. @ScatterBrain912 Definitely worth looking into the train option if it’s possible. If not then you might just need to be prepared for the journey to take a good bit longer than the 4-5 hours 😊

We had the low back car seat, baby doesn’t lay flat. But the safety guidelines allowed 3 hours in the car seat.
My first journey to my mums When my son was 6 weeks old usually takes 4 hours, took just over 6.
But that was due to lots of crying.
Allow yourself more time than you think.
My son has been amazing on long car journeys ever since, and they only got easier.
The car seat that tilts back was well worth the money though x

@CoolNoMore I’ve just realised there are actual flat car seats 🤯 like a carrycot style! Maybe that’s what you were meaning. I was thinking along the likes of the Cybex that changes position.

Most care seats allow 2 hours although you might find that hard with a newborn who cluster feeds , but definitely not impossible. I drove from London to Dublin ( via ferry ) with an 8 week old . We left in the evening after his 9pm feed, drove 2 hours to a hotel , stayed the night at the hotel and then used the whole next day to get to Wales to the ferry . We stopped half way for a day trip and several other times to nurse him . We had an evening ferry so we allowed plenty of time .

I’d play it by ear as to whether you go or not. Do you need to decide now?

If your baby arrives late and you have a tricky birth, then the last thing you might want is a journey of that duration in the car. Journeys of that length are not recommended for little babies, even with the solitary stop you suggest (have a look at the SIDS guidelines and the NHS guidelines on flat heads). I’d do it if there were no other option, but a holiday doesn’t fall into that category for me.

Plenty of people would do it, but at least look at a better break schedule for baby.

I have the Joie car seat which lays back and it is still recommended 30 mins in the car seat and I think you have to take at least 30 mins out the car seat. I wouldn't bother with the holiday if the only way to travel is by car.

Apparently the rule is that a baby should not be in a car seat for longer than 2 hours, within a 24 hour time period.

My travel system has a special system that allows you to use the carrycot attachment in the car so baby can lie flat.

Yours might have something similar you can buy?

I hadn't thought of the train so I will look into that. It's a good idea!

No the holiday isn't essential, and of course if things go wrong in birth/afterwards then going on holiday won't even be a question. I'm just going by best case scenario. I might go 2 weeks over my due date and then it would only be 2 weeks old and I wouldn't want to go on holiday at all. We are renting a cottage with friends and was booked before we knew I was pregnant.

We are going to buy the maxi-cosi mica car seat. Which we can tilt back but I will have to look into the guidelines of how long they recommend a baby to be in there for.

At some point I'm going to have to figure out how we're moving back home with baby, which is a 10 hour drive at best then. But think I will probably fly for that journey and be cheeky and get someone else to drive my car back for me.