10 Road Trip Travel Tips with a Baby

August 27, 2020

Hi mamas! I know road trips may seem overwhelming with a baby but I deemed myself the guinea pig and am sharing what worked for us on our 14+ hour road trip! We recently traveled to a cute small town in Florida called Cape San Blas (check out my Instagram stories highlight VACA for tons of videos (HERE).

Between COVID and knowing how much stuff we were bringing, we decided to do a road trip. The total drive was about 14 hours but because I am breastfeeding we had to make a few stops making it longer (17-18 hours).

Easton is almost 10 months and has always been great in the car seat but just to be safe we broke the drive up in two separate drives. On the way there and on the way back we drove 6 hours the first day and 9 hours the second day. Here are my top tips:

10 ROAD TRIP TRAVEL TIPS WITH A 9.5 MONTH OLD BABY

- Have one parent sit in the backseat with them (I did the entire time, Justin likes to be the driver lol)

- Dress them in comfy clothes

- Pack tons of toys, books and things to distract them with. We packed new toys he had never seen before and brought them out on the way home!

- Don't overdo it, make stops to let them stretch out. We would take out his pack and play to let him crawl around in! We have this one and love it!

- Know that YOU are their ultimate favorite. So if he got bored and we had already cycled through toys, I would nibble on his hands / toes, sing to him, play with his hair, make funny faces, play peek a boo, etc.

- Let them play with (safe) things they typically don't (ex. water bottle)

- Have a backseat organizer like this so you aren't stressed. Example- have a spot for the toys, a spot for food you bring and a "changing station" (diapers, wipes, etc.)

- If you are planning to do naps on the road, pack a portable sound machine (we love this one), their lovey and a car seat cover (we have this one) or blanket to put over their car seat to create darkness. You can also purchase sun shades (these had great reviews!) for the windows to help darken it for naps!

- Food/water! Easton is eating solids 3x a day now so we packed food for him and fed him in the car. This helped keep him happy! He loves to eat lol.

- We had a mini cooler bag (like these) we kept teethers in! We had a large baggie full of ice and would refill it every few hours.

As a first time mom, these are the things that really helped us on our first trip. I hope they help you! xo

Ps- Justin wanted me to add in, pack headphones for the driver during nap time. We only had his sound machine on during his naps so Justin loved that he had his headphones to listen to a podcast during this time!