We are leaving on Friday on a 13 hour road trip. It didn't occur to me until today that we could save a bunch of hassle and drive overnight since our lo sleeps ~12 hours. Has anyone done this with their lo? How did it work for you?
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We've done this multiple times! It works pretty well. DD sleeps fine, but she does wake up when we stop for gas (teh car turns off, the vibrations stop, the lights come on as a we open the car door, etc...). However, she does go back to sleep pretty easily once we get back on the road. We usually leave after nap time, drive for a few hours, stop for dinner/rest/bedtime routine, and then get back into the car. DD has a hard time going to sleep when it's still light out, but once we tell her it's night night time and ignore her, she goes to sleep pretty quickly.
The hardest part about driving through the night, imo, is that it is tough on the driver. Usually, my husband will start driving while I catch some sleep. We'll trade off at the first gas stop (about 4 hours in, or around midnight) and I'll drive for a few hours while he catches some sleep. At the next stop (3-ish hours later, or around 3/4) he takes over again. Night driving is a team sport, though, and it can be very difficult and tiring!
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I never have since my LO is still in my belly. But I would probably call your doctor and make sure it's OK for your LO to be in the car seat for such a long time without a break.
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We've never driven through the whole night, but we've gone to bed at 8 PM, woken up at 2 AM, woken LO up, and gotten on the road at 2:30 AM for 6 hours drives. LO normally sleeps 10 hours through the night without a peep, but definitely wakes up and fusses every couple hours if we are driving. He won't really sleep more than an hour and a half or two hours at one time; sometimes we just try to either distract him or wait out the fussiness, sometimes we go ahead and stop to give him a break.
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We recently did a 60 hour round-trip drive, and I highly recommend doing as much driving at night as possible. It's so much easier than daytime driving. We could get 4 hour stretches without stopping at night. During the day, LO was ready to stop and take a break ever 1-2 hours. Plus, she slept much more during the day while driving than she normally does, so it was hard on her schedule and night sleep when we got to our destination and again when we returned home.
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@marriedandlovingit: iI just have to say you are soooooooooo lucky with all that sleep you're getting! Lol
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We've done 14 hours a few times and do it during the day. He's been excellent every time (9w, 11w, 6m). Although as he gets older, I'm considering going overnight. I just don't think I'd be able to handle his activity level the next day that we arrive if I haven't slept all night!
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@Mrs. Stroller: Although we are most likely leaving at night, that's promising to hear! Our son is 14 weeks old, and is usually good in his car seat unless he is hungry. How often did you stop to take breaks?
@Mrsdaredevil: You're daughter will get there! Also, you're daughter is teething! Babies sleep like crap when they teethe!
@Lozza: Good to keep in mind. I wonder if it's from the discomfort from being in the car seat so long? We plan on taking him out to change him and to let him stretch when we make our stops. It may throw his sleep off a bit, but whatever. I would hate for him to uncomfortable
@Honeybee: Did you give your lo a break from the car seat once in a while? As stated above, we are most likely going to do so. I'm worried about him getting sore from being in his car seat that long.
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@marriedandlovingit: Oh, I wasn't sure how old your LO was... mine is now 16 months, and he really needs to get out of the carseat and stretch and move around every few hours; if he were in his crib, he'd be squirming and moving around, so a carseat isn't at all what he's used to at night.
At 14 weeks, I think it'll be much easier- he's going to be used to being in more or less the same position all night, he'll probably go back to sleep sooner, have less clue what's going on, etc. I think it's a lot easier when they're younger. -
@marriedandlovingit: When he was 9w old he was nursing every 3 hour (from start to start) so we'd stop pretty much every 2-2.5 hours. At 6m he got much more efficient so those stops were shorter. He isn't a fussy baby and really only cries if he's hungry or tired. Taking toys out to entertain him worked really well and then he'd just fall asleep. He slept much more than he normally would in a day, but slept just fine when we got to our destination.
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@marriedandlovingit: Nope, we don't take the kids when we stop except to give DS a bottle; our night driving theory is to make the stop as short as possible and keep on moving!
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