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Apparently you and I are having similar issues lately.... LO won't tolerate the car for long and she will be in it for a good 4 hours this weekend. I'm pretty terrified.

@Foodnerd81: LO hated the car when younger and tolerates it fine now but longer trips are still a gamble. We've left 3 times at bed time, twice were perfect and the last one he was wide awake from 7-10, cried for an hour and fell asleep 20 minutes before we arrived. It was awful. Hope your LO surprises you and sleeps easily!

both charlie and olive hated the car, but we don't drive often. on our last road trip, olive cried for 45 minutes before passing out.

I vote bedtime. DS was never a big fan of the car, he would tolerate a few minutes and then start to cry. Now (20 mos) he is better, we can usually make 45 min-1 hour trips before he starts fussing. We were strict on his bedtime and naptimes and he was a good sleeper, so the couple of times we have been out of the house at those times he has managed to sleep in the car. I feel like for him, night sleep has always been more consistent than nap sleep so we would do better leaving around bedtime and doing his nighttime routine. He also dozes off in the car sometimes for naps if we miss naptime, so sometimes we do that intentionally when we have a longer trip like 2-3 hours but his naps in his carseat only end up being about 45 minutes or so.

Good luck. I'm always jealous about people who say their LO conks right out in the car.

We always leave around 4am. We bring her infant seat into her room and put her in it in the dark and cover it, then carry her out. If she wakes, she goes back to sleep quickly and stays that way until the sun comes up, and at least we have a few hours under our belt by then. After that she screams We're three for three on this approach for road trips.

DS is another terrible baby in the car seat. I dread
Going anywhere with him longer than 15 mins. When he was 6 months we left for a 10 hour drive. We left at
Bedtime and he was able to knock out for 5 hours. So definitely think bedtime is the way to go

We've only been on one road trip, but going at bedtime worked for us and we have a LO who ALWAYS cries in the car. I sat in the back with him until he fell asleep (about 45 min) and then switched to the front. It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive. He slept the whole time.

We ran through a drive thru to pick up dinner and while we were in line, I jumped out and got in the front. Luckily, he didn't wake up. I also put the Sleep Sheep in the back with him. If your LO sleeps with white noise, you might want to have something handy...