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The trip will be easy either way because they baby will likely sleep a lot. I would not fly with a two week old and expose them to so many germs.

I'd say fly and if possible get a rental car at your destination. Just make sure to nurse or give a bottle at take off and landing so LO's ear don't hurt/pop. I also heard that putting a drop of BM in the nose helps with fighting of germs. But I never tried that myself.

Also make sure to check airline policies they all have different rules as to how old a LO needs to be in order to be allowed onboard.

@Lolo: I think every doctor has different advice about this. Our pediatrician said absolutely no flying until after the first round of shots (including pertussis) at three months. So we took our first flight 2 days after LOs 3 month shots.

She was fine in the flight, but she did SCREAM for almost an hour straight a couple of hours after the flight, both coming and going. I don't know if it was an issue with ear pain or overstimulation. She's never cried like that before or after. Just that one trip.

My co-worker flew with her 5-day-old baby that she adopted. Sometimes you have to fly with a young one, I think if you keep them in a wrap, like the Moby or K'Tan or whatever and really minimize exposure so others, it will be fine!

Will you be nursing? Newborns nurse a lot. This is pretty easy on a plane, bring a cover and your husband can help shield too. It will make a car trip a lot longer because it's not safe to nurse while the car is moving - baby needs to be in a seat - so you have to stop every time you nurse. Could make driving hard.

I think a 2 week old will be pretty easy but I'd second asking your doctor. I first flew at 2 months but have total sympathy for the timing you will end up with! Can someone come to you and make it fun that way?

My first instinct was fly but you are so right about the germ exposure... As PPs have said, baby will probably sleep a lot at 2 weeks. Anything older than that will probably be pushing it, I know most babies love their carseats and sleep in the car but both of my DS hated being in the seat even when the car started moving from an early age. It is hard to predict. Honestly though, a big trip with a newborn sounds rough either way.

@however briefly: I think you can probably bottle feed in the car, but it's all going to depend on the baby, temperament, if you're having any feeding issues (reflux, etc). and you might need to take the baby out to burp etc but that would at least be faster than the whole feeding. I'm no expert on this though as we never did it.

I think the really hard question is what if you have a baby who needs to be held and will scream the WHOLE time in the car seat. those babies totally exist. in which case you'd be much better off on the plane. I mean I get the germs thing, but 26 hours of screaming baby will be SO stressful for everyone in the car and probably dangerous (distracted/tired driver) so I'd still vote the shorter trip if at all possible.

You may talk to your ped. I planned a trip with my LO around 6 weeks and she strongly advised me not to. She said, "if you are asking me, I'm telling you no." So maybe chat with them about what is best. Family ended up coming to us- much easier.

I don't think I would choose either. That long of a car ride is horrendous for anyone, let alone with a baby who needs to eat so often (think about how much you'd have to stop!!!!!!!!!!!! omg, no way) but I would not feel comfortable at 2 weeks on a plane and I think your ped might not be ok with it. I also know some airlines require a doctor's note for babies to fly that young. (I think JetBlue requires it for 2 weeks or under... I saw something like that when reading "rules" on their website when flying with my LO at almost 4 months.)

OK just reading comments saw you were bringing baby from surrogate's home area to your home. So it IS necessary. I would say fly. I was adopted and flew at 10 days old myself It was "medically necesssary" and not "travel". So that would cover what the doctor's note would say- baby born in X state, traveling home to Y state. One way. Easy peasy. I think due to the amoutn of time you'd stop to feed baby (not safe to feed in car seat) I would say fly. But still ask your ped, they will tell you their preference based on baby's specific health (if they are possible a preemie might be different, etc) as well as the seasons in those areas, etc. YAY! Good luck.

The thing that's hard for me about flying isn't the germs, its the recycled air in the cabin. If you have someone on that plane that has whooping cough or pneumonia, then you're all breathing in that air.

26 hours in a car, on the other hand, sounds like my worst nightmare, in all honesty. My son at 2 weeks was still in his sleepy stage, but there would have been no way I could have fed him while he was strapped into his car seat given his spit up situation.

If your baby is anything like my 25-day-old son, then every three hours the feed cycle will correspond to at least two diaper changes. So I would not expect bottle feeding in the car to actually allow you to skip that many stops because you'll need to take your baby out of the car seat to change his/her diaper anyway.

We just drove from NY to Boston for one night so that we could attend a funeral. We managed the four hour drive -- which luckily was traffic-free -- with one stop in each direction. We are lucky that our son usually sleeps in the car. He only fussed for about 10 minutes of the entire trip, and that's because he hates having a wet diaper.

I think I would pick the 5-hr flight unless you could break up the drive A LOT and stretch it across multiple days. I can't imagine trying to drive more than 6 or maaaaaaaybe max 8 hours in one day with a newborn.

If you asked me 6 months ago I would have said fly, but after losing my 5 week old son to a virus that he caught when no one was seemingly sick, I would say drive. That is a crazy long drive, but I'm super paranoid now.

I would definitely fly. 26 hours is a loooong time; 5 is very manageable. If you drive, I think you'll probably need to break the trip into 3 days, because even though newborns sleep a lot (well, some of them); they also eat and poop a lot so every few hours you'll need to stop. I don't know how comfortable it would be to bottle feed a newborn sitting up in a car seat.

Don't really have an opinion
one way or another, but we drove 16 hours with our DD when she was a week old (bringing her home after adoption). It actually went really well because as others have said, she slept a lot. We found hotel lobbies to be very helpful to stop at and us the bathrooms for changing and the lobby for feeding (all were very accomodating even though we were not staying there). They are much cleaner than other options. I would say an anticipated 26 hour drive will actually be MUCH longer with the numerous stops that you'll have to do.

I would say fly!

I would fly, 26 hours would definitely be most likely translate into 4 days of driving plus a lot of hotel rooms, fast food, gas stations and other germy places. (not that I am saying planes are clean!) I would just rather be home ASAP.

Fly. You will all be too sleep deprived to drive such a long time. Get home quick!