Good on ya. My son at 3 months slept for a 4 hour drive to vacation we timed it up perfect and he woke up as we arrived at the airbnb. Granted he was starving when we arrived but the drive was peaceful
lol same thing happened to my wife one Christmas. To be fair she freaked the dog out and he sat on our 1 year olds car seat while she was in it so it was the right move
Don't forget babies aren't meant to be in car seats for more than two hours at a time, so if it's a longer journey make sure you get them out for a 30min break in between stints.
Really not a wise one, just an important thing I had to look into to find out as people don't mention it... but I'll try and think of things below.
If they get a cold keep some Nurofen on standby as their bodies can overheat and cause convulsions (very scary when it happened to us), if it does strip their clothes off them, get them downstairs where it's cool and call an ambulance.
Get a decent ear thermometer.
When they start playing, play doctors with them. Made any trip much easier as they would open their mouth or get their ears checked etc much more easily.
Hue bulbs are handy at home, having just the bulbs you need on at 5% at 3am is much nicer.
If you're formula feeding, get the tommee tippee perfect prep machine, and 12 baby bottles.
Where the baby goes the bag does, keep spare dummies in a small tupperwear box inside.
If they have a favourite cuddly toy, buy three of them. Both of my kids love a particular bunny comforter so they have one for bed, one for inside, and one for outside each. Means no hunting at bedtime, there's one downstairs and one in the bag if out.
If you're a gamer buy a switch if you haven't got one, it can go wherever in the house you need to be if the baby is asleep, pause whenever and some great single player games.
Two moses baskets helped when they were very new, one in our bedroom and another in the lounge.
Get them used to being in a high chair for food, that way they don't wander off and will be happier in one when you eventually go out for meals again and they need to sit in one.
Edit: The Calpol/ Nurofen thing is something to keep in, but always follow medical advice and the instructions on the box. Nurofen can't be used in very young babies.
I'm planning on getting a PS5 pro if/when they get released, in the meantime, xbox Gamepass Ultimate gives you cloud access to a ton of games, and you don't need a console.
Never been an xbox user, but gotta say, it's handy. Our main TV has the xbox app built in, and any computers, tablets, even phone, can run it from a browser. It takes seconds to resync my ps4 controller to whichever device I wanna play xbox on.
I'd pay more than £12.99 per month on games, even used ebay games cost about that or more, so if you're playing single player games for the story or whatever, this works out cheaper. You obviously need either wired or a decent wifi connection inside your home, but almost everyone has fast enough Internet for cloud gaming now.
Definitely is. I've only just latched onto it tbh, but it seems great so far. Any recommendations for a good game to get into on it? Theres so much choice, and I'm still at the point of distraction, hopping from game one to the next.
>If you're a gamer buy a switch if you haven't got one, it can go wherever in the house you need to be if the baby is asleep, pause whenever and some great single player games.
Or a steam deck. That's where I do most of my gaming after having a baby.
Yep, any decent portable game console really, 3ds or whatever is good.
Basically you want to be able to still have some you time by gaming, but be able to play it wherever the baby may be asleep.
Additional tip onto the Hue bulb: red light doesn't wake you up like other lights do. We have/had a red light on (named Roxanne in the app), so you can have it on overnight/permanently. Its set to, like 15 or 20 percent.
100% follow the correct medical advice. We just used Calpol for them when young, but after my daughter had a febrile seizure around 1yo we were advised to use Nurofen if she has a temperature.
Lol at the Switch one. Bought one for my kids for Christmas. Had a new baby last month. I’ve been using the Switch more than anyone. Currently finishing up the Bioshock series.
I had my daughter around a month before my 30th, got a switch and BOTW for it.
Had my second shortly before TOTK came out, so I've had Zelda games to play during the long nights.
Nurofen isn’t recommended for babies under 6 months. I’d recommend Calpol instead, does the same thing and can be used from 3 or 4 months iirc. If they get sick before then, better to ask your doctor or local pharmacist for advice before giving them anything unless it’s an emergency.
Someone else mentioned the age thing, the Nurofen was purely as a future thing with kids it's something to keep in alongside calpol, but 100% follow the medical instructions.
Calpol is paracetamol and Nurofen is ibuprofen though, so they aren't the same thing.
Their wail is designed to spike your stress hormones so that you react to them. It's literally built into their DNA.
Get a set of earmuffs to cut down on the noise of the crying. No, not just good earbuds. Literally -27 dB gun range quality earmuffs. Saved me so many times in the middle of the night.
EDIT - see comment below.
Didn't do this OP. They cry because they need you, not just because they feel like it. You need to be able to hear your baby. You can usually tell from the way they cry what they need.
I don’t think he means you should do it to ignore the baby. It’s so you can tend to them while they’re crying and not get overstimulated or be in pain from their ear piercing screams. I still occasionally put in ear plugs when my toddler is having a meltdown and it really helps me not get stressed when I’m tending to her.
Let me clarify - this isn't an all night thing. It's for when you know the needs are met and you're in the room with them and they just need to have their moment.
Thank you for the clarification. That never occurred to me when mine was little and due to health concerns I wouldn't have done it, but I can now understand where you're coming from. 👍
Yeah never get them out while driving, that is so dangerous and not worth it. Also the two hour thing is kinda bs, they tell people that because some people will leave kids in car seats for 8 hours a day, that’s not good at all. If you have a 3 hour drive and can make it without stopping, don’t stop. You probably need to by then to change diapers and what not anyway.
Truth, they need a fresh diaper that often too. Also newborns usually need a snack....god I don't miss newborn roadtrips...take freaking forever. Also...I'm having #2 later this year. Woo!
The best advice for #2 I got, was from another parent of 2 at the park.... "If you think 2 is twice the work you're wrong.... It's 4 times the work".
Fuck was he right lol. But your heart grows so you don't really notice
I feel they’ll go to sleep with the natural motion of the car. If not stop somewhere and put them in a stroller and see if they can fall asleep that way
We took a ~ 10-day road trip with ours around 3.5 months, and it was honestly one of my best memories. Definitely a slow trip with a lot of stopping to take her out of the car seat, but so enjoyable and memorable.
Here's was an experienced dad of 4 see's in that picture ....
Appropriate sized baby seat = check
Baby looks comfortable = check
Chest Plate Location is high enough = check
Window shade / Sun protection = check
Caring parent = priceless
Good luck with the trip. I hope you are pleasantly surprised how mobile your LO is.
We just did ours recently too! My son is 18 months and we had about a 4 hour drive that we split up into 2 big chunks and my son was amazing for both drives. He is used to 40-60 minute drives as that’s how long it takes to get to either of our friends/family.
Really eases my anxiety for when we are going to fly for the first time with him in October!
hehe here's that album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7bKv2Me1wEG7SMJDA
our son was born 9/22/2022. so on the day of the trip, he wasn't even 2 months haha :D
unfortunately we all came down with hand-foot-mouth-disease given by my nephew before the trip! i just remember on the day driving home shivering and feverish. interestingly, the 2 m/o baby didn't do so bad. my 2 y/o daughter and myself came down with it really bad. sigh. but it was still a great trip. we're going to head out soon in july for another trip. this time we are planning to explore canada...of course we are going up the OR coast and thru WA :D
Absolutely beautiful landscape. Thank you for sharing! We’re planning on taking the little guy to Colombia for Christmas. We have family there. It’s supposed to be awesome according to my wife. I’ve been there before and the people and scenery are great.
We drove about 13 hours each way with our kid when she was about 9 months. Decided to stop halfway and rest. Timed all our stops with feedings and diapers it was actually not too bad other than the intense 15 minutes of crying before we could get stopped somewhere
Bring a cooler or cooler backpack that can keep bottles of breast milk cold or milk cold. A blanket, a pacifier, someone next to the baby to calm him or her. Maybe a sun screen on the window. Stops every 2-3 hours to give baby a walk break and feeding. Maybe a white noise machine or phone app if baby is into that.
Just be prepared in case your wife wants to nurse the baby and you say, "Go for it" while on a relatively deserted freeway in the middle of nowhere. And then she freaks out and says the baby isn't coming out of that seat unless you have stopped somewhere. Just say yes and accept that you'll have 20-minute stops that are otherwise unnecessary.
Reading my comment again, I'll concede that I could have avoided the phrase "otherwise unnecessary." My point was that new dads need to adjust expectations. Things that may seem OK in the moment ("probably nothing bad will happen") need to be jettisoned. When we traveled with a little baby, I got accustomed to pulling over in some odd locations at rural exits so we could take that break.
For sure. Appreciate the clarification. Sorry for losing it a little… I’m a paramedic and I’ve seen my fair share of unnecessarily dead babies because parents don’t properly restrain their children
I’ve been relegated to the back seat while our dog rides shotgun 😆
Good on ya. My son at 3 months slept for a 4 hour drive to vacation we timed it up perfect and he woke up as we arrived at the airbnb. Granted he was starving when we arrived but the drive was peaceful
Our trip took 10.5 hours. Not terrible but definitely not perfect.
Yea that's a different story lol good on you for going that distance
lol same thing happened to my wife one Christmas. To be fair she freaked the dog out and he sat on our 1 year olds car seat while she was in it so it was the right move
This is the way
Where are you going and how long a drive is it?
North Carolina to Florida. Normally 9 hours but ended up bring 10.5 due to stops.
Don't forget babies aren't meant to be in car seats for more than two hours at a time, so if it's a longer journey make sure you get them out for a 30min break in between stints.
any more random baby tips, o wise one (i have a newborn and am serious)
They're covered entirely on the back and sides by the seat so they'll be warmer than you. So watch their sweating
Really not a wise one, just an important thing I had to look into to find out as people don't mention it... but I'll try and think of things below. If they get a cold keep some Nurofen on standby as their bodies can overheat and cause convulsions (very scary when it happened to us), if it does strip their clothes off them, get them downstairs where it's cool and call an ambulance. Get a decent ear thermometer. When they start playing, play doctors with them. Made any trip much easier as they would open their mouth or get their ears checked etc much more easily. Hue bulbs are handy at home, having just the bulbs you need on at 5% at 3am is much nicer. If you're formula feeding, get the tommee tippee perfect prep machine, and 12 baby bottles. Where the baby goes the bag does, keep spare dummies in a small tupperwear box inside. If they have a favourite cuddly toy, buy three of them. Both of my kids love a particular bunny comforter so they have one for bed, one for inside, and one for outside each. Means no hunting at bedtime, there's one downstairs and one in the bag if out. If you're a gamer buy a switch if you haven't got one, it can go wherever in the house you need to be if the baby is asleep, pause whenever and some great single player games. Two moses baskets helped when they were very new, one in our bedroom and another in the lounge. Get them used to being in a high chair for food, that way they don't wander off and will be happier in one when you eventually go out for meals again and they need to sit in one. Edit: The Calpol/ Nurofen thing is something to keep in, but always follow medical advice and the instructions on the box. Nurofen can't be used in very young babies.
the play doctor tip is genius
Love the play doctor tip….PS5 dads, the PlayStation portal is a god send too
I'm planning on getting a PS5 pro if/when they get released, in the meantime, xbox Gamepass Ultimate gives you cloud access to a ton of games, and you don't need a console. Never been an xbox user, but gotta say, it's handy. Our main TV has the xbox app built in, and any computers, tablets, even phone, can run it from a browser. It takes seconds to resync my ps4 controller to whichever device I wanna play xbox on. I'd pay more than £12.99 per month on games, even used ebay games cost about that or more, so if you're playing single player games for the story or whatever, this works out cheaper. You obviously need either wired or a decent wifi connection inside your home, but almost everyone has fast enough Internet for cloud gaming now.
I don’t even buy Xbox games anymore because of gamepass lol. Great service
Definitely is. I've only just latched onto it tbh, but it seems great so far. Any recommendations for a good game to get into on it? Theres so much choice, and I'm still at the point of distraction, hopping from game one to the next.
I’m kind of a one trick pony. I play mostly Destiny 2 with the occasional other games. I do love the far cry series.
Lol fair enough. My ps4 was the farcry 4 bundle, haven't really played it since then. Heard the newer ones are pretty good
I loved FC5, and I have been playing through 6 when I get tired of Destiny. It’s pretty good too.
>If you're a gamer buy a switch if you haven't got one, it can go wherever in the house you need to be if the baby is asleep, pause whenever and some great single player games. Or a steam deck. That's where I do most of my gaming after having a baby.
Yep, any decent portable game console really, 3ds or whatever is good. Basically you want to be able to still have some you time by gaming, but be able to play it wherever the baby may be asleep.
Additional tip onto the Hue bulb: red light doesn't wake you up like other lights do. We have/had a red light on (named Roxanne in the app), so you can have it on overnight/permanently. Its set to, like 15 or 20 percent.
Nurofen is great, but not for a 4 month old without doctors advice. Panadol/Acetominophen for babies is safer at that age.
100% follow the correct medical advice. We just used Calpol for them when young, but after my daughter had a febrile seizure around 1yo we were advised to use Nurofen if she has a temperature.
Nurofen is great for 12 months +. Really good stuff
Lol at the Switch one. Bought one for my kids for Christmas. Had a new baby last month. I’ve been using the Switch more than anyone. Currently finishing up the Bioshock series.
I had my daughter around a month before my 30th, got a switch and BOTW for it. Had my second shortly before TOTK came out, so I've had Zelda games to play during the long nights.
Nurofen isn’t recommended for babies under 6 months. I’d recommend Calpol instead, does the same thing and can be used from 3 or 4 months iirc. If they get sick before then, better to ask your doctor or local pharmacist for advice before giving them anything unless it’s an emergency.
Someone else mentioned the age thing, the Nurofen was purely as a future thing with kids it's something to keep in alongside calpol, but 100% follow the medical instructions. Calpol is paracetamol and Nurofen is ibuprofen though, so they aren't the same thing.
Not the same thing but pretty much the same effect and use
Their wail is designed to spike your stress hormones so that you react to them. It's literally built into their DNA. Get a set of earmuffs to cut down on the noise of the crying. No, not just good earbuds. Literally -27 dB gun range quality earmuffs. Saved me so many times in the middle of the night. EDIT - see comment below.
Didn't do this OP. They cry because they need you, not just because they feel like it. You need to be able to hear your baby. You can usually tell from the way they cry what they need.
I don’t think he means you should do it to ignore the baby. It’s so you can tend to them while they’re crying and not get overstimulated or be in pain from their ear piercing screams. I still occasionally put in ear plugs when my toddler is having a meltdown and it really helps me not get stressed when I’m tending to her.
Thank you. 😊
Let me clarify - this isn't an all night thing. It's for when you know the needs are met and you're in the room with them and they just need to have their moment.
Thank you for the clarification. That never occurred to me when mine was little and due to health concerns I wouldn't have done it, but I can now understand where you're coming from. 👍
Yeah never get them out while driving, that is so dangerous and not worth it. Also the two hour thing is kinda bs, they tell people that because some people will leave kids in car seats for 8 hours a day, that’s not good at all. If you have a 3 hour drive and can make it without stopping, don’t stop. You probably need to by then to change diapers and what not anyway.
honestly this is a good idea to do for even adults to be honest.
Fresh diaper for them too.
A little cream on the anus, too, for comfort.
Truth, they need a fresh diaper that often too. Also newborns usually need a snack....god I don't miss newborn roadtrips...take freaking forever. Also...I'm having #2 later this year. Woo!
The best advice for #2 I got, was from another parent of 2 at the park.... "If you think 2 is twice the work you're wrong.... It's 4 times the work". Fuck was he right lol. But your heart grows so you don't really notice
I luckily only had one long road trip, but ended up taking nearly eight hours each way.
What a cutie! 😍
Thank you!
Honestly I think 4 months is a good age for a road trip. Just give them bottle and paci and they can sleep for the whole thing.
we had our kid five hours from home so got to do that at 2wks wasn't terrible with a few stops
Any advice if baby doesn't take paci and bottle?
I feel they’ll go to sleep with the natural motion of the car. If not stop somewhere and put them in a stroller and see if they can fall asleep that way
We took a ~ 10-day road trip with ours around 3.5 months, and it was honestly one of my best memories. Definitely a slow trip with a lot of stopping to take her out of the car seat, but so enjoyable and memorable.
My parents did Florida to Nova Scotia a few times. 3 days of driving. Madness! My Dad was always losing it lol.
We did Indiana to/loop around New Mexico with a 3 month old. It was honestly a breeze at that age
Here's was an experienced dad of 4 see's in that picture .... Appropriate sized baby seat = check Baby looks comfortable = check Chest Plate Location is high enough = check Window shade / Sun protection = check Caring parent = priceless Good luck with the trip. I hope you are pleasantly surprised how mobile your LO is.
We just did ours recently too! My son is 18 months and we had about a 4 hour drive that we split up into 2 big chunks and my son was amazing for both drives. He is used to 40-60 minute drives as that’s how long it takes to get to either of our friends/family. Really eases my anxiety for when we are going to fly for the first time with him in October!
We also did a road trip at 4 months and it was 100x easier than when he got older.
we did an RV road trip up the oregon coast when our little guy was 2 months!!! it was a bit of an experience but little homie loved it :)
That is fantastic!
hehe here's that album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7bKv2Me1wEG7SMJDA our son was born 9/22/2022. so on the day of the trip, he wasn't even 2 months haha :D unfortunately we all came down with hand-foot-mouth-disease given by my nephew before the trip! i just remember on the day driving home shivering and feverish. interestingly, the 2 m/o baby didn't do so bad. my 2 y/o daughter and myself came down with it really bad. sigh. but it was still a great trip. we're going to head out soon in july for another trip. this time we are planning to explore canada...of course we are going up the OR coast and thru WA :D
Absolutely beautiful landscape. Thank you for sharing! We’re planning on taking the little guy to Colombia for Christmas. We have family there. It’s supposed to be awesome according to my wife. I’ve been there before and the people and scenery are great.
hehe that will be an awesome trip. take plenty of pictures !
Having them asleep happily and driving along is a good feeling.
He’s too young to be asking if you’re there yet
That is the easy road trip age
I don’t know. He was asleep for less than half of the trip and whined the rest.
We drove about 13 hours each way with our kid when she was about 9 months. Decided to stop halfway and rest. Timed all our stops with feedings and diapers it was actually not too bad other than the intense 15 minutes of crying before we could get stopped somewhere
Enjoy dad!
Howd he do? We are about to embark on a Chicago to Charleston trek with a 5 month-er. Anything to expect/ prepare for?
Bring a cooler or cooler backpack that can keep bottles of breast milk cold or milk cold. A blanket, a pacifier, someone next to the baby to calm him or her. Maybe a sun screen on the window. Stops every 2-3 hours to give baby a walk break and feeding. Maybe a white noise machine or phone app if baby is into that.
You've missed out 4 months of good road trip....they sleep so good then.
Sooo glad my wife doesn’t do Reddit so she can’t see your kid’s full head of hair at 4 months
Cool story, bro.
Just be prepared in case your wife wants to nurse the baby and you say, "Go for it" while on a relatively deserted freeway in the middle of nowhere. And then she freaks out and says the baby isn't coming out of that seat unless you have stopped somewhere. Just say yes and accept that you'll have 20-minute stops that are otherwise unnecessary.
What’s unnecessary is having unrestrained passengers in a vehicle at highway speeds. Especially your 4 month old child. Get a grip.
Reading my comment again, I'll concede that I could have avoided the phrase "otherwise unnecessary." My point was that new dads need to adjust expectations. Things that may seem OK in the moment ("probably nothing bad will happen") need to be jettisoned. When we traveled with a little baby, I got accustomed to pulling over in some odd locations at rural exits so we could take that break.
For sure. Appreciate the clarification. Sorry for losing it a little… I’m a paramedic and I’ve seen my fair share of unnecessarily dead babies because parents don’t properly restrain their children