My Grandma [name]Lucille[/name] passed away last night. Her funeral will be on [name]Wednesday[/name]. My parents are driving to OH from KS for it (about 12 hours) and have said they want to rent a van for the trip so that [name]Maura[/name] and I can come with them. I haven’t seen my OH family in such a long time, and none of them have had a chance to meet [name]Maura[/name] yet (including my grandma, sadly). I really want to go. Has anyone ever attempted a road trip like this with a toddler before? She’s 13 months old. I’m freaking out because we’ll have to leave early [name]Tuesday[/name] morning, so I only have 1 day to prepare. Any advice? What to pack? [name]How[/name] to keep her happy in the car? Also, how does one dress a baby to attend a funeral? She doesn’t own anything black. [name]TIA[/name]!
I actually just made a 20 plus hour car trip with my three year old and 13 month old. You need clothes a couple bottles or sippy cups that she can drink in the carseat I packed plenty of filling snacks like the baby food pouches and bananas fruit snacks animal crackers and yogurt melts. If you can travel at night while she sleeps it will help make the trip easier. Entertainment depends on your baby I was able to get away with some toys and a portable dvd player. A blanket and a binky or a teether toy etc. As far as what for her to wear I would pick something navy or as somber as possible she is a baby and wont be expected to follow the rules of morning.
Does [name]Maura[/name] have any clothing that your Grandma gave her that fits? Or an outfit that your Grandma really liked? I’d pick that, but I’m also rather sentimental, haha.
You could do it if you are making lots of stops for her to get her energy out & if you are very patient when she gets fussy.
It is a long time for her to be in a car seat, if you had more time I would take an extra day to split up the driving hours a bit. (note: it might be better for her if you did most of your driving overnight & she can just sleep in her car seat)
We just did a 13 hour road trip with our son (he was 18 months at the time.) What worked for us was leaving a couple of hours before naptime, getting out to play after nap, then driving through the night. So we left at 11am, he napped from 1-3, we stopped for about an hour to eat and play, then again to play and change him before bedtime, then he fell asleep for the night at 8. We were able to transfer him to his crib once we got home at 1 am and he slept the rest of the night there.
We did this without a DVD player. I have nothing against those, especially for long car trips, but we just don’t have one. We gave him loads of Cheerios. Those squeezy packs are great for car trips. Maybe if there is some kind of special treat that she normally doesn’t get, that would be good to bring along and give her when things get rough.
Those lift the flap books really occupied him. I got him a pack of hot-wheels which he had never seen before. We brought a magna-doodle, and that was really helpful. [name]Music[/name] is really helpful. We sang the alphabet song maybe two million times. I don’t know why the alphabet song is so appealing.
Weird trick- if the baby/toddler starts screaming, roll down all of the windows. For some reason, this always makes him stop screaming. I think sometimes you have to surprise them and they just stop and then forget why they were upset.
I don’t think anyone expects toddlers to wear black at funerals. [name]Just[/name] a nice dress is fine.
You don’t have to wear black to a funeral. Blues, grays and even brown would be totally ok.
You’re gonna want to keep her entertained. Bring a favourite toy of hers. Some books to read to her. If she’s seen anything disney (or heard any of the music) you can always download some music and play it in the car.
Also, you’ll probably have to take some breaks every few hours. Make sure she gets to the bathroom and has a chance to stretch her legs.
Bring a blanket, in case she gets cold or wants to nap.
If she’s a new walker she might need extra distractions. Wear colorful jangly bangle bracelets to share with her, bring along some new books, maybe let a family member hang in the back with baby if she will want to be in your lap.
I just wanted to add that we did try this trip last year doing the driving through the night idea. He slept the whole way, which was great. But then we got home and we were exhausted and he was wide awake! So if you are either great at staying awake for 2 days straight or you have people lined up to watch the baby all day while you crash, driving through the night makes sense. Since neither was true for us, starting earlier and hitting naptime and then part of the night worked better. We did not get a full night of sleep, but we got enough to be functional the next morning.
We also tried the stopping partway and staying at a hotel method when driving down w. grandparents. If your baby will sleep in a strange place easily, this is a great plan. My son spent the whole night refusing to sleep (screaming) in the hotel crib and then jumping up and down on the bed when I gave up and put him in bed w. me. It didn’t help that we were all in the same room. Continuing the drive the next day was not fun.
Please let us know how it went and if you have any new tips and tricks!
We just did a 24 hr trip from [name]Africa[/name] to [name]New[/name] [name]England[/name] with a 20 and 24 mos old. It was horrible but some saving graces:
Snacks, snacks, snacks
Comfy blanket and pillows
Run around time whenever possible
[name]Tennis[/name] ball can with assorted small stuff to put in and take out over an over.
Hide the favorite books until departure and then the excitement over them is much higher once they get them back.
I’d also recommend bringing a pillowcase, which you can put in the window if the sun gets to be strong on his lil’ face. You may already have a sunshade of some kind, but my folks always rolled the window up on the top edge of an empty pillowcase.