Peart was 2.5 months old when we took our first multi-state road trip, over 3,000 miles, through six states to six national parks, and it was not our last (read about it in our blog, “Canyons and Cactus Remastered”)! We ended up road tripping through 23 states (not all at once) and traveling to 37 national parks by the time he was 19 months old. Now, thousands of miles later, here is a list of things we did to make traveling with an infant, ages newborn to 1 year, easier*.

We invested in top-of-the-line car seats, a stroller, and other baby gear (see blog “Traveling with a Baby Part I: Our Favorite Gear”).
I always brought a pacifier with us even though Peart didn’t take one at home. While at home he never took a pacifier and I hardly ever offered him one, but for some reason, that first year, whenever we were on a trip he always took one and it came in handy to have.
I bought at least one special new surprise toy for the car. On Peart’s first major, multi-state road trip at 2.5 months, his special new toy was a tag blanket. At 9 months, it was a LeapFrog “cell phone” that he played with for hours. At 11 months, he loved a little “pop it” toy. I like to check out the “under 3 dollar” section at Target for fun new toys and activities. It doesn’t take much!
We planned stops ahead of time for every 2 hours. The first year, we made sure to plan our stops every 2 hours because its important for babies to get breaks from sitting in their car seats. When he was an infant, we would give him a few minutes of tummy time between stops. As he got older we would let him sit up, stand, etc. Almost every stop was a gas station (Maverick if possible), or rest area — see #10. In addition to needing to stretch, Peart was exclusively breast fed, so he needed to eat every 2 hours. Peart didn’t have a bottle and I read not to give kids bottles while in their infant seat (I think because they need to burp?) so we made sure to stop. A few times I did end up leaning over his seat to nurse him until we could stop, which also isn’t recommended. Once he turned 6 months and could have solids, we liked to have pouches on hand in the car in case he got hungry. These non-spill pouch toppers were the best. This leads me to the next one…
We planned for much more time than normal road trips. Even though it took a lot of time to stop so often, it in some ways made us more efficient because we did everything we needed with just one stop. We split tasks between those of us in the car. Usually my husband Jarad would start fueling and use the restroom while I nursed Peart. When Peart was done eating I’d hand him off to Jarad for a diaper change and tummy time while I used the restroom. My mom would help out by gathering snacks and making lunches for everyone. I remember that first road trip, the most difficult part for me was putting Peart back in his car seat. I was used to snuggling him and holding him often during the day, so it was hard to not get to. I tried to make time for snuggles once I realized that. Once he turned 6 months and started solids, he didn’t need to nurse quite every 2 hours, so we sometimes drove for closer to 2.5 hours at a time. Now that he’s older, we go much longer than 2 hours, but more on that in a future blog.
We let go of the nap routine and let Peart sleep as much as possible. Traveling is tiring for everyone. I don’t worry about how many naps Peart takes or if he takes any at all when we’re on a trip. I’ve read that babies don’t sleep very deeply in the car — think about how you sleep as an adult when in the car — so an extra nap here and there is good and doesn’t hurt. When Peart was only taking two naps a day he would still often take 3-5 cat naps while on a trip and it never affected his nighttime sleep. He often was still very tired or even over tired. Now, while he still takes one nap a day at home, he often doesn’t nap at all while on a trip unless given the opportunity to in his travel crib, and that’s ok.
We set our expectations low. I have expected every trip we’ve taken with Peart to be a complete disaster. I try not to stress and go with the flow. There will always be ups and downs. I try to remember we’re doing the best we can and it’s not going to be perfect, and there will probably be some mistakes. Mistakes are good — that means an opportunity to learn. I learned #6 the hard way but it’s been one of the best things we’ve done for travel. I remember our first road trip with Peart when he was 2.5 months, every single day I said “even if Peart sucks the rest of the trip, he still gets points for today” and he ended up scoring points every single day. By the time Peart was 18 months old I was still saying the same thing on every trip. At one point my mom asked me “do you really still expect him to suck? He always does well.” Keep your expectations low. On our most recent trip to Florida right after Peart turned two, my husband and I thought Peart kind of sucked, although my mom disagrees.
We stuck to our home bedtime routine as much as possible, but often the only thing we could keep consistent was his sleep sack and white noise machine. If we could get in a bath and maybe a story, that’s great. Often it was late when we arrived at our hotel and there was no time so we skipped it. At this point at 2 years old, Peart has an “at home” routine and “hotel” routine and he is a great sleeper either way.
We started with a well rested baby. And we still do to the best of our ability. We did the “Taking Cara Babies” course when Peart was a newborn. We never had to formally sleep train (i.e. “cry it out”) because of that class. By the time he was 3.5 weeks old he was sleeping 8 hour stretches at night, so by that first road trip when he was 2.5 months old, he had already been sleeping great and maybe waking just once at night to eat. One week away didn’t mess him up. Starting with that great sleep foundation made our travels much easier. Even now I try to make sure we are home during nap time for a few days before a trip so that he’s well rested when we leave. For one trip when Peart was 9 months old, we didn’t send him to daycare and instead had a babysitter for a few days before we left on vacation so that he could have naps that week, knowing he wouldn’t get to take naps on our trip besides in the car.
Our number one rule: never stop driving if baby is sleeping. Planning our stops every two hours usually meant stopping for gas no matter what. It seems excessive to get so much gas, but if you’re at the two hour mark and baby is sleeping, don’t stop, keep going. Never wake up a sleeping baby in the car. That means you need to have an empty bladder and enough fuel in the car to keep going. Yes, babies should get breaks from the car seat about every 2 hours. Yes, they need to stretch their legs. We sometimes went a little over the two hour rule if Peart was sleeping but I always figured if he was comfortable enough to sleep then he didn’t need to stretch quite yet. We’ve broken this rule several times and every single time we regretted it.

We have loved every trip we’ve taken with Peart. It’s so special to get to make memories with him. Although he won’t remember any of it, we like to think its contributed to him becoming a great little traveler. What tips do you have for traveling with infants under one year old? Let us know in the comments!

Stay tuned — ages 1+ to come!

*None of the links in this blog are sponsored.