I have traveled many miles with my little ones in tow and with the holiday season upon us, I wanted to share my tips and tricks I have learned along the way. I have driven and I have flown with both of my girls as toddlers and infants. However, I prefer driving. I like the ability to be in control of as many factors as possible such as when to stop, eat, etc. Since traveling from Kansas to Colorado with my firstborn as a 4 month old to now having an almost 4 year old and a 2 year old, I have learned many lessons. Check out my 5 road trip recommendations on how to travel with toddlers below!
Lesson #1 of How to Travel with Toddlers: Bring snacks!
Snacks for the toddler, snacks for you, and something for the baby. I suggest easy, mess-free snacks for the toddler that you can open and give to them without having to stop the car such as granola bars, fruit snacks, and pouches. These have worked best for me. I do NOT suggest any form of crackers because the residual mess left behind is not fun. I have had to vacuum my vehicle more times than I can count because I cannot stand the crumbs being everywhere.
Snacks for you are anything that will keep you awake for the long drive that you can eat while driving such as candy or chips; but to keep it simple, you can also double up on the snacks for your toddler and take some snacks for yourself throughout the trip.
Typically, I use a backpack that I place in the Front seat with me to store all my quick access travel with toddler stuff such as snacks, diapers, books, etc.
Something for the baby could mean anything depending on their age and whether or not they are breastfed or bottle fed. I have been lucky enough to breastfeed both of my girls. So where I went wrong the first time around and paid for it was not pumping a bottle before the drive to have on hand when the baby inevitably wakes up and is a hungry with no option to stop for another 20 miles. This bottle will save your life. Now, I only do this when traveling because a bottle can become a projectile in a wreck and/or the bottle can go bad if not used quick enough, but when in a pinch and with no ability to stop, the bottle comes in handy.
For formula fed babies, I recommend having the required contents to make the bottle on hand in the front seat and give the bottle accordingly. You may not have an option to warm the bottle up, but I recommend putting steaming hot warm in a thermos with the purpose of making a bottle in a few hours with it while also having a cold bottle of water on hand to reduce the temperature of the hot water if needed. Although, I will admit my second born has drank lukewarm breast milk on more than one occasion and enjoyed it all the same.
I know not all babies will accept lukewarm milk either breast fed or formula fed, but it’s a great option to try while in a moving vehicle with a screaming baby and no other options.
Lesson #2 of How to Travel with Toddlers: Get the Baby Shusher!
Okay, so first, story time – I held off on getting the portable baby shusher with my firstborn because I didn’t want to spend the money on it. I tried to use my phone pulling up white noise on my spotify app or youtube, but let me tell you, it only worked a couple of times because sometimes I didn’t have good wifi while driving. Another downside to using your phone as the sound machine is that you don’t have your phone to entertain yourself or the other screaming child in the car when the time comes. So, I am here to tell you that you should 100% spend the money, get the baby shusher!
Using the baby shusher this time around with my second born has been such a game changer. It works to soothe her and oftentimes gets her to fall back to sleep when in the car on multiple occasions, not just while traveling; but it is crucial while traveling.
This is one of my highest recommended items for babies along with the Hatch for an at home sound machine, but especially when traveling I cannot emphasize the importance of having a portable sound machine.
So Lesson #3 of How to Travel with Toddlers:
Have Screen Time Entertainment Ready
I had an internal battle almost two years ago when my first born had just turned two. I kept thinking I should really get my two year old a tablet use for travel screen time, but I just couldn’t pull the trigger and make the investment. I kept battling within myself. Like how crazy it is to buy a two-year-old a tablet, but then if I don’t buy the tablet, I end up giving her my phone to watch Netflix during the final stretch of the drive when she gets antsy, and then I no longer have my phone which I use for communication and entertainment. I really wanted to get her a tablet; but also felt ridiculous for considering a two year old for a tabet. Eventually, I made the purchase, but I debated it for a long time. As from a mom on the other side, it’s a great tool to have and use as much or as little as you want. So this is me saying, get the tablet!
So anyways, back to lesson #3 – IN ADDITION TO books, magnetics, stuffed animals, babies, etc. – have screen time entertainment ready for the toddler via a tablet or your phone. Before any trip, I make sure to download 2-3 episodes along with her favorite movie at the time to my phone or tablet in their perspective apps to have ready to play when needed.
With our most recent trip to Kansas, my toddler was getting antsy when it became dark out and she could no longer look at her books or play with her toys, but was not tired enough to go to sleep, which is usually during the last 1-2 hours of our 8 hour trip. This is when I take the opportunity to pull out my secret stash of episodes.
She loves it and it prevents a major meltdown leading to an even more epic meltdown if the baby were to be awoken from the first meltdown. Having screen time entertainment ready in the queue has been a game changer for the home-stretch of the drive. I no longer have to crawl in the back or hold her hand for the last hour of the trip so she knows she’s not alone in the dark. It has been marvelous.
Lesson #4 of How to Travel with Toddlers:
Plan a route with multiple stop options
This is crucial. We have two options when traveling from Colorado to Kansas: the North or the South route. We often take the North route when we are leaving in the morning and do not plan on stopping to stay the night halfway. We use the south route when leaving in the evening after work and are planning to stay the night somewhere along the route. Either way, we have close to 10 options to stop every hour to two hours depending on how the girls are behaving. If we are ever lucky enough to get both of them to fall asleep right after a stop that is usually the longest haul of the trip because everyone knows that the minute you stop a car with sleeping babies in it, they instantly wake up so you don’t stop the car unless you are ready for them to wake up.
So when planning our 8 hour trip back home we usually expect to stop 3-4 times on the trip. Three stops is if we plan the nap perfectly after stopping somewhere for lunch and four times is if we aren’t as lucky. We typically have two shorter stops for a bathroom/diaper changing break and one long stop for lunch or dinner depending on when we are traveling to allow the girls the ability to move around more than on our shorter stops.
As a rule of thumb, we try to stop every two hours when they are awake in accordance with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
Lesson #5 of How to Travel with Toddlers: Bring a Change of Everything
Bring a bag with a change of clothes, empty grocery bags, and extra diapers for every child in the car. It never fails that the moment you are not prepared your little one has a massive blow out in the car and then you are left unpacking the entire car to get to the one bag in the bottom of the pile with their clothes in it. I have used truck stops and a McDonald’s bathroom to clean my girls up, change their clothes, and transfer the destroyed clothes into an empty grocery bag that either goes in the trash or I make the decision to bring them with me in an attempt to save the cute outfit. I know that many moms use the diaper bag for their particular situation, but since having our second child, we no longer use a diaper bag. I got tired of packing and re-packing the dang thing so now I use my backpack purse and the diaper changing station as our “diaper bag.” So for any other moms out there that no longer use a diaper bag, remember this one for the car when traveling with kids.
I hope these 5 tips on how to travel with toddlers by car give you some peace of mind knowing you are prepared for the road. I live by these and we have been successful going from Colorado to Kansas by car many, many times with both toddlers and before with a toddler and an infant. Take my lessons learned and put them to good use, please! Don’t learn the hard way like I did having to pull over on the side of the road or making an unplanned stop at a terrible gas station because your kiddos are losing their minds in the back seat.
Check out other recommendations from my blog such as safe sleep when bedsharing and how to return to running postpartum.
Good luck and safe travels!
Alisn Rizzo
