Riding in Car with Babies--by Rach at Life with Baby Donut

Today my friend Rach at Life with Baby Donut is nice enough to fill in during my vacation absence.  Rach is also recent to mommyhood, and we've shared experiences and advice back and forth as we try to figure out what the heck we are doing.  Through all of these correspondences, we've become good friends.  I'm glad that I met her out here in bloggyland so that we can help each other hold on to our sanity.  Today her post hits the nail on the head, since I am taking a long trip in the car with a baby!

Riding in Cars with Babies

When Donut was 10 weeks old, we planned a 4 hour road trip to visit my in-laws. We carefully made a list of the gazillion things we would need: diapers, check. Bassinet, pacifier, booger sucker. Check, check check. We wrote out her feeding schedule, mapped planned stops, reserved a hotel room. As we loaded up the car with every earthly possession Donut owned, we patted ourselves on the back and headed into smooth sailing.

Armed with a book and magazines, I looked forward to a few hours to relax while Donut slept blissfully in the back. Half an hour into the trip, Donut starts wailing loudly. My feeble attempts to pat her little head were futile, thus our first stop 5 minutes later resulted in me hauling myself to the back seat and sitting with her. Not exactly how I planned it, but at least she was quiet.

And that sentence became our guiding light the entire trip.

You never realize how much you will do to make your teeny, red-faced, wailing infant happy. I did things that I hadn’t planned on, like breastfeeding in an almost empty outlet mall parking lot while my husband stood guard outside the car door. I realized that it’s kinda hard to feed a squirming baby in a backseat that is piled high with baby paraphernalia. And that I should have practiced at home with a nursing cover.

You also don’t think about how hard it is to change a diaper in a leather bucket seat. Donut lay sprawled and wiggling on the passenger seat while my husband leaned over from the driver’s side and attempted to change a poopy diaper. I held Donut’s arms and tried to prevent her from moving while standing outside the car as the wind repeatedly caused the car door to slam into my protruding rear. After what seemed like an inordinate amount of time to change a diaper, Mr. DIH proudly held up the dirty diaper while I informed him that that wasn’t mustard on his fingers.

Finding a place to eat wasn’t hard, thankfully. We only had one requirement: that the restaurant be LOUD. That way I wouldn’t feel bad when Donut squawked. Also, we had to make sure the table was big enough to hold a car seat. I didn’t realize all the things we had to think of, but then again, I was too busy trying to scarf my food down in 2 seconds so we could hurry and leave before a meltdown/diaper change/feeding occurred.

You also don’t realize that there is no such thing as a quick stop. Not with a baby to unpack out of a carseat. Even a quick trip around an outlet mall takes tactical planning. Do we have the carrier? Diaper bag? Clean diapers? Where’s the nearest changing station? At one point we found the family restroom and yes, we all took turns in that one little room. Really, these malls need to have some sort of map designed for parents of young children.

Our trip was only 3 days long, but I was so relieved to finally be home. I think it took us a month to unpack the car. Traveling with the little ones changes everything. But if there’s one thing I learned, it’s stay home go with the flow and laugh--because that’s what you’ll be doing when you look back on that time anyway.

I hope Natalie and her family are having an awesome trip!

You never quite know how much you took for granted about traveling before having a baby.  Rach thanks for sharing your experience and giving us all a "reality check" when it comes to traveling with a little one!  Go check out Rach's blog to learn more about her learning experiences with baby donut and to link up with her Life's Lesson each Friday!