traveling with infants

[goofydad2]

my wife are going to disney in october on a family vacation.we are going to have a 3m old son.we are debating wether or not we should drive or fly. has any one have any advice from past travels.we live in ct

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

my wife are going to disney in october on a family vacation.we are going to have a 3m old son.we are debating wether or not we should drive or fly. has any one have any advice from past travels.we live in ct

For a vacation, that time period is still a little sketchy for how little one will do on a road trip due to the need to possibly feed frequently. It can be a growth spurt time requiring even more eating.

We moved from FL to VA last year with a 2 month old and due to me traveling by myself and her being only 8 weeks, we opted for the auto train which ended up (For us) being the best option since I was taking my vehicle and she was still where she ate every 2 hours at least.

By the time she was 6 months and 7 months old, she was very great on road trips. Being able to go 3-4 hours between eating was a huge help.

If flying is in your budget, I would TOTALLY opt to fly instead of drive. Your trip will be must less stressful and baby will be able to safely eat on his/her schedule regardless of how he/she is fed. I would only drive if I had to and for that distance, at that age, only if I really really really had to do so.


Have a great trip.

 

[luckyfin]

Fly. I never regret flying to our vacation destinations. My DD does awesome flying and only so-so on roadtrips. I figure the quicker we get there the better for all of us. I would hate to have a terrible trip down to WDW and know that we would need to do it again on the way home . That's a long drive for a little one.

 

[SoonerSarah]

We are a family that prefers to drive over flying. It's our own vehicle, more space and no luggage worries, don't have to worry about keeping a child from disturbing other passengers or worry about other passengers disturbing us.

We take a lot of road trips and even with newborns, we just find it to overall be easiest. Disney was the longest drive at we have taken, we live in west Texas. DH thinks overall it took about 22-23 hours. At thanksgiving we did an 18 hour roundtrip from late Wednesday night to getting home on Saturday. From Dec. 17-25 we went to Dallas, then Illinois, then Arkansas, then back to dallas before going back home. That trip was a total of around 41 hours. Then a week later we had a trip to Colorado that was about 20 hours roundtrip, and after the Colorado trip we had another trip that was 12 hours total. A two month break and then our Disney trip.

My girls have taken trips fairly early in their lives, which I think helps.

 

[KBW]

With a 3-month-old, I would definitely fly if it's in the budget. At this point, you don't know if baby will be a good or bad traveller...Just in case baby is not a good traveller, I'd rather 3-4 hours of misery (on a plane) than 20-24 hours (in a car). And remember, it's not a one-way trip. What if going down is a nightmare? You'll be dreading the ride back for your whole vacation, rather than enjoying yourselves...

 

[AlixaLock]

Fly. I found that babies this age are pretty easy to fly with ... I'm with the the previous poster, give me 4 hours of misery over being trapped in a car anytime!! More importantly, We've been flying with my daughter since she was 4 months old and now, at 3.5 she is a seasoned traveller and we can fly anywhere. We have a 9 hour flight to Italy coming up and I'm no more worried about her then I am about any of us being trapped on a plane for that long. If you plan to travel, get that little one on a plane early and often, they can and will learn to be good flyers!

 

[ospopo5]

We flew from Chicago to LA with our 5 month old. I picked up some awesome tips on traveling by plane with a little one that was invaluable.

1. Get seats in the back of the plane.

• Generally these can open up so you may have room to spread out.
• You wont bother as much people if the baby is fussy
• You are closer to the bathroom for messy changing's if necessary
• The flight attendants usually let you stand up back there if necessary

2. Let husband board first with all the gear and get things settled. Then board with baby at the last possible second.

• I didnt like leaving my wife out there with the baby alone without me, but I figured it was the airport.
• I was able to get the bottle and birp rag, toy, etc. all ready and organized on the plane.
• Able to put bags in overhead, keep diaper bag under seat, and look out for spreading out options.
• The flight crew understood and did push my wife to board right away and let her wait until the end.

3. Change baby, change yourself and limit your liquids.
My daughter was a little clingy with my wife so we tried to limit our liquid intake so that she didnt have to get up to go to the bathroom incase daughter was hungry.
Make sure your baby has the fresh diaper on when you get on the plane.

4. Make sure they are ready to eat while the plane is taking off. Our daughter never took a pacifier so we made sure she was hungy. Was told this helps with the ears popping.

5. Your not in a rush, slow down and make sure the baby is ok.
Give yourself plenty of time in the airport to get through security, check bags, etc. Put your stroller in a bag if you can, helps on the wear and tear.

All in all our daughter was the perfect flyer. She did so good. We went to WDW when she was 1 and did just as well although she was a little more energetic.

I dont have tips on driving as we are doing that in a couple of months. This time our daughter will be almost 2 and our son will now be 5 months old. We'll see how that goes!

Best of luck. It can be done.

 

[Girlie1]

Definitely fly. It will make your wife happy

 

[mickeyncldkd]

I would fly. My kids have been going since 3 mo and 9 mo. The trip was more enjoyable when we fly. They got restless after 4 hr in the car. We live in nc.

 

[princessbride6205]

Fly! We've been flying with DD since she was 6 weeks. I even travelled solo with her as a 12-wk old. I found that the plane noise completely lulled her to sleep. She was always a stellar air traveler (and she was a very colic-y baby!).

Also, if you take the car, will one of you ride in the back? That right there would make me pick the flight! I'd get too car sick in the back for that many hours.

 

[GiJohnsGirl]

We are traveling to the world by car with our 3 month old (or our soon to be born daughter will be 3 months). I took our son on road trips that age. He was very easy. 3 months old is a little old to be having a bottle every 2 hours. More like 3/4 hours or more. DS was sleeping through the night at that point. As long as you have some one on designated kid duty/sleeping and one driving it should be fine Our plan is to leave late and let the kids sleep for most of the trip and that should reduce pottying/fussiness stops (we only live 13 hours away so I guess it depends on how far you are).

 

[x96Exr]

I'll for fly for less stress travel especially you're travelling with an infant.

 

[deuceswild10]

My thought is, if you fly, how will you get all the baby's stuff down to FL with all the new luggage restrictions? I guess it can be done, but I think having your own vehicle would be easier to tote everything.

 

[luvmy2babies]

When my son was that age, his limit in the car was about 3 hours. When he was 10 months old I flew down there with him and my daughter. He went to sleep shortly after take off and woke up while I was moving him from his carseat back into the carrier after the plane landed.

Is anyone else going? Will there be other drivers to share all that driving? One of the reasons I flew down was I didn't want to do all that driving myself and I live half the distance from there that you do. I live in NC. And I don't have enough vacation time to take 4 days to get to where I'm going and get back. My children, especially my son are lulled to sleep in the vehicle, so I had visions of my children being wide awake upon arrival from sleeping half the trip and me about crazy from exhaustion.

And would you be taking your own vehicle or renting? I don't drive my own vehicle over a certain distance, but it isn't new and I've had a past experience that taught me a hard lesson. I'm asking because if it is just the 3 of you, and you rent a vehicle from what I've seen these days it could cost you just as much as flying, especially if you stop and stay at a hotel overnight each way.

All the best with your decision. Since you posted the baby will be 3 months old in October, I would see after the baby arrives how he handles the car. Some babies are just very unhappy strapped in a car the first few months.

 

[pinktink83]

breastfeeding = definitely fly
bottlefeeding = possible to drive

The other considerations will be financial plus baby's temperament in the car. At that age my babies mostly slept the whole time and did okay. But only if they bottle fed and we could just give them a bottle. If they were breastfeeding that means we had to stop every 2-3 hours for 30 min while I fed the baby. That adds up fast!

 

[Nanu57v]

I agree with the "fly." We drove from PA last year, and definitely liked it better than flying. However, we didn't have a newborn that needed fed every 2 hours! We usually drive to Ohio (6 hours) and it takes so much longer with all the stops we have to make when the baby is hungry/poopy/lonely.

 

[*Seanaci*]

With a baby that young, fly. Hands down. Breastfeeding (or bottlefeeding) is a cinch on the plane. As is holding the baby in your lap while they sleep (uless you and DW decide to buy a seat and put them in their infant seat). That far of a drive would be tough with a 3 month old. We had to drive 4 hours when our son was 6 months old...and it was a challenge. DH ended up pulling over a half hour in so I could switch to the back seat with our son to feed him and keep him calm.

 

[Crystal824]

Fly. Order all your supplies from Garden Grocer or Costco or someother place that delivers so you only need to bring what you will need for the trip with you.