Anyone take a toddler on a 16 hour road trip?

[Fishbone†]

He's 16 months old - any tips and tricks are welcome and appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AKL_Megs]

Benadryl.

I'm kidding. Sort of.

 

[golfgal]

16 hours each way or round trip?

When our kids were that age we would get up and leave by 3 or 4 AM, we would just put them in their car seats in their jammies and they would go right back to sleep. They would sleep until 8 or so and we would stop for breakfast. We also had a book of all the McDOnald's playlands along the way-this was before laptops and the internet and DVD players. We would make stops about every 3 hours, timing them around naps. I would get small toys on clearance that I would give them when they got restless. They would keep them pretty busy for a while. Books on tape were fun too. I got a kids cassette player (now you would need a CD player) and they would follow along with the books. I got them at the library.

 

[tiggger1]

we have taken a bunch of road trips with our kids. We live in Mass and my oldest who has been on an 10 hour drive Virginia at 18 months, a 2 1/2 day drive with our camper to Disney when she was almost 3 and most recently another 2 1/2 day drive to Disney with her 18 month old brother. The thing that saved us were DVD players with new and favorite movies, food and notebooks with colored pencils! My dd would color in them while her little brother would rip them into a million pieces! it literally occupied him for hours... yes the car was a mess but it was worth it!

 

[2girlsmom]

Yes, we flew 9 hours with a 15 month old, from Japan to NE, then drove with her at 18 months old moving to CA, then on a vacation drove with my then 3 year old and 15 month old from CA to Tennessee. Driving is actually easier than flying, IMO, as you can bring things like portable tv/dvds for them to watch, snacks, drinks, etc. But plan on frequent stops, especially if the child is potty training or trained, they don't seem to be able to "hold it" more than a couple hours between breaks at this age. On the plane trips, we brought her coloring books, board books, a shape sorter, etc in our carryon bag so she wasn't completely bored, and we still got up every couple hours and walked up and down the plane aisle.

 

[AKL_Megs]

16 hours each way or round trip?

When our kids were that age we would get up and leave by 3 or 4 AM, we would just put them in their car seats in their jammies and they would go right back to sleep. They would sleep until 8 or so and we would stop for breakfast. We also had a book of all the McDOnald's playlands along the way-this was before laptops and the internet and DVD players. We would make stops about every 3 hours, timing them around naps. I would get small toys on clearance that I would give them when they got restless. They would keep them pretty busy for a while. Books on tape were fun too. I got a kids cassette player (now you would need a CD player) and they would follow along with the books. I got them at the library.

Are you my mother? My parents did the same things on our roadtrips. I SO remember the cassette tape read along books! LOVED them!

 

[dejr_8]

Travel at night.

We used drive from MA to FL (~22 hours) straight through without stopping. We first started doing this when the boys were 10 months old and 3 years old. Over the next 3 years or so we did that drive about 12 times.

 

[mamacatnv]

Lolli Pops - we used to give DS the occassional dumdum lolly pop on planes and for long car rides. It would keep his hands and mouth busy for quite awhile. Make sure to pack the wipes

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

Leave around dinner time (after they are fed), put them in pjs. Use the portable DVD player for a bit. They will fall asleep. Drive through the night, taking turns switching out the drivers. In the morning they will wake up, change them into clothes, stop for breakfast, walk around for a bit. In the morning there are toys and cartoons on the DVD player and you should be at your destination prior to them getting really cranky. We did this all the time - NJ to FL.
Have a great trip!!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

This is what I do....I've driven alone and with hubby with 2 children and more as young as 18 months and will do it with an infant later this year and as a toddler next year.

We cannot drive overnight. Both me and my DH cannot stay awake and it becomes too dangerous for us to attempt. So our routine for long distance travel....

We leave between 2am and 5am depending on our plans and when we wish to arrive. Sleeping kids are placed into the van and we do not do any movies so that all kids go back to sleep. We drive until the sun is coming uo. If kiddos
are awake, DVD player goes on and sometime between 7 and 8 am we always stop at a cracker barrell. Kids are changed out of their jammies and get at least an hour out of the car. This closely resembles our home routine--wake up and eat.

Then for the rest of the trip...it is movies and only stops for the potty for parents and trained children. But no more lenghty stops.

We find this works for us.

We are blessed with zombie children who can be entertained for hours. Last February, we played the signing time videos quite a bit because my speech impaired some could not speak. We used the captive time to educate him (almost 2yo at the time). He started signing a week or two later. We were traveling for a funeral--so I did not have time to fully plan that trip. I had ordered the videos independent of the trip, but they arrived just before we left.

Toddlers are great for traveling. They still (usually) sleep quite a bit.

Our next trip is in 3 weeks and I'm cheating. We are driving 90 minutes to the auto train amd taking that to it's end point and then it is a 90 minute drive to the new house. Baby will only be 2.5 months old and I will be driving by myself. Too long of a trip with a nursing infant. So auto train it is.

 

[stevenpensacola]

We took our daughter from Northwest Florida to Lexington KY when she was two months old.

Probably easier than with a toddler.

Benadryl is your friend.

 

[NHdisneylover]

We used to drive from Detroit to WDW with the kids as toddlers/preschoolers. I want to say that was about the time--but it has been awhile.

We left earliesh (about 6--any earlier and we got too sleepy driving) and did the put them in the car in jammies and they fall back asleep trick.

We would stop at places with playlands for breakfast and lunch. We always ate while telling them to play and then got them their food to go so they could eat it in the car and use up more energy at the stops.
We tried to stop once in between the meals as well at a rest stop. While DH got gas I took the kids in for diaper changes and then we all took about 10-15 minutes and played chasing games, ball (I always had one in the trunk that we could toss or roll) etc to get them some energy.

By dinner time the adults needed "real" food so we generally did a very family friendly sit down place. We would ask for a booth and not use a high chair so they were able to wiggle (quietly) a bit more and one of us would take them for walks around the parking lot while waiting on the food.

After dinner we would change them into fresh PJs, pop in a lullaby CD and they generally fell asleep.

We did not have DVD players (they were still pretty new and expensive back then) but we did get lots of good kids' music on CD as well as adult music they liked. Of course we packed a variety of fun "new" toys or things they did not normally play with as well as snacks and water. Oh, and looooong road trips were the only times they were allowed to color on the car windows with markers--they thought that was soooo cool. I would NOT do this with a kid who yo ucould not trust to confine it to the window though

 

[portocall]

Along with some of the other things PP's mentioned, I also make a trip to the dollarish store for some new toys to play with. I would hand them out about every 200 miles and it kept them busy for a while. Then they would return to a DVD, or a familiar toy or a snack.

 

[ahutton]

We've done several trips of that length. Since I knew we would not do it in one day - it was just too long for DH or I - I split it up this way...

Wake up, have breakfast at home and do something ACTIVE to use up energy while the last things go into the truck. After playing we get business done and get in and drive. With a small snack and water in a sport bottle we were usually good for about 4 hours. We stop at someplace with a playground for a meal break and the kids play while DH and I ate. When they were too little to eat unattended that was the last thing we did - fed them, washed hands and did potty/diaper time. Then back into the car so they would eat while we rode. Before we had a DVD player we bought an inexpensive AC Adapter for the car and used DH's work laptop to watch a movie. After eating and the movie they usually fell asleep for a few hours.

Wake up around dinner time, play, eat, movie and stop at a rest area to change into PJs for the last run. We would drive until as close to midnight as we could. Get a good night sleep, sleep in, have a nice breakfast and play, then back into the car to finish the ride and arrive early afternoon!

 

[aprilgail2]

My daughter was 24 months when she and I drove to Florida from NY. The only hard part was the fact that she was in the back and I was in the front! She had a DVD player and every time the movie ended I had to find a rest stop to get out and change the DVD- she couldn't do it LOL. Once we were at the rest stop we would throw a ball aroudn a bit and play catch and/or tag to burn off some steam....other than that it was junk food and DVD's that made the trip bearable LOL.
I personally don't like driving at night, I get to sleepy so I would never ever choose to do that!