Driving with a 12 month old?

[trulygoofy]

I am debating doing this as well, but I am wondering how tough this will be one DH and I, who will be driving. When will we sleep?

We have done this and I would drive early and he would drive the rest of the way. I can not drive late at night, because I get too sleepy. On the first trip we did driving through the night, I was driving at about 3:00am and I had to pull over and could not drive after that. When the reflectors in the road start to look more like Tinkerbell, you know you shouldn't be driving. Luckily DH is used to driving and was fine, so it would depend on how tired you get. DH has pulled over before on our trips and slept at a rest area for about 2 hours if he got too tired. He would prefer to drive through the night, but I really prefer to drive during the day because everyplace is open and then DH isn't exhausted when we get there because I can help drive more.
If you do drive through the night one of you will need to sleep while the other drives because you both can't be exhausted when you arrive. The baby will have had a full nights rest and will be wide awake.

 

[hcmommy]

You caught me!

 

[disneymom06]

We started to drive about 4 years ago when my youngest was 11months. She was the best traveler. (We have four children, when we started to drive they were 8,6,3 and the 11mo). The DVD player is the best option available. Bring PLENTY of DVD's. The youngest did sleep but we do stop at rest areas along 95 and let everyone run around. Know the road that you are traveling on so that you have options to stop. I would tell the children, one more Barney episode or three Wiggles shows before our next stop. Ours is a 18.5 hour trip, and we have only stopped overnight once. Nightime for us is the best travel time because the roads are empty and the children are asleep. Just be flexible and the trip will be fine.

 

[nemonoah]

We drove from Ohio to WDW when Ds was 9mos. and he did Ok, I just sat in the backseat with him and kept him entertained but most of the time he slept. The second time, he was almost 2, we went ahead and bought a portable dvd player, and it worked out really well. We just made sure that we stopped more often so he could stretch his legs. Good Luck!

 

[nessz79]

Hmmm...we took a long trip of 16 hours with an 18 month old. He flew up with his grandparents and met us there, but came back with us in the car. We separated the trip into one evening of 8 hours and the next day of about 8 hours. We had a DVD player but that only worked for so long.
It was a difficult trip and DS did cry at times...more of a pitiful cry than anything else.
So I really wouldn't recommend it, but it's doable. Depends on your child, too.

I agree with the other poster to leave at 3 AM. We did this on the way up with our 3 year old and he slept a good bit. Also, leaving during the day made a world of difference in his mood.

 

[Doc CW]

We drove from MD with my baby-sister who was 13 months old on our last trip and she was either sleeping, eating, or watching the road out front, but she was self-entertained for most of the trip.