Road Trip with a Baby – Survival Guide for Parental Sanity

10 essential tips for a successful road trip with a baby

Have you ever pulled off the highway in the middle of i-70 ski traffic to console your screaming baby? Breastfed your baby in the Arches National Park parking lot? Or witnessed a blowout that reverberated throughout the entire state of Utah in a Moab drive through? This guide is surefire way to experience all this and more when you road trip with your baby! In all seriousness, these things may happen. But setting your family up for success is the key to ensuring you can incorporate travel into your family’s lifestyle.

I didn’t have many strong opinions about parenting before my daughter was born, but one thing I knew was that I wanted to prioritize traveling with her early on. Weekend travel is a big part of our life and I knew it would look different with a baby. But I wanted to make sure we were still able to do the things we loved. Plus, I couldn’t wait to take her to some of our favorite places! But road tripping with a baby felt overwhelming. how would we keep her entertained? What should we pack? Where would we feed her?

There’s no way around it – traveling with a baby is a lot of work, especially if you’re a minimalist packer and accustomed to getting out the door quickly. But with a little practice it can feel a lot less overwhelming. Will there be an occasional meltdown? Probably. Will there be certain ages that are more difficult than others? Definitely. But for me, the opportunity to experience the world with my daughter far outweighs the potential challenges that come with traveling with a baby. So here are my top 10 tips and tricks for surviving (and maybe even thriving) while road tripping with your little one.

1. Plan for everything to take longer

Everything takes longer with a baby and road trips are no exception. As a general rule of thumb, plan to stop for 15-20 minutes at least every 2 hours to give your baby a break from the car seat, feed, and change their diapers. While you may have been able to crank out a 16 hour drive in a day pre-baby, you’ll likely need to stretch that drive out over multiple days. Building in fun stops along the way can be a good way to make the necessary stops feel less like a burden. Take a hike, visit the world’s largest ball of yarn, get out of the car for a milkshake – knock yourself out!

2. Take a practice road trip with your baby

As with anything new, you’re not going to get it right on the first time. It’s worth taking a practice road trip with your baby to iron out the kinks if you have a bigger trip coming up that you want to make sure you’re prepared for. When our daughter was one month old, I was determined to take her on a getaway before my husband went back to work from paternity leave. We traveled to Steamboat Springs, a 3 hour road trip from our home in Denver. It took us hours to figure out what to pack, we struggled through setting up the pack and play, and brought WAY too many diapers. Our daughter was also cluster feeding, so we spent most of our getaway curled up on the couch in our Airbnb. But we did it! Our next trip went much smoother. We were much more seasoned at packing, feeding on the go, and being prepared with homemade meals that we’d brought from home to heat up in the hotel microwave.

3. Plan your travel around your baby’s schedule

If possible, plan to depart when your baby is due for their next nap. Obviously this isn’t always possible, but it’s a much smoother trip when you can start the drive off with a nap (and some peace and quiet). Squeeze in lots of tummy time and engaging play before you take off and your baby will (hopefully) be ready to drift off once you hit the road.

4. Feed and change your baby before you leave

Fully belly, fresh diaper, can’t lose. Starting your drive off with a fed and clean baby will ideally extend the length of your first driving stretch. Happy baby = happy parents.

5. Get comfortable feeding in the car

Some of the best advice I received from other moms was to get comfortable breastfeeding on the go. It was uncomfortable at first, but offered so much freedom once I figured it out. At four months, my daughter is still feeding every 2 hours, so being able to feed her on the go provides us with so much freedom. Front seat, back seat – you choose where you feel most comfortable feeding. But being able to feed your baby in the car will make life so much more enjoyable! Be prepared with plenty of burp cloths, accept that you’re still going to have spit up everywhere, and you’ll be a pro in no time!

6. Pack the car seat toys

I’m not here to judge how you choose to entertain your child on a road trip, but it’s worth bringing along something to keep your baby occupied. Whether it’s dangly car seat toys or quality time with miss Rachel on an iPad, having a trick or two up your sleeve to keep your baby entertained while they’re awake will ultimately extend the time you can drive between stops. Our daughter loves this dragonfly and this whoozit car seat toy. These were perfect distractions for when she woke up from naps and before we made it to our next stop.

7. Make sure your diaper changing supplies are easily accessible

The last thing you want is to spend hours doing a tetris-level packing job, only to realize that the diaper bag is out of reach mid-blowout. We make a habit of placing it in the area beneath her car seat so the supplies are always accessible when you them most.

8. Prep a baby song playlist

I swear baby songs get stuck in your head for longer while sleep deprived, so don’t plan to whip these out unless absolutely necessary. That said, it’s worth having a go-to playlist of baby songs to distract your little one mid-meltdown. I’ve heard many moms rave about The Happy Song by Imogen Heap. I typically always have this Spotify playlist ready to go in case I’m driving solo and can’t tend to my daughter’s fussing immediately.

9. Coordinate feeding with gas stops

If you’re able to coordinate your feeding and diaper change breaks with your gas fill up stops, this will save some time. On our most recent trip to Moab, we worked out an efficient system where I would feed our daughter while my husband filled the tank and walked our dog. Once I was done feeding, I’d pass her off to my husband for a diaper change while I ran in for a bathroom break. All in, it probably only took about 5 more minutes than our usual gas stops.

10. Accept that meltdowns happen

It’s inevitable – meltdowns are going to happen despite your best attempts to prevent them. Whether it’s a developmental leap or just a rough day, there will be tougher days. As with all things parenting, these moments are temporary. Don’t let the fear of meltdowns stop you from pursuing the beauty of exploring this beautiful world with your family!

Happy Road Tripping!

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