This thanksgiving we decided to visit Michele’s parents in Indiana. This is about a eight hour drive - give or take, depending on how fast you like to drive. We have made this trip a few times already, both with and without Rachel. The trip, itself, is pretty easy. The whole way is interstate, with most of it being one.
We have travel at different times to best accommodate Rachel. While we can’t do everything to make her happy on such a long car trip, a happy baby is a good baby. And if we have a good, happy baby then everyone is happy.
I think the first time we went, we left during the day and quickly discovered that this was not the best option. With Rachel being quite young when we made this trip, we had to stop quite often for feedings and changings, things I do not recommend trying while driving on the highway. This turned a 8 hour trip into 10 hours. It was long and grueling.
Taking a cue from Michele’s aunt and uncle, we tried driving through the night. Our thought, as was theirs, was they are already sleeping and require little so the trip will be easier. At this time Rachel slept for 12 hours at night so instead of leaving at 7 and arriving at 3 with a time change making it 2, we left later which made us wake Rachel up in the middle of the night.
Although it did take some work to get Rachel back to sleep, the trip ended up being quite pleasant and worked well for us. Stopping only for bathroom breaks and gas, we made in in less than 8 hours. A big difference even if it meant staying up all night.
We traveled this way on a few occasions, but on this last trip it did not quite work out as well. On the way down, Rachel slept for only 2 hours in the car. She was quite pleasant still in the car. She was, however, quite grumpy the next day.
Because of time restrains we decided that on the way back we would grin and bare the through-the-day trip, letting us maximize the visiting time. In the end it was not too bad. We left at around 3 and Rachel fussed until we stopped to eat at 6. Dinner, for some reason was a battle. Usually Rachel is good in restaurants, but this time a nightmare. But after dinner was another story. With a full belly and sleepy eyes Rachel slept most of the time back home. She fussed a couple of times, but with a resuckification she fell back to sleep. We’ve been only letting her have her suckie (pacifier) while she’s sleeping. We arrived home at about 11:30, making it a 8 1/2 hour trip - very good with a sit down meal.
We have a new battle plan in regards to long trips. Instead of waking her up, which I think is part of the problem, we will let her fall asleep in the car. We’ll be leaving around 5, eating around 6 or 6:30 and then with a full tummy, hopefully, she’ll fall asleep. This will mean we will arrive around midnight, which would not be bad.
One little caveat though. With a new little one on the way, will the plans change? His sleeping schedule could, and probably will, throw this plan out of the window.
New word time:
Resuckification - noun - The act of returning a suckie (also known as pacifier or binkie) to the mouth of a newly awaken child in the hopes that said child will fall bake to sleep.
