Family of Four, Hittin' the Road!

Recently we took on the feat of road tripping with both a toddler and an infant. I am here to report that we survived! 😊 But there are things you can do to make a trip with an infant and toddler not as excruciating. For starters, a refresh on traveling with a baby:

· Feed (top off the baby if they ate relatively recently) and change the baby right before you leave. This lessens your chance for having to stop an hour into the drive because baby is fusing in the backseat for one reason or another.

· Plan stops every 2-3 hours to change and feed the baby. This also makes a good stopping point for the toddler to get out and stretch their legs too. Additionally, plan to do as much as you can at these stopping points. Top off the gas tank, get food if needed, go to the bathroom, and take care of the baby so you aren’t having to stop 10 minutes after you get back in the car for gas. You’ll feel much more productive this way.

· Have extra clothes for you and baby in your diaper bag in case of a blowout or them peeing through their outfit

o Besides extra clothing, bring either a wet bag and/or doggie bags. The wet bag that we use is great for throwing gross clothing into and keeping it contained until we reach a washer. The doggie bags (we get them at Dollar Tree!) are also great for throwing gross clothing into, and perfect for diapers if you're on the side of the road changing a diaper and don't have a place to put it.

· Make sure you have a portable changing pad with you for public bathroom stops

· As for feeding baby on the go:

o If formula feeding, have a water bottle and pre-portioned formula in your bag. We use this container for formula, and if we need additional portions, we place them in snack size Ziploc baggies. This makes it super quick and easy to make up a bottle for them and feed them before they get too monstrous.

o If breastfeeding/pumping: I used the Willow portable pump in the car-ride and it was incredible! You make sure it’s charged up ahead of time, and you can pump several session before it runs out. We just made sure we had an insulated lunchbox and some ice packs with us to throw the milk bags into.

Now some general tips for traveling with a toddler and an infant:

· Bring things to keep your toddler entertained on the car ride, so they don’t wake up the infant. We use the iPad for trips only, and found a holder to stick in on the back of my headrest for the drive. We also bring toys to keep Kent entertained.

· SNACKS! Nothing keeps a toddler better entertained than snacks. Make sure you have many on hand because the car is way too small to handle meltdowns 😉

· Make sure you have enough wipes! If both kids are still in diapers, you are going to need more wipes than you think you will, promise! We got two big packages of wipes for the week and we still needed to stop to grab more before one dinner.

· Depending on where you are traveling, or mode of transportation, consider buying diapers at your destination. The only caveat I will throw out from experience is swim diapers in Hawaii. DO NOT wait to buy those there. For this road trip to Coeur D’Alene, I figured it would be easier to stop when we were buying groceries to get small packs of diapers for both boys instead of filling our suitcase with diapers.

· Try to preplan your stops accordingly. We typically try to stop every 3 hours or so, any longer than that and Kent starts to get restless. This also works with Jameson’s current feeding schedule. We've lucked out and know the drive to Coeur D’Alene really well and have our typical stopping points. But if you aren’t familiar with the drive, check the map ahead of time and find a few places to stop before you leave.

All in all, traveling with two little ones isn’t too much harder than a toddler. It just takes a little extra time to plan, pack, and prepare for.