Travel Tips for Driving with a Baby on Board
For many of us summer time means vacations! If you’re getting out of the house for a while, you may be taking a long drive. Road trips can be problematic when you have a baby in the car. They can easily fall uncomfortable and make the whole experience irritating for everyone else. Use these tips to have a smooth ride with baby.
1. Drive when baby sleeps. Many babies easily fall asleep during car rides, even when they aren’t tired. If you have one of those babies, plan to do your driving during baby’s usual naptime so he/she falls asleep in a jiffy.
2. Buckle everything! It goes without saying that everything should be bucked and secure before you even start the car. That goes for your baby, the car seat, your other children, and passengers. Don’t pull out of the driveway while your oldest buckles in the little one.
3. Attach toys to the car seat. Using plastic links, attach your baby’s toys to the car seat so they aren’t thrown all over the car. This means baby can always reach them and you won’t be tempted to reach behind and pick them up to stop a fussy baby. Use a pacifier retriever toy to keep the pacifier in view.
4. Rest when you need to. Take driving breaks whenever you feel the need. Don’t push onward to meet a deadline. You might lose a few minutes, but a mistake at the wheel with a baby on board could be disastrous.
5. Bring plenty of toys. Pick up some reusable bags and stuff them full of toys, games, and books. Don’t be shy. No one enjoys a screaming baby in a small car, so bring anything you can think of that will distract and keep tantrums at bay. If it’s a long ride, pick up some inexpensive toys to surprise your baby.
6. Take turns driving. If you are taking a drive with other adults, switch on and off, especially if it’s a long drive. After a while, the driver loses some alertness and won’t focus as well. You want every driver to be on their best game when a baby is in the car.
7. Sit in the back. Make sure that every once in a while, someone rides in the back of the car with the baby so he/she doesn’t feel alone or forgotten. Even if you read quietly next to him/her, just being nearby with your hand on the car seat can be reassuring.
8. Dress baby appropriately. There’s no need for our Sunday best if we’ll just be sitting in a car for the day. Dress baby (and yourself) in something comfortable and easy to remove. Dress baby in something comfortable, like the Zipadee-Zip. It’s perfect for travel because it can be put on and removed quickly, and buckles safely into the car seat. Since it’s a sleep association cue, your baby will stick to his/her nap schedule during your long drive.
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Written by Stephanie Parker from Sleepingbaby.com, inventors of the Zipadee-Zip
The motto for Sleeping Baby, makers of the Zipadee-Zip, is: "Inspiring Dreams One Night at A time," and that, in a nutshell, is how it all started…with one little dream that has since become the Parker family's reality. When Brett and Stephanie Parker's daughter, Charlotte, was born, the feeling that welled up inside of them was indescribable; they never realized until first looking into those baby blues of hers that they were even capable of that kind of love.
When it was time to transition baby from swaddling, the Parkers tried every sleep sack on the market and every swaddle weaning trick they could find for nearly two weeks and nothing worked to get baby Charlotte to fall and stay asleep.
Stephanie became determined to restore sleep and sanity to their household and set out to find a solution that would soothe Charlotte's startle reflex and provide her the cozy womb-like environment she loved so much but still give her the freedom to roll over and wiggle around in her crib safely. Out of sheer desperation and exhaustion, the Zipadee-Zip was born. The first Zipadee-Zip(R) Stephanie put together on her little sewing machine worked like magic!
To date tens of thousands of Zipadee-Zips have been sold and all from word-of-mouth marketing. It is so rewarding for the Parkers to see other parents and babies getting the sleep they both need and deserve!
For more information, visit sleepingbaby.com.
Interested in writing a guest blog for Sleeping Baby? Send your topic idea to pr@sleepingbaby.com.
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