Away from Home with a 7 Week Old

Just try to stay as close to schedule as possible. I traveled with my son and it didn't go bad at all.

Let me give you some true advice...adapt your children to your life...not you to thiers!!!! Staying home because you are afraid to change a routine is going to set you up for a life time of you never leaving your house! Don't be afraid of making your child flexible. The more adaptable you make him now the more adaptable he will be come. Just follow the same routine as home and bring a sheet that smells like home. Schedule the drive for very early in the morning....like right after a feeding...maybe 4 or 5 am...have your car packed. Then drive until he wakes up. Stop for breakfast, change him, feed him and then hit the road again. try to get him down for a nap in his new room and then do your regular bedtime routine. Your husband's parents are probably really looking forward to being able to show off their grandson in their home town. A little disruption of your routine is more than worth it! Try to enjoy the extra help and let your son enjoy his extended family! You can do anything you decide to do! Don't be too cautious about anything! Truly, the more flexible and laid back you can become the happier your baby will be. I believe in routine, but routines can be flexible. ( I speak from true experience...two daughters of my own 17 and 19 and foster mother to 44 newborns) Pack your suitcase!

I just had my second child, a boy on 8-8-07. When he was 2 weeks old we traveled to Florida for a family wedding. We drove down with my in-laws, our almost 2 year old and our 18 month old niece. Yes, I think I am nuts! I am also nursing and had a c section. We just stopped at rest areas so that I could nurse and let the girls run. It worked fine and Brennan (our son) handled it well. Good Luck!

K.,
Babies are just so adaptable. I traveled by car to Mexico when our son was about 4-5 wks old, breastfed and stayed there for a whole month w/ my husband's family!! He was born on Oct. 25th of '04 and we traveled down stayed for Thanksgiving and left right before Christmas. It was fine. The only difficulty I had was my own breastmilk stopped supplying during the day maybe b/c of stress or the food.. but they had formula and our son did just fine. He's was our 1st born also. Babies do adapt really easy and if you travel at night they most likely he'll sleep. It's nerve racking taking a little one out of familiar surrounding more for the parent, I think, then the baby b/c they're so precious and so small. But you'll be there, you'll be with family and a safe enviroment. It'll work out just fine!! I wish you the best of luck and congrats on your little one:)

I travelled with my first som from 6 weeks of age and I found as long as I did the same things around bedtime (bath, massage, feeding etc), where you are doesn't matter as they have you which is the most familiar thing to them at this age. The car journey might throw things out for the first night as your baby may sleep more than usual in the car but other than that, you should be fine. Good luck and happy travels :)

We made a 15-hour road trip for vacation with a five-week-old, and everything was great. Just do your best to replicate your routine at home, and he should be fine. They are very resilient! If you fear, however, that you won't have the things you need available, which will make YOU nervous or uncomfortable, it might be easier to stay home. Your baby will sense if you are upset. I think that if you are comfortable and have all the things you need at hand, the baby will do great. Good luck!

From my own experience I went to my in-laws for the weekend when my baby was 6 weeks old. I felt uncomfortable feeding him in front of them and resorted to bottles a few times. He ended up refusing to nurse after that. I went through a lot to start him nursing again but it was hard and he quit fully at about six months. So my advice is stick with your routine as much as possible and give yourself time to sit and feed him.

Just my experience, but breastfed infants are a *BREEZE* to travel with!!! Toddlers are *much* more challenging to travel with because they want to move, move, move all the time (normal for that age, of course). So I say as long as you feel that you'll be supported in (or at least not hassled or made to feel bad about in any way) your breastfeeding by your in-laws, go for it! I wouldn't stress about messing up your baby's routine - at 7 weeks, it's astonishing that there's any routine at all. ;) Seriously - the first 12 weeks are such a time of huge transition, womb to the outside world, growth spurt after growth spurt, etc., that any routine you have right now can be followed loosely enough that you guys will be just fine. Plus, around 8 weeks can be a really rough time for babies (growth spurts, developmental leaps) that you'll want to have the extra hands of your husband and in-laws to help with the baby so that all you have to do is nurse the baby and perhaps have a couple of breaks while you have so much family around.

Congratulations, by the way, on becoming a mother to a sweet son -- and for choosing to breastfeed (hang in there - the breastfeeding gets SO SO SO much easier around 8 weeks, then again at around 3 or 4 months, and it will be so natural/easy that you'll understand why so many moms rave about it).

Because my husband's career transferred us to Ohio, all of our family is still in Indiana, and our immediate families are about two hours away from each other. We drove about two and a half hours back to Indiana to my in-laws' hometown when our son was about four or five weeks old to attend a "Welcoming Party" for him, instead of having a baby shower while I was still pregnant (and too pregnant to travel far distances). Though I was still incredibly tired from trying to work out a sleep routine (our son had his nights and days backwards), still healing from my C-section, and still trying to get the whole process of nursing down (a whole other story in of itself), I was grateful for all of the kindness and help I received from everyone there. I think our son did very well on the trip, and though the routine was a little out of whack because we didn't get a chance to stop on the way down to feed him, he still did very well. After that, we took him pretty much anywhere with us. He's now a year old, and he's been to Seattle, Washington, San Diego, California, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and numerous trips to Indiana to see grandparents. I believe it was much easier to travel with him in the beginning when he was young and didn't mind riding in his car seat facing the rear. Once he turned one year old and could sit facing forward, he's been a much happier traveler, and takes a lot of naps in the car! I agree with the person who said that your baby should get accustomed to your life, and not the other way around. Routines are important, but babies also need to learn that routines can change. With my husband's long work hours and our families living out of town, our baby has learned to be EXTREMELY flexible! :) However, he is a very happy, well adjusted baby, so it all turns out fine in the end. Good luck!

I was concerned about the same types of things with my first baby. My husband and I didn't go ANYWHERE...Truth be told, we could have. I regret it now, but we live and learn, right???

At 7 weeks, babies will be changing their schedules every couple of weeks. I believe routines are VERY important, but he's still very young and like I said, he'll be changing every few weeks for awhile. Also, at 7 weeks babies can pretty much sleep anywhere at anytime.

I say take advantage of it while you can. It only gets harder the older they are. My daughter did amazingly well at 13 months when we drove to West Virgina, but I think we were pretty blessed for that! :) (And I think it's great your husband has asked both of you to come along!)

My husband and I have always enjoyed a long driving summer vacation. We weren't about to to let a May birth interfere with that, so we went on vacation anyway. Babies are MUCH better than kids in the car, in our opinion. We drove all the way to NM when our 4th was 5 weeks old (it took longer than usual:33 hrs instead of 26, stopping to breastfeed) and it wasn't that bad, the baby was probably the best behaved!

Yes your routine will be broken, but it only takes a day or two to get right back into your routine. You just have to be consistent and even though you're traveling try to keep your routine pretty close to what your baby is used to. Babies are never too young to travel - you just need to be ready for unexpected things.

Pump some before you go on your trip this way (if you baby will even take a bottle) you can sit in the back with your baby and feed the baby without having to stop. Otherwise that 7 hour trip will become really really long.

Have fun and good luck,
Mel

Well this was years ago but I've done ti, only difference was my son was maybe 6 months old and we went from ohio to sandiego. it was tough but not as bad as i thought it would be, the biggest issue being the time cahnge he stayed on ohio time for about a month. lol but seeing as how you are only going to indiana, i think you will be jsut fine, jsut keep to things as much as possible. since youa re staying with family it should be easy. i would expect a change in routine due to the car ride, chances are he'll sleep more than normal but stop frequently and get him out of the car and give him some awake play time and nurse him and you should ahve a rather pleasent trip, i drove to florida with my son, straight through, and as long as you stop often to let them get a break it wasn't to bad at all. take any favorite bedtime items with you, and do just what you would do at home, it might be a little tougher because of the change of scenery but baby should be fine and go back on schedual when you do get home. good luck and enjoy the trip

We traveled with my husband for business when our baby was just 5 or 6 weeks old. It was a 6 hour drive each way, plus lots of smaller road trips during the week, and it could not have been easier. She slept almost the entire trip down, other than when we stopped to wake, change, and feed her. Now is probably the easiest time to travel since infants sleep so much. It might take a day or two to get back in the routine, but babies seem to adapt very quickly and love to see new surroundings. I'm also nursing and just brought a battery operated pump along and was able to pump discreetly in the car with a blanket or extra shirt over top.

In July when my son was 10 weeks old and breastfeeding we drove 16 hours to Florida to visit my father in law. It was out of necessity due to some medical problems he was having but my son handled it better than I expected. We stopped whenever he woke up to eat (every 3 to 4 hours just like at home). He slept just as well as he did at home and nothing has changed at home since we got back. I was worried that my son would have trouble since the long drive would interrupt his normal eating and sleeping routines. He adjusted well and had no trouble at all. Hope this helps.

I say go for it! We did our first "roadtrip" with our 3week old to stay with grandparents for a few days. We still travel everywhere with both of our kids 2 and 3 now. I think that since we started so early they are both used to a slight change in routine every now and then. Especially since you will be staying with family. They have learned to sleep and nap in different beds and don't have a problem with it. They stick with the schedule but slight adjustments are good! Good Luck!

Go for it. I have a 5 1/2 month old who has been on a plane to California and Germany, been by car to Chicago, St. Louis and North Carolina - we go with my husband who has to travel for work. He did awesome!!! His routine never changed. He slept his normal 8 hours, ate at the same times etc. Get your baby use to traveling, the sooner the better as later in life they will just go with the flow.
Good luck! You will be glad you did go.
We got 2 beds in the room and put him in the one bed with pillows as a block all around him. We did use his own blankets under him and above him so he would not touch the hotel's sheets, as they use different detergents.

Only go if you feel comfortable with it. If you aren't then the baby won't do well because you aren't. His parents would probably love seeing the baby and maybe the two of you could sneak away and have dinner!

We recently tookour 3-yr old, 2 yr old and 12-day old to tennessee to visit family and he was fine! But I know that when it is your first child it is more nerve-wracking!
Good luck with watever you choose to do!

Travel with your DH. At 7 weeks, a baby is totally adjustable.

Will it disrupt YOUR routine too much? The baby will be fine, unless you're not ready for a trip. Actually the grandparents are a bigger threat to the routine than the travel itself...constantly holding and rocking the little one everytime he squeeks. But, it could be a nice break for you!

As for the road trip and breastfeeding, if you have a pump with a battery pack you could feed the baby a bottle and pump while riding in the car. I did it a couple of times last weekend and just used a towel to cover up.

we traveled for a week when my son was 8 weeks old and he did fine. we drove 12 hours one way and stayed with my parents for a few days, then drove another 8 hours and stayed with my inlaws for a few days, then drove home. my son did great! he was/is also on a routine and he did perfect, not really any problems that I can remember. I would say go for it, he'll be fine!

I say relax and enjoy the trip. It may disrupt the schedule a little bit but at 7 weeks your little guy is pretty adaptable. Plan for the drive to take a little longer as you'll have to stop to nurse, but don't be surprised if he sleeps most of the trip. When my son was that exact age we drove 10 hours for a family reunion and he slept the whole way, and then slept through the night once we arrived. You can try and make things familiar for him - bring his blanket or familiar sounds like a cd he likes or a fan for white noise. You may have to adapt the routine a little, but 4 days isn't very long and I bet your little guy's grandparents will be tickled to see him. If you're really uncomfortable with it don't go, but I know at that point I couldn't wait to get a change of scenery. It's good for the baby to experience different surroundings as well - the last thing you need is a baby who will only be happy at home. Just relax and enjoy the time away.
Good luck!

My husband and I took our son on his first road-trip (9 hours!)when he was 7 weeks to see my in-laws and it was great! Infants still sleep in a pack and play and don't do much but sleep!!! Truth be told, I think the almost 9 hours he slept in the car triggered the I can sleep for long periods of time, because while we were there, he began sleeping through the night! If you are worried about breastfeeding, call you mother in law, and talk to her. The one thing I've always had trouble with while travelling to in-laws, is that everyone does things differently. Stick to your routine while there and I'm sure it will all go well!!! Good luck! Oh and be sure to pack the car so that it is very easy to change from the front seat to a back seat next to the baby any time you stop. It helps!