Meds for Road Trip

Liquid Benadryl for kids. The generic works fine too. You may want to try it at home first. Some kids actually get wired instead of getting drousy. I have used it on my kids and it worked great. Good luck.
L.

We have done many a road trip and have never given my children (now 3 and 1.5). We generally plan most of the trip around either early in the morning where they'll sleep, or around nap time and I basically "run them to teh ground" before we leave, have the baby miss his first nap, etc. I bring TONS and I mean TONS of things for them to do. Books, those metallic write on desk things, little animals, noise makers, CD's of their favorite songs (we are currently playing 3 CD's of the Backyardigans back to back acccccccck), I recently on my last 5.5 hour trip to LA, broke down and let them watch a movie in the car which I really hate that I did and won't do again.
I let them roll their windows up and down, we sing.

Good luck!!

I've heard of people doing that, but personally I would never do it. I would feel so bad if something happened (although unlikely) because of that. When we go on trips with our daughter we try to leave where her nap falls right in the middle of the ride (we've gone 4 hours in the car at the most). For the length of the trip you're taking, I would leave an hour or so before her bed time. Put her in her pj's, etc. I've also been known to buy our daughter a special toy for the trip and we always have fun CD's in the car. Don't forget snacks and drinks. I'm always afraid if we stop she won't want to get back in the car and that will be a bigger hassle. Lastly, have you tried a different car seat or even positioned it differently. The first trip we took with our daughter we put our convertible car seat leaning back (positioned like it was rear facing, but it was front facing) so she could nap better. She hated that and cried a lot more there then the way back when we put the car seat how it normally was.
Best of luck and happy travels!
C.

Hi J., You do have potentially a challenging trip ahead of you and I understand the question. It's also been asked quite a few times on a few chat boards I read. The consensus seems to be with Moms that this is okay to do. I don't agree though.

I've taken Benedryl for allergic reactions and I'm one of the people it "revs" up. It's not a good full of energy feeling. I get VERY anxious and jittery. Imagine a 14mo old feeling this way on a long trip. Some of these drugs also have a cumulative affect on the body. Tylenol is one of the leading causes of liver damage. Not that medicines don't have their place. I would be leary of using them for purposes other than their intention and possibly setting up a pattern of overuse. Can you plan your travel during one of her longer nap times? Take a few extra stops? Catherine A has some good suggestons. Is there room to sit in back with her? I know it's inconvenient but if you can only use tylenol so many times in your life before running the risk of liver damage I'd think you'd want to chose those doses carefully?

http://www.babycenter.com/404_is-it-safe-to-sedate-my-bab...

Take care and hope you have a safe happy trip.

My husband is a dr and we have given our oldest benadryl for flights out to NY. It was when she was breast feeding so she stayed asleep most of the time. As someone stated earlier-it can have the opposite effect. It is best to test it before hand. If you don't you may have a wild child the whole trip. The pit stops are a good idea too.

Boy, do I feel your pain! My son hated the car seat when he was younger. (He's now 2 and absolutely loves it, so don't give up hope). And we have lots of family in southern ca so it seemed like we were constantly roadtripping! I personally would feel very uncomfortable "drugging" my child to get them to sleep. And I would definitely ask the dr. before attempting anything like that because I don't think "pm" products are made for children.

Have you turned her around forward facing yet? That made a big difference for us once he could see me & and my husband and what was out the window. I would also pack a ridiculous amount of fun stuff, and just keep the fun going before he ever had a chance to fuss. It was exhausting but also way better than listening to screaming! We would pack toys, books, and lots of yummy snacks, even some sweeter stuff that we normally wouldn't let him eat, and I would sing all his favorite songs and talk to him about everything we saw. We also would make sure our stops were something that was fun and interesting for him so it really helped break up the trip.

All of that said, the VERY best thing was when we would leave at his bedtime and drive through the night. Seriously, arriving at 2 am with a happily sleeping baby was so much better than listening to screaming for any amount of time. If there is any way you can get her ready for bed and then put her in the car, do it! You can drink coffee to stay awake if you need to, and I think that's better than giving your child sleeping meds.

I hope you have a great trip! It does get better, I promise.

A lot of people responded about the meds. Personally, I've never tried it. My son is 14 months. A few months ago we went on a 3 hour drive. It helped to have blueberries and also a magic wand toy that spins and lights up. Another thing he was really into was anything that he could put together - even a cup and lid. Are you going to sit in back? This helped a bit too.

Hi, J. J--

I dread the thought of a mother giving her child a drug such as Tylenol to keep the child quiet during the trip. I do not think we should use drug for convenience purposes. "Relatively small overdoses of acetaminophen - Tylenol's active ingredient - have been blamed for liver damage and even deaths in children in the United States." -New York Times, October 19, 1997. Of course you will not give her an overdose of it, but still if it is not needed by the body why even think of it?

A six-hour road trip can make even an adult extremely bored. What more would we expect from a 14-month-old whose attention span is very short? In the first place, she did not want to be in that situation. Why punish her by giving Tylenol that will put her health at risk?

When my husband and I were taking our baby on a long trip many years ago, I would stay with her (she in her car seat) at the back of the car with some of her toys and books. Sometimes I would sing for her or have a quiet game with her. We would also watch the scenery through the car window--her chance to see live animals, houses, and other objects of interest.

I think we adults should take the effort to make the baby as comfortable as we can when we take him/her with us on a long trip. We just have to be more creative and find out what the baby will enjoy doing while in a car seat.

E. C

our doc said children's benedryl was ok, not tylenol pm. you should ask your ped. try sitting in the back seat, that will help. lots of snacks and new little toys, stickers, books. if you can, leave really early while it's dark out, pack the car and load the your daughter last. hopefully she will fall back to sleep. good luck!

oh, about the benedryl, we did use this on a plane trip, our daughter fell asleep, but we tried it out a few days beforehand. sometimes kids have the adverse effect. our friend's son got wired from it.

i've used benedryl on plane trips. the pediatrician gave me the correct dosage when i told him i wanted to try it. he was okay with it.

Hi J.!
Well, 6 hours is definitely a long time in the car for anyone! I don't know where you are traveling to but I have driven numerous times from Sacramento to San Bernardino with my now 4 year old son. Along I-5 there are numerous rest stops that we stop at and let him run around for a bit. Other than stopping for gas, we stop somewhere between the 2 - 2 1/2 hour mark to grab a snack or meal and then about 2-3 hours after that we stop at a rest area. On the way home we do the same thing. My son is very good in the car and he usually sleeps a good portion of the trip. Also, I don't know if you have considered this but a portable dvd player may keep her entertained for an hour or two with one of her favorite movies. Good luck with your travels!!!

First of all make sure anything you give is children's such as Children's Benedryl but it should not be used in this manner. My child had to use it because he had allergic reactions to anything with a milk Derivative inside but it made him so sleepy and he hated it. And he was groggy. Any medication for a child under 6 should be cleared through the pedi. Use something natural like a little Chamomile tea or just gold old fashion classical music or soothing sounds cd. I agree more with buying a portable DVD player before giving medicine for sleeping. Good Luck.

My son's Ped also warned me about the reverse affect of using Children's Benadryl, so he recommended Children's Dramamine instead. At that time, my son was almost 2, and we took a 10 hr flight to Europe, it helped. Children's Benadryl did work for my older kids, ages 9 and up.

Well I will give you my honest experience, as un-PC as it seems to be with the advice you received thus far. We took my daughter on a 7 hour flight when she was about 1 and prior to the flight I discussed with her Ped. about the use of Children's Benadryl. Her doctor said that it was completely ok to use a minimal amount, I can't remember the dosage, not to drug her into a sleep but to relax her a little bit. Our daughter is extremely active and we make our plans around this usually but being confined to one seat in a small aisle we needed some other options. Her Ped. gave us all the info on what amount would be ok and what reactions/side effects would be considered normal so I would recommend going to your Ped. first. Also, one thing that she did mention was that some kids can have a reverse reaction and become hyperactive instead so you may want to try prior to the day that you will be driving just in case. Best of luck in whatever decision you make.