Traveling with a 23 Month Old

Hi B.. I did this with my daughter(same age) last year. I bought a bunch of "junk" toys that she had never seen before and pulled them out all through the trip. SNACKS, SNACKS AND MORE SNACKS!!! Also, when she really started getting ansy I pulled out the gum! It was the perfect thing!
Good Luck! N.

One thing has made all the difference in the world. A dvd player. I did not have one mounted in my car, so I bought one for $50. It was well worth it! I put it on the console between the two front seats and my daughter watches Disney and Sesame Street movies all the way to our destination.

She was a VERY trying traveler prior to that and I never let her watch that much tv, so it was a huge treat to her.

We routinely make the 10-14 hour drive (depends on exact location and weather) to upstate NY a few times a year with 3 young children. In fact, we'll be making the drive again in 2 weeks and our youngest is 22 months old.

We leave early in the morning around 5 or 6am. We have the car packed and just pick the kids up from their beds, make the older ones use the bathroom and put them in the car and leave. The 1 year old goes straight from bed to car and usually doesn't wake up, or at least goes right back to sleep as soon as the car is moving (within minutes of her getting in the car). The older kids usually fall back asleep for a couple hours. We make our first stop around 7 or 8 (about 2 hours after we start) for bathroom breaks, breakfast and change out of PJs. It helps to have them sleep the first few hours.

A DVD player is nice but certainly not necessary. We just recently got a portable one for the car. We just use it a little, though... a movie after lunch and then again in the evening when it's too dark to see toys/books in the car. We try to keep a normal wake/meal/nap schedule when on the road.

For an almost-2-year-old.... small board books, fabric activity books, baby doll, pipe cleaners (use their imagination to bend into random shapes), small action figures or dolls (like from a dollhouse - our 1 year old loves playing with the Little Tykes ones in the car), wooden puzzles, lacing cards, magnet playsets, magna doodle, color wonder book & markers, a small shape sorter type toy and colorforms. The colorforms will stick to the window and remove easily so it's extra fun. With that many people in the car I'll assume someone will be sitting next to her so it will be even easier to keep her entertained. Don't forget the value of just being still, too. My kids take after me and are completely content spending an hour (even when very young) to just stare out the window and daydream. So don't push boooks or toys on her just because she looks bored or not doing anything... she may be just fine. :-)

Bring a soccer ball, beach ball or frisbee or something (1 year old can chase when you throw) and spend 30 minutes running around a rest area after lunch. We usually eat in the car and save the rest areas for running around exerting energy.

Good luck, stay flexible... sometimes you'll go 3 hours without having to stop and other times it may be 30 minutes. Remember it's the journey, not the destination. :-)

Hi B.,

We took a 13 hour car trip when my son was 2.
We left around 3 am and he slept for the first 4-5 hours of the trip. We also purchased a portable DVD player. You can get them for around $80 and they are worth every penny on a car trip!! We also had lots of snacks and a couple inexpensive new toys. Hope this helps! Have a fun, safe trip!

Hi B.,

Try traveling at night. Children sleep well in the car...even in a car seat. You could plan to share the driving with your spouse and take turns sleeping or your spouse could sleep the day of the trip and drive that night. Night travel solves several problems; there are fewer cars and big trucks on the road, it's cooler, no need for bathroom breaks (at least for the child), no need to stop for food (pack a special snack for you and your spouse and a thermos of coffee) and with the peaceful atmosphere of the car, the two of you can have some time to talk with each other while you are awake. By the time you arrive at your destination, your little one will have had a good night's sleep and you will be fairly relaxed...Just take the first day of your trip to kick back and enjoy!

Happy traveling!
M. Mueller

When travelling with my daughter, silky scarves or large pieces of silky material (look around the bargain bins at JoAnns or at Goodwill) really transformed our car into something more comfortable for her. Depending on which side of the car your daughter's car seat is, you can drape the scarves around or even over her seat. You can experiment with placement -- just don't forget some clips/clothes pins to help keep the scarves in place.

A fun activity for us, even as young as age 2, was pipe cleaners and pony beads to make bracelets and crowns. She would sometimes bead her own pipe cleaner, but sometimes just having someone in the back seat making stuff for her was just as good at keeping her calm and happy. It'd be fun for the grandparents too, I bet!

Good luck and have fun!

My kids don't get to watch TV. Period. The TV is in the basement, we rarely go down there and when we do, I don't turn it on for them.
That said, we shamelessly use the portable DVD player on long trips. Elmo, Baby Einstein-esq programs, even my husband's OSU football DVDs (son LOVEs football!). If he cries, he looses the DVD player, if I have to listen to him cry, it might as well be without the background noise of the DVD player. He always stops getting upset about whatever it is so he can watch again. I'm not saying he watches for HOURS, but when he's done coloring, looking at books, played with all his toys, I get it out for the last hour or two.

I have always taken long car trips at night. We leave about an hour before our childrens bed time and drive. Yes, it is harder on you. But it is best for your child to stay on routine!

We just made a seven hour trip this past week.... and again yesterday coming home. We have a four year old & a 23 month old. Typically when making this long trip we do leave early in the morning between 4 and 6a.m. so that they sleep for a large portion of the trip. This time we didn't have the choice to do so under the circumstances. We left around 11:00 a.m. and the kids did great! They were awake for the first couple hours of the trip and we stopped around 1p.m. for bathroom breaks and stretching. We spent probably 20 minutes at the rest area before getting back in the car. After that they took a 2.5 hour nap (surprisingly the 4 yr old did too)...and was awake for the remainder of the trip. We then stopped again for about 20 to 30 minutes with approximately two hours left in the trip. The kids did great even traveling during the day.
The main things we do is take plenty of books, coloring books, and favorite small toys to keep the kids entertained. One of the things I've found useful is to give them things sporatically during the trip and not let them know you have everything you do at one time. I typically let them help pack their small kids bag with activities, but always have a couple surprises. We also play games while in the car like "I spy" and find things outside while driving. Both of my kids are really into horses so we search for horses, cows, or even watch for different colored cars to pass by. Of course make sure you have the favorite blanket handy or a comfy one if there isn't a favorite. We always make sure we have a couple snacks, but don't go overboard. Good luck with your trip.. I'm sure that it will go just fine. :)

Hi B.,

Lots of good advice. We did the night thing when kids were little; sometimes we still do the "very early morning" start with our teens, they will sleep for awhile just like toddlers!! lol

First off, plan for it to take more than 8 hours. Try not to schedule anything for right after you arrive. You'll stress about getting there on time, and what with possible delays along the way (accidents, construction etc) you might not make it at the right time.

When you do stop for whatever reason, take care of everyone/everything before you get back on the road--e.g., bathroom/diaper, exercise, food/snacks, and gas. It is really frustrating to stop for bathroom, get back on the road, have baby fall asleep, then have to stop for gas half an hour later and have baby wake up and fuss!!

If you are still nursing you can actually nurse in the car if you are not driving--keep child in car seat, but you will have to go into contortions. But it works.

Since you will have other adults in the car, they can take turns watching baby while you use the rest room. But if you ever travel alone with a baby, put him/her in a stroller and use the handicap rest room or family rest room. the stroller will fit in there, and baby will be reasonably confined while you do what you need to.

Put an old towel or blanket or flannel-backed tablecloth on the car seat (not the baby carseat, the one that is part of the car--hope that made sense) to catch crumbs, spills etc.

Have a camera handy to capture anything cute baby and grandparents do while traveling, at rest stops etc. you'll make good memories.

Have fun!

K. Z.

My kids love their travel DVD players. It keeps them quiet.

I agree with some of the earlier comments. We took a 20 hour drive. We left at 5 am which helped because the kids were soooo sleepy (we drove with a 20 month old and a 5 week old). Also a dvd player with some favorite shows. We also have a cd called "Car Ride Fun" and we sang the songs (for several hours) but that kept the older one happy for some time. Also leave room for you to sit next to your toddler. my little ones loved having me sit in the back with them and hold their hands and read to them or play. We did flashcards and colored together.

Good luck and have fun!

We've made a couple of 6-12 hr car trips -our little guy is 3 now. Leaving in the night was great for all of us. Just from experience- we left at 8pm once to drive 10 hrs--we barely made it, staying up all night driving was hard on us then Asher was wide awake when we got there since he slept all night in the car! The other times we left around 3am so he slept the first several hours--much better. I also took him to the store and let him pick out "special" snacks and drinks for the trip. We borrowed a portable dvd player and my husband burned dvds of his favorite shows. I also brought a bag full of car friendly toys, v-tech, coloring books, games he could play alone, cars. -the thing he played with most was a set of highlighers and pad of paper- they were new and still in their wrappers, so of course that makes them more fun! Lots of rest stops and stopping for lunch at Mcdonald's also helped. The first trip we packed lunch and stopped halfway to picnic--but it was so hot we were miserable. Much better to pay for a meal in that situation!
Good luck! I hope you all have a safe trip!!

My son was 25 months when we drove to Myrtle Beach from Ohio. We did make a stop for a couple of days in the mountains but the second part of the trip was 7 or 8 hours. I had tons of different snacks, and a box of toys for him in the back. We have a van, so the passenger up front, had to hand him the toys since he couldn't reach him. I had gotten some toys that he never saw before and other toys, I packed away some time before our trip so that he hadn't seen them in a while. On the second part of the trip we basically stopped every 2 to 3 hours and grabbed something to eat which helped us tremendously. We always got out of the car and sat down in the restaurant which were all fast food restaurants. We let him walk or play as much as we could. Granted it did lengthen our travel time by about an hour or a little more but it was worth it. He didn't sleep well in the car. Only 1 hour long stretches. 1 1/2 hours was the most. Turned out that he is a great traveler. The only thing was that he didn't want to get back in the van once we got to Myrtle Beach if we wanted to go shopping or something. We also brought some CD's with kids singing on them which he really enjoyed. I wish I had remembered that we had given my older stepchildren a Video Now. Have you ever heard of them? They are tiny video players (smaller than travel DVD players; kinda like a handheld ninento ds). They cost anywhere from $9.99 (I saw them at Tuesday Morning just a couple of days ago) to $49.99. They play special little PVDs (smaller than DVDs). The PVDs can be costly although they have them pretty cheap on ebay. Anyway, I wish we had thought of it and taken one with us, my son would have loved it!
We're getting ready to go on another trip and the Video Now is already packed. Good luck on your trip.

My advise, that always works with my 16month old and 3 1/2 year old is to leave early! We leave for car trips at about 3 in the morning. Then, they sleep until about 7, sit in the car for another hour and we stop for breakfast! That way 5 hours of our trip are over and the rest of the trip doesn't seem so long for them!!!! Hope this idea helps!