REVIEWS
Tips On How To Travel By Car With An Infant – Suggested by a Mom
Travelling by car with an infant can actually be stressful most especially when going for longer-trip. So, you will need to carefully plan your journey/trip in case you’re going along with an infant because this will help you avoid making common mistakes associated with travelling with kids/infants hence achieving a smooth and comfortable journey. So, below are the steps that you will have to follow in case you wish to achieve the best road-trip or journey with your infant.
RELATED:- What Is The Best Convertible Car Seat?
SECTION-1: HOW TO USE AN INFANT CAR-SEAT:
- Select an infant car-seat of your choice: when purchasing an infant car-seat, safety should be a top-priority and after consider factors like the infant’s size and age. There are actually 3 basic-types of car-seats on the market and these include; rear-facing car-seats for babies under 35-pounds, infant-toddler car-seats which can be used as rear-facing and forward-facing seats for babies under 45-pounds and booster car-seats little-children over 4-years. So, try choosing the right car-seat depending on your kid’s weight and age.
- Take time to install the car-seat correctly: car-seats should always be carefully and properly installed into the back-seat or middle-seat of the vehicle. In fact, try to checkout the installation-instructions in your manual in order to make sure that you have correctly installed the car-seat. Additionally, make sure that the latches and belts are securely installed and also ensure that the car-seat rear-facing in case you have an infant because this happens to be the safest position for babies.
- Learn the laws that govern usage of car-seats: laws that regulate usage of car-seats vary from state-to-state, so you need to take-off some time to check-out these laws in order to ensure that your infant is having a safe and appropriate car-seat.
SECTION: HOW TO PREPARE YOUR VEHICLE IF YOURE GOING TO TRAVEL WITH AN INFANT:
- Get the vehicle inspected: in case you going for a long-trip, then take your car to a mechanic for service before travelling. In fact, it’s best to find-out about the car-faults before leaving for the trip than when you run into unexpected car-faults in the middle of your trip along with the infant. So, try to repair and replace any faulty within your car if necessary before going for the trip.
- Buy some removable sun-shades: purchase some sun-shades and mount them onto the car-windows in order to shield your infant’s face and eyes from direct sunlight when travelling on a sunny-day.
- Remove any hazardous objects from the vehicle: you need to make sure that there are no any sharp-objects around the infant car-seat no matter if your little-child can reach them or not. This is because these objects can be dangerous to your child in case he/she gains access to them during the trip. So, it’s recommended to remove these sharp-objects from the vehicle-seats in order to keep your little-child safe while travelling.
- Set-up the front-top mirror in your car: set the mirror at front-top section of the vehicle so that you can be able to your little-child clearly from the front-seat on the vehicle. This will enable you to easily check-on your infant and the infant will also be able to see you through this mirror during the trip.
- Decorate the car-windows: try decorating the car-windows with some brightly-colored, removable images because these will help to keep your infant busy/occupied during the trip. But don’t choose large-decorations because they will interfere with your ability to see outside the vehicle during the trip.
- Ensure that there is a light-source within the car: in case you will be travelling at night, then consider switching-on the light at the top of the car so that the infant doesn’t get scared during the trip. However, make sure that the light isn’t too-bright otherwise, it may interfere you while driving.
- Fill the vehicle with enough fuel/gas: you should actually begin your trip with the car-tank fully filled with gas/fuel because this will actually save you from making extra stopovers during the trip for gas/fuel refilling.
SECTION-3: HOW TO PACK FOR THE TRIP IF YOURE GOING TO TRAVEL WITH AN INFANT:
- Pack-up plenty of baby-wipes and diapers: always take a lot of wipes and diapers in order to avoid getting stuck without any of these items during the trip.
- Take any required feeding-supplies: when travelling with an infant, always pack-up some bottles and also take enough milk-formula in case that’s what your little-child consumes. Likewise, if the little-one has already started eating solid-foods, then take some of these foods with you.
- Pack some snacks and water for your consumption: in case you’re a breastfeeding mother, then you will have to eat and drink a lot of water in order to keep your body hydrated and to facilitate on milk-production. Likewise, in case you’re not breast-feeding then you still need to eat and drink so as to stay in better condition while travelling.
- Carry some towels and blankets: blankets will actually help to cover the infant while sleeping and towels will be of great use in-terms of creating a diaper changing-surface. Additionally, you can even use the towels to wipe-up/clean the baby when he/she gets dirty.
- Take extra-clothing for the baby and yourself: babies are known for being messy whereby they spill-food and spit-up. So, it best you come along with extra clothing in order to change-up the baby and even yourself.
- Carry some garbage-bags: these will help to keep things like trash, dirty-diapers and leftovers. You will actually have to put the trash-bags in the car-boot until you reach a place of disposal.
- Pack some toys: taking some soft-toys will help to keep your little-child occupied during the trip. In fact, toys will help the little-one to fall asleep but don’t give kids hard-toys because they can cause danger while driving.
- Carry a first-aid kit and other required medications: before you start your trip, make sure that your vehicle is equipped with a standard first-aid kit and also try to carry other medications like; rash-creams, pain-killers, thermometer and many others.
SECTION-4: HOW TO TRAVEL BY CAR WITH YOUR INFANT:
- Consult a pediatrician: first take the baby to a pediatrician for medical check-up in case you’re going for a longer-trip. The pediatrician will even provide you with some of the health-tips to consider while travelling with an infant.
- Place the baby into the car-seat: carefully put the baby into the car-seat and then buckle him/her up securely before starting the trip. However, if you don’t travel by car more-often then you may consider getting the baby used to sitting into a car-seat.
- Know your health-status: before you leave for the trip, make sure that you’re healthy and feeling well especially you’re the one going to drive for the whole trip.
- Plan for any delays: you actually need to create room for delay since you will have to make frequent stopovers to feed, comfort and change-cloths of the infant. So, if a trip is meant to take 6-hours, then consider it taking about 8-to-9 hours if you have an infant.
- Go with someone if possible: incase it possible, then try going with another adult on the trip because he/she will help to give you company and even entertain or help you with the baby hence making the trip less-stressing but just enjoyable.