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Home › Articles › Family Life › On the Road With an Infant

On the Road With an Infant

How Can You Keep Babies Happy and Safe on Long Car Trips?

By Melinda Copp

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Some parents are blessed with babies who love to travel, most likely because they are still young enough to fall asleep every time they get in the car. But as Baby gets older, he will be more alert and less willing to drift off for long periods of time. That means you need to provide entertainment for your little one while traveling in the car, and this presents a number of challenges.

According to Bob Lancer, host of the radio show Bob Lancer's Parenting Solutions and author of Parenting with Love, Without Anger or Stress (Parenting Solutions, 1997), the first key of a successful road trip is to stay calm.

"Any tension in the car translates into baby stress," says Lancer, who explains that taking charge of children begins with taking charge of yourself first. "If the child does become upset, do not allow that to cause you to be upset."

The second key is to be prepared to keep Baby busy by packing all the food you might possibly need, an assortment of toys, books and any other items your baby is attached to. Bring Baby's favorite music or a CD of nursery rhymes. If you're traveling alone with Baby, keep your bag of tricks handy so you can reach over and hand it to the baby when needed, Lancer says.

"Get one of those additional rearview mirrors that permit you to view your child in the back seat, so you can read body signals and respond pro-actively," says Lancer, who also suggests bringing another adult on the trip when possible.

"For longer trips it is not only helpful, but safe to have a grown passenger whose primary task is to keep the baby occupied," Lancer says. "A crying child in the car is more than just annoying; it is dangerously distracting."


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