We have a week and plan to drive from ca to yellowstone with our nine month old baby in a van, we will cover the long drive from ca to yellowstone in 2 days.....We need to decide whether to do this trip or make alternate plans. Our son crawls around the house and walks holding furniture. We are worried about making him sit in the car seat for hours and curtailing his daily activity. Please help us decide

Our first trip after our son was born was when he was 7 1/2 months old and we took an almost 3,000 mile traveling trip by car. It's a lot of work!

I think it all depends on how you approach it. DH and I loved to travel so it was worth the work for us. We kept going every year after!

If you really want to do this then go for it. I hope your week includes two weekends so you will have at least 4 or 5 days in the Yellowstone area. Also plan some time where your little one can get out of the van and get some fresh air and move around on his own.

Utahtea

Unless you plan on making frequent stops, having an active 9 month old in a car seat for most of 2 days, could be a problem. We took our then 9 month old son on a few weekend trips last summer, the longest of which was a traffic filled 7 hours. He couldn't have hated it more. Boredom is bound to set in and boredom is the bane of any toddler's existence.

That said, you should know your child better than anyone on this board. How do you think he'll deal with being strapped in for 5 or 6 hours at a time?

fodotravel, if this is indeed your first post, please don't think that all posters are nearly as snide as the first one. Ignore him/her. For what it's worth, here are my comments:
you have a week, and plan to do the long drive in 2 days. That's four days in the van and 3 out, right? I guess it depends on how well your child does in the car. Have you taken him for other long drives? Some babies do well on long trips, some get incredibly bored and can't stand it. Our son, now 3, used to love the car and would do quite well for a couple of hours, but then want OUT!!!! If you plan to stop often, if he can sleep in the van easily for morning and afternoon nap, if you bring toys and plan to do a lot of entertaining...I guess you could try it. Just sounds like you would be spending an awful lot of time in the car, only to have to turn around 3 days later and do it all over again. Could you take a shorter trip closer to home? If it were within a 2-3 hour drive, plan it so that you put the kid in the van just before one of the naps and drive the entire way with him/her asleep. Babies generally love motion, I know a lot of parents (including this one) that would specifically put their child in the car and drive just to get them to sleep. Hope this helps!!!

Have you thought of asking your pediatrician for his/her advice? I would that he/she would know you child a lot better than we do!

If it were one of my children, it would be hell.
They both got carsick as small children, hated to be strapped into infant seats for long, napped in the car but would stay awake all night, it will take you forever to take the trips, because you will want to stop often and give the baby a break.
Imagine how the baby would be if you strap him into his carseat and just leave him there for a few hours while you watch tv or somthing. Will he be passive and calm? If so, maybe you will fare better than we would have Good luck!

Are there other places closer to your home? I would not subject my children to this. And I would not punish myself by trying to stop his cries while my husband would get nervous at the wheel. It wouldn't be fair to all 3 of you.

As an adult, I think making it from CA to Yellowstone in 2 days might be too much for me. Since you are in CA and there is so much to see there, I would choose something closer to home and save Yellowstone for when you have a longer vacation and can break up the drive into smaller segments.

If you're as adventurous as you sound, I think you'll do the drive with little difficulty. Sure, go for it!

And hey, who says the kid has to be confined to a booster or car seat the whole journey. Why not let him crawl around the van every hour or two. Where's he going to go? OK, I know the safety boo birds are going give me a licking.

Too many parents lack the guts to travel with their kids, and wind up missing lots of life. Nobody said you had to put your life on hold simply because you became parents. Have a fun trip!!

Go and have a good time. It will help you raise a healthy kid as well.

Vette...How will 2 days in a car produce a healthy child?

Two days in a car? No, not the days, but the ways - the ways they take him on travel. If they stay at home, fearful to travel with him, it gives the kid the wrong self image. If they bite the bullet and keep travelling as he grows up, there'll be all those shared times to think back on, plus good times to come. Travel wil remain in the picture, and all will be healthier. We all do feel travel is healthy, right? Nine months, years, decades - what's the 'diff?

The reason for the snide post is that the initial post bear all the indicia of a troll post.

We didn't take vacations with our girls until they were out of diapers, strollers and carseats which put them at the age of 3. Oh, we still took trips just not with them. They are now 9 and 10 and they love to travel and often select our destinations. Sometimes it's just more trouble that what it's worth. As toddlers we did vist the grandparents but we never drove. The one hour plane ride was stressful enough.

All good points, and an interesting discussion.

Nicely put! We prefer short trips to the museum,minor league ballgame,and grammas house. To each their own.

Go for it! We've traveled with our two since our son was 1.5 yrs and daughter two months old. Of course its more work but its alot of work at home anyway, as you know.

Out kids have grown up on road trips, with flights only to DisneyWorld once and the UK once. (And the UK flight was horrific, but thats for another thread.) I truly think thats why they're such great travelers.

But you know your baby, best. Just plan on lots of stops, take lots of snacks, toys and 'surprises', then enjoy the JOURNEY as much as you enjoy getting to the destination! You'll have fun!

Even if your kid is a perfect baby (one of ours was a great traveler, the other a monster to travel with), one problem we encountered was that our kids would sleep in the car for long periods of time, and then be awake for half the night. This makes most parents really cranky.

VEtte4Paris & Ellen Grisworld,

It's finally nice to see others who are willing to take young ones on road trips!

Both of our kids went on road trips from a young age. It won't hurt them to learn to entertain themselves in a chair for a couple of days. Now a days you have videos the kids can watch. My boys had to play with toys they brought along.

Utahtea

It has not been all that long since I was deliberating these sorts of questions with my husband. I think it is too long a haul. As far as children entertaining themselves, yes at 3, 4 or 5 yrs maybe. 9 mos?? It sounds like your instincts are already telling you not to push this trip on the three of you. Enjoy something closer to home. Maybe you can tell readers where you are in CA and they can give you some alternative ideas. Have fun.

Let me say up front--I don't like cartrips. If it's more than 3-4 hours, I fly for sure and usually fly even if it's only 3 hrs. However, when my husband and I were much younger and poorer, the only way we could afford to travel was to drive. We took our son on a couple of long trips when he was 6 mos to 1 1/2 years old. As I recall, after the first day, he started screaming as soon as he saw the carseat--and this was with me doing everything I could to keep him entertained.
I guess, the bottom line is, if you can possibly afford it, I would recommend flying. Or if you can't afford that, try to vacation closer to home. When he is 3 or 4, he will do much better with the long distance trips.