Ultimate guide to Car Travel with infant - 4 MAJOR tips ⋆ California Perspective.com

Misha playing with animals at Elinor Friend Playground, San Francisco Zoo

Planning vacation with a baby? Don’t know what to expect? Here are 4 Tips to consider.

Every advice in this post is valuable and carries meaning; read on carefully we hope that you’ll have a pleasant and enjoyable daycatoin, staycatoin or vacation in California with your kids! Car travel with infant should be an enjoyable experience for parents and children alike. We present couple of major tips for your next mini expedition.

YouTube Red in the Car Travel with infant (when there’s no internet service available) is a life saver for any parent! WET WIPES save lives! Sunscreen! A few light snacks.

1. Research, Prepare, Plan for Car Travel with infant

We just can’t place enough emphasis how important it is to do your homework before you go on travels with little ones. Things can go amok in a blink of an eye – road closures; unexpected weather conditions and other environmental factors can affect your mini expedition. Thus Check for all those constrains prior going to your car travel with infant.

Be sure to familiarize yourself with the location; ask yourself – can you leave your kid alone just for two seconds? Examples – if you’re going to Sequoia National Park there could be rattle snakes crawling all over – and letting our kid run into the brush can end up tragic. Although you might feel completely safe letting your kid explore the local park, out in the wild on hikes you have to be a bit more vigilant. Watch out for poison oak, and make sure your little one doesn’t eat some random berries or bugs.

Acquaint yourself with the topography of the park; what looks like a short hike might turn into a nightmare if you are going downhill one way and have to climb a steep hill on the way back. You know you’re going to be carrying that precious little gift of life. Just be sure that you know what hiking entails and how your baby will handle the difficult parts of the hiking.

Misha found a boat at Timber Cove, California, Pacific Coast Highway

How to deal with a crying baby while you car travel with infant?!

California Perspective with kids — Little Bear driving on Hwy 5

2. Stay Cool, Calm, and Collected

Sometimes babies can become fussy or outright hysterical in the matter of seconds; and by the time you can figure out the cause of their discontent you are in a full swing tantrum. What do you do? What do you do if you are in the middle-of-nowhere and your baby is crying in the car seat? You have to keep driving, but with every second the little one that was peacefully napping only moments ago is suffocating from crying and is turning purple red from the self-induced stress. The sound is unbearable, you have tried everything in your power – gave them water, gave them little snack, put on a theatrical show with the toys. Nothing works!

Sea Ranch Sonoma County house — Sea Ranch, Sonoma County, California Staycation

Don’t panic! Remain Calm! Have contingency plans! What works really well for our son –Cartoons what we can show him on the phone or tablet – It’s so miraculous! totally like magic ! So be prepared if you don’t have internet – best solutions, preload the videos, or sign up for YouTube Red.

YouTube Red in the car is a life saver for any parent while you car travel with infant.!

You can also show the videos of the baby that you recorded earlier – also seems to work well for our little guy.

East-Bay-California23 — Top of Mt. Diablo in East Bay, San Francisco, California

Finding a rest stop; and letting child walk for a bit also seem to work well for us. Have a few interactive books that you both can play with – another great distraction.

travel with infants, Yosemite falls with kids — This is our first trip with Bear to Yosemite falls – picture taken near Glacier point

It is best to plan transportation around children’s nap time. If you give them a bit of food prior the departure, smooth rocking of the road and humming engine are the rest of equation for perfect travel.

3. Pack light but thorough

Roaring Camp Railroads, Felton, CA, Santa Cruz County, kids — Exploring the Train Depot at Roaring Camp Train station

Bring snack, drinks, extra clothes, a sweater, maybe a windbreaker, a hat, diapers & WET WIPES, let me emphasize this WET WIPES, and of course a few tiny trash bags – Seems like a lot ? Well, if you pack everything compactly and have it ready for just in case it isn’t all that much; However if you forget food/ water or wet wipes in case the little angel poops – your pleasant hike will turn into a nightmare; so remember to prep the baby bag first.
Don’t forget the sunscreen – unlike adults all the children are susceptible to sunburn, even if it’s not sunny.

4. Safety First, Crying Second

Make sure that your little one always remains seated in the car seat for duration of the drive. We are always tempted to take him out of the car seat whenever he cries – however a better option is to show him movies or simply pulling over altogether.

San Francisco Zoo playground rabbit — petting rabbit at the San Francisco Zoo playground \

There are strap-backpacks available for kids for once they start walking – which is another great precautionary measure to keep them close and under control.

Baby proof not only your house but the hotel rooms as well!! Bring a few baby proof items and your life becomes 10 million times easier and enjoyable. Here are some items we’d like to recommend.