BF when on a road trip

[twobabiesinnc]

We are going to be in the car for at least 8 hours and my DD eats every 3 hours.
How am I going to do this? Especially since some nursing sessions last 30 mins?

[keen1981]

Pump.

[palsmama]

stop every 3 hrs? that's what we did when we went on road trips when my DS was little.

[mom23boys]

I'm assuming that you'll be stopping for gas, bathroom breaks etc. Unless you're wearing an astronaut diaper, you'll need to stop. Feed the baby then. We just got back from driving 4000 miles. The best way for me was to not promise we would be anywhere by a certain time. That way you're not rushed and you can stop to feed

[PerfectFifth]

Originally Posted by palsmama stop every 3 hrs? that's what we did when we went on road trips when my DS was little.

This. We moved across the country when DS was 7 months old-- a 24-HOUR STRAIGHT TRIP!!! We had a gas guzzler, so we had to stop every few hours anyway, and I just fed DS whenever we stopped. You'll be happy to move around, and baby will be happy to be out of the car seat. Plus, she'll probably need a diaper change anyways. Good luck with the trip!

[Just Add Water]

I travel a lot with my 2 kids on my own and my 7 month old is breastfed - I stop every few hours and feed - gives my 2 year old a chance to run around and me a chance to stretch my legs.

[Swimmingly]

With ODD it was no problem to just stop every few hours, whenever she got hungry, and feed her. Really you need to stop for something or other every few hours anyway. No big deal.

Now, YDD on the other hand... Ugh. Will NOT BF during a driving trip. Period. We have been on several driving trips with her and the kid just WILL NOT BF until we are done. I took her out to a bench in a park, a restaurant, of course just in the car itself, nothing. The kid wouldn't BF at all until we got to our hotel (or relatives house) and then she just went to town. On the longer trips I have had to pump and feed her in a bottle just to get her to eat, which is seriously annoying... Ah well, life with kids.

[idnar82]

Just relax and take your time. If baby takes 30 min to eat every 2-3 hours, then stop every 2-3 hours to feed for 30 minutes. We travel a lot and I have 3 kiddos. One is my breastfed 3 month old. I just try to stay calm and cool and have the motto..."we'll get there when we get there." It took us 14 hours to do a 11 hour trip in June. We all lived and arrived in one piece :-) Just relax as much as possible. You can do it!

[twobabiesinnc]

Thank you for all of the advice and words of encouragement. I guess I should be prepared to pump if he doesn't nurse. We never really nurse outside of the home. I will try it and see how it goes.
Thank you!

[carolineb]

Will you be driving alone? We recently did a 13 hour round trip driving trip. We were sort of on a time crunch so I know it isn't the safest but I leaned over the car seat to nurse him. We were on major highways so mainly just driving at a constant pace. It was an unexpected trip so I didn't have time to pump otherwise I would have done that. But ds doesn't take bottles well anyway. He prefers straight from the tap!