Road Tripping with a Newborn

It may sound a bit crazy but it is possible to go on a road trip with a NEWBORN!  We decided to take a little (6 hour) drive down to Las Vegas last weekend.  I wanted to do something fun for Kevin's first Father's Day and we're going to be making a cross-country drive in less than two weeks so we thought we should do a trial run.  We stayed in a nice hotel OFF the strip and avoided anything wild or scandalous.  We ate meals off the strip at quiet places and in our room.  We went to the outlet malls and read at Starbucks... a very family friendly trip I'd say! 

We drove as long as the baby wanted to and stuck to her diaper/feeding schedule.  She snoozed during the whole drive and we stopped about every 3 hours.  We found a shady spot to park, rested a bit, took care of the necessities and then got back on the road.  Everyone was happy with this arrangement.  We also mapped out our drive and directions to the hotel in advance so we knew exactly where to go. 

Here's what worked best for us:

We packed our portable bassinet.  It was the perfect snoozing spot for day and night.

We ended up putting the bassinet in the middle of the big bed so that it was easily accessible and there would be no chance of her falling out of bed.

 We ate dinner IN our room instead of being out and about late at night.

We brought along our stroller so we didn't have to carry the car seat everywhere.  Our car seat has little chimey toys and I always have a paci clipped to the car seat so we're never traveling without a paci.

 We brought along TONS of wipes, diapers, breast pump, extra pacis, lotions, baby creams, mittens, nail files, bottles, formula, milk storage containers, tiny formula containers, disposable nipples and bottle cooler container.

As far as clothes go, I brought a few bibs for each day, several swaddle blankets, sleep sacks and a few outfits for each day.  We also pack socks.  I over packed in this department but I didn't want her to have an accident or a messy explosion and have to buy an outfit.

I wasn't sure what the room temperature would be so I made sure to pack several blankets.

I was recently gifted this Thirty-One bag and it was perfect for the trip!!  It has outside pockets and is a great size for almost anything.  I packed everything in vertically so that I could easily grab what I needed without having to dig through the whole bag.  I also filled the outside pockets with the baby hygiene items.

We used the laundry bag from the hotel to hold all of the dirty baby items.  It helped us to keep them separate and then when it was time to go we just put this inside of her bag.  No confusing of the clean and dirty items :)

Don't forget to bring the baby.

Traveling is hard work says Olive :)

Looking forward to our next trip together.