Car travel + vacation toys with a 4 month old

[Anonymous]

Ok, so we're going south for the winter - we'll actually be gone almost 3 weeks. My DS will be 4-4.5 months old at the time (right in between sizes too - joy - he's growing so fast!). In any case, what toys does one bring for the beach/pool? Any other suggestions for keeping them entertained on a long car trip? On BF while car tripping? What does one put a child in at the pool (kind of diapers/covers etc.)? Is it just a swimmer diaper?

[Anonymous]

OP here - also, any suggestions for such a long way away from home? Thankfully, for the last 2/3rds of the trip, we'll have a washer/dryer, but really, I'm thinking of the mountain of stuff we'll need - crib, bouncy seat, breastpump (for the couple times we'll get to go out at night!), stroller, etc., etc. Any suggestions of things NOT necessary are as welcome as things that are.

[Anonymous]

OP here again - sorry, I meant a long TIME away from home (not long way away)

[Anonymous]

At 4 months they don't need much. Bring a boppy for breast feeding, it is really hard to do in a car seat without a pillow of some sort.

A swim diaper is sufficient, you can also get a swim suit if you want but it isn't necessary.

There isn't much you can do to entertain a 4 month old on a car trip. Mine just slept the whole time when we went on one.

[Anonymous]

PP - did your child also sleep at night, or was that a horrible mess?

[Anonymous]

Our baby at that age was glued to her activity mat. We would stuff it in a large duffel bag and take it with us wherever we go.

Do you use a crib mobile? Obviously you wouldn't take that but we took a stuffed animal that had various white noise sounds (the sleep sheep). If you are using a pack-n-play and it has the plastic hoop that goes over the top we hung toys from that to take the place of the mobile.

We also did a lot of night driving so DD would just sleep. And at 4 months DD was taking naps 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon so we would drive when she was sleeping and take her out for a long lunch.

Basically, for that long of a trip, you are pretty much taking everything you have so long as it fits in your car!

[Anonymous]

16:26 here. We did the same as 21:01. At 4 months, he wasn't really on a schedule yet, but we'd leave after breakfast, and we'd hear him cooing and gurgling for an hour or so. He had some teething rings and such to play with. Then he'd fall asleep for 2 hours, and when he got up from his nap we'd stop for a long lunch (1-2 hours). Then he'd be awake in the car for another hour or so and nap for another 2, and we'd stop for the night. He slept fine at night, but he was always our good sleeper. We NEVER would have attempted such a trip with my oldest when he was that age.