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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DH and I switch off holidays each year between his family and mine, and this is our year to go visit my family down south for Christmas.  It would be about a 12-13 hour drive normally.  We have a two year old (who will be almost three by then) and will have a two month old.  We also have two small dogs.

Typically, we've flown down to visit, but this time we'd have to buy the toddler a seat and tickets are usually around $350 to $400 during the holidays.  It's also quite expensive to fly with the dogs (depends on the airline, but usually about $125 for each dog each way, or $500 total).  So we were thinking of driving it this time.  We have a very roomy minivan with plenty of room for two car seats and the dog crates.  We could also split the trip into two days.  All in all, my guess is that, even with staying overnight in a hotel and paying for gas, it would save us about $1,200 to $1,500.

BUT, I've never taken a road trip this long with an infant or a toddler.  I'll have to stop and breastfeed every two to three hours and will also have to walk the dogs from time to time.  And if this infant is anything like my other kid, it might hate the car seat.  I THINK the toddler would be okay as long as we gave her the iPad (we don't do this often, but it's useful during long trips).  But I really don't know if that would even satisfy her for that long.

What would you do?  Has anyone ever taken a road trip this long with and infant and/or toddler?  Should I just suck it up and pay the extra money in exchange for the relatively short plane trip?  BTDT advice appreciated![/quote]

We do this twice a year and have done it since older DS was a young infant - now have a preschooler and infant. Takes about 12 hours total with stops. I've brought my pump in the car so we could do a combo of stopping to nurse and bottle-feeding (with baby in his carseat and me sitting next to him feeding him the bottle). I spend most of the ride in the back with the kids but during their long naps I'll sit in the front with DH. I prefer to do it in one stretch rather than breaking it up with an overnight. The worst part for us is ALWAYS packing and getting out the door. We also found that planning where we'll stop for lunch is key - for years we would pack lunch and stop at a rest stop, but then we'd need an additional stop for gas. Now we plan it so we only have to stop three times. This will likely change now that our older DS is potty trained, but we found it was very doable. Maybe we are lucky in that our kids were always good car sleepers and didn't make much fuss.[/quote]

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