I went away last week with my Sister. She's visiting all the way from London and I organised my life so I would be able to spend as much time as possible with her.
The rest of our family were waiting for her arrival on the Westcoast (where we're from), so I picked her up from the airport with Milla only to find out we had to wait another 2 hrs for her luggage to arrive on a later flight. Milla was ready for bed, in fact, ready hours ago, I was trying to stretch it out so she would sleep for the ride over. It was nice to hang out at the airport together and eat lunch. Amy was hanging out for a bakery, apparently they dont have bakeries in England. Weird, huh?
By the time we left the airport Milla was in good spirits, but had been awake for 8 hours and was past it. We had used up most of her food at the airport and Aunty Amy was a stranger who she didn't like sharing the car with her very much. Basically, she slept for 20 minutes and howled the rest of the 3 hours and 40 minutes it took to get to Westport.
We tried everything and I was cursing the person who had told me that morning that babies just look out the window and are happy on long journeys if they have a snack in their hands. Yeah right. Lesson learnt. In the end we turned up the music to drown her out and that actually worked. She loves music, and whenever the song ended or we talked she started up again. Instead we just sang the rest of the way (really loudly) and that seemed to work.
When we arrived Amy had a little greeting party waiting for us at the top of the driveway. Mum, Nana, Bec, Adam and Tracey were all waving us down in the car. We hopped out and gave them all hugs. Amy had tears and we were in Westport with our family.
Oh man, I feel for you! I thought travelling at night when baby sleeps was a good one to keep them in routine. But if they don't sleep when they should, I'm stumped.
ReplyDeleteIf we stopped every hour or two while driving (during the day) and took baby out for a little wander, he'd be ok for a little bit longer. Food helped, familiar toys helped. But sometimes he was just mad and we just had to try and ignore it. Like you, the radio usually went up.
Good luck for future trips!
Love those reunion-tears. x
We had the exact same problem with our son and everything we tried (food, toys, even chocolate) didn't work, so we resorted to buying a portable dvd player & boy is it fantastic!!!!
ReplyDeleteWe only use it on long trips & only put it on when he starts to fidget & grizzle & it works wonders - even if it finishes before we get to where we are going he is happy after!
portable dvd player (I know she's a bit young, but for a one off to replace howling gotta be worth a try!)
ReplyDeleteWe're so lucky, Tiny is a brilliant traveller, whether in the car or on a plane - I put it down to all the travelling he did in-utero!
ReplyDeleteYou could try stopping for a decent break - for lunch, or a burst around a playground - or timing the journey for the start of a sleep, so they wake refreshed and happy, and the idea of travelling is a novelty and doesn't last long. Sounds like Milla was well overtired this time? We always pack a special bag with books and toys and lots of snacks (fruit and crackers, as well as special treats like little juice boxes and crisps), and allow time for stopping if there's a meltdown. Sometimes having someone sit in the back seat is enough of a distraction too.
How alike are you and your sister to look at?!?!
No tips sorry ;(
ReplyDeleteBut love the photo and look forward to reading rest of the story