Travels with Twins: Infant Road Trip Edition

We have braved the wilds of traveling with young twins, and I have lived to tell the tale! While traveling might seem like the last thing you want to do with newborn babies, there are some benefits to traveling when they’re still pretty young. For us, we just wanted to take the boys to see their great grandparents in Arkansas before Thanksgiving when they’ll be a year old and that infant cuteness will have almost given way to toddler insanity.

From our trip, here are some tricks that helped us. Please note that this is not “advice” per se. I’m not a travel expert, doctor, parenting expert, or driving expert, so please don’t regard my commentary as such. I’m just commenting on what worked for us.

First, you have to decide when you’re going to go. Many people suggest traveling overnight, but we figured this might make us both sleep deprived and make the traveling unsafe. We wanted to be as safe as possible with such precious cargo, so we decided to drive during the day. Our boys love car rides, even just around town, and they are great sleepers in the car. This obviously isn’t true of all babies, so that could have a big effect on when/if you travel. To make sure the during the day trip would work, we did a “test trip” a few weeks before we planned to take the plunge. We put the boys in the car and drove to a location about 3-4 hours away, and then returned home on the same day. This was really helpful, as it gave us an idea of what to expect and what we could improve about our travel strategy.

As we prepared for the big launch day, we did a few things to gear up. First, we purchased bottled, premade formula. We usually make our formula from powder, but we felt it was worth the extra money to have less hassle while on the road and in other people’s homes. We also purchased an extra bottle drying rack and bottlebrush. In the days leading up to the trip, we tried to use up all the pumped breast milk in the fridge so that we wouldn’t have to take it with us on the road, and it wouldn’t go bad sitting in the fridge during our absence.

My Granny with Malcolm

The night before the trip, we put the boys to bed early so that we could get out in the morning before rush hour. Once the boys were down, we packed up the minivan ahead of time so that we could feed the boys in the morning and get right on the road. The second the boys finish eating, the clock begins ticking down to their next feed, so you don’t want to waste an hour packing up the car. Obviously there were a few things we couldn’t pack ahead of time (their beds, formula that can’t sit out in the cold, valuables like laptops, etc), but anything that could go in, did.

In the morning it was feed, pack the remaining stuff, and go! Once on the road, the boys slept almost without incident for the first 3-4 hour cycle. This was pretty consistent both on the test trip, the trip down there, and the trip home. Once the boys fussed and were clearly ready to eat, we pulled over and fed and changed them.

For feedings and changes, we tried to do everything in the car. Here’s my thinking behind that—gas station bathrooms are unreliable as far as space, cleanliness, etc. The last thing I wanted to do was cart a screaming, hungry baby into the bathroom of the local Citgo just to find a broken changing table covered with years of dried baby poop. While changing the boys in the car was tough, especially when they pooped, it kept us from having to have them out in the February cold, and it sped up the changing process. I just put our travel-changing pad on the driver’s seat and changed them while I sat in the passenger seat. To bottle feed the boys, the husband and I would each take a baby and a bottle, and sit in the front seat with them. It was a little cramped and uncomfortable, but we liked the privacy in case the boys started screaming or spitting up.

My Grandma with Brendan

Once back on the road, the boys were always a little more restless the second 3-4 hour cycle. They’d nod off for a little bit, then wake back up and look around, and then get a little fussy…and this cycle would repeat itself a few times. To soothe them while we were driving, we did a few things. First, we would shake their car seats in the bases. Again, I’m not sure that this is safe to do, but my friend used to do it and it’s remarkable how well it works. We just pushed against the car seat and kind of shook it back and forth. This usually bought us some time. Another trick we used, which was probably awful for our tires and scared the crap out of other drivers, was to intentionally drive on the safety grooves along the side of the highway. These grooves are there to wake up drivers who fall asleep and start to go off the road, but the vibrations they create seemed to be pretty soothing to the boys. Lastly, I played white noise through the car’s sound system as loudly as possible, and shifted the audio to the rear of the car so that my husband and I could still talk. This one wasn’t as effective, but it couldn’t hurt, right?

To pump while driving (while I was the passenger of course), I luckily have a pump with pretty strong battery life. If the battery had gone low, I also purchased on A/C adapter for the car. It was pretty cheap on Amazon, but I never had to use it, so I really can’t review it. When the milk was pumped, I stored it in a Munchkin Cool Wrap bottle bag that I bought at Target. It stores up to three 8 oz bottles, and it kept them relatively cold. I’d use them in the next feeding as well so that they didn’t sit in the cooler for more than 4 hours.

Boys chilling on the passenger seat in Southern Illinois

We shockingly were able to do the 667 mile trip with only two stops, but as I said, our boys love the car. Before babies, this trip used to take us about 10 hours, and it took about 12.5 hours this time. It was a little tough, but not impossible by any stretch of the imagination, and I’d definitely do it again.

As far as the destination itself, we stayed with family, so I have no experience with hotels and babies. Staying with family makes things easier because you have more space and access to a fridge, sink, etc, but it also makes it a little harder because you’re worried about the little ones bothering your family with their fussiness or early morning wailing. Luckily, the boys were pretty obliging and so was our family. The only other struggle about being away from your house with little ones is the lack of swings, bouncers, activity gyms, etc where you are going. We did a lot of blanket-on-the-floor, which was fine. If the boys needed a little swinging, we would put them in their car seat and rock it manually.

Wondering what a packing list looks like with three-month-old twins? Well, here it is:

• 2 Rock n Plays
• 72 count box of diapers
• Extra Wipes
• 6 six packs of formula
• Breast pump and accessories
• Bottles
• Bottle drying rack
• Bottle brush
• Diaper bag
• Suitcase with baby clothes and swaddles
• My suitcase
• Husband’s suitcase
• Jogging Stroller (should’ve left this at home)
• Snap n Go Stroller
• 2 Baby Carriers
• 2 Car seats
• Bottle cooler bag
• Baby detergent

All in all, traveling wasn’t as stressful as I thought it might be. As long as you plan well and have a little help where you’re headed, there’s no reason that you can’t take your little ones out and about, especially once they’re sleeping through the night. Just plan ahead, be flexible, be safe, and have fun!