I’m back after somewhat of a hiatus! Now that Australia has opened up post-Covid, we took a 3 week trip up to Brisbane so my family can finally meet Madi. It’s been 3 years since my whole family was last together, so I’ve been really excited about this trip. Although we were mentally prepared for some disruption to Madi’s routine, it was not an easy feat to travel with both an infant and a dog.

Part of this was the sheer amount of stuff we had to bring between all four of us. But mostly for Madi. Everything from her pram, to her foldable bathtub, to her milk warmer and bottle steriliser. Her bassinet alone took up most of the boot space. We had to tetris our little Golf to the max so we could fit everything in. The backseat was also chocked full between Madi’s car seat on one side, Bubble’s bed on the other, and more luggage in the middle. All the footwells were stuffed too, so you can imagine how squished it was! If we ever have another kid, we’d definitely need to upgrade to a bigger car.

In order not to overly disrupt Madi’s sleep schedule, we decided to split the route up over two days, stopping at Port Macquarie on the way up, and Coffs Harbour on the return trip. As we had Bubbles with us, we also had to book pet-friendly accommodation, so that drastically limited where we could stay.

We set off at 9am sharp every morning as that’s when Madi takes her first nap. The vibrations and hum of the car was extremely effective in lulling her to sleep, so we were able to drive for two hour stretches before she woke up. This worked well to allow us to stop at service centres for feeding, refreshments, and toilet breaks. Essentially we did not break from her routine while on the road.

As it was about a 5-6 hour drive each day, we usually made it to accommodation by sundown and could start Madi’s sleep routine. Unfortunately, what I overlooked was her 4 months sleep regression that promptly kicked in as soon as we got to Brisbane. While her daytime naps were relatively stable due to additional stimulation from increased activity (although she would occasionally wake earlier), her night time sleeps were a whole other challenge.

About 2 days after arriving, Madi would sleep from 7pm-12am without too much fuss, but then proceed to wake every 👏 single 👏 hour until 7am. To keep her from screaming and waking up the rest of the household, I had to resort to breastfeeding her so she would fall back asleep. At the same time, she went through a growth spurt as we discovered her size 2 nappies were completely filled up during the night and causing her to wake from discomfort. On top of everything else, I also found two little teeth coming up. I knew she was teething as she’s been drooling for the past few weeks, constantly putting her hands in her mouth, and making sucking noises with her lips. All-in-all, that’s a lot to experience along with being on the road and travelling!

Further tips for travelling with a baby:
☛ Always put a waterproof pee pad between baby and car seat to protect from poo explosions. We learnt from experience via her baby bouncer (which was, thankfully, easily washable). Car seats aren’t.

☛ Always have nappy bag fully packed (include trash bags!) and within reach. There might not be baby change stations at every rest stop.

☛ Aim to have a break every few hours. It is really uncomfortable for baby to be strapped into one position for too long. The new sights and scenes during rest stops also helped to stimulate and tire baby out.

☛ Better to over-pack than under-pack for baby. Despite taking up the most room, we only ended up using her pram once, and preferred the baby carrier as Madi now likes to be upright so she can view the world.

☛ Try to stick to baby’s existing schedule as the change of environment is disruptive enough. We brought an extra phone so we could continue to play white noise during her sleeps to cover up the extra household noises.

In comparison, my dog was an absolute gem. Not a peep out of him for the whole trip. He snoozed in the car the whole time and enjoyed the breaks where he got to stretch his legs.