[Babies] I need advice from any parents who have brought 16 month old kids to a trip. The car ride will be 5 hours but we will take multiple breaks of course. Also what to do with babies at resturants and hotels, any traveling tips in general
The one major thing I suggest if you don’t have one is Hook On Chair, VEEYOO Clip On High Chair Folding Fast Table Chair with Storage Bag, Portable Baby Feeding Seat Attach to Table for Home and Travel
Hotels, generally make sure the kid has something to do in the room. Restaurants it's mostly a matter of keeping them 1) in their chair and 2) entertained so they don't try to escape
i'm not a parent but i did babysit and au pair and i was, at one point, an actual child! mostly i just agree with everything said so far but i wanna recommend that if he has any movies that he likes, and those movies have songs, be able to play those songs in the car.
oh, and also, to have plastic bags in the back in case longer rides make him nauseous, even if he's been fine so far the sheer length might make his tummy upset.
re: carsickness possibilities, be sure he can easily see out the windows. carsickness, just like the headaches people get from VR games, is caused by a mis-match between motion vs stillness, in visuals vs what you feel.
it's why the answer to carsickness is to put the book or handheld device away and watch out the window for a few. so if his attention is on something not moving for a while - a book, screen, toy, etc, that doesn't encourage him to look out the windows much, or even catch it in his periphery often, fussiness may increase, from general not feeling well-ness,
which little kids especially have a hard time articulating. heck, even older kids often have a hard time articulating it, so "I don't feel good" can get dismissed as "general fussiness" when it actually comes down to "I don't understand why my stomach/head is upset, as I've done/eaten nothing to cause it, just been quietly reading and behaving so far"
I used to have that issue, with quietly reading and not being an argumentative little brat like my younger sibs tended to be, so their squeakier wheels would get all the grease, so to speak, and I didn't understand better yet, or I'd have put the book down more often....
for restauraunts, if you don't want to use the screen to occupy him (which, honestly, at this age isn't a good idea anyway), have something prepared for him to do.
it can be as low-tech as a couple of nesting containers with lids he can open and close. Or some beans in a small container he can transfer with a spoon to the other. Just simple, easy to clean up things that will occupy him well
I once saw a toddler that all they wanted to do was spoon water from one glass to another and the parents were like, no watch this iphone instead!! And let me tell you, that child went right back to trying to spoon water afterwards, lol
VR queasiness: seeing motion, feeling still
carsickness: feeling motion, not seeing it