A car journey as a mini-expedition
The Netherlands may seem small, but with a baby, toddler or pre-schooler, every journey can turn into a mini-expedition. For example, a journey lasting more than half an hour can be quite a long sit for a four-month-old baby.
Did you know that paediatricians advise that newborns should not be left in a car seat for more than three quarters of an hour at a time until they are about three months old? This means that a journey from Amsterdam to Zeeland suddenly requires two breaks, even though the distance looks short on the map.
You can create a much more peaceful atmosphere during a car journey with a baby than most parents realise. Those breaks along the way are actually more important than they seem. A motorway lay-by isn’t a great place to take a baby out of their car seat; it’s often windy, noisy and you’re literally surrounded by lorries. It’s therefore better to leave the motorway for a moment and look for a small park, a petting farm or a motorway service station with a quiet corner. These places are often just off the main route, but they make a world of difference.
You can also choose your departure time wisely. Many parents plan to avoid rush hour, but with a baby, their sleep pattern takes precedence over the traffic. If you set off around nappy time – usually sometime between twelve and two – you’ll often find that your child falls asleep naturally during the journey. That’s so much more comfortable than setting off early with a baby who’s just woken up and has to sit still straight away.
And then there’s the sun – something many parents only notice when things go wrong. In the early morning or late afternoon, the sun is low in the sky and can cause one side of a car seat to heat up considerably. You can easily prevent this by fitting a separate sunshade to the window.
You could also place a thin fitted sheet that smells of home in the car seat; many babies relax more quickly with something that smells familiar. A small mirror attached to the headrest gives you peace of mind whilst travelling, as you can see at a glance whether your baby is still sitting comfortably. And an empty thermos flask is an underrated hero: at every stop, you can ask for hot water for bottle feeds, without having to rely on whatever happens to be available.
On arrival, you can also save yourself a lot of hassle. In city centres such as Utrecht or Haarlem, you sometimes can’t park right outside the door, and with a baby and luggage, that’s trickier than it sounds. You can therefore ask in advance if you can unload briefly at the door, even if you then have to park elsewhere. That half a minute makes all the difference between a stressful and a smooth arrival.
They’re just small preparations, but together they transform a car journey from ‘just gritting your teeth and getting on with it’ to ‘that actually went surprisingly smoothly’.