Road Trip with a Baby

I hope you all had an amazing fourth of July weekend and enjoyed some sun and your families. For today's post I want to share my experience as well as some tips on taking a road trip with a baby. My son, Julian, just turned 5 months old about a week ago and we took a 5 hour road trip to visit my in laws for the weekend. I definitely was not as prepared for the ride as I would have liked to be but you learn from your mistakes right?
Let me start off by saying that my son absolutely hates the car and being in it for more than 20 minutes means he will have a meltdown. The items that I am going to list below were essentials for us to keep him entertained and not crying for the 5 hours it took us to get to our destination.

Car Seat

Now this can be completely up to you wether its as necessary as I think it was but a 4-in-1 car seat worked better for us than an infant carrier. For one, I feel like Julian is already outgrowing the infant carrier but these seats are also more roomy for him and he can see his surroundings a little better in this seat. We have the Cosco Apt 50 Convertible Car Seat and we absolutely love it. Julian is very comfortable in it and seems to nap very comfortably in it as well.

Snacks

We just started introducing solids to Julian but purees are not the most car friendly snack so we opted for some teethers. His favorite right now are the Happy Baby Organic Teethers in Pea and Spinach and in Blueberry and Purple Carrot. I like them because they dissolve easily which reduces the risk of him choking and he is learning to get food in his mouth on his own. AND they are only $3.99 a box!!!

During these hot summer months it is important to keep our little ones hydrated. I will nurse on demand but I also give Julian some water. I like the Munchkin Miracle 360 Trainer Cup because it is non spill and Julian has a very easy time holding it and drinking from it. He loves water and his cup!

Toys

Keeping the baby entertained has got to be one of the most important things when going on a road trip, especially if your baby is like mine and he hates being in the car. I Brough along his favorite toys to help the time pass faster when he was not napping. Some of his favorite toys are the Skip Hop Explore & More Roll Around Hedgehog, and the Manhattan Toy Jazzy Ball. We recently got gifted the VTech Wiggle and Crawl Ball and he loves to play with it when he's in the car seat.  

What are your road trip essentials to travel with a baby?