Open Road Chronicles: How We RV With A Baby
The most frequently asked question we receive is, how do we travel in an RV with a baby. Its a lot easier than people think. Our friend Kali, with The Freedom Theory, says our little ones are perfect for traveling because they are travel size. That is the best way to explain it.
How Do We Keep Everything Emma Needs In The RV?
We are simple when it comes to our belongings and feel the less we have the better. That goes for Emma as well. We have something called a “Baby Nest” for her, where we all sleep on our king-sized bed.
She has a stroller, toys, and more clothes than Justin and I put together. Don’t get me wrong, anytime we go to a store and there is anything related to babies I have to bite my tongue to not go over and grab everything. We have to remind ourselves of self-control and knowing what we all need to be happy in our home on wheels.
Where Does Emma Sleep?
When we had our apartment we thought we would put Emma in her crib, but we found that we had this natural instinct to be close to her. My amazing uncle bought us a baby nest for her and it is used for all three of us to fit safely on our bed together. I never thought I would have Emma sleep in the same bed. I was planning on putting her crib in the living room and having her sleep there, however it felt more natural to have her sleep with us once she was in our lives.
Emma is an exclusively breastfed baby. This makes her midnight meals much easier for me, personally, to just pick her up right next to me and lay her back down when she is done. We both feel we have more sanity and sleep better when she is next to us.
How Does Emma Do On Road Trips?
Another popular question Justin and I get is, “How does Emma do on the road trips while traveling from one location to another?”. It’s all about keeping her active in her seat while she is awake, cozy, and safe while sleeping.
When she is awake she loves her toys in her face and prefers the loudest toy to play with. Generally, though, she is asleep most of the time while we are on our road trips. Emma loves movement, so I assume the truck driving on the road helps her sleep very well. To be honest though she is a really easy baby to travel with. We are the luckiest parents to have her.
How Do We Find A BabySitter?
Justin and I recently had our first night out without Emma. It was hard and we missed her the whole time. Justin’s sister, Tina, watched Emma and gave us a night to go to an arcade and act like kids for a while.
Since we travel constantly and don’t know people in every location, it can be hard to trust others to watch our little Emma. We decided the times that we choose to have a date night or take time away from Emma, would be when we are around family. For us, it’s a great idea since most of our family is in Florida, Virginia, New Mexico, and California. Having family all over makes it easier for us to travel too.
Where Do We Find Pediatricians?
This was a big question for us when we decided to travel with a newborn baby. We had been seeing the same pediatrician in Florida for the first month she was born and thought it would be stressful trying to find a new one in Tennessee.
For her two months check-up I had to call around the area like we would if we were not traveling. The only big difference is we have to keep on hand Emma’s medical info. We have a book that we use for her records to make it easy. The idea is to keep track of everything in the book for each doctor to have if needed. All her shots, sick days, incidents, etc. will be there for us to look back on when asked. I’m sure it’s used for people who don’t travel anyway, but for us, it is a lifesaver.
When it comes to finding the pediatrician, we start calling around and saying what we will be needing. For instance, Emma’s four-month check us is this month. I will call around in the location we will be having her check up (we aren’t sure where we’ll be yet) and ask for an appointment for her four-month. I’ll tell them we are just traveling through but need a four month check up. It’s not hard at all, just a matter of knowing about Emma enough to get what needs to be done for her.
What Will We Do When She’s Older?
Traveling with a baby is not hard at all. I feel we, as a society, assume it will be because we rely on being comfortable to do everyday things. I’m happy we started as soon as we had. Emma hasn’t had a hard time adjusting to being in new areas at all. If anything I feel and hope it will shape her into a better person than I could have ever been at a young age. The experiences she will have growing up and traveling, I’m so grateful to be able to give that to her.
As she grows we will adjust how things work and where she will go, but for now, our little Emma fits perfectly right where she is.
A note from Justin: We’ve considered roadschooling which is homeschooling on the road and given our beliefs on education we’re likely to go down this route. One, to help Emma become a well-rounded person. Two, so we can educate ourselves further on the things that are important in life. We look forward to seeing where the future takes all of us!
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