Giveaway: Evenflo ProComfort Symphony DLX All-In-One Car Seat
This August, I decided to live in our summer house for the entire month. I can work from anywhere and we did just sink a bunch of money into our new abode, so I should take advantage, right?
The plan is this: Mazzy, Harlow and I will stay here all through August, Mike will only come out for the weekends since he's got one of those dated office jobs, and Ruth (our nanny) will travel out to work her regular hours so I am still able to work during the day.
It all sounds very fancy, but also really weird for a longtime city dweller like myself.
For starters, I HAVE A CAR.
I mean, we always have a car but usually it sits in a parking garage and Mike just drives us places on the weekends. I am always more than happy to be the passenger.
But now, the car is mine all week and I have to do things like drop Mazzy off at camp, pick Mazzy up from camp, go to the grocery store (one of those huge grocery stores that lures your children with toys and sugar cereals as opposed to the slim pickings at a corner bodega), buy produce from the farmstand (where they actually grow things!) and shuttle everyone around to various activities and playdates.
So working during the day is hard. Especially with the constant shuttling. I'm not quite sure how you guys in the burbs get anything done!
Since Mazzy is at camp from 9-2:00pm, Harlow is the person (besides myself) who is in the car most often. She has probably spent more time in the car this last week than she has her entire 20 month-old life.
To make sure Harlow is comfortable in her new role as my backseat co-pilot, Evenflo sent me their Symphony DLX All-In-One Carseat from their new ProComfort Series, which is sold online and at Target.
The ProComfort Series was created because Evenflo realized carseat safety is not just about minimizing the impact of an accident, it's about minimizing distractions from the road due to parents attending to children who are uncomfortable. In other words, Evenflo began to think about what caused accidents in the first place.
Baby crying due to discomfort = Driver's attention diverted = Higher potential for accident
Makes sense to me.
The ProComfort Series uses innovative gel matrix technology which reduces pressure point build-up alleviating discomfort (short term and long term) for a safer, more peaceful ride. The Series includes the Symphony DLX All-In-One Carseat which grows with your child from 5-110 lbs ($249.99), the Triumph LX Convertible Car Seat ($159.99) and the Amp LX High Back booster seat ($69.99).
It's important to note that in addition to focusing on comfort, the Evenflo ProComfort Series ensures safety during accidents by exceeding government standards to provide car seats that are 2X the Federal Crash Test Standard.
I can't really attest to the science behind it, but I can say that Harlow looks like she is now riding in the lap of luxury. You know how you when you fly coach, you have to walk through all those people in first class drinking champagne and eating mixed nuts lounging in their huge leather seats with their fleece blankets and slippers? And you're like— some people have it sooooooo good.
I think that's how Mazzy feels when she looks at Harlow in her new ProComfort car seat.
I mean, have you ever seen anyone who looks more at home in their car seat?
She's even got double cupholders! Which of course means that I am bending myself backwards way less to retrieve fallen sippy cups and water bottles. Which means, not only is my baby safer, but pedestrains and other drivers too!
So far, Harlow and I have been all over Eastern Long Island, taking car trips to various beaches, farmstands, parks, restaurants, villages, etc, etc. etc. Harlow is always content and often falls asleep if we near her naptime, which makes for an even lovlier ride.
I am excited to see what happens when we drive her on a longer trip. Maybe we'll actually attempt the family road trip to visit Mike's college friends in DC again this year?
Pray for me!
GIVEAWAY:
Today, I'm excited to give away one Evenflo ProComfort Symphony DLX All-In-One Car Seat ($249.99)!
All you have to do is…
1) Follow both Evenflo and Mommy Shorts on facebook and then leave a comment below answering the following question:
What has been your worst road trip experience? Diaper blow-outs, recently potty trained kids who can't hold it in, non-stop Frozen sing-a-longs, I want to hear them all!
2) Please like and/or share this post if you enter. It's not required, but it would be nice!
That's it! You can find the official rules here.
Winner will be selected randomly and announced on August 19th.
If you don't win, don't worry! I am giving away two more Evenflo car seats in the upcoming weeks.
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This post was sponsored by Evenflo but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
My two year old is a terror in the car. He screams and yells and ends up in tears every time. I have told my husband on several occasions that I think he is probably uncomfortable…but since our older son never had this issue, husband thinks it’s just the baby being difficult! I avoid taking him places that take more than 15 minutes to get to because that’s about the length of time that he can handle. Would love to try another car seat to see if that would help!
My son was a puker when he was a infant, may days spent cleaning up our carseat so it wouldn’t smell like rotten milk.
We are a breastfeeding family, and we drive a small 4 door sebring with a two yr old and an 8 month old. My parents live 14 hours away, so we travel there at least once a year, and this past trip, both boys were pulling each others toes yelling but kept allowing the other one to pull their toes… THEN i had to climb my 170 pound butt in the back seat between two carseats in a SEBRING! and pull out a boob for my 8 month and let him feed while my two year old is trying to grab my other breast…. Unreal. 🙂 love both my boys but some days…
We were traveling from Mexico to Texas and my baby ( 15 months old ) was really mad to be sited on car seat for hours, she started getting so mad and cried and cried so much that she threw up 4 times in a short period of time.. the car smelled so bad !
When my oldest was 5 we took a road trip to Disney World from Texas to Florida and he made us listen to the Lorax CD THE WHOLE WAY THERE AND BACK! Needless to say I can sing every song on that CD! lol Thanks for the chance to win this will be great with our little one on the way!
Our worst road trip was a 10 hour drive to NM for a wedding when our daughter was 10 months old. She did not want to stay in her seat. It was miserable!
My oldest was 4 months old and we were on the last 2 hours of an 11 hour drive home. She screamed for 45 straight minutes, we stopped at a McDonald’s and got her calmed down. Commenced driving which commenced screaming again until the state line, which is 15 minutes from our house. By the end, everyone in the car had been crying.
My son was finally fully potty trained. We left the house and he did not use the bathroom before we left. Nor did we make him try. He had anccident while we were on the highway, and we were so close to a rest stop. Felt so bad for him.
2 hours into a 12 hour trip to my husband’s grandfather’s funeral, we stopped for breakfast and to feed the baby. What we discovered was a dump so epic it had leaked out into every crevice of the car seat. My (heroic) husband, did his best to clean it all up with diaper wipes, but we spent the next 10 hours in a poop scented car with a baby who was less than pleased with her slightly damp seat!
No major road trips yet, but my 3 year old tends to burst out screaming bloody murder randomly, while in the car. Like, my leg split wide open and now I’m bleeding out while spiders feast on the blood, level of screaming. Nothing is more accident-inducing than this. And every time, the actual reason is so mundane, that the rest of the car ride I spend fuming. “I want juice” or “I want my headphones on” is NOT time to panic.
Driving out to visit a friend and her new baby with my three month old. Pumping while driving and of course my son has to start freaking out in the middle of bumper to bumper traffic.
Our worst experience was when going on a ten hour trip with our then 13 months old, 28 months old, and 4 year old. We didn’t realize it at the time, but our kids are highly prone to car sickness, lol. It started five hours in with our two year old in the third row and within minuets they, and the leather seats of out van, were all covered in vomit. We were in southern Ohio and there wasn’t a rest stop in sight so we pulled off to a truck stop/gas station that had a do it yourself car wash and literally power washed all three car seats and the seats to our vehicle. Luckily it was a hot day and they dried to the touch in a couple of hours, but it was awful. They spent the rest of the drive alternating vomiting in bags…YUCK!
I’m just hoping our now eight month has a stronger stomach, lol.
Military family here. I was 5 days postpartum and the Navy decided now would be an excellent time to move us from Oklahoma to Virginia. It took for-ev-er because I was nursing and we had to stop every 2-3 hours to feed the little one. I have two older girls who complained the entire way and fought with each other. On top of all of that sitting in a sit for 10 hours a day was it’s own kind of hell!
We were just in the midst of potty training so since it was a 8 hour ride I decided to put a diaper on him so we wouldn’t have to stop as often. He decided to choose that car ride to decide he doesn’t want to pee in his diaper, so every hour we ended up stopping anyway and then when it came to pooping he decided he didn’t want to use the potty. It was a horrible lose/lose situation all over. The 8 hour ride turned into 9.5 and on top of that he decided to not sleep the whole time, leaving a very crabby 2.5 year old!
Total diaper blowout, all over the car seat, his back, hands, everywhere!!! We were right in the middle of a 3 hour drive in desolate Oklahoma. My car was packed with stuff so I had no where to change him but the trunk. It was AWFUL!! And people kept driving by staring and honking like I was putting my baby in the trunk.. Cause I was, to clean his butt!!!
We haven’t braved a long road trip yet – longest was 2 hours in which my then 7mo was screaming half the way home. BUT, we are about to embark on a 15hr drive to my parents! Would love to have the babe in a comfortable car seat!!
A spur of the moment road trip to Cape Cod seems like a good idea. Our daughter, at the time almost one,is pretty happy to be in the car as long as she is equipped with puffs, water and music videos (she is a pms’ing 16 year old trapped in a one year olds body.) We made it there no problem, when my fiance says “I think she is pooping. ” The beat red face was a giveaway I’m sure. So we pull over into a gas station to change her diaper. He was right, she pooped…everywhere. I mean I have never seen anything like it. It was through her clothes, up her back, down her legs, and everywhere in between. So there we are, in a gas station my fiance holding a poop drenched baby under her armpits in the air while I try to remove her clothes without getting it all over her. Long story short, we all ended up covered in poop. And we ran out of baby wipes half way through clean up. So now I had to go into the gas station store to purchase anything they possibly had to assist in the clean up. Apparently we where such a spectacle that as I got to the counter with the baby wipes they thankfully had, the attendent asked if everything was ok and if we wanted some paper towels too. I asked if they had a hose instead. They did not understand the humor. Afte returning to the car and finishing the clean up we realized her spare clothes where in the other diaper bag so now we had a clothes less baby too. Off to the mall we went with a naked, yet clean baby. We may not have looked like parents of the year going into the store but we knew what blow out we just survived so it was ok.
On a 10 hour road trip with my 4.5 month old I got food poisoning…Awesome. just as my little dude falls asleep, around hour 8 I leaned my chair back for some relief and hit his Carseat and woke home up….he was overtired and not just cried but full lung screamed the entire remaining 2 hours home. We were all so happy when we pulled into the driveway.
Full out barf fest on the turnpike with nowhere to stop 🙁
Every time we get in the car it’s an adventure. My 18 month old son has hated riding in the car from day one. On our last road trip he said (and signed) all done for an hour straight while we were stuck in traffic.
Worst road trip – my daughter was one month old and we were driving on memorial day weekend down to dc (3.5 hours away) to see my bro law’s family. The Delaware memorial bridge closed for 2 hrs due to a bus fire, and we were stuck about a quarter mile before with no way to get off the road. I pumped 2x while stopped and fed my newborn while keeping her strapped in the car seat (too afraid to take her out because we did occasionally have to move). I had to pee so bad but there was no way to get privacy – surrounded by traffic. We got there after I think 6 hours in the car, utterly exhausted (and with a newborn around, no chance to catch up on sleep).
Moving from Southern California to Washington state….with a seven week old. Having to stop every two hours to feed/change on a 24+ hour drive was a PITA, and there were more than our fair share of creeping baby poop that necessitated a disinfecting session for the carseat when we got home.
Driving with my then 7 week old through the mountains in Sedona and as we come into town it is nothing but bumper to bumper and he starts screaming because if the car isn’t moving, he isn’t happy.
No road trip horror stories yet (she’s only 7 months). Ask me again in December after we do a 19 hour drive with a 1 year old. 🙂
My three yr old noticed the mile markers, pointed to each one “and another one, and another one”, thought I was going to go mad!
Luckily my littles are fantastic road trippers. But we did run out of gas on the way home from vacay on a steamy summer day in Georgia…about 8 miles from a gas station on the highway. Never have I been happier to have AAA on speed dial..
When my son was 6 months old we took a road trip from North Dakota to Portland, OR and at home we use cloth diapers. However. During our road trip we choose to use disposable diapers. We had more blowouts on that trip using disposable diapers than we ever had with cloth. My son potty trained shortly after his 2nd birthday he did a really good job except for every time we out him in the cars eat he peed. This happened for a few months and it drove us insane. Thank goodness for lap pads!
Worst famy car trip we have ever had was the one where we had planned a two week vacation in FL and my husband’s military leave only got approved for one week! He had to fly down to meet us during week two. I had decided to drive to FL from VA by myself with a 9, 7, 2, and 6 month old (who was still nursing!) crew of kids. I hired a babysitter for the trip, to help out with the little ones..who SLEPT the entire 14 hr ride!! She then ended up sleeping with my brother when I stopped at my parents house for a couple of days and bought illegal drugs without us knowing!! My husband is in the Coast Guard and works hard to keep illegal drugs out of the country!! Needless to say, the sitter has since been fired and we skipped the family road trip for this year…so far anyway!!
My mom and I decided to start the week by taking my 2-year old daughter and 1-year old nephew to a music museum about an hour away. First we had to transfer his car seat to my car, which was no easy task. Then the poor kid cried the whole way up. My daughter was distressed by this and kept asking why he was crying and why we didn’t help him and getting upset if we didn’t answer every time. We got lost on the surface streets at the end because it was in a weird industrial park. We finally arrived and it turned out the museum was closed on Mondays. :-/
Our worst experience was when our 18 month old threw up on the way back to the hotel from Julian after eating chicken pot pie and apple pie with ice cream. Then we discovered that we had taken out the diaper bag in order to make room for the double stroller…oops. My husband took off his shirt on the side of the road and we wiped him clean as best we could. Thankfully he was totally happy 🙂
Our worst road trip experience was the summer of 2013. The husband and our 5 kids ages 6,5,3,3, and 1 drove from Maryland to Florida to do Disney. So I thought it would be a great idea to give them all tablets to occupy them during the trip but I was so wrong. One of our 3 year olds was SEVERELY carsick and vomited no less than every 20 minutes. It took us 5 hours to get out of Maryland since we had to stop and practically detail the whole van from his projectile vomiting. The started some kind of chain reaction where all of the kids threw up except one. We finally made it those 800 ish miles the next morning. Then on the way back I trusted my husband ehen he said checkout was the following day so we enjoyed our last day at the park only yo return to the hotel and find out checkout was that morning and not the following day. A tropical storm moved in and forced us to empty our 3 bedroom suite in pouring rain and lightning and begin the drive home as the hotel was booked. It then took us another 2 days to get home with more vomiting. Worst road trip ever!
We took an evening trip to the zoo for a special Halloween event. It started around 6:30 pm, and the kids were supposed to wear costumes. They got to see the animals at night, and trick or treat. The park closed at 10. We were starving, so we went through a mcdonalds drive thru. My 1.5 year old has some sensory issues with food. She wanted a French fry, so I gave her one. She then wanted the cheese off my burger. I gave her a tiny bite. Just as I did, I saw a tiny onion on the cheese. It was too late. She started choking and gagging on the onion. Then projectile vomited in the back of my car. All over her, her fairy tutu outfit, and the car seat. It was all over me too. I stupidly tried to catch it. A bunch landed in my open purse as well. So I’m fussing at hubby to pull over somewhere. He does, and it happens to be one of the scariest places in downtown Dallas. It’s freezing outside, we are trying to clean up my poor toddler. Vagrants were approaching us again and again, from every angle of the car. I was terrified! Finally got her mostly cleaned up, and bolted out of there. I detailed the car seat for hours the next day. Sadly, I still keep finding evidence from that night. We need to win a new car seat!
Driving across country as fast as possible for an unexpected family funeral, with 3 kids under the age of 5, while I was 8 months pregnant with #4, with a monster-in-law in the front seat who wouldn’t shut up the whole f*cking 2 day car ride.
I drove 1.5 hours alone with my 4 month old and had to stop three times. He kept crying, had to feed him, change him and then put paci back in! And after being so stressed from his crying a truck cut me off pulling a trailer and we almost wrecked and had a heart attack.
My 1 year old can handle the car seat for about 2 1/2 hours. Anything after that he just screams. We’ve only driven as far as 31/2 and the last hour was miserable! I knew he was fine and just wanted out, but it gives me severe anxiety!
We took a 14 hour road trip from NC to MO with our then 8 month old daughter who was not happy about spending so much time in her car seat even with frequent breaks and an overnight stopover halfway. Nearing the end of our journey she would bit stop crying so we stopped in a Target parking lot about 30 minutes from our destination. Whoa, major blowout! Standing in the Target lot changing her diaper in the car and giving her a wet wipe bath in nothing but her teething necklace. What a sight to see! Glad we stopped once more before we got to grandma’s house.
When our son was little, he and I were together in the car. He was having some snacks. I heard him say, Mommy, I did the “big sneeze” ! I looked and he had thrown up. Since he had never vomited before, he didn’t know the word for throwing up! Fun, fun, fun!
My daughter was two my son was a newborn, and I was crazy when I agreed to drive from the Midwest to the west coast in our new minivan with my in laws for two days out And two back I was trapped in close confined quarters with a bored toddler and and a car sick infant. I spent hours draped over a car seat shaking a rattle and tapping a paci to keep baby from screaming, and I couldn’t even lose it like a normal person because I didn’t want to “be crazy” in front of my in-laws to top it all off I got mastitis on the way home…sooo fun.
Started with projectile vomit 45 minutes from home (hit the front windshield from back seat). Then that afternoon HUGE diaper blow out with 2 year old (in his socks and his belly button), clean him up and wash out pants in toilet at sandwich shop and get back in car. 5 miles down the road look back at him in backseat and realize my husband never buckled him in car seat 🙂 it was a memory that’s for sure!
I can’t narrow it down to one event because my daughter (who is now three!) has been and remains the worst road trip passenger ever! If she isn’t crying she is moaning and whining ‘hold me’ the entire time. You may think I am exaggerating and I wish I was, road trips are horrible. 4 hour drives turn into 6! Dora and movies only hold her attention for so long, snacks don’t work either. With another baby due in a month I am praying that this one will at least tolerate a car ride. Perhaps if I win this my daughter will change her run about being in a car….fingers crossed!
Well, I don’t have a car trip horror story to tell because my first baby is still on the way! I would LOVE this car seat to help cut down on future nightmare car trips. (although I’m sure there will be some regardless!)
The worst road trip was when we were traveling from CT to RI with a pre-schooler, toddler, and newborn. The newborn started wailing because she was hungry and wanted to be fed right away. The crying caused the toddler to fuss and the pre-schooler to become annoyed easily. Not a fun ride to the beach.
We were off to RI for the day with three little ones. The newborn was wailing because it was time for her to eat. The ear piercing noise over the “Old McDonald” sound track was deafening. I was happy when we found a safe place to pull over and feed her.
My daughter was sick, and had thrown up at home. We thought she was well enough to get in the car. She wasn’t.. We had to give her a gift bag to throw up in 🙁 not a fun ride!
Road trip?!? Ha! Every time we get in the car my 5 yr old insist on listening to the “Little People” CD so I listen to the wheels on the bus, if you are happy and you know it, and various other kids sons constantly. Not to mention my 8 wk old screams/cries at the top of his lungs everytime we get in the car. It’s brutal. I hate leaving the house. Lol.
We don’t have a fabulous road trip story yet because our in town trips are too miserable. Anytime we leave the house my son thinks it’s time to loose it. He cries whenever the breaks are hit and mostly all the time inbetween that. For this reason we are on our second car seat with him. We are in the process searching for a convertible that will be comfortable enough to keep him happy. We hope to be able to travel soon but it all depends on him. 45 min is the extent of our journey now. I want him comfortable and happy.
My worst experience was road from Denver to KS. My son can’t stop crying.
My very sweet friend offered to drive to the beach with me (8hrs away) and my 8 month old daughter. We didn’t fly because all major airports are 3+ hours away. I was sans husband due to a lovely deployment. We started out well enough until she woke up from her nap and found herself still stuck. Which is when the screaming began…. And didn’t stop. I wish I were exaggerating but there was nothing that soothed her. We stopped every 15 minutes. One stretch we made it thirty (only Bc there weren’t any exits). The drive took us 13 and a half hrs. Some of the highlights were listening to “what does the fox say for over an hour straight (it dulled the scream to a shriek), singing abc’s, twinkle twinkle, and baba black sheep on loop until we started forgetting the words. I spent the last hour of the ride hunched over her car seat nursing her (crazy uncomfortable) while she had a fistful of my hair in a death grip. The icing on the cake is that it rained the entire weekend and the family friend we were staying with had an aggressive dog she forgot to mention, so we had to find a hotel in peak summer season.
Mine was right after we moved to ga and i drove my 3 kids back home for christmas and my daughter started throwing up everywhere. I am not the cleaner of throw up, my hubby has always done it. Not only was i driving out of state for the first time alone but i had to clean up a sick kid and a car alone.
We drove from NW Missouri to NW Montana last summer with our 2.5 year old and 2 month old. It went pretty smooth for the most part–except for our oldest’s absolute phobia of public toilets. Several times she held in her poop until we got back to the car about 30 minutes from any gas station. We had to throw away and buy several pairs of underwear. Not to mention her car seat had never been so clean since we had to wash it so much!
My worst car trip has been taking my (then) 18 mo old from Texas to Arizona… Lots of screamingly ensued because apparently sitting in the car for 2 days kinds sucks to an 18 month old. :-/
Trip from FL to NC…the 6mo old despised her car seat and cried 90% of the time, choking and spitting up bc she was so upset. The 3yo was sick – fever, chills, etc. Stopped at a gas station for some children’s Advil but they only had some little remedies brand. Apparently she did not like the taste, as it came back up with everything else she’s eaten that day. She was sitting on the center console up front and my husband tried to catch it…puke spewed all over the front seats, windshield, radio, etc. We stopped in GA, couldn’t make it all the way home!
Car puke, 2 hours into a 16-hour drive. Ugh. Why did I think unlimited gummy bunnies was a good idea?
The baby poopy diaper blowout, the dog puking, me almost puking, and the hubby yelling. We were trying to get off the freeway to deal with the fiasco at a gas station bathroom but traffic was so bad we couldn’t make it to the exit for a half an hour.
We drove from Michigan to South Carolina when my oldest was three and in the middle of the mountains with huge waits between rest stops, my daughter throws up all over herself and her car seat. We had to pull over to the emergency stop and strip her down on a wall on the side of the turnpike! Not fun! Our truck reeked when we got to our destination.
Car sickness. All 3 of my girls get carsick, as do I, between the whining and throwing up…it’s not a pretty picture.
I was carrying the baby (a 3 month old at the time) in our carrier after a two hour bus ride. We had to meet some friends after a meeting in a nearby town and on our way her diaper exploded while in the carrier covering us both in googey poop. GROSS!
My worst road trip was going up north 3 hours to visit my fiancés family. We were an hour away from our house when Connor decided to projectile vomit everywhere! It was terrible we had to turn back around, clean the car, the car seat and Connor! Sometimes I still feel like I can get a Whif of it every now and then- I am thankful for Lysol spray!!!
We were driving from Brooklyn to suburban NJ for a child’s birthday party, which meant we had to drive through Manhattan. On a Saturday afternoon. With a car-sick-prone daughter. #firstmistake. After about an hour of stop-and-go traffic, my three-year-old daughter of course proceeds to get car sick and throw up all over herself and the car seat. This would have been bad even if I had thought to bring a change of clothes, but of course, I hadn’t. #secondmistake So my husband double-parked the car, I jumped out and ran across the street to a BabyGap and grabbed the first thing I saw. This salesperson wouldn’t leave me alone though, trying to get me to check out the sale stuff. I finally screamed, “I JUST NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE! MY DAUGHTER IS IN THE CAR RIGHT NOW COVERED IN THROW-UP!!!!” That silenced her.
We changed her clothes, finished the trek to NJ, and arrived about five minutes before the party ended.
Needless to say, I really need a new car seat….!
-Alyssa
thesparklylife.com
We have made the long 12 hour drive from Tennessee to Texas about 5 times with our 20 month old. He usually does pretty good reads one book or plays with one toy for about 5 minutes throws it down then I hand him a new one. That is a constant the whole 12 hours, unless he is napping.
Basically any road trip whether it’s 5 minutes or 5 hours is terrible with my son. He screams the second we put him in the car seat. One of the worst ones was coming home from the hospital. It is a 20 minute drive and it took an hour as we were constantly stopping because we were SURE that something was wrong with him. No baby screams that long and hard for no reason. We almost turned around and went back to the ER.
In our first road trip with our newborn to visit my grandparents (on Long Island!) I figured it would be a new baby that made our normally 4 hour trip way, way longer. Nope! He napped and chilled out like a dream. It was the exploding tire that threw us for a loop! We blew a tire and had to hang out on the side of the highway with cars whizzing by (terrifying!!!) while we waited for a repair truck, then had to go buy a new and get that put on before hitting the road again. Our 4 hour trip took 8 hours. And I hate the car!!
Strawberry yogurt baby barf in car seat. Worst road trip ever. There is no grosser smell, I assure you.
Round trip to my parents’ house (1.5 hours each way), we stopped at pretty much every exit on the highway to try to stop ALL THE CRYING AND SCREAMING.
My worst road trip was coming back home from Michigan and we hit 2 deer on the turnpike. Did some damage on the front driver side but we were ok.
My worst road trip experience would have been when my baby was 4 weeks old. She had horrible acid reflux and lactose intolerant issues and my husband and I were about 20 minutes from home when she threw up and soaked her all the way down to her feet ( she even managed some on her head) . She soaked her clothes, socks and there was a puddle in the bottom of her car seat and than to end it all she had a blow out . Hopeful for better road trips in the future 🙂
I was still a fairly new mother and we were road-tripping home for Christmas when the baby started screaming bloody murder. My husband and I had NO idea how to get her to calm down as it was the first time that had happened, but luckily we were about 15 minutes from the hotel so we didn’t have to suffer too long!
My 6 month old daughter doesn’t nurse around people very well. It doesn’t make her cranky, she would just rather socialize than eat. So after a long day trip we started our 2 hour drive home, she slept for the first hour then realized she was hungry. I nursed and played with her at a rest stop. Then continued our trip. Well she had eaten too much and the burp from hell was inside her (we didn’t know that’s what it was) and she screamed for the remainder of the car ride. Nothing helped and we were stuck in traffic, then I missed my exit and got a bit lost, just so we could extend her agony.
We made the mistake of attempting what should have been an 8 hour trip with almost-10-month-old twins, a dog who hates car rides, and a mommy with a cold last month. It took us over 10 hours, many stops to entertain the bored babies and walk the dog, and one change of clothes for my boy who threw up all over himself (twice!). Oh, and DayQuil for myself. I really wish it had been NyQuil–sleeping through that car ride would have been a good idea. My daughter has never been so pissed–she cried most of the trip, mostly out of boredom. I can’t wait until we can turn them front-facing!
Worst road trip ever – We had a 2 yr old and a 4 month old and were driving to Destin, FL from Missouri. It was about 5 in the morning and my husband and I just switched, he had drove all night and I was taking over so he could sleep. We were stopped at a stop light and got rammed from behind by a woman talking on her phone and going about 50 mph. It was Sunday morning so nothing was open. Luckily the firefighters were nice enough to let us come and crash the fire house (with 2 kids) and ALL of our carload of luggage until we could finally get ahold of someone to take us to a rental place. Took about 5 hours of waiting and we finally got a rental car. Had to manage 2 kids and all our stuff through an airport and stuff it into a tiny rental car to travel the rest of the way. It was awful. Luckily no one was hurt. Worst road trip ever!
My parents are each about a six hour drive one direction or a five hour drive the other, so we’ve had some interesting road trips. But the worst for me was actually only about an hour trip when my baby was about two months old. She was one of those babies who HATED her car seat and was colicky anyway (translation, if she was awake, she was usually crying). So, we went to visit a friend of mine who had a son a month younger than my daughter. The whole time we visited my daughter cried, while her son happily cooed in his bassinet. My friend told me all about how her son slept for seven hour stretches, woke up to nurse and went back to sleep for another four and only cried when he needed something. I was happy for her, but soooo wondering what the hell I was doing wrong! On the drive home, my daughter screamed the entire drive and there was nothing to do… except extend the trip when I realized I would have to stop for gas.
Thankfully my daughter is a very happy three year old now!
Thanks for another great giveaway! Would love to win!
When our daughter was 13 months old we got strong armed into a trip from Western NC to Central Jersey to see my husband’s family. I knew it was gonna suck…just didn’t know HOW MUCH it was gonna suck. First hour or so was fine. After that, we went down hill fast. My child could not for the life of her understand why she was stuck in her car seat. She tugged at the harness holding her in, she cried, she screamed, she whimpered…and just when it seemed to almost subside, the cycle started over again. And she refused to eat or drink which meant stopping so I could feed her. And I should have let her have her hunger strike because the fear in her eyes and shrieks that came from her as I moved her back towards the car seat after getting her out was like suggesting to a man recently freed from prison after 22 years for a crime he did not commit that he may want to go back for fun. It was torture for everyone. She was the most miserable person on earth that day and we were all clear on that point. And what was almost worse than that…She. Could. NOT. Sleep. Nothing helped…she never was so tired from crying that she just passed out. My well behaved nap-loving child was so far beyond exhaustion she had simply changed into another person I never met before…A person I was tempted to leave on the side of the road. After almost 8 hours of this, we were still a good 4 hours away with traffic and stops and such. We were all losing our minds so we decide to give up for the night and get a hotel. I am SURE once my girl gets in a room, cool and dark- sleep with take over. NO. She is so delirious with happiness to be out of the car seat she literally is throwing her body around on the hotel bed. She can barely stand, cannot walk but can manage to get almost upright and toss her whole body like a sack of taters onto the bed again and again and again for around 2 hours while she alternates between laughing and crying. She will not let me touch her…she actually seems like she is never going to let me hold her again. My husband has passed out and I am just trying to keep her safe on the bed as the time passes. And without warning, she passes out. I sang a silent prayer of gratitude and in only 5 hours, she woke again screaming. We decided to just get on the road and get to NJ. Repeat of the above. It was really like some version of hell for all of us. I actually thought we might have to live in NJ because I was so afraid of the trip home. Worst Road Trip Ever. (and we need a new car seat so that would be a great help too)
No Facebook, but worst road trip ever was last Christmas with an almost 3 year old and a 6 mo old (who was nursing every few hours) from Wilmington, NC to Cedar Rapids, IA in a snow storm overnight, straight through for 24 hours.
We live in Hoboken, NJ, a pretty urban town without a need for a car. But we recently took a 8+ hour drive down to the Outerbanks for a family reunion. Prior to the trip, I took my 7-month-old to a store to purchase a highly-expensive car seat. I put the car seat on the floor and asked her to sit in her ‘big girl chair’ and she immediately started crying. Frankly, it *looked* uncomfortable! Then, my cousin lent me her slightly used Evenflo. I put it on the floor near where my daughter plays the week leading up to our trip and she would just climb into it on her own! And sit for a while and enjoy herself. You can just tell that it is comfy! All was going well on our trip down to the OBX. We played games, we brought small, light plastic balls and basically created a “ball pit” for my daughter to play inside the car seat. She got a kick out of it. And we only stopped twice – once for a bathroom break and once for dinner. After dinner and just around her bedtime though, she got very antsy. Alas, this portion of the trip coincided with crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. She cried for 17.6 mi straight despite my efforts of a bottle, toys, tap-dancing (okay not really, but I would have if I could have) and singing. Yes, to make bridge and tunnel driving in the evening worse for my husband, on top of my daughter’s sobs I started singing. The poor man. We decided to spend the night in Virginia Beach that evening, too tired, traumatized and war-torn to continue to the OBX.
Apparently when I was a baby, my parents drove from Miami down to Key West and I cried the entire way. Talk about karma. I just feel bad for my husband who was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. 😉
I should note, the next morning we arrived at the OBX and my daughters loved riding in her carseat. I am definitely looking to buy one for our next trip. They trump the pricier brands and are really easy to install for us non-car owners!
My 2 year old decided to inform us that she was going to throw up at the exact same time that she was throwing up. It was the projectile kind too. :/ And because we were in the mountains there was no good place to pull over and get everything cleaned up. So we drove 20 more minutes before being able to stop anywhere and get things to clean her, the car and us up.
In those 20 minutes, she threw up 2 more times too.
Let me preface this by telling you that my daughter has always screamed and cried hysterically anytime the sun is in her eyes in the car. Since I drive an older sedan that doesn’t have any tint on the windows, this is pretty much an everyday occurrence.
The worst road trip experience I’ve had with her was a 45-minute drive home from my parents’ house. She scream-cried the whole way home because the sun was in her eyes. By the time we got home, I was incredibly anxious to get her out of her car seat so that she would stop screaming. As soon as we got into the house, I unbuckled the straps and quickly slid my hands under her to pick her up. I was moving so quickly that it wasn’t until AFTER I had slid my hands all the way under her that the wet, slimy feeling registered in my brain and I realized that she’d had a massive diaper blowout that had seeped through her clothes and was now smeared all over my arms. Yuck!
we missed the window for my daughter’s morning nap and she literally screamed the entire 7 hour drive. Yay!
I have four kids. Every time we get in the car it’s the worst road trip ever. ;-P
We were on a 17 hour road trip with a recently toilet trained two year old boy who had contracted the flu while we were in Florida. He had EXPLOSIVE diarrhea the entire drive home. He was miserable, we were miserable, gas station attendants along the way were unknowingly drawn into our misery. After the second incident, we had to strip the car-seat down to the hard plastic shell and use newspapers and towels to cushion our (now wearing nothing but a recently acquired gas station purchased pull-up) boy. We threw away all cloth parts of said car-seat in the garbage next to the fuel pumps. I sat in the back seat with him trying to comfort him and push fluids. We stopped at numerous gas stations along the way to re-strip the car-seat and put down fresh newspapers and towels. We also had to clean the boy in bathroom sinks with baby-wipes while fighting a strong desire to find and buy nose plugs. By the time we reached our home town, we didn’t even bother to go home, we went straight to the ER where he spent the next few days on IV fluids and anti-nausea meds. We bought a new car-seat to bring him home from the hospital and even ditched the plastic shell of the old one. It was that bad. Needless to say, it was a LONG LONG time before we attempted another road trip. My son is now 12 and we are planning another trip to Florida this year.We are flying, because he may not remember the agony of that long ago trip to Florida, but his parents SURE do!!!
I have had 2 interesting road trips with my 18 month old. The first was a 10 hour trip from TN to Michigan in which my then 15 month old cried for 5 hours and then got car sick and threw up all over the back seat, her car seat and needless to say, herself. Chunks. Everywhere. It was truly and awful last few hours in a puke smelling car. The 2nd trip was taken a month and half into potty training which had been going really good. No accidents for a good 2 weeks. Until the 9 hour trip to FL. We were on a long stretch of road with no where to stop and use a restroom and she could hold it in. Diarrhea all over her with 5 hours left in the trip. She didnt have a pullup on so everything just went into the trash. And I didn’t pack an extra outfit that was easy to get out of a suitcase. So I took my cardigan and made a makeshift dress so I wouldn’t have to parade a naked toddler through the store. Needless to say road trips and becoming a not so favorite thing for me 🙂
I have 5 kids, we avoid road trips! I’d have to say our trip home from Boston when my 2nd child was just a few months old was probably the worst. He cried almost the entire 7-8 hours it took us to get home. My mother in law had to climb in the back and hold him for much of that trip. As a matter of fact another trip home from Boston was pretty bad as well but it’s a litttle tmi! You’ve been warned. I breastfed baby #4 exclusively and did not get my monthly friend until she was about 18 months old, so I didn’t know when to expect it. About an hour into my long 8 hour drive home I got my “friend” for the first time in over two years. It was horrible. Like have to stop and change every 45 min even with double coverage horrible. I’m not sure how I did it but I drove the whole way home stopping when I could, it was messy and painful and gross.
16 hours in the car with my 8.5 month old (at the time) heading to a funeral. Vomit so deep it pooled in the base of the infant car seat, tire went bad an hour away from our destination, followed by a motor mount, and a cv axle going south. Car repairs to be able to drive home safely amounted to about $400 dollars.
We drove with our 2-month-old son from Seattle to Northern California. The drive down wasn’t too bad. Then like crazy, stupid people, we decided that when we left for home we needed to leave at 4 a.m. Stupid, stupid, stupid. So much crying and screaming! Toward the end, we just let him cry because there was nothing we could do about it (except stop and hold him which obviously makes going anywhere difficult). And when we got home, we learned that the poor kiddo had pooped, must have sat in it for hours and now had a horrible diaper rash. Rookie parenting.
I’m pretty lucky to have a daughter who loves riding the car and, well, going out of the house in general. We’ve only had one where we failed to bring some milk on our way to the groceries and she kept asking for food (or milk). There was also that one time when we had to change her diapers and the smell didn’t leave the car for a long time.
I hope I get to win a car seat though. I don’t live in the US sadly, but I could have it shipped here, wink wink. It’s not a requirement to use those here in our country but when we finally get to purchase our own car maybe within the year, we’d want to be on the safer side and have her in a car seat.
I like both pages.
I think our worst was actually this week – all was well until we stopped for a late dinner on the way home. Everyone was on their last outfit and it was about 9:30 when we stopped at Chick Fil A.
After we ate, my son was playing on the playground and jumped on the slide and when he came down, hit his face on it. His bottom lip was inside his mouth & got pierced by both the top & bottom teeth. There was blood everywhere.
While we were fixing that, my daughter was shoving fries and ice-cream into her mouth as quickly as possible because no one was looking – so when we finally had him clean (and shirtless because we wanted to rinse the blood out), she started throwing up all over herself.
By the time we got her cleaned up (and shirtless) we decided we should find a shop to get shirts and other medical supplies, but everything was closed.
so… 2.5 hours after we stopped for a quick “fast” food dinner, we were finally back on the road. At least the kids had exhausted themselves and were asleep in 10 min.!!
Worst car ride experience was On the way to do some Black Friday shopping. My sisters baby at the time was around 1 or 2 . Well she got sick in the back seat and threw up everywhere. The smell was horrid and it’s a trip I will never forget . YUCK!
On the way home from vacationing in Colorado all three of my girls,ages 4,2,and 6months, ALL crying to get out of the car. My husband and I were both close to insanity when we reached the house that night.
Guess so far it would have to be when we drove to my hometown for Easter this past April. My oldest son (2 1/2 at the time) decided to sneak a few goldfish to his young brother (almost 11 months at the time) and we started to hear him throw up since he got too many in his mouth. Good thing an exit ramp was right there so we got off and pulled over to check on him. I had to clean him up and change him. My husband played with him while I cleaned up what I could in his seat only using baby wipes on the straps of course (not supposed to use anything harsh on them). Good thing that hasn’t happened since then on our few other road trips to visit family. We did buy a soft mirror that attaches to the headrest after that to keep an eye on little guy (plus he’ll be rear facing until he maxes his seat out) and had a talk with big brother. Sorry it’s not the best story, but I am sure there will be more “fun” adventures to come as they get older.
Worst experience was breaking down in the middle of nowhere in our jeep. We had taken the top off to enjoy the beautiful weather and after 4 hours of waiting for a tow truck, the weather wasnt so beautiful anymore. The skies opened up and everything was soaked. Even my underwear.
When my daughter was a 2 months old we lived in Oklahoma and had to travel down to texas (10 hour drive) for thanksgiving, she did fine during the day but once dark hit (about four hrs into our trip) is when it all began. She started crying and just wouldn’t stop. So bad to the point where she was making herself puke and hyperventilating. After about four more hours of this, stopping multiple time to sooth her we still had about three hours left and it was already midnight!
I was exhausted, my husband was exhausted and so was my daughter.
We ended up stopping because I just couldn’t do it anymore and needed a short break. I pulled her out of her car seat and was sitting in the back with her as she calmed down. My husband topped the gas off and got some more red bulls. She had just stopped crying but we wanted to get to the In laws so we buckled her back in and listened to her cry for three more hours.
To this day she doesn’t do very well in the dark. We even for her a mirror that has a light on it but it doesn’t help. We just got her a new car seat and it’s helped a little she isn’t cranky at all during the day but once night hits and she’s trying to go to sleep she gets fussy. As of right now we are driving to and from Dallas every weekend until we move so we’ve had some pretty bad drives these last couple weekends. I’m hoping to win this car seat because it would def be more comfy than her current one and hopefully relax her enough at night that she’ll also have a good ride to and from Dallas (which is a 6 hr drive to Dallas from where we are at and then 6 hrs back, and we arnt even there a full day)
I would have to say when my daughter was teething. We were on our way home and she kept crying and crying. My husband was driving thankfully, so i managed to crawl in back from the passangers seat and tried to give her a pacifier and a bottle and nothing worked. My husband had a video on his phone of our daughter crying so i played it and she managed to settle down and look confused at the phone, as to why she was still crying. Luckily it worked until we got home. Even though we still listened to her lovely cry as she wasnt crying it was the video playing 🙂
We were traveling home from a 3 1/2 hour drive and my son was fine most of the way. He was about 6 months old. About an hour away from home I smelled something that didn’t smell so good so we pulled over much to my surprise he went number 2 so I changed him and when I put him back in his car seat he screamed the whole way home bloody murder for an hour straight.
That was not a pleasant rest of the ride home
We’ve only been on one big road trip with my sister inlaw to my inlaws. The kids were great we had no problems with them. The issues were when we went to go down town and leave the little ones with grandma. Not even ten minutes of being out of the house some jerk pulled a gun on us tried to kidnap us, thankfully my sister inlaw was forced to bring a gun for the trip and if she didn’t have the gun I can bet you I wouldn’t be here to tell the story. Everyone becareful this happened in Laughlin nv, just an hour outside of Vegas
My worst family road trip would be the time my little family and I decided to take a vacation to the zoo. At that time, I have a almost 3 year old and I was 4 months pregnant so I was in those early stages still getting over nausea. All was going great until the morning we were heading out to the zoo from the hotel. My son had a tummy ache and the constant need to go to the bathroom… Potty training at the same time. We ran to target to grab some pull ups, immodium, and pedialyte. Our whole day at the zoo consisted of constant diaper changes, a couple changes of clothes, and mommy gagging from the smell of it all. Although it was a rough and stinky day for me, my son had the best time at the zoo! What we do to make our kiddos happy 🙂
The worst ones have to be the times my son has thrown up all over his car seat and/or the car. So far it’s only been three times but that is enough. He is 8 years old now so we are doing pretty well managing car sickness. Having to just make it wherever you are going with a quasi-dabbed clean seat is not pleasant.
Mine was two weeks ago, on our way to Dallas TX from Edinburg TX about 8/9 hour dive. My baby boy if 10 months then, was bworring one of my nephews car seat it was his first time on a road trip and riding in a car seat. After 2 hours on the road no of no were he just started to cry and it was a kinda cry he had never done before he was even going short on breath, I was so worry as I was the driver and my mother the babysitter I felt so bad I couldn’t stop because we were at a check point, my mother had to get him out and hold him for a few minutes. I almost thought I would have had to go back home. I would really love everflow car seat.
I hope I win!!! Road tripping with my daughter for 10 hours to Florida was not the greatest experience…I think she would enjoy this car seat
Coming home from vacation with a sick baby. Bad ear infection which cause lots of throwing up due to so much mucus it was no fun smell was awful and so was the constant clean up and stopping to clean up! Poor baby was so pitiful!
Cried the entire trip!! It was horrible!
Probably not the worst ever but my cholicly daughter and I went on a 4 hour road trip. She cried almost the entire way. I tried to keep singing to her over the crying so she knew I was right there. But the crying continued. Then there was a blow out in the middle of nowhere Nebraska and had to stop and change. Finally found a rest stop to warm up a bottle and found out the hard way that my 4 month old daughter is terrified of the sound of hand dryers. Full blown. Blood curdling screaming for 30 mins when I could get her calmed down. Only to get back into the car seat and cry the rest of the way home.