In most cases, this will be the journey from the hospital as you take your newborn baby home. It might be a short ride, but this is one of the most important car journeys of your life. You want everything to go smoothly, ensuring your baby has a positive experience. If things go bad, there’s a danger they associate the car with bad feelings, which will make it hard to take them on journeys for a long time.
Thankfully, there’s no need to panic. You can make baby’s first car ride as smoothe as possible by following these key tips:
Learn how to operate the car seat
Naturally, infants need special seats to let them sit in the car. Your newborn won’t really be sitting; they’ll be more likely lying down in the car seat. Plenty of infant car seats are available and you can see how they differ in how they’re made and operated. The last thing you want is to spend ages struggling to get your baby into your car – especially while they are in the seat.
So, practice, practice, practice! Get used to operating the car seat; locking it in and taking it out. This means the process of getting your baby in the car will be easy.
Put the baby in the back
You may have seen some cars with a baby seat in the front. Parents do this to be closer to their baby, so they can see if they’re alright. Don’t do this – at least not on their first journey!
The front of the car is an unsafe place for a baby. Sure, there’s protection from airbags and the special infant safety seat. However, the front of the car is where all of the impact is felt in a crash. Even a small bump can send a wave of force through the car that your baby feels, potentially injuring them. Buckling baby in the back seat is much better as it ensures they are in a safer position.
Make sure someone sits with them
Ideally, you will make the journey back from the hospital with at least one other person. Hopefully, your partner is there to drive you home. In which case, you’re able to sit in the back with your baby, keeping an eye on them.
This is important as it ensures they are responding well to the journey. You can see if they are uncomfortable and do things to make them feel more at ease. If you both sit in the front, you have nbody watching the baby at all. When they’re this young, you can’t afford to take your eyes off them.
A good and safe first journey will make future car journeys a lot easier. Your child is kind of like a little baby animal at this point in their lives. They’re unsure of the world around them, and they react to different scenarios based on how they feel at the time. If a little puppy gets scared by something, they will keep feeling afraid of it. The same goes for a child – if the car journey scares them, they’ll be scared for a long time. A successful first journey means they don’t associated car trips with fear!
