Don’t Limp Along In First Gear!
As if you don’t know being a parent is very costly, but where is the one place that all our money appears to go into for the sake of our children, our family, and our ability to get out of the house? The car. It’s a lifeline when you’ve got a newborn, especially if you live out in the middle of nowhere, as those first few months can be quite isolating, not to mention the fact that your baby isn’t particularly adept at the art of conversation! The first few months of your baby’s life is a combination of you getting to grips with parenthood, very little sleep, and having visitors or you visiting others. When you lack in sleep, and you’re trying to get to grips with your baby’s routines, do you want to throw into the mix lengthy car journeys? If you have no choice, then you need to know some of the essentials when it comes to driving safely with a newborn…
The Basics (that Aren’t So Basic When You Have Baby Brain)
Firstly, a good car seat is vital. We won’t go into the details here, you can have a look at many sites, including https://www.parents.com/baby/gear/car-seats/7-tips-for-buying-a-car-seat, so you can get a good idea of what is safe but is also within your budget. Car seats are in abundance, but this is why it’s better for you to get an idea well before the baby comes along. You don’t want to be rushing at the last minute to get a second-hand car seat that’s not up to code. And in addition to this, when you take your baby out, it’s worth solidifying in your mind some good practices. Baby brain can mean that we forget the very basics. Even something like strapping your baby in could slip your mind! If you have a brain like a sieve, maybe have a physical checklist in the car just in case!
Good Practices On The Road
With a newborn, we can feel the temptation to check up on them in the back seat so much that we can take our eyes off the road for longer than we should. This is why you need to make sure that you’ve got some good driving practices, and a lot of the stress in driving with newborns is about worrying if they stop moving, but remember, babies sleep a lot during the first few months! So at this point, all you really need is a mirror for the car seat, so you can periodically check that they are okay. And while the baby sleeps so much, the temptation can be to whizz around everywhere, but be sure to check in with yourself, and make sure that you are fully focused on the road. It’s an overused expression, but when you are tired, your reactions are severely impaired, and it’s at this point where we can make big mistakes. On websites like https://grayandwhitelaw.com/practice_areas/kentucky-truck-wreck-attorney.cfm it highlights what can happen in the event of a truck crash. And it’s a very little thing that we do as drivers, pull in front of a trick if there’s enough of a gap, but this is bad practice, because a truck has to slow down considerably to increase the gap between them and you, and could very well cause a major accident. Unfortunately, when we are operating with so little sleep, it can be too late to rectify such mistakes. It’s far better for you when heading out on the road, especially on long journeys like highways or freeways, where your attention can easily waiver, to embark on some good practices. Not just care and consideration for other drivers, but also recognizing when you need a break.
What you need to consider, when you’re lacking in sleep, is that you are able to function properly when you’re tired. Driving when tired is no joke- it’s as dangerous as drink driving. But at the same time, when you’ve got a baby so young, and it’s just you and them at home, isolation can creep in, and that routine of sleep and feeding can you make us go stir crazy. Instead, structuring your week around the baby’s routines makes life easier for us to cope with. Those first few weeks are the most difficult, and even if you say to yourself that you want to retain your own sense of normality and independence like life before the baby came along, you have to make some concessions. This is especially true when you’re out doing things that can be doubly difficult when you haven’t slept.
