babies who cry in the car

[ezcc]

DS2 is 6 weeks, and really a delightful baby- takes long naps, is fairly good at night- easy to soothe etc. BUT, he detests being in the car. I have to drive my older 2 back and forth to school which is a 30 min or so roundtrip and he howls, I mean howls the whole way- purple in the face with rage. My mom and dh have been pitching in and doing a lot of the driving, but they can't do it all. It's so stressful to me, and to my other children to be in the car with him! My other 2 both loved the car, and usually fell asleep. If your baby was like this did it get better? When? He hates the swing too which my others loved, loved loved.

[Cuckoomamma]

Both of mine hated the car...detested it. My older 10.5 yo has motion sickness whenever she's in the car, but my younger doesn't and still hated it. It was easier with the younger because my older dd could play with her and distract her. By a year we could do the 30 minutes, but it wasn't a stress-free situation. For the older, it took years.

By a year, we were giving my younger a water bottle to play with in the car (she loved watching the water slosh) and lots of snacks.

Hang in there! It takes awhile but it'll pass.

[mommytoC]

My DD#2 hated the car, too...she'd last 5-10 minutes, tops, from birth until around 6 months. You have my sympathy, since during that time, 30 minute trips were absolute he**. After 6 months, she slowly improved, and by 15 months, travelled as well as DD#1. She moved from her Snugride 22 to a Marathon at 8 months, and remained rear-facing past 2 years, so it wasn't carseat-related at all.

[HIU8]

My DD tolerated the car of 1 hour or less. After that all bets were off. Can you move your DS into a convertible (and out of the infant seat)? Sometimes that helps.

[MamaMolly]

It took Dolly a new car seat, and I know she was less than 6 weeks. Her riding in the Graco bucket just about killed us both with the screaming. But when we moved her to the TrueFit she was a much happier camper. Not perfect, but the insane screaming until she lost her voice was reduced greatly. I'm so sorry you are going through this, too. It is mind blowingly stressful.

[marymoo86]

DD hated the infant seat but somewhat improved with the addition of a couple of toys and a mirror to catch her attention. I connected a Freddie Firefly with brightstarts links but that only bought us maybe 15-20 minutes.

Music seemed to help a bit.

Graduating to the convertible helped a lot.

[Giantbear]

does he cry if you put him in the car seat outside of the car? maybe put him in his car seat in the living room so he can get used to it. Do you have mirrors up so you can see him and he can see you when in the car? This is big with dd.

[brittone2]

I had three car haters. DS2 was the best of the bunch. DS1 was horrible if we were driving more than 10 mins. He didn't cry himself to sleep, he just kept wailing. DD would work herself up to throwing up and would have beads of sweat rolling down her back from crying so hard (and no she wasn't overdressed or overheated). I remember having to pull over on the way to my parents' house which was 15 mins away. We made it less than 10 mins on the way there before she was so worked up she threw up. I'd take her out, nurse her, get her calmed down, put her back in and it would start all over again I think I still have PTSD from driving with my two oldest kids.

It got better for us, but we had some rocky months for the first 6 months for sure.

Hang in there!

DS2 seemed to enjoy being comforted by his siblings being nearby.

[luckytwenty]

I had the same situation with my youngest. A few things helped--switching him from the Graco to the Britax Roundabout once he was a little bigger--and getting a mirror with lights and music to look at while rear-facing. But it kind of just sucked until he was about 7 months. He's 15 months and still isn't a fan. But otherwise, he's a happy baby...I guess this is just his version of how I feel about Mondays!

[okinawama]

I am two for two with the carseat haters. DS2 in particular hates the carseat with the fire of a thousand suns. At 10 months even us heading in the direction of the car causes crying. I thought for sure it would be better by now, but for the most part, he still screams for most trips. I try and hedge my bets and make sure he is rested, fed and in a clean diaper and sometimes he'll last 10 minutes or so, but I can guarantee that on our way back home, he'll scream the entire time. We live in a pretty small town, and most outing take a short amount of time, so I can only imagine that you must be close to loosing your mind. Moving him out of the bucket seat helped, but didn't fix the problem entirely. I hope that things improve soon!