Little One HATES the car seat!

Elizabeth Gardner wrote:

In article 2RRnb.215974$9l5.50262@pd7tw2no,
Alicia wrote:

My beautiful baby boy is now almost 12 weeks old, and since he was about 4
weeks old, he has hated the car seat! He screams like we're doing something
terrible to him, goes as stiff as a board when we try to put him in it and
sobs for about 15 minutes after we take him out. It is horrible! I hate to
hear him scream like that, but I have to be able to go out with him in the
car! Does anyone have any advice for how to make this less of a trial for
him? I don't want him to grow up hating to be in the car, or thinking that
we don't care because we keep putting him in there.
Alicia


Ours despised riding backwards. In light of her subsequent personality
development, we think it might have been because she didn't have
anything to look at. She yelled at the top of her lungs most of the way
home from the hospital, until we hit a stretch of bumpy road the last
few miles that somehow lulled her to sleep.

Anyway we used to be able to distract her by singing, which would put
off the crying for maybe ten minutes. Around here, that's enough time to
get a lot of places. We obtained a tape of lullabies when she was about
four months old, which helped sometimes. We also hung some chewable
keys and other toys from the handle of the seat, which sometimes kept
her occupied. Otherwise, we just let her cry herself to sleep.

Once she was old enough to ride frontwards, things got much better.

This was never a problem for me because we didn't even HAVE backward
facing car seats when mine were growing up.

Most people seem to say that it gets better when they can face
forward. I know that the carseats are safer when they face backward,
but what would be the tradeoff of turning them around earlier to see
whether that was what it was? (like you know they are better off
sleeping on their back, but when they turn over by themselves you more
or less have to let them sleep on their tummies)

If it didn't work, then you'd have to think of something else, but at
least if it did work, you'd know you had a finite time before it would
get better, and you could perhaps rethink the idea of whether you HAVE
TO go out with him in the car. There are still people with no cars -
they walk or use public transportation. It might not be easy for you,
but it does not seem easy for him either. You could wait to do the
errands until your dh was home, or get someone in to baby sit.

If it was lack of things to see, you could figure out something for
them to watch (a mirror?)

If it was car-sickness, what would be the problem with giving them
anti-nausea medication? What do doctors prescribe for babies who have
to fly for some reason?


grandma Rosalie