DS haaaates his car seat - what to do?

[pinotgrig]

He's had several screaming fits in it that I were hoping were one-offs but I think he definitely hates his car seat. We have the britax b-safe and we've adjusted it and feel confident we have a good fit for him in it. When he gets upset, I make sure it's not too tight, nothing is pinching him, etc.

How do we deal with this? I'm dreading leaving the house, esp by myself. :/

[andthentherewere10]

I have a great white noise ap that I stream through the bluetooth in my car VERY LOUD. That helps way more than music.

[kaycee]

Do you have a mirror, so you can see him? My kid screamed for a week after we moved every time in the car seat and I was at a loss. Then I reinstalled the mirror and she's happy as a clam again.

[bowies]

We have the Britax too - since DS was on the small side he looked so uncomfortable in it, so we bought the infant insert. It has worked well.

[narockshard]

Can you try turning up the radio kind of loud? My baby doesn't hate the car seat but if she's upset for some reason in there, she calms right down when I turn up the radio.

[dcn]

Im not sure how old he is, but ds went through a phase around 2-3 months where he just screamed in his carseat no matter what I did. i stayed home a lot and didn't go out unless I really had to . Not helpful really, but he did grow out of it!

If he is older, a mirror helps ds now, singing to him - not the radio it has to be me- almost always helps. I once sang the wheels on bus for over 25 minutes. The things we do for our kids!

[sent]

How old is your son?

Turning up the music with beats really loud buys me a few minutes.

I have one of those toys that strecthes across the car seat handle that I only attach it when we are in the car and will be going on a longer ride (15+ minutes). I remove it when we get to our destination. This also buys a few minutes.

DD screams the most driving on local roads. The stupid local roads around here are always jammed with traffic even at like 1 pm on Monday and she doesn't like the stop and go. Today we went to my office which only involved 4 minutes of stupid local roads and the rest was like 15 minutes on the highway and she did fine.

I still dread leaving the house alone. We literally accomplish only 1 errand and she exhausts me.

[IndiaInk]

Jul 29, 2014 20:12:58 GMT -5 kaycee said:

Do you have a mirror, so you can see him? My kid screamed for a week after we moved every time in the car seat and I was at a loss. Then I reinstalled the mirror and she's happy as a clam again.

Can the baby see YOU in the mirror, or can you just see her?  Because we have a mirror installed so I can see my baby when I'm driving, but I'm not sure she can see me.  Do you have some special kind of mirror, or just have it angled a certain way?

I, too, would love to solve the screaming fits that have recently started happening in the car.  Please, dear God, let this be a short-lived phase.

[pinotgrig]

sent - he's 6 weeks old. :/ I have a car seat toy that dangles from the handle, but he's completely uninterested. We've cranked up the music but that doesn't seem to help. I'll look into a mirror (don't have one of those) and will try cracking the window. Also, the loud white noise is a good idea, too.

[IndiaInk]

Jul 30, 2014 0:59:47 GMT -5 pinotgrig said:

sent - he's 6 weeks old. :/ I have a car seat toy that dangles from the handle, but he's completely uninterested. We've cranked up the music but that doesn't seem to help. I'll look into a mirror (don't have one of those) and will try cracking the window. Also, the loud white noise is a good idea, too.

Regarding toys and their level of interest in them, DD is only JUST beginning to be interested in toys at 12 wks. Today I brought her Mahattan Toys Winkel in the car seat and she was happy to "play" with it and chew on it for over a half hour straight. It may have been a fluke but I'm just saying it to give you a glimmer of hope that toys may help in the near future.

[curbsideprophet]

Make sure it is cool enough in the car. They can get hot in the infant seats easily. Having said that you might just need to give it time. DD basically hated the car for at least the first three months. She eventually got better.

[sunshine608]

We had the same issue (same seat too)until a week ago. He grew out of it. Not sure if our 8 hour drive to Florida had something to do with it but I was expecting him to scream the entire way but he didn't. It also helped that he found his fingers and uses those to stay occupied.

I also bought a convertible car seat and was planning to introduce it once we got back. O

[rex]

white noise, comfortable warmth wise and turn up the music.

some babies just hate the carseat and cry no matter what.

[sent]

Jul 30, 2014 0:59:47 GMT -5 pinotgrig said:

sent - he's 6 weeks old. :/ I have a car seat toy that dangles from the handle, but he's completely uninterested. We've cranked up the music but that doesn't seem to help. I'll look into a mirror (don't have one of those) and will try cracking the window. Also, the loud white noise is a good idea, too.

Oh he's tiny.  When DD reached this age, I used to time going out with her naps (and with my pumping schedule so we still didn't go out a lot).  Like I knew that if I fed her a bottle, she would be out for at least 2 hours and those were the 2 hours I had to go through the Dunkin Donuts drive throught and then get to Trader Joe's and wander around.  

Our car seat hater came around a little later.  Part of the reason was that I didn't realize our seat had an infant insert that she was reaching the top of the weight limit for and it was restricting her.  Once I removed that, bought us a few more minutes. :?

[simpsongal]

J doesn't like it much either. Toys hanging from the bars and in his hands help. I think they hate being tethered and pinned down like that -- especially once they start rolling.

Our awful trip to the Orioles game didn't help.

[qubit]

My D screamed in the car seat from about 2 weeks on. She didn't fuss or cry. It was that horrible, inconsolable scream. We stopped taking her in the car unless necessary and eventually purchased a convertible seat suitable for infants when she was about 6 months old. She improved a lot after the switch. I wish I would have tried it sooner. Best of luck to you! It's so hard for people to understand how awful it can be unless they've experienced it.

[pinotgrig]

Jul 30, 2014 7:40:19 GMT -5 sent said:

Jul 30, 2014 0:59:47 GMT -5 pinotgrig said:

sent - he's 6 weeks old. :/ I have a car seat toy that dangles from the handle, but he's completely uninterested. We've cranked up the music but that doesn't seem to help. I'll look into a mirror (don't have one of those) and will try cracking the window. Also, the loud white noise is a good idea, too.

Oh he's tiny.  When DD reached this age, I used to time going out with her naps (and with my pumping schedule so we still didn't go out a lot).  Like I knew that if I fed her a bottle, she would be out for at least 2 hours and those were the 2 hours I had to go through the Dunkin Donuts drive throught and then get to Trader Joe's and wander around.  

Our car seat hater came around a little later.  Part of the reason was that I didn't realize our seat had an infant insert that she was reaching the top of the weight limit for and it was restricting her.  Once I removed that, bought us a few more minutes. :?

I do time our outings to happen only after feedings when he usually sleeps but he still flips out sometimes. My parents really want me to go visit them while I'm on ML, but since they're 1.5 hours away I'm not sure I feel like chancing it.

[ringstrue]

Loud rap music with lots of bass. It's probably not a car seat thing, just a car thing.

[lulu21]

We put the body insert ? By britax in ours and it made a world of difference .

[kitty]

At that age, DS was only happy if I was going >40 mph. If we were driving slow, or heaven forbid, stopped at a red light it was a screamfest. He outgrew it!

[rondonalddo]

Mantras, repetitive songs, whatever YOU need (if nothing else works and your kid still HATES the carseat like mine did-- and she wouldn't take a paci, either). DD would cry and cry and the big town where her doctor and the good shopping was was a 30 minute drive away. I would sing "One Elephant Went Out One Day" and try not to let my nerves get to me. And if by some miracle she did fall asleep, I eventually knew all the bumps in the road to avoid so she wouldn't startle herself awake. She grew out of it eventually. Hang in there!

[turtlegirl]

Nothing really helped DS2 until he was bout 5-6 months old. He just hated being in the car/carseat. Bucket or convertible, he didn't care. It was a stressful time to say the least. :::shudder:::

[Stingyshark]

DD went through a spell for a few weeks where she hated her seat; I avoided going anywhere unless I had to. I found that rolling down the windows was one of the only things that would calm her down. I'm not sure if she was just hot, or if she hated her seat; but the window helped. She grew out if as quickly as she it struck..