Baby Hates the Carseat

I remember those days. The advice I always got was "just start driving, he'll fall asleep." NO, he WOKE UP. I'm afraid I don't have any advice for you, just sympathy, and like Bridget's child, he was different when he could see us, and see out the window, and then came the day that he actually fell asleep in the car! Good luck, hang in there, and enjoy the good times.

My son disliked his carseat as well.I tried all the toys, etc.So I got a toddler seat rear faced it and he is a totally different baby.Good luck I know it's hard,but it will get better..

Hope this helps some,
B.

LOL. One of my kids hated it too. I do believe that I brought it into the house and used it as furniture in the living room. Eventually, they decided that it was ok to sit in and the rides to the store became much easier.

Good luck!!

I have 5 kids from 19 years to 4 years old. They all loved their car seats but only if it was certain car seats. I bought a cheapie car seat as an infant only seat and my son who is 6 now hated it. We switched to a better quality, more padded seat and he instantly settled right down and loved it.(the Britax ones are SO great). Even now they are both in that brand (his goes up to 80 pounds) and there is one that goes up to 120 pounds I beleive. I wanted the five-point harness on them both so I got this one instead. Makes a big difference and they both say how comfortable they are in them. They will both sleep in them no problem. Good luck with it. Also for tinier babies still, there are mirrors that attach to the seat back so baby can see movement of you up front and you can see the baby too. These are reassuring for babies who are facing the rear still.

What a beautiful name ..my 15 year old is Malia I am 37 and also have a 17 year old son and a 10 year old girl..My youngest didn't like her carseat either ..It was the strappin in part i think.She became quite the escape artist while i was driving ..AAAGGGGHHHH!!! try letting her sit in tha carseat in the house without being strapped in a few times a day so she can get used to it .It sounds horrable but turn on some cartoon or kid show or dance around to some music to get her attention...maybe even try giving her a bottle while she is in her seat..Hope this helps.. and good luck.

I don't know how old your baby is now but both my children hated their car seats too. They would scream until I took them out of them. With my youngest, whom is now 5 months old, I actually bought her a different car seat. She went from an infant car seat to a toddler car seat, but still faces rear. Since then, she is a different baby. She actually sleeps in the car now. It's amazing. I think she didn't like being so reclined in the infant car seat. I still keep it in a reclined position but she is definitely more upright now.

Hi C., I went through this with both of my daughters.it was frustrating i was trying to talk soft to them sing, nothing worked.and i was one of those moms who did not like my children crying because i felt like a terrible mother but i called my doctor and he suggested on bringing in the car seats and just let them clinb on it sit put there dolls or what ever they wanted.they got to the point they were trying to put the belt on them selves. another thing i did was i would put there seats side by side like they were in the car and i would tell them okay mommy need to go to the store so who wanted to help mommy drive and we have to get in our seats so we can go so i would bring out a dinner chair or i would sit on the floor in front of them and i would say are we ready. they would go get in their seats and i would buckle them then i would get in front of them and we just made it into a game. and now we are in the real car and now they are so good. sometimes they just have that fear. but you are going to do whats best for you and what you are willing to do.

my osn was the same way. As soon as we turned him around he was fine, but your daughter is too young for this. My theory about my son was that he was gettin car sick. My best guess is that you should turn up the music and tune her out until you get where you are going. My baby likes music and he fusses if he doesn't like the song you are playing. Good luck. ~V.

Hi,

Both my babies HATED their car seats insanely. Eventually, I did what another person suggested and brought them into the playroom and just left them there. Soon enough they were crawling all over them and sitting and rocking back and forth. After that there wasn't any more issues with them.

Good luck

Both of my girls hated their car seat until it got turned around. I would sit in the back seat with them and the ONLY thing that calmed them down was me singing my abcs to them! I also brough tin the car seats and let them play on them too and as soon as I was able to turn their car seats around they were fine. I hope this helps! Good Luck!

One of my twins hated the car seat as well. I just kept putting her in it and she eventually stopped crying. She would cry the whole time she was in her car seat. She is 7 months old now and is fine with being in her car seat now.

Hi C.,

Yes My baby hates the car seat as well. although when we are moving she is fine and once after I buckle her in or give her a bottle she will calm down, but she does hate being in her carseat...My friend's youngest also hated it and the only way she was able to get him to stay still and not cry and scream the entire time he was in it was to put in a portable DVD player for him to watch a movie or a cartoon. She was not happy that she did this but it was the only way to make the car ride at all pleasurable as her two older boys would get very irritated that the ride consisted of also a very upset younger brother. She did it more for their sake rather than for her own.

That is great that you are staying home with your baby, it must be such a surreal feeling and also with the fact that you had children so young in the beginning. My parents were young when they had me, but I am 34 and I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old.

Anyway, I hope things get better with you and Amalia. Sorry for your first loss too it must have been very hard to deal with when you have your first baby and lose him/her to sids...I would not even know how that would feel at all, Glad you were able to overcome it! I only know of one person who lost a baby to sids, she is much older and it was her third baby - she said that she was not there when it happened and that it was her brother and sister-in-law who were watching him at the time. They went to check on him and he was not breathing, they had just put him down for a nap. I think he was about 2 months old or something at the time and she and her husband had taken the baby's older siblings to Disneyworld for the day! First time they even left him with a sitter. It sounded awful!! I could only imagine how awful it could be and would not even wish it on my worst enemy. Anyway, good luck and I hope that soon Amalia will be okay with the carseat

I also suggest putting your baby in the car seat in the house so that she can get used to it. It seems like it would be comfortable. Is it possible that the fabric is rough or has a smell she doesn't like?

If she takes a bottle you could also try feeding her in her carseat so that she would associate comfort with the seat.

My granddaughter's seat would rock when it wasn't in the car. Rocking in it might also help.

My granddaughter spit up copious amounts and the doctor suggested raising the head of her bed. She'd just end up at the bottom. So she slept in her carseat for several months.

C.,

I know this isn't going to help much but my first child hated riding in the carseat. He'd scream the entire time and only rarely fall asleep. It got dramatically better after he turned 1 and was big enough to go forward facing. I don't have any suggestions other than to tell you that it will likely improve when you can turn her around. But you've got a way to go before then! I later read that some babies get motion sick riding rear facing. I don't know if that is true or not. My son turned out to be autistic so I think with him it was a sensory issue.

:-)T.

My daughter HATED the car seat too for a very long time, 3 or 4 months. She would scream so hard that she would start to hyperventilate. There was nothing that worked, she just grew out of it. I know now that she likes to have toys in her hand. Do you give her toys or just have hanging ones and the mirror?

I know EXACTLY what you are going through, I am so sorry. It really made every car ride so stressful for me. But she will grow out of it and you are probably right around the corner from that happening!

You can't exactly bring it in the house and let them crawl all over it when they are 3-4 months old, can you? :)

My son hated his carseat for the first 4-5 months. He would scream and cry the entire ride that it made me not want to go anywhere. Another thing that really helped was when he was a year old I turned the carseat around so it was facing forward. I used to get so frustrated because everyone I would talk to would say, my baby loves his carseat I thought all babies did!! Well some will just grow into that stage. just give it some time.

My daughter was the same way for about the first three to four months any time we went anywhere she screamed, unless we were going over 50mph. The only thing the seemed to help was if someone sat in the back with her and held her hand or touched some part of her body.

This probably sounds funny but it worked! My daughter hated the car seat too. We're talking blood curtling screams at times! I ended up buying her a bag of chips as a desperate attempt to find something that would interest her in the car. She loved the crinkling of the bag. I even have a picture! Make sure you get a smaller bag and replace it so that it doesn't open.

My baby is the same way my trick is turning the music up pretty loud when she first starts screaming and then she gets real quite and goes to sleep instantly. I worked for all 10 of my neices and nephews also. I dont know something for you to try. Also putting them in it without being strapped in might work also.