Car Ride Issues

Get the portable DVD player. My son is 15 months and it makes traveling so much easier! GOOD luck

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okay. am i the only mom on here who thinks this little girl is being a bit of a drama queen? come on, little known rare allergies? have her tested, then. but i'm 99% sure that she's simply playing off your attention.

my experience - when we had that super cold snap a few weeks ago, my 3 year old son FREAKED OUT when we went outside. you know, the difference between 30 degrees and ZERO degrees, when it just knocks your breath out. i mean he screamed miserably for fifteen minutes straight, and nothing i could do stopped it, even after the car was warmed up. just completely hysterical. i had to take him into the sitters screaming like a banshee, and we covered him up with blankets and he finally started to calm down. i have to say he was NOT in any danger, he had coat, blanket, etc, and was fine in the car. it only took a few minutes for the car to start getting tolerable. but it took him awhile to get over that, i think it really scared him and he expected to be hit with that every time we walked outside. but it was completely in his head. we just had to get him past it with love and patience, but firmness. unfortunately, going outside and getting in the car are unavoidable.

it's possible your daughter is reacting to the cold (which is silly at this point, since as you say she likes to play outside, and riding in other peoples' cars is fine), or even a smell or something in the air. maybe she had a bad experience one time and now she's just repeating that behavior over and over again, either because of your reaction or because she "feels" like it's happening again. either way, either trade in your car or work with her to get over it already. assuming you rule out any medical issues of course. i can't believe i'm the first person to bring this up.

and i would ABSOLUTELY not tolerate her wiggling out of her seat. that is immediate grounds for stopping the car. your back itches? not good enough reason to endanger your life. get her a back scratcher to hang onto while in the car. even sticking a movie in front of her face (i guess you have a three hour commute or something?) to shut her up so you don't have to deal with her is preferable. but do NOT accept her endangering both of your lives. i really don't see why kids can't be expected to be respectful and behave, especially in a car where your lives are at risk otherwise. we spend so much time in the car these days. kids need to be taught how to act, not just "worked around".

I don't know about your neighborhood but in mine we have wood burning stoves that the smoke during the winter really irritates my son's nose. He regularly takes Singular for animal allergies but during the winter we have to back it up with Zyrtec. THat is what his allergist told us to do. Itchiness comes from the excessive dry skin of winter. I reccommend Aveno baby lotion or regular Aveno lotion. It's much more moisturizing. If she is that itchy put it on her body both night and day. It doesn't take much. Again, there may be something that she is allergic to that presents itself in winter. If you can't figure it out, take her to an allergist for testing. Her symptoms definately sound like an allergy to me.

My guess is she is hyper sensitive to the weather and you need to honor that. Some children and adults are considered "Highly Sensitive", meaning, they feel much more on ALL LEVELS. She very well could be this way.

Cold air drys the skin, and her skin is much more sensitive compared to yours right now.

Think of how you feel on the coldest day, when you are not dressed for it. This is most likely how she feels.

I am reviewing a book currently called "EFT for the Highly Sensitive Temperament" It is offering some great idea's on how to handle this temperament. This is Emotional Freedom Technique (tapping on certain points) and it works for all ages. It's an alternative technique, but it's up to you if you want to explore it. I'm using it for myself and my son as we are both in this category.

This is going to sound crazy, maybe even a little like I'm a lunatic but hear me out. My Mom suffers from something called Cold Urticaria, in short she is allergic to the cold. Sounds nuts eh? But totally true, we spent years trying to figure out what was wrong with her and wound up with her going to an allergist and that was the diagnosis.

When it began 15 years ago cold air, being wet and then having her skin cooled (getting out from a pool on a breezy day) would induce aweful itching, and eventually a rash. As time has worn on the severity of the allergy has increased to her having full blow hives and the threat of anaphylactic shock. If she drinks a smoothie too fast her mouth swells and cold hair in her nostrals is very painful.

I'm not saying that what your daughter is dealing with is this at all, and please don't think I'm trying to scare you. It could absolutely be as simple as dry skin that the cold aggrivates, or that she's decided to dislike the car and needs a whole new level of distraction. But this is a real condition and while rare it is becoming more and more common. And is being diagnosed more and more in children.

It wouldn't hurt to google it, keeping in mind the vast internet offers all sorts of "information" consider it's source and if you are at all suspicious of this for your little one, take her to your doctor or an allergist to find out.

Good luck! I hope I didn't totally freak you out, I just thought you might want to look into it!

Take care!

It sounds to me like she just wants attention and it's working.

I have to believe she is uncomfortable so do your best to give her techniques to handle it. Ideas:

Give her some safe lotion to put on her hands and face. Tell her it has to be done slowly and really rubbed in. Not too much. This should distract her for some of the ride.

Bring some water and tell her that her body may need more water to feel better. She should slowly sip the water through out the car ride. Maybe that would distract her part of the time.

Distraction. Distraction. Distraction.

Hope it helps.

Have you tried heating up the car before getting into it? I know that the cold air really bothers me nose and breathing but I feel much better as soon as my car is warm. (Although it doesn't sound like it gets better when the car gets warm).
I do agree with others with the allergy thing--her nose is sensitive to something in the winter. Do you play outside much in the winter snow? Does she act the same way when playing outside?
Distractions would help if possible. We have "long" drives often for doctors appointments and such (45-60 minutes). I have used MP3 Player and even a portable DVD player to help distract him from the ride. Its the only time he is allowed to watch movies but it works and he loves it. :)

I am wondering if she might be allergic to something in your car. Is it a newer car with "new car smells". Did you try a new air freshner? Could there be mold or something in the car from wet shoes or spilled drinks? Maybe the heat system has excessive amounts of dust, mold, or god forbid mouse droppings. It sounds like in other peoples cars she is fine.

Also, I think once kids have an association with a sick feeling in a place, they fear they will feel that way again in that place and sometimes bring the symptoms on from fear.

It must be a total pain in the butt for you-we all have to drive places, right? Good luck!

What about allowing her to sit by the window and open it a crack for the fresh air? You can still run the heat.

Not sure about the back itching part, although if she is wearing thick layers of clothing and then strapped into a car seat... that could make it very uncomfortable.. and yes maybe even itch... like when your clothes are riding up?

As for the nose/can't breathe issues... My son is always the first person in the car to complain that it is too hot. We live in the south, so we don't get much cold weather to where only a few weeks out of the year (and then, only in the mornings before school) do we need to have the car heat on. (the rest of the year it's the a/c for us, lol). But the times we DO have the heater on, he is always the first one to complain "I can't breathe! Can you turn the cold up?) He is just much more sensitive to the "stuffiness" factor. He does suffer from seasonal allergic rhinitis (hayfever induced post nasal drip) and I expect that is why he is more sensitive to it.

Can you crack a window near her in the car to let a little "fresh" un-dried out air in every few minutes? Or keep a damp cloth handy so she can hold it at her nose some? that may help a little.

Just guessing here... hope this helps.

Could it be from the car's heater running? I know when I have too much heat my nose will do this. Maybe try putting vaseline or triple antibiotic ointment or even some lotion up the nostrils to provide some moisture. Her back may be dry too.

She could have a hidden asthma issue. Some asthma (mine included) is triggered by cold air. For me the cold air starts a feeling of not being able to "get air", then any exercise at all and I go into a full blown attack that feels like I am a fish out of water. It's suffocating.
I remember as a kid, though, long before it was diagnosed, I would complain a lot of the same things as your child, and I couldn't understand why other people didn't seem to have their nose hurt, and I couldn't understand how they could run around in the snow and still catch their breath.
Does she do a lot of mouth breathing in cold air ?

Don't take my word for it, could be something totally different. But please find a doctor who will not dismiss your concerns, and talk with him/her about your daughter. There is definitely something going on and she needs help.