I have a 6 month little boy who used to be a wonderful car rider...However, now he absolutely hates it...I can get him to play with toys for a few minutes but after that, he just screams until i get him out or he falls asleep....I used to plan our outings around his napping so he wouldnt cry so much but its getting really tricky to do that all the time. I even put him in our Britax which seems much more comfortable. I am at a loss of what to do for him. Does anyone have any suggestions or anything? Should I just treat it as something he has to get over and just go along? Its hard to listen to him crying so so hard...It breaks my heart but there are things that we just have to do! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I would adjust my mirror so he could see me in his in the back seat and talk to him. At first he would just get mad and cry more. After awhile he would watch me and realized he can see taller cars and traffic lights. Now he loves being stuck behind school buses. Any thing he can reach out to touch might help. I had a box on my back seat and my son spent the whole ride touching the flaps. I felt bad taking it out.
Hi K.!!I went threw that w/my son Landon he was 4months and it lasted about 3-4wks!!He HATED the car!!He would cry to the point of choking!!He was ok for the first 5-10min but then bam forget it!!I hated it so much,i tried music (mine and his)it helped a little,i would also open and close his window (anything to distract him)I rtied singing VERY loud to him ect....just try differant things maybe he will like something,but I promise you it will pass(i hated going places cause i knew what i was in for and it broke my heart to hear him and not beable to hold him)I used to think god if i could only put him on my lap like Brittney Spears did....haha.Anyway he LOVES the car now and he also loves the cd i used to play for him back then,its "kids songs"very upbeat (not lullabies)so try some of those ideas if you havent already,hopefully he will change quicker than my guy did!!oh-make sure hes not bundled up to much,maybe hes hot??With the warmer weather coming its probaly not an issue w/him, but it was winter for me...Good Luck hope this helps!!-J.
Oh man - I think every kid goes through this, and you just have to try a million things until it passes... I don't know if this will work for you, but when my DD was about 5 months and not dealing well in the car, I was trying the radio turned up loud. No dice. And then I discovered NPR. something about the monotone, calming speaking voices did the trick for her. She's 19 months now and we still listen mostly to NPR in the car... and i suppose i'm maybe a midge smarter for it too!
What does your son have to look at while he is sitting in the car? What is his view? Have you thought of purchasing a portable DVD player so he can view Baby Einstein or Sesame Street videos while in the car? Then you can use the DVD player for so many other uses like when you travel in hotels or sleep overs at family member's houses.
When my husband was in Iraq and I traveled with my young son from MD to NJ he bought me a portable DVD player-it seemed extravagant-but travel was such a breeze. Now I still use the DVD player when I have to bring our second child to many long doctor visits-it really helps calm her down while waiting for sometimes an hour at a time. It is hard when they are not even one to sit and just wait.
Good Luck!! Enjoy your little boy :)
Don't worry - he'll outgrow it. My almost 11-month old son HATED the carseat from birth! He wouldn't sleep, he would cry. It was terrible. We wouldn't go anywhere longer than an half hour car ride. He is much better now. I think once they can really play with things, you can keep them better occupied. I keep different toys in the car and will hand something new back if he gets fussy! Good luck!
My daughter hated the car too for months. It was so painful. I felt like a shut in. The only thing that worked for us was Celtic lulaby CD someone had given us. It was like magic!! So try some different types of music (talk radio was NOT her thing!). None of the toy solutions I tried helped at all.
I also planned all outings around when she would sleep so I would nurse her and get in the car. If DH and I were both in the car, I would sit back there with her sometimes but even that didn't work well and I think made it worse because she could see me right there but I wouldn't take her out.
The good news is some day your son will just stop hating the car. It happened overnight here. I can't remember when though.
BOTH my kids HATED the car. It wore off around 8 months. Until then, we had a lot of stressful moments in the car. I tried toys, songs, different seats, etc. and nothing worked. I think they just get to a stage and get used to it. Good luck and careful driving!
