What do you do when you are driving alone and baby is crying in the car seat?

michellelcl

What do you do when you are driving alone and baby is crying in the car seat in the back? My baby is 3.5 months. He always cries even it's a five minute drive. He will stop crying, the moment I take him out of car seat. I wonder if I need to do something. I don't want him associate car ride=bad experience and has some psycholigical impact.

ravenclaw1

That was my life for my daughters first 4 months.

I just had to deal with it. We couldn't not drive. I had a pacifier in there for her, a toy, I brought the car seat in the house so she could sit in it and not always associate it with the car... Everything. You have my sympathies- it sucks.

But then it just stopped and now she's awesome in the car. No explanation.

ShakeyJakey

Mine did that too. I sang or rocked his seat if I wasn't driving or just turn up the radio. He got over it though! At least for shorter rides.

ASmallWonder

White noise, loud radio, keep the window open a little.  Is he in an infant seat?  You might consider trying him in a convertible.  Sometimes the change in angle helps.  It sucks.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

bumpuser260585

I usually end up crying too. That is not at all helpful.

sundaesprinkles

I am a lurker but I wanted to say that my DS was the same at that age. From 3 to 4 months he hated the car and cried the whole time, even for short drives. He would be sort of okay if somebody was sitting back there with him but that wasn't always possible. Our families live 45 minutes to an hour away and making that drive was torture. I tried to limit taking him on long trips as much as possible.

I would always make sure he had a fresh diaper and was fed right before we left. I would take extra care that his clothes weren't bunched up uncomfortably in the seat and I made sure the car was cooled off before I put him in. Then I would just try to talk or sing to him to let him know I will still there even though he couldn't see me. A lot of times he would scream for most of the 50 miles we had to drive and I would sing at the top of my lungs. Sometimes while I was singing I would cry too!

He grew out of it when he was about 4 months and he's pretty good in the car now. Hopefully this phase will pass for you soon!

jesuisfatiguee

We always nursed before we left, which only helped when he was older.

Talk, sing, listen to music. That's all you really can do when they're so teeny. I used to speak to my son in letter format when he was really small, and to this day sometimes that will calm him more than anything else. For example,

"Dear C,

You are my little mister.

Love,

Mommy"

And on and on and on. Usually one or two sentences each. I think it was the predictable intonation in my voice that helped. 

I know I'm a weirdo... 

jesuisfatiguee

Also, you have all my sympathies. There is little worse than listening to your brand new baby cry for you and not be able to do anything about it  

ready-or-not

Besides what everyone else has suggested, i think i once told my DD to get over herself bc we are a family on the go.....that didn't work either lol

ETA words

thebanich

Turn up the music and breathe. Sorry, that is the worst.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

MrsT0514

NellyBluth said:

Definitely don't do what my friend did. She told me she took the baby out of the seat, laid her down on the passenger seat and rubbed her belly while driving "slow".

Yeah. 

Mfing what??? That is insane.

Eta...and just plain stupid.

cedenton

elmoali said:

White noise, loud radio, keep the window open a little.  Is he in an infant seat?  You might consider trying him in a convertible.  Sometimes the change in angle helps.  It sucks.

Ditto all this. download a white noise app and put your phone in the carseat and make it LOUD. If that doesn't work go for the convertible car seat.

MrsT0514

My mom used tell me that I should pull over and tend to him when he cried in his car seat. She'd say it all nonchalantly like "well, that what I would do..."

Ok Mom.. and then what? Do the same thing over and over when he starts crying again, and then we'd never get home?? I'd rather just crank the radio and drive the fuck home so I can take my poor baby out of the damn carseat for more than a minute or 2. Not to mention, pulling over to the side of a busy road doesn't seem very safe to me either.

ToastieSimons

Turn the radio up.  

Sing really loudly at the top of my lugs some terrible song they love.

Talk to them.

Sometimes they just have to cry, and I never made my boys CIO, but car rides are non negotiable.  I have car seat screamers, if I stopped every time they cried I never would have gone anywhere.  Literally.

Also, the crying got much better when we stopped using the bucket seat for both boys.  They HATED the infant seat with a passion.  I'm not sure if it was the lack of padding or the deep seat, but they got overheated and screamed from the second I laid them in there.

cedenton

piffle42 said:

DD really liked pink noise. It's a little softer than white noise. Sometimes I would cry too.

Yeah, there's an app with all kinds of "white" noise options. Pink, black, blue....plus rain and shower sounds and many more.

JGY

I would cry with him, but also I would sweat profusely.  Does that happen to anyone else?  Every time I hear my baby cry I sweat.  It's disgusting.

Anyway, my kid has gone through lots of phases of hating and then tolerating the car.  Try different types of music until you find something that he likes (mine would only stop screaming for classical music).  If it's the right time, the move to a convertible seat also helped us.  But basically I think it's just a stage that they go through and then grow out of.  And then regress into again and grow out of again.  Unfortunately it seems like forever when they're in the bad phases.

Good luck!

allonsyalonso

We had a lullaby CD that worked pretty well, but mostly I cried, too.

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. So not fun.

FalconCrest

That was my DS for the first two years of his life.  I just turned up the music really loud and sang at the top of my lungs.  It magically stopped one day out of the blue.  DS is four now and is amazing in the car for any length of time.  You have all my sympathy!

AngelSong76

Radio static worked for us.  Or turning it off and me singing to him.  I started singing three specific songs to him even before he was born, and even now (at almost 2 years old) those songs can calm him down.  It does stop eventually, so take heart.  

thebanich

The only thing that would stop DS when he was <1 was one song on a Fernando Ortega cd.
~X(

hbrooks88974

We switched from a travel system seat to a Graco nonconvertible seat (not sure the name of it off the top of my head). She is still fussy sometimes but it definitely made a difference. She has more room and it's easier for her to look around. I also put on Disney Pandora and sing along with the songs. LOUD. But....then again sometimes nothing helps. There's not much you can do in that situation. I hate it too! 

DreadLoc

my kid cried every damn ride for 6 months until we randomly decided to switch her to a convertible.  she immediately stopped.  maybe try switching kiddo?  rf, of course