Problems getting DS into carseat

aliciamariel

The past few days, DS has been horrible to get into the carseat.  He hangs on the handle above the door (you know, where people hang their dry cleaning), straightens up to the point where you can't bend his legs to sit even when I tickle his belly, and he SCREAMS like I'm beating him up.  Once he's buckled in and I give him a kiss, he's fine, all giggly and babbling like nothing happened.  I've tried letting him stand in the carseat and play for a minute before I begin to sit him down and buckle him in, and I've tried just not messing around.  I've also tried giving him a favorite toy as I'm about to put him in the seat and he just throws it.  And I also made sure that there's nothing in it making him uncomfortable.  I'm assuming that like everything else, it's just a phase that will pass by and that maybe he's starting to test his limits/power over me. Hopefully he'll figure out really quickly that this is not a battle that he'll win.

Is anyone going through this?  Any tips? 

mayowife

Sometimes my son will shout and arch his back, but I just fight him into his seat. I buckle him in, kiss him, tell him where we're going, and turn on his mirror / light / music thing.

vmm0016

No tips but at least your boy is fine once he is strapped in.  Keira will have a meltdown if she is not ready to get into her carseat.  We have actually hung out at my mom's house longer than antipated because she will not get in!

staceyanseeuw

DS does this too! Drives me nuts! He's been doing it for probably a month now. I give him his soother, and try to distract him with a toy, then just do one thing up at a time while "playing" with him. The soother really helps though.

emiliemadison

It's a phase and you're right, it will pass. I would avoid letting him stand and play in the seat first, though, because then on the days you need to get him in right away he'll expect that he can play first and it will only frustrate him.

aliciamariel

emiliemadison:

It's a phase and you're right, it will pass. I would avoid letting him stand and play in the seat first, though, because then on the days you need to get him in right away he'll expect that he can play first and it will only frustrate him.

yeah. after a couple of times of letting him play a little, i realized that it's probably a bad habit.  he just needs to deal with it.