My baby hates cars!

Hi Ladies,

I'm visiting from another forum and need your advice. My 5 month old daughter screams and cries everytime she is in a car. Sometimes she will get tired of crying and fall asleep for 30 minutes. Then, she'll wake up and cry again until she gets out of the car. She has gone on 6 car trips in her life, each lasting about an hour, and she just cries and cries everytime. We were planning on a vacation this summer that includes a 7 hour car ride, but we are now having second thoughts. Has anyone gotten their car-hating baby to learn to like it?

BTW, she is totally happy riding in her stroller or on the train for hours at a time.

 

Do you think she is hot and uncomfortable in the car seat?

 

I don't think it was the temperature because we had the air conditioning on. My other kids seemed fine riding next to her. Sometimes I take her out in a stroller in really hot weather and she seems happy as a clam even if she's sweating up a storm.

I thought maybe she wasn't used to the car seat, so I had her practice sitting in the car seat in our apartment. But it hasn't helped.

 

My two did not like car rides. Finally we found that a cd of songs they were familiar with at home helped in the car. :hug99: I know what you are going through! It's hard going anywhere.

 

This could have been a car ad… my son did the same thing… screamed no matter what… even if I sat in the back and helped every time the binky fell out… then one time after 30 min of crying and me trying to help (from the front seat)… I said… “I need air” and rolled down the window… and he fell asleep… our new car was too smooth and quite… I think he thought he was just plopped in a car seat… who knows… but we kept the window ajar whenever possible… and never had drama again... HTH
Elizabeth

 

I don't really have a solution, but I wanted to let you know you are not alone. My girls hate riding in the car. It is a screaming match everytime we are in there. In fact, it is so loud one day we were pulling out of sonic and our mirror got caught on one of those ordering things, and we didn't even hear it break. My girls are also 5 months old, and I often think to myself, I must have forgot to check the "Will fall asleep in the car" checkbox when I put in my order for them. :huh:

 

Hi!

Mine hated riding in the car as well. So, I started going on small rides. For a couple of weeks I would take them for a 10 minute drive. Then once we mastered that, I would take them on a 15 minute ride.

I also made sure they were fresh from a nap and not hungry when I went. It seemed to do the trick. I still don't take them on long trips (yet) but at least I can go places and they don't scream their heads off!

BTW - a cracked window works wonders as PP said!

 

Jake hated/hates the car too. He does seem to do a bit better with the windows open.

 

I swear by the baby mirrors you strap to the headrest...my little ones just happily talk to their baby friend in the mirror while we're in the car!

 

Thanks for all your advice. I'll have to try the open window and the mirror. Maybe we won't have to give up our vacation plan after all.