4 month old hates car seat

[Laietta]

I'm hoping to get some advice regarding keeping my 4 month old son in his car seat. He absolutely hates going in the car seat and will not stay there for more than 10 minutes before he starts to scream and cry and strain against the safety harness. This basically means that we can't go anywhere that is more than 10 minutes away as we have to stop the car and take him out of the seat to calm him down and once he is calm he wont go back in the seat and we can't continue the journey. Does anyone have any tips or advice on getting him to enjoy car journeys? We have tried distracting him with toys, youtube videos and music but he quickly loses interest and wants out of the car seat. Does anyone have any suggestions regarding anything else we can do as we are basically prisoners in our tiny village as we can't really use the car and public transport is limited.

[Lazypuppy]

Is he in the back of the car or the front?

Back- have you got a mirror so he can see you, toys for him to play with dummy, comforter?

Car seat-have you taken new born insert out?

[Laietta]

He is in the back. I normally go in the back beside him while someone else drives. I took the newborn insert out a few weeks ago as according to the instructions he is now to big to use it but now that I think about it since taking it out the situation has got worse. Maybe now the seat is uncomfortable for him.

[Lazypuppy]

Why are you in the back with him? I never understand this. What happens when you are on your own and need to go in the car?

I'm not surpised he is kickong off with you next to him, he probably doesn't understand why he can't sit with you etc.

Just give him some toys/comforter and sit in the front. Use a mirror and he can see you

[Meandmycrew2]

I had this with my daughter. It turned out to be undiagnosed silent reflux and the scrunched up position was forcing acid up. We changed to a fixed rear facing car seat (rather than the ones you carry around) as it was bigger so she was laid a bit more flat. Worked wonders

[sewinginscotland]

Mine hated the car seat. We think it was silent reflux, plus being sore from a painful birth (forceps). We gave him gaviscon and took him to the chiropractor.

I tried to time my car journeys so he was sleepy and would just drift off. Eventually he associated the car with going to sleep. If I time it right now, I can get a whole hour and a half out of him (he's 10 months old).

I also live in a rural town, most trips out involve a half hour journey. So I feel your pain! I let him cry because a lot of the time I was on my own, there was no other option if I wanted to get home.