Baby screams in the car

[Astrid2]

Sorry to post here. Just hoping for more replies!

My 4 month old has always been good in the car. We used to go out for drives when she was tiny and fussy to calm her down. We travel a lot as our famillies are far away.

The last month, baby has been absolutely screaming her head off in the car. We have bought a new car seat today. Didn't help. I've sat in the back with her. Didn't help. I just don't know what to do. It's so stressful.

It's not every time but if she's not tired enough to fall asleep, she screams. Nothing distracts her!

Anyone had this and found a solution? Please tell me it's just a phase!!

We had this problem in the beginning and we took out the newborn insert. Made a huge improvement and baby loves the car now!
Maybe you've taken yours out but if not, give it a try.
Nothing more stressful than a screaming baby when you're trying to drive

It actually started after we took out the newborn insert in our maxi cosi! She was too big for it. We have bought a Joje every stage and tried it with and without all parts of the infant insert and it just doesn't make a difference 🤦‍♀️

Does she suffer from reflux? I used to have this problem and worked out it was when I fed DS immediately before driving. Four months is a bit old for it to suddenly be an issue if it hasn’t been before though.

We give our baby a bottle in the car. This seems to calm him down and send him to sleep. Not sure if it'll cause a problem for us in the future. a baby should never be left unsupervised with a bottle, they could choke one of us sits with him in the back

I have been there OP

A drop of lavender on the car seat worked , as did , when old enough for finger food, a ginger biscuit .

My youngest used to scream his head off in the car. His siblings often reminisce on the truly horrific school run! No solutions I'm afraid but like most things it was a phase. I've a feeling it only lasted a few months but as I am in the car a lot it was rather wearing at the time.

The only thing that helped was moving DC to next stage seat. More upright for his severe reflux mostly and i think being higher up and able to see out the back window helped too. (We got the besafe izi kid). I’ve read something before about a maxi cosi seat having a lump in the back that was hurting the baby’s back. Maybe as you’ve just taken the newborn padding out something like that?

Is she bored?

DD could occasionally be fussy like this, but we bought a mirror for the back seat so that the driver could see her in the rear view mirror.

A plus side of this is that DD could amuse herself by staring at her own reflection and practice smiling etc until she fell asleep.

She does get a bit of reflux but it doesn't seem to cause her pain any other time. Just occasionally brings up acid and curdled milk. I did wonder cause it's like she is in pain!

She's breast fed and a bottle refuser so unfortunately can't try that. I have tried a dummy, teething toy and my finger which doesn't help either thank you for replying though!

I did think it could be something with the seat. The maxi cosi is very hard and not padded at all without the insert. The new seat is lovely and cushioned but she screamed as soon as she was in in today. She was tired though and we had just woken her up from being asleep in her pushchair for 30 mins or so. Maybe she was just shocked at being woken!

Thought she maybe was bored now she's much more aware and interested. We took her sun blind down, gave her toys, even spent £20 bloody quid on a toy arch that attaches to the seat. It did distract her for a short time but then the screaming started.

I'm really hoping it's just a phase. We have a few more long journeys happening later this year that are essential

Thank you for all the replies!

We have a baababy lambskin insert for our car seat and DD has been much better in the car since we put it in. It makes it very cosy but also stops them getting too hot as well.

For us it was remove the insert, put in a mirror, give a dummy and a toy.
I'm sure it lasted a few months. It also helped to get him in the Car seat, swing it, settle him down, get in the car and GO!

Once in the car do not faff with seat or sunglasses etc, do not have long goodbyes chatting to grandparents.
If possible the driver is in, engine on, baby in, other parent in and GO!

Even after DS hit the point of tolerating the seat, sitting in it without moving was a nightmare.

Try a mirror on the back seat so she can see the driver. Something like this

Unfortunately, this might also be the first signs of car sickness . Children don't get properly car sick (ie vomit) until the age of about 2. But DD (who now gets car sick very easily) used to always scream in the car as a baby, and I'm pretty sure it's because she felt ill.

Yeah we have a mirror which does help a bit! Also the get in and get going helps too. Traffic is awful if we just set off and hit it!

My husband and I both had car sickness when we were children. Maybe is something to do with that. I'll try the lavender oil thing too!

We found trouble with joie seat is it’s really reclined like an infant carrier. He was so much happier in a more adjustable seat.

Once in the car do not faff with seat or sunglasses etc, do not have long goodbyes chatting to grandparents. If possible the driver is in, engine on, baby in, other parent in and GO!

Totally agree with this.

Both of mine were like this. It's awful, so stressful. You have my sympathy. I tried to keep journeys short but I know that isn't practical. It got much better when they moved to forward facing seats (back in the days when you could do that at after they were 12 months/certain weight). As previous poster said its a phase. Interestingly DS 2 had horrific reflux but would not take the medication, so I also tried to ensure he was fed at least 20 mins before hand to limit the chance of him throwing up all over the car seat. It didn't always work...

Oh and DS1 gets car sick... The stuff you learn in here... All be it too late for me..

DC3 hated car seats, we just had to try to travel when he would doze off. Doesn't last forever, is my only advice. I think it all got better after he turned FF (about 15m).

DC4 hated the pushchair, instead, screamed world down in it, until about 8m (!!)

When we were trying out car seats, we put dd in the testers. Certain models made her cry and wiggle. We bought the one she was happy in. Could be just the wrong car seat 😢

We put her in it in Mothercare and she was smiling and happy! Arg. Will just time journeys round naps I think is the best move until this phase is over. She went through a phase of hating her bouncer which she's always loved and that passed so fingers crossed!!!

My DD is almost 13 weeks old and HATES her car seat (Maxi-Cosi Pebble Plus)
We took out the infant insert but she's too small still...and it's not very padded without it 🤔
She has a mirror, toys, dummy (trouble is she's not able to it it back in if it falls out!) music, singing, siblings or me next to her...
She has reflux so could be that hurting her but the infant insert positions the baby's back nice and upright and straight not folding her into a seated position
If we hit slow or standstill traffic she SCREAMS
I wish I could offer words of wisdom but sadly I can't 😟
Here's hoping it stops soon!!

My DS screamed and screamed in his car seat if we were in the car over about 10 mins. The first journey over 15 mins is burned in my memory- I tried to go somewhere on a narrow A road (alone, at about 4 weeks). He started to scream so violently I thought the car seat must somehow have fractured and be cutting him to pieces. I literally thought he was dying. By the time I found somewhere safe to stop I was dripping with sweat so much my clothes were wet.

He was fine. I sat on the edge of the road with him in my arms and wept.

A few weeks later DH actually crashed the car whilst trying to park because DS was so distressed DH couldn't concentrate.

We discovered that he overheated VERY easily and started stripping him to his nappy to travel.

The ONLY thing that really fixed it was going forward facing. First time he was forward facing he giggled and shouted 'wheeee' for the whole journey. That's not a reason to forward face too soon though.

My DD screamed for the entire time she was in her maxi-coding. I remember once on a 4 hour journey thinking I honestly might crash the car as I just couldn’t concentrate. I had to stop at services.

The only thing that helped was going forward facing

DD was like this from around 6 months. Tried everything. She’s 15months now. We got a forward facing car seat last month and she is finally much better.

I’ve bumped / scratched the car a few times due to loss of concentration whilst she was crying so much. So, so stressful. She literally never, ever cries otherwise!

I thought we’d never be able to drive to a holiday again, but forward facing is definitely loads better.

DD1 memorably did this a few times on some long journeys. Literally nothing worked apart from stopping in services and getting her out of the seat for a cuddles. Crying immediately stopped. Then she started up again immediately we put her back. I think she just wanted to be held. In the end we had to just keep driving. Even having one of us in the back holding her hand, stroking her, singing etc had no effect.

She did grow out of it fairly quickly but it was horrendous for a short while and fortunately not on short journeys).