To think I simply can’t go on a car journey with my 3.5 month old?

[AtWitsEnd2025]

I’m currently parked up on a roadside with a screaming DS. Inconsolable. I’ve changed his nappy on the back seat it’s not that. He was fed 40 mins ago. I’ve offered him boob on the back seat and he doesn’t want it. He’s crying his eyes out. Dummy not helping. I’ve assembled the pram to see if lying flat helped it didn’t. DH standing and bouncing him on the pavement in the rain helped a little.

in the end we’ve decided to put him back in the car seat and drive the ten mins home. He is SCREAMING.

what do we do? What if we were on a motorway?

we can’t calm him, and pulling over to change him and offer boob isn’t possible on the hard shoulder!

Could’ve been the dark but mine also cried like that when overtired and didn’t really know how to drop off in the car – motorways helped (country roads too windy) and we could never stop. If there was traffic ahead we’d slowly roll as much as possible. They outgrow it (usually!)

Sounds like maybe the wee mite is not feeling well than car issue per se.

Ultimately though if you need to go places by car you’ll just need to manage how everyone else who has ever had a baby who kicks off in the car does.

3-4 months is usually around the age you remove newborn inserts and need to adjust the car seat for the child's growth, double check the manual to see if this needs to be done.

And agreeing it is also a common phase - singing nursery rhymes to my DC seemed to help them. But we did just minimise car travel. It does get better! You can try fitting the seat in the front (airbag MUST be off) so they can see you but that doesn't always help and might be more of a distraction.