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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

6week old hates car seat cries pitifully

13 replies

pod3030 · 17/12/2011 00:19

My 6 week old daughter hates her car seat and cries when she's put in it. It has the newborn insert but she just seems really uncomfortable. She hates the straps which are by her ears. She also hates having her head messed about with- trying to get a hat on her is heart breaking. She was a c section birth, small at 4lbs 15 but is now 8lb12. someone suggested osteopathy but I have no experience of this. It's getting hard as I use the seat a lot on the pushchair. It took 2 and a half hours to get out today as she was so upset.

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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5318hoho8 · 17/12/2011 00:24

I hesitate to speak to one with such a young baby, you'll be feeling your way still but here goes:

babies ought to be lying flat rather than scrunched up/hunched up in the car seat for hours - does your carseat-pram have a carrycot (or whatever they call it nowadays) ?

Anyway I would be inclined to say just go - faffing around surely will be prolonging the time the baby is in the seat. And if hats are hard put the hood of the baby coat up.

SantasNutellaFairy · 17/12/2011 00:29

For very young babies- they should only be in the car seat for a maximum of 2 hours a day.

Which car seat is it? Does she cry when she is put in her Moses basket?

Original poster

pod3030 · 17/12/2011 04:58

Thanks for the replies. I know about the guidelines, but you still have to have her in a car seat to drive and it's impractical to take the other bits to the travel system . Doesn't cry in cot- its the straps and head huggershe hates. I just feel so sorry for her but it's the law to have the carseat. It's a maxi cosi pebble

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ThreeNine · 17/12/2011 06:46

My 9 week old hates it too, and hats. I feed her just before putting her in and leave it to the very last minute to put her in there. Do you have the padded things to put over the straps do they don't stick into her neck?

I very rarely use the seat on the wheels though. We always take the carrycot with us, even though we only have a little Fiesta and it dosen't fit in the boot. I don't find it that much hassle tbh, it only takes a minute or so to put together. My LO hates the carrycot too though and I normally end up carrying her in my arms!

Could you get a sling to use out and about? That's what I'm going to start doing more. I have a Close one which is good and can be used from birth (my LO is only little too).

Original poster

pod3030 · 17/12/2011 07:52

Thanks three. Yes I have a sling it may be an option for now. And will do a practice packing of the car with carrycot. Such a lot of parafanalia with babies! The straps do have padding yes.

OP posts:

GoodMocKingWenceslas · 17/12/2011 08:18

Not cheap, but Mamas and Papas do a lie flat carry cot car seat you may be interested in. I took my daughter for cranial osteopathy and she loved it and for the first time when I got her back to the car settled happily into the carseat. She had 3 sessions and they were really good. Although its called cranial osteopathy if she doesn't like having her head touched there are other 'access' points they use.

SantasNutellaFairy · 17/12/2011 08:31

Also, are the straps at the lowest possible setting and do you pull them tight enough so you can only fit 2 fingers between her chest and the straps. There should be no slack at all- if there is, the straps do sometimes irritate the baby's ears and neck. Snowsuits/ thickly padded coats can make this happen as well.

SanTEEClaus · 17/12/2011 08:31

Honestly, just let her be upset. And do take a carrycot or sling with you.

Strap her in, drive her to your destination, take her out. I'm no usually one to advocate leaving a child upset but there really is nothing you can do about it and taking 2.5 hours to leave the house is silly. Much less stressful for her, I think, if you are just matter of fact about it and keep her in the car seat for the shortest amount of time possible.

lljkk · 17/12/2011 08:34

Sympathy, I've had this, I always thought it was worse just because we drove so little! DC3 was my nightmare still is, come to think of it. I just had to plan outings to coincide with nap times as much as possible until he was 14+ months old.

BertieBotts · 17/12/2011 08:37

I didn't have a carseat which was compatible with my pushchair, so DS went in that - he transitioned really easily even if he was sleeping and it meant that when he was older he didn't wake up straight away if removed from a car seat etc! The seat didn't take up too much room in the car. You end up needing to take the main seat unit once they outgrow the car seat anyway.

pinkegg11 · 17/12/2011 08:41

My baby daughter was exactly the same in the first couple of months - screamed blue murder every car journey. We also had the Maxi Cosi pebble. We bought this carseat toy www.amazon.com/Bright-Starts-Hop-Along-Carrier/dp/B000ZG2JH6 - as toys go its actually not too irritating either..it plays some chirpy little tunes and has flashing lights. It really helped distract and calm her down. She grew out of the carseat hatred at around 2 months I think.

Momo36 · 17/12/2011 10:09

My DD was exactly the same in her pebble seat. Hated it. We have just moved her at 12 months to a forward facing seat and it changed everything. The forward facing seats are from 9 months (depending on weight) I believe, and I wish we had done it sooner. Sorry, no words of wisdom here as no amount of toys that we threw at her changed anything. I had to ride with her at the back at times and she would still scream to high heaven...

BertieBotts · 17/12/2011 11:05

I wouldn't rush to turn them forward facing too early, as it is much less safe than rear facing, but some babies do prefer a more upright seat. It might be worth trying one of the combination seats like the Britax First class, if she doesn't grow out of this upset soon. They are much more upright but can be rear facing until 13kg and then you turn the seat around. Or some of the extended rear facing seats are suitable from birth.

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