car seat torment

[Marici]

My 16 week old is becoming less and less fond of the car seat, to the point now where he screams when getting his outdoor suit on as this means he may well be put in the car seat...It is the same though milder with his buggy, I think it is the effect of being strapped into something...Any ideas????

He has to get used to it but make sure he isn't too hot when in the car. My DD used to feel too claustrophic in her car seat with a coat on (when she was older than 16 weeks obv!) so I used to just leave a blanket in the car to cover her with rather than strap her in with the coat on.

Agree with the coat thing, they like to feel less snuggled up when they get a bit older. Try keeping a small rattle/toy only for the car, that doesn't come into the house, so he looks forward to that rather than dreading the seat experience. I know he's a little young to appreciate this yet, but it might work...

hth

Oh I have the same problem. it started when ds was about 10-12 weeks old and steadily got worse! We tried everything, including, keeping his coat off, giving him toys and singing to him in the car!

He's still is a bit hit and miss with both the buggy and the carseat now and he's 8 months old. Sometimes now he's older, a snack will be enough to distract him for short journeys. Still if we are going on a long journey (more than 10 mins!) we have to try and time it around ds naps so he will fall asleep fairly quick before he melts down into a screaming fit! The buggy we only use for short outings too, if I am going out for any lenghth of time I rely upin a sling.

I have no idea why some babies love their car seat and buggy and others hate it.

I think maybe ds just doesn't like being confined.

Hope it is just a phase!

Yes agree with the others- they can overheat very quickly in the car. My ds (also 8 months) didn't like his baby car seat (the mamas and papas primo vaggio), but when we changed to the Britax first class (which can be used from birth) he had so much more room and was much happier. We managed a seven hour car journey down to visit my dad with only 2 stops and an hour or so of singing and chatting to him.

At the moment we still don't strap him into his pushchair (the M&P ultima) as he is facing us and the bar keeps him in place but when he's in his stroller he doesn't like it much and so we keep the straps as loose as poss but still safe enough that he can't climb out IYSWIM.

Hope your ds is ok soon, have you tried a comfort blanket or special toy that he could snuggle up to in the car instead of a coat? When he gets to about 6 months or so the fabric pretend car toys with steering wheel etc can be a fun toy, especially if daddy plays with it with him-he'll feel like a big boy sharing daddy's toy! (at least that was what we found )

Sorry for the long post

Helibee I did exactly the same as you with DD1, she had the M&P Primo Vaggio and hated it, changed it to the Britax First Class at 3 months and she was great!

Marici, unfortunately some children just don't like prams/car seats, DD1 was the same, got better as she was older but the first few months of her life was hard work whenever I tried to take her anywhere. There usually isn't a magic solution, you just have to grin and bear it! Like Meandmyjoe, I relied on a sling. Hope it gets better for you!

Our DD was like this in the car until she was finally big enough to be in a forward facing car seat

She is 13 mo and has just started really protesting (arching back etc) at being strapped into car seats and pushchair. Some children just don't like being restrained.