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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

Infant Hates Car Seat

26 replies

marathongirl · 14/04/2009 02:30

My seven week old son HATES his car seat. This makes it very diffiuclt to go anywhere even the store. Does anyone else have this problem or suggestions?

OP posts:

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HSMM · 14/04/2009 07:48

Try making getting into the seat a really positive experience - lots of chatting smiling, tickling, favourite toy ... whatever and see if that helps. He knows once he is in there, you are not going to cuddle him and walk around with him, so he can see the world. He has to get used to it and may never like it, but you can make it as nice as possible. (NB: Have you checked there are no lumps, bumps, sharp bits in the seat?)

Original poster

marathongirl · 14/04/2009 19:42

Thanks for your response. The seat is free of anything that could be causing the "hate." I will try making it more of a fun experience.

OP posts:

thisisyesterday · 14/04/2009 19:46

yep. we had the same problem. ds2 just hated it. nothing changed until he went forward facing at 10 months.

fairimum · 14/04/2009 19:50

my friend ended up buying her son a maxicosi seat as he hated the one they had - was fine after that - is he very upright or anything?

Joe1977 · 14/04/2009 19:51

Same as thisisyesterday, our DS2 hated his rear facing car seat, he would scream in it until he fell asleep. He's now 10mths old and in a forward facing seat and refuses to go to sleep in the car any more, he's too busy being nosey! Guess he just likes seeing what is going on, a bit like his Mother!!!

amidaiwish · 14/04/2009 19:57

which one do you have?
my DD hated her mamas & papas one (too scrunched i think)
was fine when i borrowed a friend's maxi cosi cabrio, so i had to buy another.

Original poster

marathongirl · 14/04/2009 20:46

I have a combi. I thik he might be to scrunched.

OP posts:

amidaiwish · 14/04/2009 21:59

can you try someone else's car seat and see how he is?

also well worth getting something like this to entertain/distract them!

amidaiwish · 14/04/2009 22:01

or what about trying something like a head hugger to give him a bit more support - this one has a pad in the bottom to lift them out of the seat a bit, make them a bit less scrunched here

stairs · 14/04/2009 23:04

Sorry - DS1 was just the same and screamed until forward facing....constantly...after seven minutes of any car journey until we got wherever we were going without sleeping/tiring (up to two hours). It was sheer torture for all of us and I hated/dreaded going anywhere...I sang songs...sat next to him stroking him...all to no avail.
TBH as he grows up it all makes sense, he is such a busy boy and does not stop all day. If I put him facing a wall now it would drive him bananas. It may be you just have to wait for him to see the world from a front facer...did the trick for us. On a side note, I dreaded the car when we had DS2 and he loves it and sleeps the minute you put him in.

Original poster

marathongirl · 15/04/2009 02:32

I will try your advice. Can some one tell me what is special about the maxi cosi?

My DD who is two also hated the carseat that is why I bought a differnt one for my DS thinking this would help but it has not.

OP posts:

BlueCowWondersWhenItsChocTime · 15/04/2009 02:58

can only echo what others have said about the baby only being happier once in forward facing seat. My dc3 was exactly this, but also had colic until 3 months, and a friend wondered if she had low level travel sickness? We fly quite a lot too, and she always had great problems with that as a small baby, whereas the other children had always been fine.

The unhappiness did last for a long time, esp as she was so light and couldn't go forward facing in the car for ages. Those early days were a nightmare, especially as I have two others, but all the singing/ chatting/ distraction just didn't help.

But if you can manage to look forward, it will change! My dd now loves going anywhere!

amidaiwish · 15/04/2009 07:54

i think the baby's position in the maxi cosi is good, it is less upright so the baby is more reclined/less scrunched.

might be just as the others said though and not to do with the position.

could you get a toy or anything to entertain him that attaches on the seat?
i put DD1 on the front seat (airbag off!) often, rear facing, but at least she could see me rather than just the back seat. that helped. not as safe though.

kitkatqueen · 15/04/2009 08:06

Hiya have you tried the rear and forward facing Britax...

this one

It lasts longer and is very safe and comfortable. My 3 children all prefered being in this seat than the smaller carry seats. Made a lot of difference to us. Hope that helps!!

stickybean · 15/04/2009 08:25

My baby hated it when she was small i can suggest a couple of things.
I removed the head hugger, she hated being restricted by it. Also the maxi cosi has a foam wedge that sits under the baby's bottom for when they are tiny, if you remove this the baby will have more room to stretch.
Not sure either of those would be appropriate for such a tiny tiny baby but would be fine in a couple of weeks.

The thing that swung it for us was getting crainal osteopathy for my DD. I had noticed that she has a bad neck and could only really look to one side, after the session (which fixed the neck) the car seat problem was also mostly resolved. I hadn't realised the two were connected.

She finally got over it totally at 5 months, i think this was when she could see out the window and was a bit less bored.

I feel for you, it is awful just sitting there listening to them scream.
The best piece of advice i was given was not to talk to them when they are screaming, this may be totally counter intuative, but from their perspective, they can't understand why you are there but not coming to help them.

savageisfat · 15/04/2009 08:34

My ds still hates his at 21 months. He never has got used to it even tho hes forward facing. Its awful but I just have to leave him to it or if dh drives I sit in the back and read to him or hold his hand which can string him out for a bit longer without crying. I think he diesnt like to be still and strapped into anything for too long although we dont have the same problem with the pushchair, just the car. I really hoped hed have grown out of it too but I have given up all hope now!!!

troutpout · 15/04/2009 08:42

Dd hated being in the car from day one. Whereas the car was a surefire way to get ds to settle...for dd it was a blardy nightmare.Much screaming and many hideous journeys. We thought it was the seat...we thought she was uncomfortable..we thought it was because she couldn't see anything...we tried another car seat and we tried toys . Then at about 10 months she started puking whenever she went in the car... at about 1 we twigged it was travel sickness.She is a very car sick child (6 now). We don't go anywhere over 20 mins without traveleze

ohdearwhatamess · 15/04/2009 09:20

I think some children just hate being stuck in carseats and sitting still, fullstop. Ds2 (14mo) is like this (and ds1 was too). Things got - temporarily - better when he went forward facing, but after the novelty of that wore off he is back to hating being in the car seat. He will tolerate the car for up to an hour and then screams, and screams, and screams some more. We have the same problem with highchairs, pushchairs etc.

Iirc, ds2 grew out of this at about 2.5 when he was a bit taller so could see out of the car windows and was able to chat much more on car journeys about what he could see.

thisisyesterday · 15/04/2009 10:07

i wouldn't bother going out getting diff car seats tbh.
and personally I don't think there's anything particularly special aboutt he maxi cosi either, cos that's what we have and ds2 (as I said) hated it.

i mean, by all means try out a friends or soemthing, but I really doubt it's the car seat.

kitkatqueen · 15/04/2009 14:07

sorry to disagree, but the carseat made all the difference with all 3 of mine

thisisyesterday · 15/04/2009 16:28

but it's a lot of money to waste if it doesn't help at all!

amidaiwish · 15/04/2009 16:30

i am sure the OP can find a friend with a different car seat to try. it's not like the maxi cosi is a rare one!!

not sure why this is turning into an argument. we're all just trying to help.

thisisyesterday · 15/04/2009 20:24

wasn't aware it was turning into an argument, just giving my POV.

kitkatqueen · 15/04/2009 22:31

me too I just don't like disagreeing with people

The cost issue is why I went for a rear and forward facing seat - I figured I was going to have to shell out for a forward facing seat sooner or later and by getting one that did both I didn't feel I was any more out of pocket than I would have been anyway. At the time it also had one of the best Side impact protection reports at the time, afaik it still is v high on side impact.

I think the person who suggested cranial osteopathy has a good idea too, my sister found it v helpful for 2 of her dd's. You can sometimes get it for free through sure start.

good luck

thisisyesterday · 17/04/2009 19:00

just one other thing about possibly changing seats, if you go for one like the britax rear-facing one, or the bebe confort equivalent be sure to check it fits in yourt car!

neither of them would go into a renault scenic or a ford focus rear-facing when we attempted it. they fit fine forward facing, but the seatbelts were too short in the rear-facing position.

not very family friendly cars

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