Car journeys =screaming 3month old

[Nicnac81]

Help!!

Our little cherub hates car journeys!!

DH has just passed his test and got a car a couple of weeks ago, so we have always walked or got the bus with LO before.

Any tips on how to make a car journey less stressful for all, tried distraction with toys, dummy ( she doesn't use a dummy at all normally), we have the radio on as well. Nothing seems to calm her!

Any help gratefully received

No tips but mine is the same at 10 wks. Also hates the pram.

Has got slightly better lately as I only put her in at nap time so she'll cry then sleep. Crying before sleep is getting less too.

I can't bear it as it makes me feel pretty trapped unless I use the sling and walk/bus.

At least mine likes the pram... It's the only way to get her to nap!!

We feel trapped too, family is a 30+ min drive away, the longest we've gone in a car is 10 mins and it's like we are torturing her 😞

My dd only stopped screaming on car journeys when she moved to a forward facing car seat at about a year. We used to avoid driving as much as possible because it was a nightmare. Sometimes we'd put her in the front (air bag off, obvs) and that would be a bit better.

My middle one was like this, she would scream until she was sick every time we went in the car, I used to get her to sleep first before we went anywhere!! As she became older she suffers from travel sickness, so I wonder if that was part of the problem.

Both of mine have been car screamers. It's very hard and honestly I just avoided the car as much as possible. If you're accustomed to using public transport maybe go back to that for a while?

The things that helped included having them higher up so they could see out of the window better (ie having infant seat plugged into base rather than seat belted), a mirror fixed to the headrest so they could see themselves, not driving when they were tired (opposite to pp I know) and time.

This is what dummy's are for !

thescruffiestgiantintown they're all so different.My first DD would fall asleep within seconds whenever we went anywhere in the car, but DD2 was only quiet if I got her to sleep first then transferred her to the car seat!!!

My dd did this for a number of months then gradually stopped. I kept going with the 10 minute journeys to try get her used to it. I would talk and sing to her all the time. I would shake a rattle when I could (bit dodgy trying to drive as well, but at lights etc!). Gradually it got better and she learnt to relax and fall asleep on longer journeys.

Oh it's so grim isn't it, mine were both like this & I turned into a right hermit because I hated going anywhere in the car. Tried everything, but it wasn't until they were old enough to forward-face that things improved.

I have had 2 car screamers. Things that worked for one or both:

Dummy (but must be used outside of car so they learn to use it properly and associate it with comfort and not the car)
Switching to a Grp 0/1 erf car seat
Putting baby in front
Timing car journeys around naps
Different toys
Time

DD seems to have grown out of it at 4mo but DS was well over a year before he was reliably 'good' in the car.

I think it is common when they are tiny - mine would scream nearly all the time he wasn't asleep. I think things improved for us about 6-7 months. We had to travel London>Scotland by car when he was about 5 months, was torture!

Could you clip them in the seat, then tuck a thin blanket across them so they are extra snug, pop a dummy in, or one of you sit in the back and give a bottle as the other drives?

Or just blast some Queen or similar style music out the speakers.

Some of them just hate it.

Do you have any friends with different car seats you could borrow and see if it makes a difference? Something more upright might help.

I used to find that singing helped calm DS down. And I'd sit in the back with him whenever possible.

Thanks all!! It seems that singing twinkle twinkle on repeat and white noise seems to be working..... She even fell asleep during a car journey yesterday 😀

Only issue is i am growing to hate twinkle bloody twinkle😂

I have to do two very short car journeys each day and I think this helped. Long journeys were dreadful. But yes singing helps as does someone sitting in the back. Do you have a mirror so she can see you?