4 month old hates the pram

[MrsEG]

Hi mums,

I have 4 month old twin boys; we’ve had an interesting start to life/motherhood in lockdown but things are starting to ease up a bit now I’ve kinda found my flow as a new mum!

One thing that I just cannot crack though is the pram - given that a walk is pretty much the only time I get to take them out of the house, one of my boys just seems to hate the pram.

He’ll go in fine, and usually quickly drift off - but if he wakes up in the pram while I’m still out he goes nuclear. He cries and cries and cries; nothing settles him until I get him home. I’ve started taking the baby carrier out to just pop him in that but as they grow it’s getting harder and harder to carry one and push the other and the double buggy!

I just can’t understand why he hates it so much. They are in the actual buggy seats now (they fast outgrew the narrow twin bassinets) but to be honest he has had this issue from birth. He does have silent reflux but a combo of Colief and Gaviscon has solved that in all areas other than the pram! I try and make sure I never take him out in it too soon after a feed.

We’ve tried:
SnoozeShade
White noise with my phone in the pram
Musical toys in pram
Lifting seat a little higher so he isn’t too flat

Nothing seems to be working at all.

Has anyone been through anything similar?? Is there anything I can do or will he just grow out of it? With two, I kinda need him to be okay with it - if I just had one I feel I’d maybe kind of relent and just carry him everywhere but it’s too hard to tend to the other when I have him strapped to my front!

Thanks

Yes my DD was the same. We used a sling until she stopped hating it so much but also lifted it from being totally declined.

Is he still in a bassinet style pram?

DD hated hers, but has been much happier since we moved her to the 'buggy seat' bit of the travel system. Mine (uppababy) is recommended from 6 months, but we did it at about 4 and it's been fine.

Is he facing you (so he can see you) in the pram?

I was just wondering as both my daughter (many years ago now) and my grand daughter were like this in the pram because they could see mummy so want to be on mummy.
I just turned the seats around so they were forward facing and it solved the problem. More distraction I guess!

Sounds to me like he wants to see out and see where he's going. I had to wedge my DD in with cushions from when she was teeny tiny so she could see out of the pram, even before she could sit up herself. She wanted to see where she was going and what was happening.

Thanks ladies!

Yep he’s in the pram seat and facing out (not parent facing). I have been putting a Snoozeshade/ cover on though so maybe I’ll try removing that so when he wakes he can have a look around and isn’t just in the dark - hadn’t thought of that! I’ll try and prop him up a bit more too.

@kirinm At what age did she stop hating it??

Both of mine were very clingy babies who hated being put down, neither could stand the pram unless asleep. I used a sling.

All 3 of mine have hated the pram until they were about 6 months old and able to sit bolt upright in it. You can get inserts (e.g. www.amazon.co.uk/Summer-Infant-Snuzzler-Terry-Cotton/dp/B0045VA3SO/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=buggy+padding&sprefix=buggy+padd&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1591014432&sr=8-2 ) that reduce the size of the seat so you can sit them up a bit earlier.

Otherwise, I'm afraid a back up sling is the only thing I found that worked. I had a 21 month age gap between the older 2 so not twins but I used to have to put the older one in a single buggy and carry the younger I didn't use a double until the younger one was about 8 months. Could you get a cheap single? Can you attach a car seat to your pushchair instead of the seat? DD was better in a car seat so we did go through a stage of using it with the car seat adapters on the buggy.

Maybe he's getting too hot under the snooze shade. I've seen so many people putting blankets/covers etc over buggies to create shade but it can make it dangerously hot inside. My twins always wanted to see what was going on so enjoyed looking out.

@MrsEG about 6 months or so but in the upright position. After that she would only do her naps in the pram (and still does at 21 months) - she is also a cot hater.