Baby crying in back of car?

[willowsandroses]

How do you deal with it? My baby is v unpredictable in the car and I wonder if others stop or if you just try to get to where you’re going ASAP?

Mine was horrendous, I just made sure I fed him just before I left and to be honest I avoided long journeys if it wasnt his nap time as he never slept otherwise. You become a bit more numb to it as they get older but I remember being in tears quite a few times when he was small as he was so hysterical

URGH it is the worst. Where possible, one of us would sit in the back with her. She still sobbed like her heart was broken but at least she knew we were still there.

Thank you! I’m glad it isn’t just my baby then. I try to only have short journeys but I have to do somewhere sometimes!

We just have to get on with it, she is a little better now but still screams most journeys. I have a mirror so I can see her and I talk to her but I feel like stopping is just prolonging it for her so we just keep it moving

It’s so hard isn’t it? Especially as a lot of times when you’re driving you can’t just pull over immediately to comfort them!

I just try and ignore the screaming. I'd be pulling over every 2 seconds otherwise. I hated it with the my first, but second time round I don't even really notice!

Have my phone set up to play either white noise or baby sensory through the speakers if I press the media button in the car dashboard

I once sang twinkle twinkle little star loudly all the way down the M74. To this day for some reason it calms DS. No other song would do. He grew out of the constant screaming in the car though so it will get better OP.

Mine did this. He sort of grew out of it. Before then though we managed with a dummy or someone sitting in the back with him.

When dc was really little I would turn the radio off and just sing nursery rhymes loudly which did the trick. My screechy out of tune voice was somehow soothing to dc and instantly stopped any cry.

I now also have lots of songs loaded on the iPod ready to play. 'Say hello to the sun' is a life saver.

It's distressing as a parent to hear but as your confidence grows you just have to sort of phase it out and concentrate on driving, just make sure you have one of those baby mirrors so you can check on baby in rear view mirror every so often.

My daughter hated her infant car seat. Not sure if that was due to lockdown and never really using it till she was a few months old or what (born at the start of lockdown One) . Brought her an Axkid One car seat at 7 months old and it's magic like a different baby and she now sleeps which she didn't before. My outing in the car are much better and less loud!

Unless there’s actually something wrong I think you need to just do the journey; my DD used to get particularly upset in the dark so if there were two of us one would sit in the back and then she was fine.
When my DD would cry and I couldn’t do anything I’d just talk to her and even if it didn’t work at least she knew I was there and trying to reassure her.

How old is baby? If still very young, I highly recommend tying one of those black and white sensory muslins to the rear seat headrest so the baby can be mesmerised! Fit a mirror too so you can see the baby. Remember, if you can hear them crying they're still alive and babies do not die from crying for 10 minutes. It's a phase and they do get used to it eventually but it's so horrible!!

Oh yeah, a pp reminded me. We did actually buy another car seat in the end. We did have an Cybex Aton one, and he just looked so uncomfy in it. We bought a Joie 360 and come to think of it, he stopped crying quite soon after that. I dont know if it was the carseat or time that did it though.

Both of mine were car criers. It was so, so stressful at the time. I think they both mostly grew out of it around 9-12 months and once they were turned around and front facing they never cried.

It made me ponder, as although I knew they were much safer rear-facing in the event of a crash, I felt much more likely to actually have a crash when they were rear-facing as they screamed the whole damn time!

Been there! I remember stopping at every services on a 4 hour journey. Every time I got him out, he settled instantly. The minute we drove off again, the screaming started again. There was nothing wrong - he was just bored! I've tried singing Incy Wincy Spider 100000 times down the motorway. Weirdly playing Rod Stewart also calms him down .

He's 15 months now and I just grit my teeth and get on with it! The sooner I get there, the sooner the screaming stops!

I gave my DD (third child) a dummy for car journeys after a friend suggested it and it was like actual magic. Wish I'd done it with my other two as well!

I would turn the music up 😂🙈
I know it sounds bad but it honestly used to kill me.
If it makes it any better the music was "little baby bum" nursery rhymes 😂
She did grow out of it, thank fuck. 😂😂

I got myself one of these www.very.co.uk/lazy-arm-for-phone/1600015086.prd?_requestid=49979&Ntt=lazy%20arm

Hooked it to the headrest and put YouTube videos of kids songs on to entertain DD while I was driving. She used to scream so much she nearly made herself sick until I got one of these. She’s grown out of it now at 8 months thankfully.

Mine hates the car and will start wailing after about 20 minutes, which is a massive improvement from when she was a baby (now 18 months). It used to be very stressful but I've learned to just get on with it, because I know there's nothing actually wrong.

If we have to go on long journeys, which is hardly ever now, we time it with a nap so we'll know she'll sleep for at least part of it. When we went on holiday to north Wales in the summer, she screamed all the way from Chester services to LLandudno, and that was with my husband sitting in the back with her!

I suspect it will only get properly better when she's front facing (major no-no in MN world!). I do occasionally turn her round when we're in stationary traffic and she's much happier.

Both of mine hated the car and would scream on any journey longer than about 10 minutes. It was torture and I was frequently in tears. We’d stop, get them out of the seat and comfort them but the moment we pulled off again the screaming would start and in the end I just had to grit my teeth and drive through it. The constant stopping just ended up extending the journey and prolonging the misery. It made me so stressed and nothing comforted them. I came to the conclusion in the end that it was pure rage and distress on their part that this was the one context in which I wouldnt / couldnt immediately swoop in to respond to their tears.

Sympathies, it is awful.