Baby hates car seat and pushchair

[rainbow95]

My daughter is three months on Monday and I'm having problems with her in the car and pushchair. In the car, she is ok initially but after a few minutes, she screams and is unconsolable unless I put her dummy back in. She then cries again, dummy falls out and I'm constantly having to stop the car to put it in until she falls asleep. If I don't do this, she will scream until she is out of the car seat. She also cries in her pushchair unless I put her in the pram while she is still asleep. I have started to avoid going out because it is so stressful and now I just feel trapped in the house some days. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to avoid the meltdowns?

Try a sling instead of the pram. My second was like this until she was 7 months.

That sounds very tough op. Hopefully she'll grow out of it as she gets older. Have you tried a sling or carrier for walks? My lo wasn't always happy in lie flat pram. At three months I got a face forward pram with a gentle tilt and newborn insert for support. She was much happier once she could look around a bit. She also cried in car a lot but now 5.5months that is much less common.

@Pissinthepottyplease I can only put her in a sling for short periods because she's a heavy baby.
@Skyla01 I really hope she grows out of it soon. I'll look at newborn insets for prams and try our forward facing pram rather than the carrycot. Thank you.

If your struggling with the sing then it’s very probably that it’s not the right sling or it’s not tight enough or just needs a little adjusting. Im not strong started carrying DD1 when she was 6 months old and she was in the 90 centile for weight

Definitely try sitting her up in a pushchair.

My DD hated car seats and prams because of reflux. I titled the pram so the head was raised slightly and she was much better in it.

@Pissinthepottyplease

If your struggling with the sing then it’s very probably that it’s not the right sling or it’s not tight enough or just needs a little adjusting. Im not strong started carrying DD1 when she was 6 months old and she was in the 90 centile for weight

Ok thanks @Pissinthepottyplease. She usually settles in her sling so I'll look into this.

My first was the same and I ended up switching him to the pushchair attachment and ditching the pram early, it was a pushchair suitable from birth as lie flat though. He just wanted to see! With the sling it would be worth speaking to a sling library to get one that works for you - I was still carrying him on long walks at nearly 3 comfortably. I did try out a lot of different ones first. Good luck

@Sheffieldcoolingtowers yes I'll definitely try the pushchair attachment as ours is suitable from birth too. A sling library is a good idea thank you.

Hi OP, this was my baby too, I know how stressful it is and how trapped it can make you feel. My baby especially hated the basinette part of the pram, and would scream until she was inconsolable in the car seat, it was horrible.

As others have said, sling instead of pram whenever possible until she's old enough to try the sit up pram, I think my daughter went in thr sit up pram around 5.5 months.

For the car, the only thing that worked for me was putting youtube on for her, but when she was small even that only worked for about 10 mins max. The other thing that would often buy me 5-10mins was singing nursery rhymes. You have my sympathy OP.

It gets better. My DS screamed in any form of transport (car seat, sling, pram) until about 5 months. We changed to the buggy as opposed to the bassinet which improved things. At 1 he’s now happy in all of them x

My youngest screamed in the car for months. It was a nightmare as significant school run . We just had to close our ears to it we would listen to stories and gradually he stopped doing it.

I was you OP! My DS screamed and screamed in the car seat and pram. I stopped going out (not that I could go anywhere due to the pandemic) as I found it all so stressful. It used to take me ages to calm him down afterwards. I used to get so worked up. I tried everything. Toys/no toys/ incline/no incline/music/no music/bassinet/stroller/ white noise etc you get the picture. One day when he was about 4 1/2 months old I took him in the pram as it was such a nice day and he fell asleep. It was like a miracle!! I went out the next day and so on. I eventually found a toy that played music and flashed that I hung onto the hood so that if he did wake up screaming it distracted him. Roll on to now when DS is 8 months old and he loves the pram and the car seat. But thinking about those early days gives me the cold sweats. Hang in there as this won't be forever. Sending hugs!

Another one here with a baby who didn't like to lie flat in the pram, she likes to see whats going on. Same with the car seat, when I took the sunshades off the window so she could see out it reduced the crying overnight! We had to work up to longer trips in the pram, but she is now 13 months and v happy in the pram and is fine in the car seat but does get bored! Sling worked well for us for longer walks up to around 8ish months then it was too cold and she was getting heavy, definitely make sure you have it on properly

My daughter was the same. Didn’t like anything that involved being strapped in, no car seat, pram or bouncer. I took her to an osteopath and they picked up a problem with her shoulder they said was caused at birth (apparently common with either very rapid deliveries or very prolonged ones) and after one appointment it was fine. The drive home was the first time she’d ever been in a car seat without crying ever. Best £35 I ever spent

Hi OP!

DD was the same. Sorry to say.. nothing worked. She was just incredibly active and hated being strapped in (unless she was asleep). She didn’t take a dummy either.

She grew out of it at about 18 months, maybe sooner. To be honest, I wish we’d given up on car journeys earlier because it was so stressful.

I’m due twins anytime now and if any of them hate the car/ pram I’m accepting our fate until they grow out of it (which they will). I was so jealous of friends and family who could just hop in the car with their quiet non screaming baby and go out in the pram without it being naptime. So horrendous. Hope you find a solution!