When will 1yo stop hating the car and pram?

[Peaplant20]

My 1yo absolutely hates the pram and car. It’s extremely isolating as you can imagine. I’d envisioned lovely long walks in the pram with friends before baby was born. Didn’t happen last summer and looks like it won’t be happening this summer either!

He also hates the car, screams and cries the whole journey so I can’t really go anywhere unless it’s essential. Nursery rhymes on the radio helped for several months but it’s stopped working now.

Im assuming I won’t have a 5yo that screams whenever we get in the car, so at what point can I dare to hope he might start to get better, any experience? Ps I’ve tried forward facing in the pram and it makes no difference.

LO is generally very high needs, so I’d love to be able to have 20 minutes to be able to think straight while in the car (or to listen to the radio!!), or on a walk.

My now-4 year old hated the car since he was born (blood curdling screaming the entire time), and he only started liking the pram when I convinced him it was a ‘car car’ after getting him interested in car toys. Even then it was short periods of time.

I can’t remember exactly when, I think it was late 2s (possibly early 3s) but he loves the car now 🤷‍♀️ it’s his favourite thing to do, go for a drive somewhere - anywhere really. He loves it. But yeah, my son is on the extreme side of things for sure. He’s extremely highly strung with sensory issues but did outgrow (reverse?) it!

If he's walking, will he wear toddler reins?

I can't help with the car seat issue. It's WW3 getting my DS into his car seat. And nappy changes are WW4.

DD 2.5 still hates the car, but 18 months ish was a turning point for the buggy.

Can you get a toddler sling?

Never? My pram hater hated it from birth and we gave it up as soon as feasibly possible. She also still hates the car at 3.5 but we just suffer through it sometimes with videos, stickers, snacks, bribes. And often just take long and ungodly expensive trains instead cos the screaming and struggling is such a palaver.

Go to a car seat shop. Put them in every car seat until they don't scream. Buy that one.
Worked for us anyway, although appreciate that affordability comes into it. Would probably work for pram too.

Sympathies. My son was like this. The pram he never ever liked. He just got used to walking everywhere and then he was happier.

The car seat thing he stopped resisting when we got him a big high up ERF seat so he could see out of the window and was sat in a more natural upright position.

My youngest loved all prams/car seats and chilled out in them from day one. 🤷‍♀️

Both of mine were like that in the car and nothing worked except forward facing them. Thankfully they liked the stroller once out of the bassinet so at least we didn’t have that to contend with. Sympathies, it’s tough.

I remember those days. We lived somewhere with absolutely nothing within walking distance. She was also incredibly clingy and refused a bottle until she finally took a cup at 9 months. I was practically a shut-in.

it gradually got better. A new car seat did help. The convertible style instead of the baby bucket style. We would also do walks around the neighborhood with a sling. It was murder on my back, but we at least got out.

Huge sympathies as all three of mine have hated prams and car seats from birth and as you say it is extremely isolaying and frustrating. With my third child I have no choice but to drive daily as we live rurally now and I have resorted to giving him a kindle with peppa pig and teletubbies on it to watch during journeys (alongside toys et c). Not ideal but a far lesser evil / danger than trying to drive with a screaming toddler distracting me.

Forwards facing is the answer to both of these issues. Some people just hate going backwards.

Dummy for the car? Snacks for the buggy?

I feel like I could've written this. My son was the same and it was rly rly hard.
He's now almost 3 and totally fine in the car. Things shifted for us around 18 months- when I turned him to face forward and when I started putting cocomelon on for him to watch in the car and he was old enough to appreciate it! It made a world of difference and saved my sanity.
Hang in there- it's hard but hopefully it'll just be a phase

My kid (10 months) kicks off some days more than others in the carseat. Forward facing doesn't make a difference for him when he really doesn't want to be restrained. I get peace in the car when I get nap timings right and he just falls asleep. Most of the time I have to fully shout 'twinkle twinkle little star' over and over first to drown out his cries and this helps send him to sleep for some reason. I don't know why I tried it the first time, but it worked and it works time after time! Maybe it's that I'm matching his intensity and it relaxes him? 🤷‍♀️
If it's not nap time and he won't sleep, I pull over, cuddle/nurse or try him with a snack, let him have a bounce around the back seat for 10 minutes (or more, depending...) and then back into the seat. The little break does seem to help him cope with the rest of the journey. Electronic flashy toys as a last resort to keep him from screaming. 'Scout' is my boys true love! We love Scout.

Sympathies. Pram was never an issue but car was horrendous with my eldest. Forward facing did help a bit. Turns out he's very car sick so I wonder if it's always just made him feel unwell. I think he must have got over the screaming around a year as I don't remember it being an issue once he started nursery. We still can't drive longer than 30 minutes and he's 3.5 now.