5 month old HATES the car!?!?

[SleepdeprivedMama123]

SOS - my baby turned 4 months and suddenly hates the car (now 5mo and very much still an issue).
Issue is, in-laws live a 6 hour drive away. We have made the trip 6 times in babies short life, but since the hate for car journeys began, we have, understandably, not made the journey. This is causing a family rift as it is expected of us to travel there atleast once a month. Thoughts????? Am I being selfish by not trying to find a resolution, I.e. travel over night (baby still doesn’t sleep through so not sure this would make a difference anyway).

Baby will be fine again soon so won’t be long till it’s not an issue, but have you really done a 6 hour one way trip multiple times already with a 5 month old? Is that including the regular breaks a baby needs or without, if the latter it must be taking you ages. Your in laws should be grateful you’ve done it even once with a tiny baby and plan to visit you for a while

I totally understand where you’re coming from—we had a really hard time with car journeys when our first was a baby too. We tried everything, like timing drives around naps, but it didn’t always work. She’d often get really upset, and there were a few times she was even sick from the stress. In the end, we gave up on long car journeys altogether for a while. Honestly, things only really got better once she was over 2. She’s 5 now and travels absolutely fine!

Six hours is a really long time for a 5-month-old to be in the car. Our second is 2 years old and is much more comfortable on the road, but even then I wouldn’t choose to do a 6-hour drive with her unless we really had to.

If it’s an option, could the relatives come to you instead? It might just make life a lot easier for everyone, especially at this stage.

Christ!
Most adults wouldn’t be able to stomach a journey that long,why the fuck would you put your baby through it?
Either in laws come to you or you wait until your baby is older, this is madness!

That's a very long car journey for a tiny baby, especially when you factor in the required rest stops.

We always did longer journeys by train at that age - much more fun for younger children as they can be held, fed, carried around, changed immediately, look at the views and interact more. Appreciate it may not work depending on the route (we are in London so most places were accessible by train, and it's one of the reasons we chose to live here).

My 4 month old baby hates the car, I've told relatives this and they've all come to us. I'm honestly a bit shocked that anyone would expect a baby to make that trip - let alone multiple times.

You are not being selfish, your in laws are being hugely selfish and thoughtless.

I can't believe they actually expect that round trip is done once a month - who do they think they are?!

I think most babies would be unable to do that kind of car journey, that's SUCH a long way once they can stay awake. Your only option would be to drive overnight or break the journey multiple times with really decent stops of multiple hours in between.

Your in laws are being unreasonable IMO, they should be coming to you or meeting you much closer to your home.

For shorter journeys - Halfords sell car kick toys that hang over the seat back. They keep my baby occupied to some extent on shorter journeys. Longer journeys have to be synced with nap times.

That’s insane. I think we would have done it once MAX in baby’s first 6 months.

In laws expect you to do this every single month? How completely inconsiderate of them to put it lightly

In the words of mumsnet you have a DPIL problem not a DC problem

My DS always hated the car from being tiny and turns out he has severe travel sickness, projectile vomits within 1 hour of driving now. Its been a nightmare and we deliberately try to plan everything around not driving. Your in laws need to come to you