Baby hates pram!

[FumbleBumbleBee]

My baby is 3 months old and absolutely hates the pram. It's making getting out so difficult!! We had the carrycot and have tried changing it to the seat lying flat. Either way, nothing works. He just screams. It's making me really panicky when we leave the house. When will this get easier? 😥

Have you tried a baby sling? He's still so little he might just need to be close to you

Oh both of mine were the same. I used a carrier for the first 6 months and barely used the pram as they hated it. Would only take it with me if I was out all day so I had somewhere to put bags, coats, etc! When they were old enough to sit in the seat, circa 5-6 months, they were fine.

We have a carrier, he'll be in it for a bit then wants to get out. He gets quite warm in it too atm. He just wants to be held, which isn't practical a lot of the time! @JohnWickAteMyHamster

@NWL I'm hoping with the seat up he'll be okay, but that's around the 6 month mark isn't it? Feels like forever away. Yep we bring the pram everywhere but it's got no baby in it, people give me such weird looks carrying such a little baby around. But if i put him in the pram..oh my goodness the screaming 😥

I feel for you OP, my first born was the same. I would ring my mum and say I didn't know what to do as baby was so unsettled and her answer every time was "put him in the pram and go for a long walk" !! He would just scream in the pram 😞
My friends used to suggest meeting up to go for a walk and I was the only one carrying my baby, theirs would all be asleep in their prams.

It was 4 months that my daughter randomly decided to sleep in her pram rather than scream for the very first time .
I didn't have a car so had to use the pram to get around. Usually she'd last about 3 minutes before ending up in the sling. Between 4 and 6 months she slowly increased the frequency of her being comfortable in the pram. From rarely to all the time and from 5.5 months until 2 and a half it was the most reliable way of getting her to nap. By 7 months I was walking 2-3h a day with her.
The first day she slept in the pram it was snowy so she was more wrapped up I don't know if this made a difference. She was about 8 months before I didn't have to always carry the sling with me in case I needed to take her out to calm down.

@Superscientist Wow that's a huge difference. It gives me hope that things will get better. I do wonder if the heat isn't helping things. When it eventually gets nice and cool, maybe things will change for the better. I hope!

Hi, I don't really have any advice but my eldest was exactly the same as a baby (he's now 7). He always screamed in the pushchair. I didn't understand how people could do things like go look around the shops for hours with a baby in a pushchair, or go for hour long walks! For me it was impossible.

Unfortunately he didn't really improve when he moved out of the carrycot and into a seat either. He was generally a very unhappy baby but as soon as he started crawling and then walking he completely changed. It's like all he wanted was to just move around. He never really liked the pushchair and mostly stopped using it when he was 2, he went on a buggy board instead when he was just turned 3 and hardly ever used it either as he preferred to walk everywhere.

He started crawling at 10 months and those 10 months were really hard so I know how you feel!

Both of mine have been like this to more or lesser degrees. DC1 hated the pram from 2 days old. Also only tolerated the carrier for short spells and, like your DC, just wanted to be held. DC2 tolerated the pram and carrier beautifully until approximately the 3 month mark (basically when he ‘woke up’ from the newborn stage) and then started protesting both unless he was asleep.

Both DC were happy in pram when they could be in the seat attachment and more upright. We did this quite a bit before 6 months - maybe 4.5-5 months? DC1 never liked being parent facing in the carrier, but adored being world facing and then subsequently on my back. DC2 went back to being happy parent facing in the carrier at about the 6 month mark.

Basically, 3 - 5 month olds are fussy little buggers! But it does get better in my experience x

Sorry, both my two were like this. I used to push an empty pram and carry the often screaming baby in the carrier. I still remember the face of a lady peering at baby in carrier then looking eagerly into the bassinet for the twin then looking confused! I have no idea why I persisted so long with the first. Neither would tolerate inward facing in the carrier. My first had silent reflux (part of the not wanting to be horizontal) and as a result strong neck control so I did put her in a carrier outwards earlier than recommended. She liked seeing what was going on. Some prams allow sitting up ish before 6 months, so check yours.

it’s really shit watching other mums relaxing with a coffee or wandering around when you’re wrangling a screaming purple faced baby. I tried mum and baby yoga as I felt obliged as my friend was running it - it was so stressful and I was hardly in the room as my baby was too loud. My friend kept offering me extra sessions to make up for the ones I pretended I couldn’t make, as it was the worst part of the week for me 🤣

I used to hardly go anywhere because of it. Once I forced myself to do the meant to be 20min walk to a cafe and 2 hrs later when I finally made it I stood in the queue to get a drink with said screaming baby refusing to give in, and a really lovely lady sent me to sit down and bought me a cup of tea. I will never forget that act of kindness and she will never realise just how much she did for me that day.

hang in there @FumbleBumbleBee you/they will come out the other end. I hear you!

@seven201 I had someone come over excited about twins but it was just a grumpy baby and a large shopping basket too!

My eldest was the same in the first few months. Used to carry her in the sling and use the pram for the shopping bags 🤪

By the time she was five or six months she was not such a Velcro baby any more and we used the pram loads.

Oh yeah, I've had the twins thing too lol 🤦🏻‍♀️

@seven201 You've described exactly how I feel. Seems like around 5 months things might start looking up based on replies here. 😬

How did you all cope with the screaming and crying? I get so stressed and panicky! It's stopping me going out when I want to 😪

My baby was 4 month b4 he learned to like it and fall asleep in it

Headphones and podcasts and walking quickly!
It helped that my daughter was the same at home too so I had learnt to tolerate somewhat.

This was my DD - things improved once we sat her up in the pram around 5 months but before that she HATED the bassinet. Then, around 7/8 months we turned the pram outward facing which again improved things. Now at 14 months she once again hates the pram but only because she has started to walk and is super excited about that! As someone said above, 3-5 months old is just a hard time all round, peak fussiness!!!

@lenalove I'm wondering if this might work for us.

We have the Mamas and Papas Ocarro. Do you think we could use this semi reclined, so he can see more, but still supported? His head wouldn't slump if he was semi reclined. Or is 3 months too young for this?

@Superscientist Good idea, my DH keeps suggesting I do this. I feel so self conscious though! My baby screams so loudly, people who drive past with their windows up still look over to see what's going on 😭🫣

Do you have a lie-flat car seat that attaches to the pram? We used this a lot when baby was tiny (in the lie- flat mode so it’s safe) and it seemed like she was more secure and cocooned compared to just being loose in the bassinet!

Neither of mine liked the pram at first, but my mother told me to push them out every day in it and after a week it was fine. I took them out after a feed when they were ready for a nap. My second had dreadful reflux so she was in the seat and not quite flat at about 3 weeks old.

No solutions but don’t feel bad or weird about times you have the pram with you but still end up carrying the baby. Shove all possible bags and things into the pram and then if anyone ever asks why your shopping in the pram seat and not the baby, just say the shopping doesn’t complain about it!

I wondered something similar at the time but I think it's just not recommended for a 3 month old unfortunately 😣I would maybe suggest trying a different type of sling, as they can fit quite differently. Or perhaps a soft fabric wrap so he feels more like he is being carried?

@mintgreensoftlilac no, we dont have one of those. Our car seat is a swivel.
@lenalove ah okay, I cant wait to try the seat more upright. I have a wrap one, but he wasn't fond of that either. I'm hoping to give it another go soon, its been a bit to warm for us both with baby wearing recently!