6month old screaming in car

[ecossegirl91]

this is my second child, my first kid never bothered being the car and usually fell asleep or chilled. My second baby HATES the car and has done since over 6weeks old, he is 6 months now.

We have tried 2 different car seats and I don’t think it’s the seat because if he’s in the car seat but being pushed like a buggy he’s totally fine and just drifts off or smiles etc. but the car in motion he despises.
if it’s near nap time he will eventually doze off after much protest but if not he screams and screams and screams and I can hear him coughing and gagging he’s screaming so much.
it can be a double whammy if I have both kids in the car (other child is newly 3) because he can get upset at the baby screaming. So I have 2 screaming children in the car.
it’s hellish and quite debilitating especially on nursery run days and it gives me bad anxiety.

I kinda thought by now he might be better but he isn’t. Did anyone else with a car hating baby see an improvement at any age?
am I going to have to forward face him early to see if that helps? (Yes I know rear facing is safer and would be my preference to keep him rear facing but if forward facing helps when it’s legal then I might have to do it because right now it’s awful and it can be hard to concentrate)

Can you disable the airbag on the passenger side and have him next to you?

My eldest used to scream in the car as a baby (and when having baths and lots of other times), and strangely, we found that if we played Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds (with all the Martian-type sound effects / music) while driving, he would stop screaming :)

Thinking about it, we have SEN in the family, and lots of vestibular-type issues (inc car sickness). Maybe the music and sounds were a good distraction from all of the other sensory stuff that was causing a problem…

My son was the same, it does eventually pass. Although interestingly, he does get travel sick, mainly on longer journeys and if he has just eaten before a car journey. He is 5 and the screaming was definitely done by age 1. I found it was trial and error for us. Music, toys and cracking the window open a bit helped.

Does he have a dummy OP? That helped with my DS2.

I am the opposite and was surprised to hear that there are babies who chill in the car. Mine needs a constant suppply of entertainment if rear faced - singing, toys, and now that he is a toddler, snacks.

I forward face him now on very short in town journeys (small roads, 25 miles an hour limit) and that does indeed solve all screaming and entertainment requirements. I hate it, I want to rear face until 7 as advised but I'm not sure how.

I once had to drive with him alone when he was 4/5 months and he SCREAMED for 30 minutes. We were on the motorway and no way to stop and honestly,I can still hear it.