22-month-old refusing car seat despite changing seats, any suggestions?

[VT1388]

Help! My 22 month old is refusing to go in her car seat.

She was refusing her rear facing car seat so my husband and I got her a new forward facing seat about 6 weeks ago. Despite wanting to keep her rear facing for safety, we made the decision to change and she loved it. Didn’t have any issues for about 3-4 weeks.

Over the last 2 weeks she’s started to refuse to go in again. Whilst she’s advanced for her age and can speak well, she’s still a little too young to really talk so I have no idea why she hates it or try to reason with her.

She is also freakishly strong and I don’t want to hurt her trying to force her in to the seat

We have tried all the usual distractions and bribes with toys and foods and iPads etc. I’ve also tried to let her climb in herself. Nothing has worked and it’s stopping me from going out with the anxiety it’s causing.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received!

I don't know if this helps but I have some tips on how I get my strong on/off car seat refusing 2 year old in his car seat. Everytime I get him out the car seat I loosen the straps a lot. When I then put him in the car seat I focus first on buckling the straps in (even works with him trying to go completely rigid). I then get the straps round his arms (easier to do when loose). I then slowly get his body in the right position, tightening the straps as I do it. I find by the time I've done that he's accepted his fate, and can't really try to escape by that point anyway. I find it so much easier doing it this way rather than trying to buckle the straps in whilst also having his arms in properly and his body in the right position. I hope that makes sense.

It’s a normal thing that toddlers do at this age to scream throw themselves around and make it as difficult as possible to get them in their car seat but buying a new one isn’t the answer !! You PARENT them and make them get in the car seat! Put her back in the rear facing one. It’s safer as well as more comfortable and it’s for her own good. You just have to be firm and calm and not take any notice of her behaving like a wailing banshee

Asking for replies to not say what everyone is thinking ..you asked on a parent’s forum! All of my kids have autism and all of them did this in their car seats and yes they are strong etc but you as the adult needs to make it clear to them whether that’s shouting/raising your voice and telling her that’s quite enough and to stop it! You are literally allowing a toddler to rule your life! This is all part of all parenting and being firm and making children do things they don’t want to do at times is part of parenting. You need to get a stop put to this now. What happens if there’s an emergency and you need to get someone to hospital and there no phone reception to call an Ambulance and she throws this hissyfit? Are you just going to say sorry friend/husband but little miss says no so we can’t go anywhere?!!!

If strapping in the harness is a problem and you have a lot of money to throw at the problem (which given you’ve just bought new car seat which hasn’t worked you might not want to) could a shield seat like the Cybex Anoris T work be easier to get her in because you don’t need to faff around with straps and you just need to buckle in a shield?

I'd go back to rear facing OP it is significantly safer. Just put her in the seat, you don't need to bribe her.

We had the same thing - she was so strong and trying to force her made it worse. With my boy I can wrestle him in, but my girl I couldn’t. People would say ‘she’s a toddler, you’re in charge!’ Which wasn t helpful. My husband often had to come and meet me
at nursery to help when I was pregnant! Tbh we didn’t find a solution, it just passed like everything else. Sometimes it would take ages to get her in, but we’d manage eventually. Try having a snack she loves and only give it when she’s strapped in.