Ds screams in the car, which makes long journeys impossible- any tips to help so we can spend xmas with family?

[roslily]

He is 12 weeks old. For about 5 weeks now he screams every time we go in car. We pull over and try and calm him. If it works he starts again pretty soon. we visited family and he did it for nearly 2 hours- with lots of stops.

He has a dummy, we have a white noise CD that we play, we have tried music, someone sitting in back with him,singing to him- nothing.

Any ideas? Will he grow out of it?

I actually wonder if his car seat is uncomfortable?

Could you borrow one from someone and try it out?

We discovered that dc3 didn't like his car seat when we drove to see family last christmas (15 weeks old; 11 hour drive). It was the first time he had been in his car seat and he screamed pretty much the whole journey. We didn't stop that much, because it didn't make any difference, and we just needed to get there. It wasn't a great experience, needless to say. On the way back he was fine, and since he has been fine on both long and short car journeys.

I think that some children do find their car seats uncomfortable. DD2 was much happier in the car when she went from a rear facing to forward facing seat. Perhaps that could be something to try?

oh god my DD used to do this, just scream blue murder throughout car journeys. for no reason at all. its hell isnt it? and so stressful.

she did it every car journey between about 2 and 4 months and then suddenly she just stopped doing it!!! she is now 7 months and car journeys are peaceful once again

so i would say it wil probably be something she will grow out of xx

sometimes if we played music REALLY loud it helped. (is that cruel?? ((bad mummy emoticon))

Well at least he isn't the only one!

Train might be the answer.

I will look at car seats. I have to say that although it is supposed to last a few months, he doesn't look that comfortable.

Maybe its the noise he doesn't like, have you tried not having the music/white noise on? Maybe his car seat doesn't smell familiar, perhaps try putting a blanket or something familiar to him on the car seat first so he can smell a familiar "home" smell.

Try sitting him in the car seat ( with straps done up to the correct tension) at home for 5-10 minutes several times a day every day, jiggle the seat and he will (fingers crossed) be more settled when you travel.

my dd greatly improved when we took away the head hugger.

Ds2 (almost 3) has always been like this. Travelling when he's meant to sleep doesn't work either. We grit our teeth and carry on driving now to get it over with as quickly as possible. At times we've resorted to earplugs too if the other dc aren't with us.
Someone suggested he could be feeling car sick (is non verbal so can't tell us why he cries so much) and to give him something to suck/chew. Hasn't worked for us though.

No head hugger. Yes we have tried silence too!

He does cry as soon as we strap him in, so will try and acclimatise him at home. He also cried when strapped in pram- I think he hates being strapped in!

DS did this at the same age, playing Orbital helped - then he fell asleep after 20 minutes of crying. He still never liked the seat, though, was not happy in the car until he was able to be forward-facing.

DS was the same in both the rear-facing car seat and the pram when it faced me. Has been fine since he could be forward facing so, although he has never been sick whilst travelling, I figured it must be something similar.

I feel your pain too. DD (3 months) has just started screaming in the car although from birth she's not been keen. Currently she goes bright red and it is awful to listen too. Will try Orbital though (DH will be chuffed). We have a journey in two weeks time from South Wales to Suffolk

She doesn't mind the car seat so much when attached to the buggy frame so I know it's not too uncomfortable. Basically, I'm sat in the back of the car with her as she screams so much I'm worried she'll choke (PFB ). I suspect either she's feeling slightly travel sick or doesn't like facing rearward. Opening the window does stop the crying (breeze on the face, apparently) but isn't great if it's raining!!

DD is also quite large and I wonder if her shoulders are a little squished. I've taken out the cosy-toes and she was a little happier (got rid of the head hugger at 8 weeks as she simply didn't fit)

my DS used to scream but i found music to work wonders. Forward facing seat made it much better too.
and of course, the dummy!

My DD screamed terribly in the car.

I think she must have felt unsupported as we bought a padded fleece liner and this worked wonders. It sort of raised her in the seat so she didn't look so squished over, and had padding that went either side of her head but wasn't restrictive like a head hugger.

You can get a variety of them, including sheepskin ones.

Once we had this it more or less cured it.