Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Shopping

From everyday essentials to big purchases, swap tips and recommendations. For the best deals without the hassle, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Things to make a 15 month old resigned to being strapped into his car seat?

36 replies

lummox · 30/08/2006 20:03

Maybe a toy steering wheel that would attach to his car seat (Maggie Simpson-style!).

Or anything else that would make him even slightly resigned to being strapped into his car seat?

At the moment we can do short drives provided he has a small packet of raisins every 3 miles or so, but we're going on holiday to Norfolk shortly and i can't believe the raisin trick is going to last forever!

OP posts:

LadyTophamHatt · 30/08/2006 20:04

will he not sleep in it?

Original poster

lummox · 30/08/2006 20:07

He sleeps for a bit, but not on short journeys, and only for an hour or so on long journeys. We live in a rural area in France, so have to drive to do all shopping/most visiting. Also we have to do a 3.5 hour journey to and from the UK most months. The only way he would sleep would be if we did the drive after his bedtime, but that would be impractical for various reasons unfortunately.

OP posts:

2Happy · 30/08/2006 20:16

Ooh lummox, not nice. We did a long journey with ds last month - 11hrs there, 9hrs back. Nightmare. We tried hiding his favourite toys for a bit before the journey to make them "new". We shred the journey with dsis and her dd so shared toys, again for novelty value. Lots of breaks to let him out of the car. Lots and lots of ridiculous songs. And paracetamol, for your headache . Have you considered doing some of the journey at night?

DominiConnor · 30/08/2006 20:39

MP3 players are now very cheap, the units themselves are close to indestructable (except if you buy Apple, which is expensive and fragile).

The trick is to sellotape the unit where he can't fiddle with the controls, else he'll put it in some weird mode, lose the music and scream. also you can set the volume at a level that won't hurt hearing.

Make SURE you have spare batteries.

tigertum · 30/08/2006 21:09

DS is none to keen on being strapped in his car seat. If possible we time car journeys to fit in with his naps. For longer journeys we take a bag of toys and keep handing them too him everytime he gets upset. His little piano is always a hit - he plays it on his knee for a while.

He's 16 months BTW.

If you've got the money you could get a telly put in the back of the car for him to watch.

lexiemum · 31/08/2006 07:34

at this age those magic drawing board thingys kept dd amused but having now received a portable dvd for my bday will be using that and a copy of the lion king to entertain them on our long drive to devon next week.

Original poster

lummox · 31/08/2006 08:33

thanks for the replies.

tigertun - could you describe the piano a bit more. do you know the make or anything? ds loves 'playing' the piano at home, and i would happily listen to the cacophony rather than the whining gradully turning into crying that we get now.

DC - do you mean one that he can control himself in some way? or a music player that we control? music definitely works for a bit, but i seem to have an unerring ability to pick tapes with very depresssed people singing children's songs very slowly.

lexiemum -i've been seriously thinking about a portable dvd. are you happy with the one you've got, and does it have things to attach it to a car headrest? if you are/it had, could you tell me the make?

2happy - 11 hours? nightmare. it would be a real pain to do the journey at night as we are renting a cottage for a week which starts Saturday at midday, so either we would be hanging around for ages or we would lose a day of the holiday. hiding toys is a good idea, though. in fact that happens automatically in our house, so just tidying up would probably unearth all sorts of things! i really dread to imagine what it is going to be like come January when there's two of them! maybe they'll amuse each other .

OP posts:

2Happy · 31/08/2006 16:09

Ah yes, Lummox, it brings back all sorts of memories of me and my 2 dsises as kids on long car journeys. We were great at amusing each other and helping our parents out on long journeys. No, wait, hang on, I may have remembered that wrong - that's right, we were a complete bloody whinging biting scratching arguing nightmare, lol! Can't wait till January

Original poster

lummox · 31/08/2006 16:13

Absoutely. Those fond memories of chatting, playing games and laughing in the car with my dbros are actually something I read in a book and bear no relation to the reality.

Back in those distant days we didn't even wear seatbelts so there was nothing to prevent all out war on the back seat.

IIRC the only time we were quiet was when we were plotting to do something hideous to my parents.

OP posts:

Gobbledigook · 31/08/2006 16:14

Hmmm, mine aren't too bad at travelling but we do raisins, biscuits, crisps, books and we have a DVD player which is perfect!

tigertum · 31/08/2006 21:14

Hi Lummox

Its a Little Tikes one, here's one for sale (along with some other instruments) on ebay
.

My friend often has to take her DD on 4-hour car journeys to visit family. She bought an in-car DVD player for her DD for £180. Expensive but she says its worht it to keep DD happy.

Hope this helps.

accessorizequeen · 31/08/2006 21:29

Would he be interested in story cds or nursery rhymes? Or something like Philadelphia chickens , which would is fun for adults as well -
Also saw a tiny love toy which I thought looked really good. wonder wheel .
Not sure if he's too young, but I used to give ds pumpkin or sesame seeds as they took him forever to eat & didn't cause quite as many outbursts as raisin s iykwim!
Hope you find some solutions in time for your trip!

Olihan · 31/08/2006 21:31

We bought an in car dvd from argos similar to this that has been a sanity saver on lots of long journeys, including up to Scotland (8+ hrs). We wanted the 2 screens so that the dcs had one each!! The screens are also a good size. We bought a few nursery rhyme/ song dvds as dd is only 12 months and will watch those but not 'programme' type dvds (fimbles etc). I honestly can't recommend one enough!!

Aero · 31/08/2006 21:36

We bought a portable DVD plater from Woolies for our long drive recently. It was £69.99 and easy to set up for the car. Worked brilliantly. Ds2 watched the same Thomas DVD for several hours!!

Aero · 31/08/2006 21:41

Actually, we bought two separate players (for about the same price as a single one with two screens), so that the older two could watch a different DVD more suited to their taste than Thomas. They come with headphones, but on our journey they just kept the volume low, but loud enough for them both to be able to hear their own iyswim.

lapsedrunner · 01/09/2006 07:13

Many thanks to the person who invented portable DVD palyers..a life saver

sockmonkey · 01/09/2006 09:18

This maybe not as much fun as a DVD player, but my DS (just turned 3) Loves a running commentary on things we can see out of the window. look a red car, can you see those trees, wow a big lorry... that sort of thing. It drives you a bit crazy after a while, but might work for a bit.

morningpaper · 01/09/2006 09:20

My 11 month old has screamed non-stop when in her car seat since she was born

I have discovered that she can scream for 2 hours without stopping, even during "sleep times"

I think she hates being retrained - is similar in the pram

Her car seat is stained with sweat and vomit

I have not found a solution so will read thread with interest

incy · 01/09/2006 10:10

Did read a suggestion that could get baby/toddler to buckle a favorite toy in the car first of all (perhaps using the other car seat in the back)and then you buckle baby in second. Apparently this gives them a sense of control and the realistion that this is something which is normal on a journey.

grannyboots · 01/09/2006 11:05

we have to do a lot of travelling to visit grandma (it can be a very 2 long hours there and 2 hours back)

i've just ordered the wonder wheel for my dd (19months).

we play games like 'can you see the cows, doggie, sheep' which when she does we hear 'mooooooooo, wooof or ba ba' from the back seat

-or asking her to point to body parts 'where's your ear, nose etc'

-singing - especially action songs 'head and shoulders' 'if you're happy and you know it' etc

and we try and time journeys in with naps...and always after a run round the park
have a good supply of toys/books/food/drink - i don't have any space for my feet in the passenger seat!
let her help fasten herself in (she hates when we do) - same with buggy and high chair.

-put the sun blind up - as she likes pulling it down

taking socks on and off (or shoes)

-attach a mirror (from baby gym) to the headrest of front seat so she can make faces at herself

wheelsonthebus · 01/09/2006 11:07

we have tilted our car seat as far back as it goes into a sleeping position and she always falls asleep within seconds.

scotlou · 01/09/2006 11:22

Gawd - I remember this stage - it's hellish!! I remember singing "Old Macdonald" endlessly - we did every animal under the sun. Action songs - Hokey Cokey was very popular! Kids song tapes. WHen all else failed we put our own music up loud to drown out the screaming!! Now they are 4 and 6 and 2 DVD players do the trick!

Original poster

lummox · 01/09/2006 12:46

Some great tips here - thanks so much.

scotlou - when we go on a long journey there's pretty much nothing old mcdonald doesn't have on his farm (....and on that farm he had some annoying babies ee i ee i o. with a whinge, whinge here, etc.).

like the idea of little seeds instead of raisins accessoriesqueen. we've tried cucumber, celery, carrots and cherry tomatoes, and only the tomatoes cut the mustard and they are soooo messy that i couldn't bear to keep ging.

am also definitely going to investigate the dvd option - it's interesting that even quite littlies enjoy them. i've ordered some song dvds and a couple of ballamory ones. he doesn't need much variety but i think i will go mad if i have to here pc plum's song more than once every 5 minutes or so.

am going to get a tiny love wonder wheel if i can find one online. at the moment the only one i can see is at mothercare who i would rather avoid if possible. i've googled, but not had any luck.

it's interesting to see the differences between children. i have to admit that i'm pleased we're not the only ones having this problem.

Moondog, yours sounds really bad, though. Is your dd still in a backward facing seat? ds never settled in the back facing one, and would cry himself to sleep (often 45 minutes at a time) every journey. i remember deciding to turn back a few times because i couldn't bear it. once we got him into a front facing one. we were lucky that he is a bit of a bunter (continued thanks to aloha for that phrase) so we could move him fairly early and things improved a lot. i put it down to travel sickness - which i used to get really badly as a child, and a general desire not to be staring at the seat of a car. that said, he's not great at being strapped into a pram either so maybe that's what it is.

oh well, come september when the new law comes in he'll only need to be in a car seat for another nine and a half years [maniacal ]

any more suggestions very welcome. have been writing a list! was thinking that if i started the journey with him in 3 pairs of socks, it would take him about 10 minutes just to get them all off.

OP posts:

fridayschild · 01/09/2006 14:26

toys
more toys
books
singing songs wrong (baa baaa green sheep)
a new toy
socks
window blinds

DominiConnor · 01/09/2006 15:47

Some MP3 players have all sorts of controls for volume, next track, graphic equaliser etc.
DS love playing with these, and keeps him happy and quiet.
But...
Every so often he gets electronics in a "bad" setup, and you need to reset it. So there's a balance here.
Nice thing about a decent MP3 (not confused with the Apple ripoffs) is that even a cheap one can now hold a huge set of tunes.
The best one to choose is where it takes batteries.
Ones with internal recharge die before the end of the journey without you being able to do anything about it.

Must be said that I see a commercial opportunity, given the new laws on child seats.
It really wouldn't be hard to have a deeply cool "Thunderbirds Crash Couch" (or Spiderman etc).
You could put a couple of cheap speakers into it near their heads, and simple controls to a built in MP3 player.

Flip

1 2