Car Screamers, come in...

[wegrowsheep]

Anyone else still dread going anywhere with LO? T has been screaming since I put him in his carseat 45 minutes ago, except for a quick stop to walk thru fred meyer while DH got fuel. Then he started screaming again.
It makes me want to beat my face against the window. And we have a date night tomorrow, but we have to drop the kids off at IL's first. This makes me want to not go (except I have to bc it's part date/part annual banquet and I'm the VP).

Anyone? Tell me I'm not alone.

[sugarkissed]

Not alone. We just returned from a 4 hour drive and our kids took turns screaming for all but about 30 minutes of it. It was awesome.

No advice to offer, but I totally feel your pain. I found that when we switched DD1 to a convertible seat it made her enjoy driving more, so we might try the same a bit early with this LO.

[musicfrk2002]

J only really screams if we aren't moving for more than a minute, or if the sun is in his eyes. We try and avoid rush hour.

Have you tried a toy on his carseat? We are alternating between a baby Einstein star that lights up and plays music and a bright starts toy bar.

[pghtruelove]

J hated her car seat. We just changed to a convertible seat.... SO MUCH BETTER!! She has cried maybe 3 times and it was just because she woke up on a long trip and needed to eat or be changed! She really loves looking out the window.

[islandgirl14]

Add me to the club!! J HATES being in his car seat and/or driving in the car. He cries constantly. I too am thinking about getting him into the convertible sooner rather than later as maybe it would help. I always feel so stuck at home because I never want to go anywhere since he cries so much when in his seat. It's awful!

[tiffbot]

DD was awful the first 3 months, then on and off the last month. Last week a lot of driving happened between Thanksgiving and me just having to go to the city a couple times and it's steadily improved..not to jinx myself but she seems to be getting happier now that she's better at controlling her toys. Fingers crossed!

[ashbash]

+1 for carseat hater and +1 that it got better with DD1 when we switched to convertible

It sucks but just like everything it does pass and before you know it they will be 2 yrs old and asking questions every 2 seconds when you are in the car

[mirage86]

E has gotten better, but he still starts fussing and/or crying whenever the car stops or when he just doesn't feel like being in his seat anymore. Funny this thread is started this morning, because I'm about to leave on a 2 hour each way trip today, just me and the little guy. Yikes!

[mrsmonogrammed]

This was so us yesterday...LO was just tired of being in the seat, but usually she's a pretty good rider. She tends to fall asleep so the yelling/crying/screaming yesterday seemed especially frustrating to me. I wish there was a cure for car seat haters!

[baytosa2013]

The first couple months DD was a car seat screamer until we got moving. She's fine now unless she wants to eat. She just started babbling back there to herself recently and DH and I just crack up and talk back to her. She mostly sleeps when we are driving a distance of more that 15 mins.

[Deleted]

If you can afford it I would switch to convertible. Maybe your baby is over the bucket shape.

[gilder40]

What convertible car seat do y'all have?? We got a Graco Nautilus convertible from a friend as a gift, but I just learned it won't go rear facing.

[wegrowsheep]

I'm sure he'll be happier when he's in a different seat, but he's not ready to move up yet. And I like having the infant carrier. Having big brother and sister back there to entertain him helps too, but only to a point. DS1 was like this, but I had hoped T would be different. DD would sleep every time we got in the car, but not these boys!

And +1 to the holding the paci in his mouth, except I do it while I'm driving. (long arms!!).

[thecatsmeow]

I just ordered our convertible seat from Target. Still have a couple registry coupon codes left and they expire next week. We got an Evenflo SureRide 65.

[Deleted]

+1 to the question if you have a toy. We have this attached to the middle of the car seat canopy so when the car moves it swings back and forth and makes a jingle noise. I'm convinced it hypnotizes her because she just stares at it non stop.

[seannemairi]

Mine hates the carseat. So much. Our families live 2 hours away so those road trips are super fun. I think we're gonna invest in a convertible carseat and see if it helps. She just hates being confined at all. She tears at those straps like they're going to attack her.

[paintdadanta]

Ditto here. Mine hates anything that involves seatbelts and screams bloody murder 90% of the time. Only thing that works at all is if I climb in the backseat, hold his hand and sing his favorite song. It gets old quick and I avoid going out with him alone. Mirrors, white noise and toys have done nothing for us . . .

[gigi3126]

Jude isn't terrible in the car, but when he gets fussy we put on "baby got colic" on one of our phones and tuck it in the seat next to him. It almost always calms him down. If it doesn't, I know it's time to pull over and feed or change. If any of your LOs are white noise junkies like mine, it might help.

ETA sorry paintdadanta I just read your post! I don't know what I would do if white noise wasn't an option.

[musicfrk2002]

Have any of you with screamers tried taking off the strap cover pieces that came on it? I have no idea what they are called...I seem to remember J screaming more when those were on his seat. I had pulled them off to wash everything and forgot to put them back on.

[mnp48]

DS is a car screamer. We learned that he hated the warm car seat in the summer so we found a batt operated personal fan that took a usb cable so we plugged it into the adaptor. And then, we also kept him calm with a teeny 1.5 ounce bottle of milk propped up with burp cloth. He will suck for like 30 seconds until the car starts moving and passes out.

[islandgirl14]

Adding to this thread... we put J in the convertible last week hoping that would help, and it hasn't... at all.. I actually am starting to think it's an issue with the straps - like he hates being confined or something. He starts fussing as soon as I strap him in.

awwwwwfuuul. I wonder how long this will last...