HELP! My 3 Month Old Hates Car Rides!

My daughter was okay in the car but after about 15 minutes hated it. The one thing that seemed to help her calm down was the Baby Mozart CD (she would occasionaly watch the video when I was trying to shower) - I would just put it in and select "repeat" - and she would be fine. Might get old listening to the same CD over and over but it's better than a screaming baby.

Good Luck!

I had a friend who had the same problem. She said that if she drove with the windows down, the baby stopped crying. It is worth a shot. Good luck.

My daughter was the same way! She would either cry the whole time or when the car was stopped. A CD that she seemed to like was Enya...as soon as the music started the crying would stop!

God Bless!

I have four kids and they ALL went through this. It is a phase and will end, but one thing that seemed to help all of mine was moving from an infant carrier to a convertible carseat.

My son hated it too. It didn't matter if we went to Austin or to the corner. He just hated it. He would choke he would cry so hard. I didnt end for me until he finally hit the weight (I think 20 pounds. Its marked on the side of the seat) that I could turn his carrier around to front facing. It was easier to see me and see the road. My boy is on the small side so it took awhile for this to happen. Hopefully your baby will hit the age or weight limit to turn the seat around soon. Untill then make time to stop for air and a stretch. It helps if you put him in the middle of the back seat too so you can reach back and hold his hand. He liked that too.

TLee

Well, I'm not sure how to help solve the problem, but at the very least I can say it will pass. My daughter was the same way. We tried differnt positions, toys, songs, whatever... she just HATED the car. I think she just was sensitive to movement and maybe felt car sick. She got over it around 4 months... but it was awful. She especially hated city traffice where it's stop-go-stop-go, speed up-slow down- speed up. I don't know what the answer is, but hang in there!

M.,

Sorry to say I don't have a quick answer for you. My son also HATED the car ride at that age. And nothing would soothe him. I mean I would avoid car trips at any cost just because it was unbearable in the car with him. He would cry non stop, even when I sat in the back seat with him while my husband drove. I always envyed those moms who said that car rides actually soothed their babies. There were a few things that worked for us sometimes (but honestly they didn't work consistently). Sometimes turning on some soothing music and me singing to him helped, sometimes toys helped (ones that made noise or played music were the best, but mostly we just had to wait it out unfortunately. He just kinda grew out of it though and things got a lot better when were able to turn him forward. Just wanted to say that despite what it looks like now IT WILL GET BETTER and I really sympathize with your situation. Good Luck!

T.

If you don't already have a mirror back there and would try that. My son hated car rides too. We got one of thoses mirrors you put on the back seat so you can see what they are doing. Now he spends the majority of the time staring and talking to himself. It's worth a try. There still are days when he just doesn't want to be in there though.

This happened to a friend of mine too... it was the strangest thing. But she did two things that helped... her son was seriously having "I'm all alone" issues.... so what helped was she got a mirror thing that also had things he could eventually and that would light up and stuff that hug from the seat back... that way when she looked back, he could see her too... he just wanted to see his mom... she hung an 8x10 of her there too... she's like.. people are going to think I'm so vain but he just wanted to see her. Sounds kooky but it worked! Good luck, I can't imagine how totally frustrating that would be. Most kiddos just snooze away in the car.

HMMmmm....I can think of a couple of things. One is that the angle at which he sits in the infant carrier might be uncomfortable. I've heard that sitting in the carrier can put pressure on a baby's tummy. If he has reflux, or if he's eaten recently, this might be uncomfortable for him. Make sure you're not putting him in the car immediately after a meal, or at least make sure you get a good burp out of him. My son would scream like this occasionally and it was usually because he had to burp. I wonder if you could mess with the incline/angle of the seat? Moving to the convertable car seat might help too.
I've also heard of very young babies being carsick. Sometimes to the point of spitting up, etc., but also just the icky nauseous feeling from movement. Something like a toy, mirror, or stationary object (the large 8X10 of yourself!) to focus his attention might help (so he's not looking at things whizzing by). Kind of like when someone is seasick they say to look at the horizon (it doesn't move). Also, you might try setting up a mobile DVD player and running some Baby Mozart, Beethoven or Bach (those 3 videos in the Baby Einstein series have the most simple images). The American Academy of Pediatrics may say he's too young for videos, but they don't have to be trapped in a car with a screaming kid....

M., my daughter too would not tolerate car rides. In fact she started the moment we left the hospital. She hated the restriction of the carseat, she was not one to respond well to the swaddling idea either. She would scream so hysterically the moment I buckled her in until the moment we got to our destination, sometimes she would make herself vomit and I would have to pull the car over to ensure she did not choke. I too tried everything, it was not hunger or any other related discomfort. The only thing we found to work initially was white noise (soft static). We bought a CD of white noise and played it in the car the whole time, sometimes at very high volumes. That worked for a while and then we got a portable DVD player and she watched baby einstein. It was not until we turned her carseat around that she would ride peacefully in the car. My daughter was a very high needs infant, I will hope your situation is not as severe as ours was. Good luck to you.

My DD went through a phase where I COULD NOT STOP THE CAR FOR ANY REASON!! She would lose her mind! Fortunately it was short-lived, but the only thing that would break the SCREAMING was for me to turn the music up louder than her voice. It seemed to intrigue her that something was louder than she. I didn't have to leave it that loud, just long enough to get her mind off herself.

Also, be sure the sun isn't burning him or his eyes. Maybe some window shades would help.

He has to be one year old AND 20 pounds before you can turn him around, but that will help a lot! I also had to get my LONG girl out of the carrier and into the convertible seat in the rear-facing position sooner than most, but that helped a bit with the comfort.

The picture of Mom idea is super! I used a large mirror that she could see me in while I was watching her.

I don't know what else to say, but hopefully some of this will give you some deserved peace.

Most babies at that age HATE car rides i got mine a mirror with lights on it(i think music too).It came with a button i attached to them visor of my car and when he began to fuss i pressed it and it took his attention away from what ever he was crying about.

My daughter was the same way. She would cry so hard it sounded like someone was torturing her - I had to pull over to calm her down.

I bought one of those clip-on toy arches for strollers. It has little stuffed toys dangling from it - some play music when batted (she loved that). I clipped it on to her car seat. Another thing that helped was one of those music-playing things for the car that light up. The one that has a remote control for the driver is the best (make sure it's loud enough to be heard over car sounds - one with adjustable volumes is best just in case he falls asleep but you don't want to take any chances by turning it off).

It didn't totally eliminate the crying but the crying wasn't as bad. She would start to cry and I would talk to her in a soothing voice and tell her that she just needed to sit a little longer. Sometimes I would sing a song with her name. Her name is Kiana so I altered the B-I-N-G-O song and Oscar Myer commercial song (desperate) with her name. There was a girl whose name was Kiana and Kiana was her name-o...you get the idea. My Kiana has a first name, it's K-i-a-n-a, my Kiana has a last name...I love to play and feed her every day...(just get creative). Believe it or not that really helped. The remote song thingy was useful if the singing wasn't helping.

The toy bar entertained her and I would change it up a bit by attaching some of those Lamaze toys to it every other week or so. I tried not to pull over at every whimper (unless she was in hysterics) so she wouldn't get used to my pulling over every time she cried. After a few weeks, she stopped crying. Now she's 6 months and doesn't seem to care too much about the toy bar. Her favorite thing is one of those Whoozits that she loves to talk to, chew on, and swing around while she's in her car seat. I also bought a Fisher Price window screen with a bright colored teddy bear after the Babies R Us one dissentgrated. I found her watching the teddy bear and in awe over the colors.

Really I think that they get upset because they can't see us. Talking helped sometimes but other times it made it worse because she could hear me and wanted me to pick her up. Another thing that I did was to try to travel after she had a bottle and was a little sleepy. This way she just slept the entire car trip. You just have to play it by ear. Don't worry - he'll learn to tolerate the car trips after a while!

My daughter who is now 12 months has always been this way. Since we have been able to turn her around here recently, it has been better, but I feel your pain. We got one of those mirrors that attach to the headrest of the seat. So when I looked in the rear-view mirror I could see what was going on. Well, that seemed to help a bit. Not completely. There were times at night that we had to drive and she would be really fussy, so I turned the light on that was above her seat and this really helped. Most of the time I just had to sing and talk to her and that helped the most, besides the light at night.
Best of luck to you. Their first year goes so fast.... it will pass and then you will look back and remember this with a smile.

Well, I'm not sure how you might feel about the type of music (kind of celtic), but a CD of Loreena McKennitt saved the day many times, specifically the one titled, "The Book of Secrets." We actually wore out two cassettes before we got the CD.

It's rather soothing for Mom too...

Hi M.,
I have 4 kids and the last on did this. We finally decided he was car sick and did not like being backwward in the the car seat and we also changed him into a convertible seat put him in the middle seat and turned him around. I am a Dr so I know what the rules are but I tried to see if it made a difference and it did. He still woujld get a little fussyu if over 30 minutes or so but it was much more tolerable. He is almost 3 now and he still gets car sick if we drive over 20 to 30 minutes so we have to give him kids chewable Dramamine for longer trips. For us the portable DVD player with a variety of things did not seem to make a difference. It doews now but he is older now.
Good Luck.
K.

My son was about 3 months old when we went on our first vacation. Yes- I know kinda crazy but it had been planned for what seemed like an eternity so we tried it. We drove from Missouri to Virgina. It was an extremely long ride. TO keep my son entertained we took a Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium Musical Crib Toy and placed it on the seat. We removed the head rest and the plastic hangers that are generally used to wrap around the crib railing had holes in them that were perfect to put the head rest anchors in and replace it on the seat. It hung down to the perfect length where he would actually kick the button that started the music and he heard soft aquatic sounds, music, and saw the fish move. It was absolutely great.

PS-I just saw one on ebay for only $8.95.(i couldn't remember the name of what we used so I had to do a quick search)

If you think this may work for your little guy and have any questions how to set it up just shoot me and email and I'll try to explain it better.