Son Hates Riding in Car

My daughter Ali is the same way. (she is 13 months also) What we did was buy a portable DVD player that hooks to back of headrest and bought a couple DVDs from Babyfirst network. It is great. Good luck!

Have you tried a DVD player? There are several portable ones on the market. My son (16mths) is a big elmo fan and that makes the trip a lot smoother!

My 13 month old daughter hates the car seat. She's very active and doesn't like to be restrained but it's also because she doesn't like to be tipped back. She prefers a seat that's higher and more vertical. We also have a few special toys just for riding in the car. She still faces back. Maybe you could try out a few different seats to see if it would make a difference.

Coming from a child that was the same way...turns out I get car sick terribly. I have thrown up on every major city, campground, playground and amusement park within reasonable vacation driving distance. I now have a daughter who is the same way. Terrible motion sickness! Unfortunately I have no idea what kind of meds to use or anything, but it could be why he is so miserable. My daughter has yet to throw up but she has never liked the car and I finally know why now that she's old enough to tell me. Might be worth checking into.

You could check with you doctor and see if they would recomend a dossage of dramamine for car sickness, if that is what you think it is. I would not give it to him without checking with your doctor first.

We could not travel without a dvd player. It works wonders!

M.

so sorry, i don't really have that much advice...more encouragement! our daughter is the same way, she screams & cries when in her car seat & has since the day we brought her home. it has gotten better with age & now she can last up to about half an hour before the crying starts (she's 21 months now). we've tried everything & i mean everything...a DVD's, food, singing interactive songs, sippy cups, toys, one of us sitting in the back with her 'entertaining' her, books, balloons, & ignoring the cries & praising when she stops crying for 30 seconds. she is getting better now, as i mentioned, & i really think the only reason is b/c she's getting older. i feel for you, really i do b/c this makes all car trips miserable & frustrating. i'm impressed that you're even trying a longer car trip; the longest we've tried is 2 1/2 hours & everyone is at their wits end when we arrive (grandparents' houses, luckily).
my only advice: ear plugs for the non-driver (seriously) & finger foods (that kept her quiet for about 3-5 minute spurts, then when she isn't hungry anymore all hell breaks loose).
our pediatrician said she was just trying to get attention & i'm not fully convinced that was really the cause, nor do i think she was in pain or car sick...it seems some babies just really hate riding in the car!
i wish i had better advice for you (& i would love to hear what other's suggest that works!), only good luck!
-H.

You can try to give him a decongestant to see if it helps. Sometimes pressure builds up in their ears making them feel sick in the car.

I have a son who still fusses and he is almost 3. I had 2 kids that it didn't matter what you did, they hated the car until they just got older.

My friend's son hated riding in the car until they finally put him in a forward facing car seat. Now he is really quiet and enjoys looking out. On the other hand, my son didn't like facing forward, so I put him back in the convertible booster seat and he is facing backwards. Anyway, it could be that she would like to face the other way? Also, checking on meds for motion sickness is a great idea. Don't know if anybody is allowed to smoke in your car but I used to get terribly sick with motion sickness when I was little and someone smoked in the car. Even with the windows open, I could still smell the smoke and I would get sick.

Hi Neelam, You're so brave!!! Have you tried a DVD player? It does help pass time and keep them occupied. Good Luck! God Bless! N. L.

Maybe he's car sick??? Do they make Dramamine for ones that little? Just a thought...

Hi Neelam,

Is your son riding face forward yet or he still backwards? My son's driving attitude changed once we were able to face him forward. He loved being able to sit upright and see what was going on around him.
If that's not an issue you might plan to leave around naptime so he can fall asleep right away and sleep a chunk of the trip. Or, you could travel at night instead and leave at bedtime and he'd sleep the whole way.
Good luck!

I am guessing he is a fairly active child and resents being confined to a car seat, or he is afraid he will go to sleep and miss something.
One of you will need to sit in the back with the child and play games etc. with him while you travel. Things like pat-a-cake, etc.
There is a book with some great games for in the car in it you can locate at your library or go on line.

Get him in the car NOW. You need to make car rides the norm. You probably don't go very many places with him in the car because of his reaction. You need to make it part of his daily routine BEFORE this road trip! Get in the car and drive until he starts to cry, then turn around and head home. Tell him, "We will be home soon, Darling" Then ignore his cries until you are home, unstrap him and tell him "See? We're home now. Wasn't that fun?" Do this over and over everyday increasing the length of time that you are in the car each day. Make certain he has access to the sippy cup, toys, whatever AND (very important) ALWAYS take his favorite toy if he has one. Strap the toy into the car seat if applicable. And say "Look, Teddy likes to ride in the car too!" But the most important thing? RELAX!!!!! He won't die if he crys a little. YOU enjoy the trip amd baby will too.
Diane (mother of 7)

My son also hated the car and we did drive every day. On long trips (we had a 9 hour drive to see family), I would sit in the back with him and entertain him constantly: read books, sing songs, pupppet shows, etc. It was hard work but at about 3, he LOVED car trips and now he is an outstanding traveler. He can do 8 hours better than I can. We also listen to books on tape, which he loves.

We travel 3 1/2 hours one way, every 3 weeks to visit our family. Our son HATED this trip when he was little. We tried everything but by the end, he would be throwing up from crying so hard. Our best investment: A portable DVD player! It worked wonders and gave him something to focus on. He's now 3 1/2 and on his second player. He now gets to pick what videos he would like to take and loves it! We also have several music DVD's that he can listen to on the way, he likes to sing to them now that he's older. Good Luck!

Dear Neelam,
My first thought was "is he still riding backwards or have you faced his car seat forward?" If he's still riding backwards, face him forward. I know it sounds scary but I moved my daughter forward at only three months old because she would scream her head off. The thought of her being car sick came to me so I moved her forward and we were on the road to a sleeping baby. The carsickness thought came to me because I get car sick and so does my mom. That's all I could think of! Good luck! -H.-

Has it always been like this or is it new? We didn't have trouble with our son until we turned him around and that wasn't until he was 18 months (he reached the hight maximum on the rear-facing position before the weight maximum). He was happy to kick and play and sleep when he was tilted back, but when we turned him around and he had to sit up more, he is finding it much harder to fall asleep in that position and is more stimulated by everything he can see. He's UBER cranky most the time.
We had a portable DVD player so we have tried that. Unfortunately, I was abiding by the AAP guidelines and not letting him watch TV until he's 2. That has backfired as he won't watch anything in the car, he just wants to press the buttons:( Not that I regret keeping him from watching TV, but in this instance, I am a bit annoyed with myself :) It works well for my sister-in-law who's son watches too much TV.

If we come up with something that works well, I will let you know. We've got 6 hours to drive this week and 12 for the 4th of July.
Good Luck!!!

Hi Neelam.

I totally understand your frustrations. My daugher also HATES the car - she gets carsick. She actually claps and cheers yay when we stop the car to get out, she hates it so much. I play "her" music in the car while we ride, distract with animal sounds, let her have her bunny and pacifier (which she only gets at bedtime and in car rides) and her milk (which she's also comforted by). When she cries a lot, I try everything to get her to calm down, but sometimes I just have to ignore it. I say find what will comfort him in the car and go from there. I have considered getting a DVD player for the car, especially long trips, to distract her with her favorite shows or movies.

I really hope this helps. Good luck on your car trips.

Hi our grandchildren love to have the kiddies music on CD to play while riding in a car. Maybe if you could get him to listen to some music before the trip that might sooth him? it works for ours. good luck

I agree, I switched my son to front facing at 12 months.. he was just too big to face backward anymore. I recently went on a road trip w/ the kids too, if you can afford it.. the portable dvd player that you can attach to the back of the front seats was the best investment ever!

Hello Neelam-
My daughter also hated car rides, in fact, I would turn the radio up to muffle out her screams...and that seemed to calm her, it would only take a minute or so for her to fall asleep. She got a DVD player for her 1st birthday and that has helped tremendously with car trips. My only problem is that I leave it up all the time because it can be a pain to put it away when not in use, that she wants it on all the time. However, she really doesn't watch TV at home, (why sit still when I have all these toys to play with!) so I can justify it on short trips to WalMart! Pick your battles right?! Also, although your son may be a bit young right now, but I found those Color Wonder Markers make a great distraction, and they don't get on anything so they are awesome for car rides. We also got her one of those travel Magnadoodles and that works as well. Just have a well stocked car bag and have someone sit in the back seat with him. I think variety is the key. My in-laws live 3 hours away, so we travel quite a bit and have dealt with this for almost 2 years now! Hope this helps!

If it does happen to be motion sickness. They do make those bracelets that are supposed to help with that, if you don't want to give your child an oral medication. Might be easier or better to use on a small child too. Good luck.

buy a portable dvd player!!!! My son loves it!! We only let him watch about 30 min at a time!! But is such a life saver!!!

Try making the trips to places he might enjoy. Go for a short trip to a park. then a trip for ice cream, McD's. That type of thing but make the trips a little longer each time. On the trip stop to play every hour or so. Mostly he just doesn't like being in a set place for a long period. My children all went through it. If possible leave late so he will sleep. It didn't work for my son but worked for my daughters, all 3. He slept the whole trip back. (6 hours)

I hate to say it but the only thing we have found that works is a DVD player. It sounds so uneducational but when you are desperate, it does work! We also use ball pit balls (they are cheap and light weight) for our kids to play with in the car. At one point I took the ocean wonders out of the crib and fastened it in the car (over the seat) so that I could hit the button while driving. It worked well too.

Honey, been there done that, twice over now. My kids as babies HATED the car and cried nearly all the way if we were on long distance trips. Once they hit a year, we got them DVD players and played videos. It seems to work for them, but even do they still get crabby, especially my youngest who is 16 months. If hes full, dry, not too hot or cold, bring along ear plugs and try to ignore the screams. Hard, I know, but also try frequent pit stops so everyone can stretch their legs.

Is he front or rear facing? My son started the cry every time we went in the car when he was about 11 months & we noticed his feet were hitting the back seat. So we switched him to front facing & he loved it! Hope that helps!

My son started getting carsick right around that age. It could be that he gets nauseous and it's just not enough to throw up. I used to be like that when I was young. You can buy dramamine at walgreens or walmart or any place like that. They have dosage for babies and adults. I think for his age you would give him like a 1/4 of a tablet. Obviously read the package first to make sure! A nice side-effect is that it will zonk them out so they'll "sleep like a baby" fittingly enough. It will make it a pleasant car trip and he'll feel much better! Also, for shorter trips, make sure he's not traveling on an empty stomach. That will make him nauseous if he is indeed getting motion sickness.

When we went on road trips, we used the Discovery toy colorful chains. Each 15 minutes or 1/2 hr. we took off a link so that he/she knew we were close to our destination. It helps with the "are we there yet?" question.
As to your son crying after 5 minutes, you need to 'break him in' as to not having your full attention when Mommy is driving... turn up the radio and sing to him, or if you have a DVD, put on a favorite show, or bring along a tape of music that he likes that he can only listen to when you are in the car. He will then want to be going for a ride. You can even have toys that he only can play with in the car!!

Hi Neelam,

I would definately recommend videos! We just got back from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan last night and we wouldn't have done it without our portable DVD player and Blues Clues/Baby Einstein videos. Good luck!

D.

Is there belts, buckles, etc... under the cushion of his car seat that may be making it uncomfortable??? We had a car seat that to hook up the lap/shoulder belt on the BASE of it, made part of the belt protrude under the cushion and made it uncomfortable. If so, add some cotton batting or egg shell foam under the outer cover so it is more cushioned.
If you can, travel at night or nap time.

My grandson who is now 27 had this problem also and although he was a very good baby when we would get in the car he was a different baby. He did not like to travel and we finally discovered that he was getting car sick. I don't know if you have talked with your doctor about this as he might be able to suggest something that would help. Just a thought as I have car sickness and I still can't ride in the back seat of a car.