Trying to Get My 2 Month Old Son to like Riding in the Car

My daughter (now 2) was the same way. I swear it was because she was too small for the carseat and it was uncomfortable; the crying tapered off when she grew a bit bigger, 3-4 months old. I would suggest rolling up a receiving blanket or towel and placing it in the bottom of the seat under his rear to keep him propped up a bit. Best of luck!

Is the problem just the car or is it just the car seat? Does he sit in the car seat more than just in the car? He might not like to sit in the car seat or he can't see you and starts to panic.
Try to mix things up a little bit. Play peek a boo with him to show him that when you go away from his sight that you will come back. Try to only use the car seat when you are in the car.
Good luck.

They have these wonderful mirrors that attach to the back of the seat that light up and play music. It comes with a remote so you can turn it on from the front seat. (Although whoever designed it didn't do a very good job because you have to have the button on the mirror pushed for the remote to work.) My 5 kids always fell right to sleep in the car, but the mirror helps for our long trips to Des Moines. Also, is it something that he has started recently? Maybe he has some fluid in his ears that the motion in the car irritates them. Worth a check if you ask me...

I made a collage of baby faces that I cut out of magazines, laminated it and hung it on the handle of my daughter's carseat/carrier. At this age, they're just mesmerized by other babies. It worked great with mine, hope it helps with yours.

Hi M.,
I have a 2 1/2 yr. old daughter and a 4 1/2 month old son. My daughter always hated the car and so does my son. So, we've always tried to plan car trips during nap time. I nurse my son just before we have to go and when he's just about ready to nap ,and he usually crashes as soon as the car starts to move... Even if I don't have to be someplace until a little later, I will still leave to cater a bit to his nap time and make for a happier, saner trip.... I also always have kids music in the car which helped with my daughter a lot... She is a much better traveler now, so hang in there!

Melissa

luckily my kids have never had this problem. It might be because of some wonderful advise that I was given by our cranial sacral therapist that my 1st son and I were seeing before and after his birth.

Take the cover off your car seat. Does the soft foam go all the way down his back and under his bottom or does it stop mid way down the seat? Leaving him with his lower back and his bottom on HARD plastic! You can by foam at a craft/fabric store or use a folded blanket. We had a Graco for my first then switched to Britax Companion for my 2 & 3. The Britax comes with foam all thoughout all their seats.
Our chiropractor agreed with this also. Bad and painful for backs and bottoms.
Good luck!

huh. i didnt have this problem at all. im very sorry he is having such a hard time!

first of all, make sure that there hasnt been any clothing issues. are there zippers poking into his skin ? tags? seams? dirt? check the car seat for pokey parts. make sure above all that the clothes you put him in are simple, to avoid getting some parts poking into his skin or something.
also the diaper isnt too tight... etc.

then make sure the straps are at the right spots on baby. maybe move the bottom buckle forward in case its squishing precious bottom parts. NEVER loosen the straps to "make it more comfortable" as that is DANGEROUS (but as a day care provider i see it OVER AND OVER)...

if you have a white noise cd to play in the car or something try that. my son always calmed down to white noise (specifically the vacuum which we wore OUT until i found "For Crying Out Loud" a white noise cd mix)..

what else.. is it possible for someone to sit in the backseat with him?? is there sun in his eyes? is there a reflection of sunshine? is he too hot? too cold?

wow. this is a tough one. i really hope that he gets better. dont try to fill his tummy too much as i can imagine that the straps can make a full tummy pretty uncomfortable.. and the burping thing would make it hurt too...

something i remember from in the hospitol.. our nurse took the car seat at the head and the foot, held the side to her waist or upper thighs, and swung it right and left, as you turn your body with it right and left, you know what i mean??

that worked like a charm from the very first time we ever had him in a car seat. and now that i think about it, we had to do it almost every time he was in it too... so maybe try that.

let me know if it works.

M.,
This sounds almost too simple, but make sure his car seat straps aren't too tight. They have to be safe, of course, but if they are too tight he could be very uncomfortable. When they are so young, there arent' too many things that can be wrong!
T.

He probably gets motion sickness and it frightens him. Rather than drugs, go to your local natural foods store and pick up the Bach Flower Remedy: Aspen. Four drops in his bottle or in a sippy cup of any liquid will calm him down.

You may also want to have his ears checked for motion induced complaints.

They just don't like it at this age. My daughters both hated a specific stretch of highway when they were little like that. I never could figure it out. Perhaps his car seat is uncomfortable and needs more padding or a bit more of a tilt. Try putting his car seat on the seat next to his...maybe he would prefer the other side. I think the important thing here is to remember he will grow out of this and the job you've got is to make sure he doesn't cry so he doesn't associate crying with rides in the car. With the price of gas, who wants to drive too much anyway?

My daughter absolutly hates riding in the car, with that beign said, I have found a few ways to keep her bus, at least for a little while. I bought some of the magnetized coloring boards so she can't make a mess with them and that works for a little while. I also allow her to buckle one of her dolls or toys in the seat next to her wich seems to make her happy and I avoid traveling around nap time and bed time because this jsut makes her scream worse instead of putting her to sleep like it would most kids. I also tell her where we are going and talk to her about what we are going to do when we get there and point out anything she might find interesting along the way.

My son was the same way. We bought Veggie Tales CDs to listen to. They're still kid music, but lively and upbeat. John Lithgow also has a CD that he liked. When we'd put the music on, we'd SING along, figure out hand motions to make it fun. The Lithgow one has hilarious words...so as he got a little older, he thought it was funny to sing those. Good luck!

Now that he is 2months, his eyes can see toys dangling in front of him. My little guy LOVED 'bugs on board'. You can pick them up at Target or ToysRUs. Comes as a set of three, you velcro them around the baby seat bar over his head. Also, my boy started to use his 'blankie' at about 2 months- he turned out to be a thumb sucker and used the blankie as stimulus.

We bought one of those mirrors that hook on the back of the seat for our granddaughter when she was a baby. She loved it, she found right away that she could look in it and see me in the rear view mirror (she would smile back at me), she knew she wasn't alone. It also made it easier to see that she was doing ok in the rear facing carseat. Now that she is older I have one of the extended mirrors that hooks on the rear view mirror to watch her. She can see me and will smile back at me or wave if I wave. She thinks it is great fun.

My daughter, as a tiny infant, shrieked uncontrollably in the car everytime she got in, until she got out. We tried everything - hanging toys, a mirror, playing music loudly and softly, singing to her, spoon feeding her food in the back, me sitting with her and touching her....really not much helped, she just had to grow out of it. I would suggest playing soft classical music as that helps her now, as a 2 year old, as well as our 6 month old in the car. You may just have to wait it out! (I know, not what you want to hear!)Now she loves the car and actually asks every morning to "go bye bye" and she falls asleep in the car a lot too! It'll get better, hang in there!

Try and use his infant seat at home instead of the swing or bouncy chair at times. Let him get use to the infant seat so it's not such a shock everytime he get's into the car.

If he likes to watch tv, maybe see about buying a portable tv/dvd player..

I apologize if my advice isn't very optimistic- but my son HATED riding in the car no matter what we tried (and we tried everything under the moon). He basically cried hysterically in the car for the better part of his first year. Only after turning his carseat forward on his first birthday did it stop.

In hindsight, we think he was just plain car sick riding backwards.

It was so awful and I empathize greatly with you. It's heartbreaking and very frustrating when they have such a hard time AND it even becomes really difficult to drive the car!! We pretty much decided not to put him in the car unless we REALLY needed to go somewhere. We were very opposed to DVD players in the car (as first time parents- HA)...but perhaps you could rig up a portable DVD player in his sightline and play baby Einstein or something?

Hello!
Looks like you've gotten some great advice. We tried everything and our daughter (14months) still shrieks once we buckle her in. The minute I take her out its all smiles and kisses. I try to avoid taking her anywhere in the car unless I have to and keep reminding myself that this cannot go on forever. Our doc said that some kids just do not like to be buckled in. I tell you this just to let you know that you are not alone and although she cried during infancy and continues to still cry she is alive and well and so are we - minus my hearing of course - ehehhe.
Good luck!

My daughter hated riding in the car too, until we turned her car seat around after she was a year old. We tried many things and heres what worked best for us: If both my husband and I were in the car, I rode in the backseat beside her and sang songs, played games, read books...., We purchased a mirror for her that attached to the backseat (it also had lights around it and played songs) and we had a mirror that attached to our rear view, soon she learned she could she see in the mirrors. If you are alone in the car keep a stash of toys in the front seat that are different from his toys in the house and hand them back 1 at a time (this will work better in a couple months). Also make sure you have a sun shade for your window.
Good Luck,
Megan

We had something that hooked onto the carseat that lighted up and played music. Also, he SHOULDN'T get his nap before a car ride. So then that way he's tired and will sleep during the car ride. Pretty soon he'll start teething so giving him something to chew on like a teething ring. Or a soft toy or stuffed animal to hold and cuddle with. When they are that young there's really not much you can do with them when they are awake because they can't see or hear that well yet. If he gets really upset you just have to stop the car and get him out for a few minutes to calm him down. He doesn't understand what's all going on. To tell you the truth my son didn't get out that much the first 4-5 months. Once they get to be 5-6 months old then they start to see and hear better and start getting into toys and books. Good luck!

I sympathize! My daughter (turns 9 months today) was the same way for the first 3 months. She would cry and then scream uncontrollably, especially when the car stopped at stop lights/signs. I look back and laugh to think of the interesting detours I used to take to keep the car rolling :)

Often there was not much that worked, but sometimes I could get her to calm down by singing her favorite song (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star). Another thing that sometimes worked (this will sound weird, I know) was to cover her receiving blankets with my scent before rolling them to keep her snug in her carseat.

The good news, is that she now loves to ride and claps in excitement when I tell her we are "going in the car." Hopefully your son grows out of it too - those first months go by SO fast.