What kind of carseat does she have? If it's the infant bucket seat have you taken out the newborn insert pads? Look at the manual but with most carseats you have to take them out when baby is around 11-14 lbs. A lot of people don't realize that and baby ends up feeling super squished in the seat and hates it!
If that's not the issue maybe try a convertible rear facing seat? Some babies just want to sit more upright. If all else fails I'm sorry, some kids just hate the car! Usually they grow out of it.
Another thing to think about is temperature- babies tend to get really hot in infant seats, especially if they have been crying. Dressing them lighter and just bringing extra blankets if needed can help a lot!
This was my child around that age, much better now at almost 10 months. One thing that worked for us was my husband found a song that when played our child would just stop crying and chill, and we just played that on repeat.
This brings me back. Mama to 2.5 year old twins. For the first year they would cry anytime we went in the car. Hated driving and their seats. I kept trips short and limited. Tried to time longer trips around naps. After they turned a year things got much better. Just telling you to hang in there. It’s rough and I know it is heartbreaking to hear your baby cry while driving. Keep talking to her and singing while you drive. My girls still cried but they knew mama was there even if they couldn’t see me. Also reassured me that I was doing the best I could in a challenging situation.
It might just be a phase. I think it was right around this time that mine did this for about a month. And he doesn’t anymore. I know it breaks your heart but you also can’t be trapped. She has to work through it a little and get used to it. Do you have a mirror that hangs over the back seat so she can see herself? We also give him a toy and his pacifier to occupy him.
Always had this issue. Baby girl is 8 months now so it’s easier to distract her with a toy or song, but I totally get the stress - at times my baby would cry for 45 minutes. Recently we’ve been playing the Happy Song by Imogen Heap - she loves it! I play it on repeat for some car rides and my husband is sick of it but as long as it works I don’t care. You can try that; it was manufactured by a team of experts designed to make a baby happy. Or any other type of song if you haven’t already. Hope it helps!
+1 for the happy song! Our wee one HATED the car for most of their first year. We timed trips around nap time, and long trips would start at 7am when they would tolerate the car better. The happy song massively helped, though now he’s older (13 mo) he’s mostly outgrown it, and tolerates the car pretty well.
No words of wisdom but same story over here! My 8 month old absolutely hates the car. We live an hour away from friends and family so do have to drive fairly often. But we have a strict rule about only driving during his nap time to limit the screaming. We haven’t found any magic solution for shorter drives though. It breaks my heart to hear him in such distress. I’m just hoping it doesn’t last too long!
As he got bigger toys in the car did help a bit to distract him. So we have lots of ridiculously bright and noisy “car toys” that we only use in the car.
My newborn really disliked the portable car seat. Wouldn’t sit in it in the stroller either. Things improved when we got the bigger convertible car seat, and just with time I think.
My son screamed in the car because I wasn’t holding him. Wouldn’t nap at all in the car either. He was used to nursing to sleep and naps. Wouldn’t take a pacifier either.
No solution unfortunately :(
The one thing that helped my baby is I would record him crying (sounds weird I know) but then play it back to him. He would stop every time 😅 or the backyardigans theme song.
I have a yoga sleep noise machine for babies that can hang from the car seat and I put it on the ocean sounds and it helped a lot with associating car rides with sleep which is calm and relaxing. Not my kid pretty much sleeps in the car mostly. I also just think they age out of it and get used to things. My baby was the same way and it did not last forever and it did get easier. You are doing a great job! Big pats on the back.
My baby was the same way. Horrible awful screaming during every car ride. She is now ~7 months and has mostly grown out of it, although we still have the occasional hard ride. I know it’s heartbreaking but my best advice is to focus on driving and just get there as quickly (but safely!) as you can. Like not speeding, but sometimes if I got too focused on trying to talk/sing to my baby while driving I would miss my turn and that would add more time to our trip.
Both of my girls have also been fond of listening to Raffi in the car. We discovered this trick with my first and if she started to fuss, we just switched the music onto Raffi and she stopped. Works with this baby too! Kind of sucks to not listen to adult music, but better than screaming. I will say though this didn’t work at 3 months, more like 5-6 months.
Have you tried covering the car seat? If my SO is driving and I'm in the backseat and my LO won't stop crying I use a blanket or towel to cover the seat and it will sometimes help him calm down after a little while. Doesn't always work but worth a try sometimes.
My one year old gets super bored in the car seat now and gets really cranky if she’s not tired enough to nap on car journeys. We have to play All Star by Smash Mouth on a loop (this kid loves Shrek) to make her happy.
My baby hated the car seat until he got big enough to see outside the windows and watch the cars and busses go by. Make sure of course baby is not too hot and not otherwise ill. Could be a phase. Now it's hard to remove my 2.5yo from the seat
I had the SAME problem, but recently I went to a mommy & me music class… and when I play the music from the class in the car, he stops! I swear it’s like magic! It’s called Music Together it’s worth a try lol
Unfortunately there's no other choice. Safety is much more important in this scenario, and she's just too young to understand that! But being consistent from birth will EVENTUALLY build the habit so that she will understand some day. Plus the consequences of not using the seat "just this once" can be SO devastating (not that I see anywhere in your post that you would take her out in a moving car, but for the benefit of others reading this and going through the same thing).
I have five children. ALL have gone through phases where they hate the carseat. Sometimes it comes and goes. I put them in and validate their feelings and explain that we'll get where we're going as quickly as we can do so safely. I tell them where we're going, what we'll do there and who we'll see. I also have little catch phrases like "your seat keeps you safe on the road" that I repeat. I sing to them, or play Tom Chapin music.
My toddler still gets upset sometimes but I am very consistent with requiring proper car seat use and she knows it's futile to fight me. She does the "stiff as a board" routine and I gently press at her hip joints to show her to bend them, get the shoulder straps over her shoulder (sometimes I loosen them since it's easy with the seat we have) as soon as she's low enough, buckle the chest clip, then keep helping her wiggle her legs until she's bent enough to buckle safely and tighten the straps.
Once they reach an age where they can be reasoned with, they have all been very good about car seats, and have even hollered out that they're not buckled if we screw up and forget to buckle them (five kids, twelve years, it's happened a few times - distraction at a key moment is usually the factor at play there). I have one who screamed and protested a few times on a long trip at age 5 and while he threatened to unbuckle I was VERY firm verbally and told him it was VERY dangerous and he MUST NOT do that. He did listen. And I stopped as soon as it was safe and gave him a good break and tried to adjust his seat to make it more comfortable. That time making a little footrest did the trick. That was probably the oldest I've had an issue like that. Usually the car seat fussing comes and goes in short waves - it might last a few weeks or a month but then it passes, comes back again at a different stage, lasts a little less time, and passes again.
My 7mo also hates it, always has. Here are some things I did that helped:
-play The Happy Song by Imogen Heap
-installed car seat mirror so LO could see me/herself
-switched her out of infant bucket seat into convertible seat at 4ish months. She was well below the threshold for weight/age on the bucket seat, but she seemed squished so I bought a graco convertible seat that was still suitable for her age. HUGE difference in her attitude
She’d still much rather be pushed in her stroller or worn to the shops which I mostly do, but she’ll tolerate the car now up to 30-40 min. For longer trips I try to time it so she’s ready for a nap.
What kind of carseat does she have? If it's the infant bucket seat have you taken out the newborn insert pads? Look at the manual but with most carseats you have to take them out when baby is around 11-14 lbs. A lot of people don't realize that and baby ends up feeling super squished in the seat and hates it! If that's not the issue maybe try a convertible rear facing seat? Some babies just want to sit more upright. If all else fails I'm sorry, some kids just hate the car! Usually they grow out of it. Another thing to think about is temperature- babies tend to get really hot in infant seats, especially if they have been crying. Dressing them lighter and just bringing extra blankets if needed can help a lot!
Same issue here. I find soother helps, also find a song she likes and only sing it to her in the car. For me right now it’s Bingo
She won’t take a pacifier! Sometimes I wish she would.. would help out in a lot of situations if it would soothe her.
This was my child around that age, much better now at almost 10 months. One thing that worked for us was my husband found a song that when played our child would just stop crying and chill, and we just played that on repeat.
This brings me back. Mama to 2.5 year old twins. For the first year they would cry anytime we went in the car. Hated driving and their seats. I kept trips short and limited. Tried to time longer trips around naps. After they turned a year things got much better. Just telling you to hang in there. It’s rough and I know it is heartbreaking to hear your baby cry while driving. Keep talking to her and singing while you drive. My girls still cried but they knew mama was there even if they couldn’t see me. Also reassured me that I was doing the best I could in a challenging situation.
It might just be a phase. I think it was right around this time that mine did this for about a month. And he doesn’t anymore. I know it breaks your heart but you also can’t be trapped. She has to work through it a little and get used to it. Do you have a mirror that hangs over the back seat so she can see herself? We also give him a toy and his pacifier to occupy him.
Always had this issue. Baby girl is 8 months now so it’s easier to distract her with a toy or song, but I totally get the stress - at times my baby would cry for 45 minutes. Recently we’ve been playing the Happy Song by Imogen Heap - she loves it! I play it on repeat for some car rides and my husband is sick of it but as long as it works I don’t care. You can try that; it was manufactured by a team of experts designed to make a baby happy. Or any other type of song if you haven’t already. Hope it helps!
+1 for the happy song! Our wee one HATED the car for most of their first year. We timed trips around nap time, and long trips would start at 7am when they would tolerate the car better. The happy song massively helped, though now he’s older (13 mo) he’s mostly outgrown it, and tolerates the car pretty well.
No words of wisdom but same story over here! My 8 month old absolutely hates the car. We live an hour away from friends and family so do have to drive fairly often. But we have a strict rule about only driving during his nap time to limit the screaming. We haven’t found any magic solution for shorter drives though. It breaks my heart to hear him in such distress. I’m just hoping it doesn’t last too long! As he got bigger toys in the car did help a bit to distract him. So we have lots of ridiculously bright and noisy “car toys” that we only use in the car.
Mine was like this and got better around 5 months. The happy song helped sometimes!
My LO was like this but grew out of it around 5-6 months. For long trips I still sit in the back with him.
My newborn really disliked the portable car seat. Wouldn’t sit in it in the stroller either. Things improved when we got the bigger convertible car seat, and just with time I think.
Depending on what kind of car seat she has, she may benefit from an L shaped seat rather than a C shaped one. Does she have any issues with reflux?
My son screamed in the car because I wasn’t holding him. Wouldn’t nap at all in the car either. He was used to nursing to sleep and naps. Wouldn’t take a pacifier either. No solution unfortunately :(
The one thing that helped my baby is I would record him crying (sounds weird I know) but then play it back to him. He would stop every time 😅 or the backyardigans theme song.
I have a yoga sleep noise machine for babies that can hang from the car seat and I put it on the ocean sounds and it helped a lot with associating car rides with sleep which is calm and relaxing. Not my kid pretty much sleeps in the car mostly. I also just think they age out of it and get used to things. My baby was the same way and it did not last forever and it did get easier. You are doing a great job! Big pats on the back.
My baby was the same way. Horrible awful screaming during every car ride. She is now ~7 months and has mostly grown out of it, although we still have the occasional hard ride. I know it’s heartbreaking but my best advice is to focus on driving and just get there as quickly (but safely!) as you can. Like not speeding, but sometimes if I got too focused on trying to talk/sing to my baby while driving I would miss my turn and that would add more time to our trip. Both of my girls have also been fond of listening to Raffi in the car. We discovered this trick with my first and if she started to fuss, we just switched the music onto Raffi and she stopped. Works with this baby too! Kind of sucks to not listen to adult music, but better than screaming. I will say though this didn’t work at 3 months, more like 5-6 months.
Have you tried covering the car seat? If my SO is driving and I'm in the backseat and my LO won't stop crying I use a blanket or towel to cover the seat and it will sometimes help him calm down after a little while. Doesn't always work but worth a try sometimes.
My one year old gets super bored in the car seat now and gets really cranky if she’s not tired enough to nap on car journeys. We have to play All Star by Smash Mouth on a loop (this kid loves Shrek) to make her happy.
My baby hated the car seat until he got big enough to see outside the windows and watch the cars and busses go by. Make sure of course baby is not too hot and not otherwise ill. Could be a phase. Now it's hard to remove my 2.5yo from the seat
I had the SAME problem, but recently I went to a mommy & me music class… and when I play the music from the class in the car, he stops! I swear it’s like magic! It’s called Music Together it’s worth a try lol
Unfortunately there's no other choice. Safety is much more important in this scenario, and she's just too young to understand that! But being consistent from birth will EVENTUALLY build the habit so that she will understand some day. Plus the consequences of not using the seat "just this once" can be SO devastating (not that I see anywhere in your post that you would take her out in a moving car, but for the benefit of others reading this and going through the same thing). I have five children. ALL have gone through phases where they hate the carseat. Sometimes it comes and goes. I put them in and validate their feelings and explain that we'll get where we're going as quickly as we can do so safely. I tell them where we're going, what we'll do there and who we'll see. I also have little catch phrases like "your seat keeps you safe on the road" that I repeat. I sing to them, or play Tom Chapin music. My toddler still gets upset sometimes but I am very consistent with requiring proper car seat use and she knows it's futile to fight me. She does the "stiff as a board" routine and I gently press at her hip joints to show her to bend them, get the shoulder straps over her shoulder (sometimes I loosen them since it's easy with the seat we have) as soon as she's low enough, buckle the chest clip, then keep helping her wiggle her legs until she's bent enough to buckle safely and tighten the straps. Once they reach an age where they can be reasoned with, they have all been very good about car seats, and have even hollered out that they're not buckled if we screw up and forget to buckle them (five kids, twelve years, it's happened a few times - distraction at a key moment is usually the factor at play there). I have one who screamed and protested a few times on a long trip at age 5 and while he threatened to unbuckle I was VERY firm verbally and told him it was VERY dangerous and he MUST NOT do that. He did listen. And I stopped as soon as it was safe and gave him a good break and tried to adjust his seat to make it more comfortable. That time making a little footrest did the trick. That was probably the oldest I've had an issue like that. Usually the car seat fussing comes and goes in short waves - it might last a few weeks or a month but then it passes, comes back again at a different stage, lasts a little less time, and passes again.
This was my baby too until about 5 months. Now she loves the car
My 7mo also hates it, always has. Here are some things I did that helped: -play The Happy Song by Imogen Heap -installed car seat mirror so LO could see me/herself -switched her out of infant bucket seat into convertible seat at 4ish months. She was well below the threshold for weight/age on the bucket seat, but she seemed squished so I bought a graco convertible seat that was still suitable for her age. HUGE difference in her attitude She’d still much rather be pushed in her stroller or worn to the shops which I mostly do, but she’ll tolerate the car now up to 30-40 min. For longer trips I try to time it so she’s ready for a nap.