Advice needed: baby wont go to sleep in car :(

[koru]

Hiya,
This is a shout out to all mums who's babies DON'T fall asleep in the car (or is mine the only one? )
DD is 5 months old and while she travels fine in the car for short journeys she will not fall asleep in it instead screams her head off til she exhausts herself We are about to go to NZ to visit family and have a lot of driving to do! I'm dreading the car journeys...any advice on how to get her to sleep herself in the car?
Some background: DD is one of those kids who needs to be held to go to sleep so I think that despite the motion of the car (which she likes) she cries cos obviously I can't hold her
She falls asleep in the pram ok (now - used to be a drama)
We rarely use the car (maybe once a week) as we live close to everything we need and use public transport if we need to go int o the city, so she hasn't had that much practice - though we tried a few 'road trips' of about an hour in recent weeks.
She will be in a rear facing car seat in NZ (still in her capsule here)
Any advice is welcome!

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Does she take a dummy, if so maybe one of those dummy clips so she doesn't drop it and can put it back in her mouth?
I found with DD if i put a light blanket on her and tucked it in tight she felt more secure.

Does she have a favourite toy? I found The little handle on the top of the door was great to hang something from, she couldn't quite reach it but gave her something to look at?

Sorry probably no help.. DD loves the car and falls asleep but these were things that worked when she was unsettled.

[YoYo]

I was also going to suggest a dummy if she takes one. Or perhaps sit in the back with her to help settle her?

[melsa31]

My DS was exactly like this until he was able to be forward facing then there was no problem! Until then, whenever there were two of us in the car, one of us would sit in the back with him and hold his hand or stroke his head and he would settle then. I think he just felt alone in there by himself! Could you try that?

[koru]

Thanks MM and ZF, unfortunately DD is also one of babies that doesn't like dummies either! But I will try the toy distraction If I sit in back with her it helps a bit though eventually she 'cracks it' anyway
Melsa I had a feeling facing backwards is part of the problem. DD used to hate the rear facing basinette in her pram but is totally cool now she faces forward in the normal seat and can see what's going on.
What's the current age/weight for forward facing car seats now? Won't make a difference in NZ for us tho - the law there is rear facing til 1 year old!

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Hopefully the toy distraction works...

The rear facing i think MOST carseats is 8kg and the ppl i go to would not turn DD around until she was 10mths old, she only JUST met the weight limit by then anyway...