Crying in the car, WDYD?

[sunshine_sieben]

Oh, hun, I have been in your shoes. DD HATED the car. She would scream so hard that she would start to choke. It was torture. Sometimes I sang to her, not that it really helped, but at least it made me feel like I'm doing SOMETHING.
Nothing made it better. If someone was sitting next to her, it was actually worse. i guess she didn't understand why they couldn't pick her up.
People used to say that I should just ignore it and that she's soon learn and stop. Or at least cry herself to sleep. No such luck. On a drive to pick up my brother from the airport, she managed to cry non-stop for 2 hours. She didn't fall asleep until I took her out of the car.
I ended up trying to keep trips short and not making unnecessary long trips. But sometimes it couldn't be avoided. Funnily enough, when she was 6 months old, we flew all the way to Germany. A 30 hour trip, door to door. Being on the plane for 24 hours was much easier than being in the car for 1/2 hour.

Sometimes music soothed her a little. I had a CD called Peace Baby (from woolies) which she loved and I played it to her when feeding her to sleep and when in the car. It is quite pleasant for adults to listen to as well.

It got a little better when I turned her seat around at 6 months. But she still disliked the car and would only tolerate short stints in it. It did change dramatically when a few weeks after turning the seat, she all of a sudden accepted a dummy (she had a really strong sucking instinct from birth, but never liked dummies, only my boobs). From then on, she had a dummy in the car. She still does for longer trips. She now happily sits in the car for a couple of hours and often falls asleep in it.

I know how agonising it can be. I hope your baby will not keep this up as long as mine did. that just didn't like to be put down. So I guess she just didn't understand why she had to be in her seat alone in the car. DD was the kind of baby I'm expecting #2 in a couple of months and am really hoping that this one will like the car better. He or she won't have to sit alone on the back seat and maybe having the company of his/her older sister will make a difference.

All the best,
Sasa