hysterics in the car

DD seems to hate the car. i thought most babies went to sleep in the car..in fact lots of parnets use the car as a last resort to get bub to sleep when all else fails...not my princess...
sometimes she'll fall asleep eventually, but often shell scream.

tthe worst is at night time. when its dark, its true hysteria! she will scream like someone is stabbing her! she just doesnt stop and gets more and more worked up, till she is blue in the face, and im afraid shes going to stop breathing. trips are soooo painful. if DH is with me we stop by the side of the road to try to calm her down, but if im alone i dont feel safe doing that, so i just try to keep going.

has anyone lse experienced this, or have any advice for me? At this stage im just gonna make sure im home by 5pm before dark!

It is awful isn't it? My DD used to LOVE the car but a month or so ago, that changed completely. If both me and DF are there, I will sit in the back and keep her company or even awkwardly feed her to sleep. If it is just me, that obviously isn't an option! I try to time trips when she is already visibly drowsy but that doesn't work every time. A mirror attached to their car seat so they can see you does help I find and just continually talking/singing to them but even that stops working after a while because DD just wants to be picked up!

:hug: I know how horrible and distracting it is to hear them basically screaming... I hope for both our sakes our girls become more keen on the car soon.

My DD went through a stage like this at the same age. Even now I avoid the car in the evening...it seems to be the time when bubs need the comfort of your arms, and they don't understand why they have to be strapped into an uncomfy car seat!

Hugs. It will pass eventually. We're having a stage where she hates the pram now but loves the car!?!

yep both my kids hated the car. Now Nate's a bit more alert he has a hanging toy and his sister, it's better, but I figured out the other day that he hates the head hugger. Took that out and for the first time ever, he's slept in the car.
Others use a mirror so their bub can see them.
Darcy improved when we turned her seat around, but Nate's too much of a light weight for that yet.

Techno music or heavy metal, loud enough that they can hear it above the car...puts Charlotte to sleep or happily bopping every time...has since she was about 1 week old! ;)

We also put the drivers window down about an inch, think it is the noise, shuts her up and calms her down within seconds :)

Good luck! I hope you find something that works for you.

:hug: it's AWFUL when they scream like that isn't it?? DD used to HATE the car and would scream like i was trying to murder her every time it was so stressful.... she calmed down once I bought a baby einstein music CD for babies - have you tried that? She loves it! Now that she's older, she doesn't scream or cry anymore she enjoys the car and plays with her toy. We have the same toy in the car to play with every car trip.... it's familiar to her - have you tried that?

It won't always be like this :hug: she'll get used to it.

double post sorry!

I just saw this post now so I'm a bit late getting on board. Just wanted to say that my DD was like that and I know how absolutely awful it is. She was like that until she could start to occupy herself more with toys.

I basically avoided driving as much as possible with her. If I was with my DH I sat in the back with her. I got a mirror which helped a bit. Also timing travel with her nap times sometimes she'd nod off to sleep. And someone gave me socks and wrist bands with little soft toys and rattles on them that I would put on her for car travel. That helped too cos she'd get distracted by the toys moving and making sounds whenever she moved. It's by Lamaze and I recommend them.

As for driving at night my trick is to turn on the light inside of the car above her. That helps her. I think it's not being able to see that upsets my DD.

It will get better eventually!

If you want any more info about anything feel free to PM me.