2 month old hates car seat

[besjoux]

And this is my 3rd child who cries in the car. I thought the car was supposed to be soothing? We make sure she is fed and sometimes she does well but if she's at all OT or starts her A time in the car but then needs to sleep she just can't and cries. She cried really hard today but I could not pull over. I also have to take her in the car 3x's a week to take DS1 to preschool. She cries 4/6 of those times. Often she will just cry herself to sleep which I feel awful about.

My question is how to handle this? Do you pull over? In my experience it just delays the inevitable but is this considered CIO? UGH, it is so stressful and I'm starting to wonder if it's the car seat. maybe I should switch seats?

[Love, laughter, & PJs]

Does she have reflux at all? Some LOs hate the carseat since the pressure on their bellies can aggravate reflux. Plus infant seats recline which is troublesome as well. My daughter did slightly better when we switched to a convertible seat. She still screamed a lot, though. Its so hard. She did grow out of it, though. Hugs.

[We Three]

Maybe try putting her into the carseat in the house...just talk to her, maybe offer a bottle (if you offer bottles?).  Wonder if she would get as upset just by the seat? Or only once in the car?

[~inbalance~]

Hugs!  I actually had a thread about carseat haters not too long ago!  2 out of 3 of my kids hated it.  DS2 screamed, and I mean SCREAMED bloody murder in it until about 5mos, and then all of a sudden he got over it.  DD wasn't quite as bad, but she did cry in it all the time as well.  She is getting better now at almost 4mos.  I find that she can't/won't sleep in it, so now that she is older and isn't always tired she will happily sit in it for short rides, but as soon as she gets tired then the waterworks start.  Luckily for us everywhere we need to go is within a 5-10 min drive, so it's not so bad, but I do hope she gets over it fully by 5 or 6 mos, especially with the holidays coming where we have to drive further to visit family.  No advice I'm afraid, just support as I've been through it too!

[Canadian_Mom]

Support and hugs!!  Got a car seat hater here as well, though slowly getting better!  At first just screamed 24/7 and now only really cries when getting tired, and with the longer A times now it is getting less and less often.  Also now that he can recognize my voice I have been able to hold off on crying spells a few extra minutes, or DS1 tries to keep him occupied (bless his soul for trying to help his crying brother!!)  We have "longer" car rides often (25 min to get groceries), so what I suggest to get through it is to just let them cry I am sorry to say!  Pulling over will probably just delay the getting home, and I know that I want to do that as quick as possible.  As soon as we are home, I go right to him and smile and chat and tell him that it is alright, and give lots of cuddles to make him (and me) feel better.  And actually now he often stops crying as soon as he sees me, so it can't be that much torture that I am putting him through  You can also definitely try some of those things suggested to maybe get them used to it, I never really thought about doing that!