Thursday, January 28, 2010

Car Seat = TORTURE DEVICE

Wanna see my beautiful, sweet, contented girl turns into a she-devil (and I say that with nothing but the MOST love and adoration)?

Just put her in her car seat.

O. M. G. Srsly, people, it's bad.

I went to Target this morning, and as I took her out of the car SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER, I was sure the old lady sitting in the car next to me was going to get out and request that I PLEASE STOP BEATING MY CHILD NOW.

It's not a cry that leaves her mouth as much as it is an unholy scream. Here's how you at home can replicate it so you can see what it sounds like! Ooh, it's like a fun party trick: take a deep breath, and SCREAM. Make sure you KEEP SCREAMING until your lungs have no air left, so that at the end of the scream, your mouth is still open but no sound is coming out anymore. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat... REPEAT.

Okay, I joke (well, kinda). I love my baby girl and I want her to not hate leaving the house! So really, I'm wondering if anyone has had a child who hated their car seat (and, thus, driving in the car)? Any suggestions? Did it go away at a certain age? She's been like this since week 1, and we thought it would eventually get better with time, but honestly, it's actually getting worse. She's almost 2.5 months old and it shows no signs of stopping. She arches her back when we try to put her in the car seat now, and screams from point A to point B. We've tried having someone sit in the back with her, singing to her, offering a finger (or pacifier, but she generally hates those) to suck on, we've tried a convertible car seat (instead of the infant bucket seat)... nothing.

Any advice is appreciated!!!

7 comments:

Alyssa said...

Wow! LOL I gotta say, I loved your explanation of what the screaming sounds like.

I have no advice whatsoever, but hope that she grows out of it soon!

MMC said...

Have you tried sitting her in the seat while hanging out in the house, without taking it to the car? If she's comfortable with that, or gets more used to it, maybe that would improve things. Alternately, it might indicate if it's the seat she objects to, or the car itself.

That's all I can think of!

just me, dawn said...

geez, i thought all babies loved to sleep in the car, I have no advice, but the PP had a great idea to figure out if it is the car or the car seat :)
hope it ends soon!

Jessica said...

I have no advice, since I have no children yet, but I was going to suggest the same thing that MMC did. Put her in the car seat with out buckling and just hang out in the house, play with her etc. and then slowly move up to buckling her in and then move to the car?

Good Luck! I have to say your blog is awesome! I love your explanation of things.

Abby said...

Sorry it's getting worse. =( No real advice, except that it's more common than people think, and all of the babies I know who've hated their car seats HAVE eventually grown out of it. Unfortunately neither of us can remember how old Vi was when she stopped crying in the car seat . . . . four months maybe?

B MoM said...

I thought kaua was the only one who hated his caraway! What kind of seat do you have? We have a graco snug ride. He Always gets really hot and sweaty in the seat. This coupled with what appears to be a dislike to being restrained is what I assume causes him to hate his seat. I try to keep him cool be not bundling him up when he's in the seat, blasting the ac or rolling down the windows. I also try to leave his seatbelt a little loose too. This sometimes backfires though bc then he gets his hand caught in the belt which frustrates him more. I hate when he screams but I try to tune him put when driving. I also take him out of the seat and put him in a baby carrier when shopping. He loves that much better. Good luck!

Ash said...

A friend of mine had the same problem, and not only did her daughter hate her car seat, she also hated going in her stroller. She outgrew it- but not until she was about 6-9 months unfortunately:(

(((Hugs!)))

Eliza's Stats

Birth: 8 lbs 5 ozs
Going home: 7 lbs 10 ozs
5 days: 7 lbs 13 ozs
2 months: 12 lbs 6 ozs
4 months: 17 lbs
5 months: 18 lbs 12 ozs
6 months: 20 lbs 13 ozs
9 months: 24 lbs 3 ozs
12 months: 26 lbs 13 ozs
15 months: 28 lbs
18 months: 29 lbs 3 ozs
2 years: 32 lbs
3 years: 34 lbs

Alice's Stats

Birth: 8 lbs 11 oz
2 Months: 13 lbs 10 oz
4 Months: 17 lbs 15 oz
6 Months: 20 lbs 4 oz