How to help infants in the car?

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Kate T

We are traveling 5 hours to upstate NY this weekend with a 3 year old and a 6 month old. The 3 year old is fine in the car, but the 6 month old screams the whole time. Does anyone have any suggestions as to help this? It is not car sickness or reflux, I think it is just boredom. Thanks a million for all of your help in advance.

Answer
My husband and I took a trip from MA to PA (6-7 hour trip) when my daughter was 10 months old. The best way we did it was to wake her up in the middle of the night (1:00am) start driving and let her fall back to sleep in the car. Then when she woke up at 6:00 we only had an hour or two left. We stopped and had breakfast, changed her and let her play for 20-30 minutes. When we got back in the car we only had 1 hour left and she was great.

We brought books and toys and don't forget the pacifier (bring a few so when he/she throws it you have more). Plus you have an added bonus, the 3 year old can sing songs and show pictures and toys to him/her. Teach the 3 year old to make faces to make the baby smile and sing baby songs. Give him a reward for helping you! Good Luck!

What can I do for my baby who hates riding in the car?

jkat405

My 12 month old baby HATES riding in the car. He started in an infant-carrier style seat. We then switched him to a more comfortable rear-facing seat. Recently, we turned that same seat around to be forward facing. We've tried giving him toys, a sipee cup, putting a mirror on the seat he faces. It doesn't matter if the trip is for 5 minutes or 45 minutes. He starts screaming the second he realizes that we are putting him in his car seat. He gets so upset that he gets red splotches all over his face and he throws up. Sometimes, we can entertain him by playing peekaboo or giving him Cheerios, but this only keeps him calm for a few minutes. My mother-in-law suggested that he may have motion sickness.

Is there anything that we can do to make riding in the car less of a nightmare?
I think that Nimo2 is right. The other answers were good, but I've tried those things or variations of them and nothing seems to work. I was afraid that it was a stage that we would have to suffer through.

What I think that I'll try though is getting him to sit or play around the car seat outside of the car as was suggested (THANK YOU). Just looking at the seat makes him cry. Maybe getting him used to the seat in a happy non-car environment will help.

Answer
Have you tried changing carseats. Maybe he is not comfy anymore. Take the car seat in the house and let him play with it. Let him use it to watch tv and to play on. Let him play in while you are in the car, not driving down the road. If you are working outside let him play in the car , without the keys in it. Once he knows it is not something bad he will calm down. Do you have a portable DVD player? Take a movie that he has started to watch at home and move it to the car.

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