My Baby HATES the Car...

Dear Jody,

My son hated the car for about the first six weeks of his life, too, and then he sort of magically grew out of it. I know this may not sound like much comfort while you're still going through it, but I think it's something many babies outgrow.

Whenever we could (that is, when we had one parent driving and another as a passenger), we tried to make the car a space for happy interactions -- leaning back in the passenger seat, smiling, baby talking, tickling, etc. That may have helped my son imprint that the car was a happy place.

And my when-all-else-fails solution (warning: this only works when someone else is driving) was sit next to him and contort my body so I could breastfeed him while he was in his carseat. No, it was NOT comfortable, and yes I did fear being arrested for indecent exposure, but I made a conscious decision that it was more important for my son not to be miserable.

Good luck!

Mira

Hi Jody,

She maybe getting car sick. (motion sickness) My daughter did the same thing just weeks of brining her home. She is six now and I was told to give her benadril I think thats how its spell. LOL Check with your doctor, she may have something. Good Luck! :)

Hi - I know it won't help now but she will grow out of it in just another few weeks. my son did the same - drove me nuts - screamed his head off once for 45 minutes straight (I kept thinking he'd give up and pass out - he was only 8 wks old).

Having said that I did find that it helped tremendously if I could sit beside him (or get someone else to) and just sweet talk and also I'd give him a bottle of water (or milk) just to try to settle him down. That helped. All the other advice I got (music, something interesting to look at) didn't help at all. Good luck to you - I have a similar gap in age between my two & also used to live/work in the city .... quite a change....

When my daughter was that young (she's 8.5 months now) she didn't like it either.. She cried every time we put her in, and for about 5 or 10 minutes into the car ride.. Eventually I think she just got used to it - seemed like she got better after about 3 months.. That was around the time that she started getting better in general - less crying... Also she started day care 3 times a week so was in the car more often... I have a mirror with the lights and music for her which I would turn on when she cried.. Or I would put on one of her kiddie cd's and sing to it.. that always helps...