Car Seat Sadness

My son also hated riding in his car seat. He is 6 months now and loves it! We bought one of those mirrors someone mentioned so he can see himself and we can see him if we turn (just doesn't quite work perfecty with our car) You should be able to see him. Then I also made a song and placed his fav. monkey toy to watch him get his seat belt on and as soon as he did I would give him the toy, his paci, a blanket. It seemed like as long as he feels comfortable from the beginning all is well. Also we bought one of these now that he is more active...

http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2341&e=detail&...

It has a remote (like a garage door opener). You can turn on and off the music. Even before he was playing with it ... it was a wonderful soothing tool.

Hope these tips help!

M.

My son doesn't always like to sit in his car seat either, but I ALWAYS have toys in our cars for him. Try books, a portable DVD player or small toys that he enjoys. My son is almost 3 and loves to take his LeapPad learning toy in the car; especially for longer car rides. Good luck with this.

I know how hard it can be to have a child or nephew who hates the car seat. I'm not sure hold old your nephew is but my son is 5 months old and until recently, maybe when he turned 4 months old he hated his car seat. For four months he would scream and cry everytime he had to be put in the car seat. He would scream and cry in the car too, he would fall asleep if we drove on the freeway for a little while, but many times he was awake crying.

This may sound silly but I eventually made up a song about the car seat and I would sing it while I was putting him in it - "It's fun to ride in the car seat, the car seat, the car seat...it's fun to ride in the car seat, the car seat's fun" and then I would make up additional rhymes - he seems to like the singing.

I would also try giving him toys right away and making sure to stay happy and enthusiastic and smile a lot while he was in the car seat. After about a month of singing he started to not mind the car seat. He still cries sometimes, but usually he's doesn't seem to mind the car seat.

I hope this has helped some. Good luck and try singing :)

My son was the same way when he was little. I tried everything, the one thing I found that worked was children's music. He really responded to the music where kid's are singing.

I'm having this problem, too!

My little bear is almost 4 months old and didn't seem to care about being in his carseat until recently. I almost think that it could be that we got a new vehicle and he can't see out the back window anymore, I don't know.

I haven't tried this yet, but I read on Babycenter that moms like the mirror that you can put in the backseat so that baby can see you and himself while he's in the car. I'll have to try it.

You'll have to let me know what ends up working for you!

How old is your nephew?

My granddaughter slept in her car seat in the house and usually didn't object being put into it until she started walking. Singing and toys helped when she did object. But mostly we just consistently persevered until she learned that it wasn't an option. I would then put a childrens CD on and this usually quieted her. If I remember correctly the times that she objected were when the seat was already in the car. We put her in the seat in the house and then carried her into the store in the seat. While in the store I entertained her by talking and singing and by giving her toys. She is now 6 and every once in awhile she wants to sit in the baby seat attached to the grocery cart. I think she has good feelings about those days.

It's important to stay firm and show no hesitancy about putting him in. I felt anxious because she was so adamant about not getting in and she picked up on my tension. I watched her mother put her in the seat and saw that she was all business. No singing, just a firm you have to be in your car seat. sometimes she'd say, it's the law. I want you to be safe; the reasons for the seat. Always in a firm voice. She did give her stuffed animals. Monet is now 6 and she still likes to have at least 2 small stuffed animals with her and she carries on a converstation with them acting out "stories."

I trained myself to show less concern and anxiety and getting her into the seat became easier.

If your nephew is still a baby you could try giving him a bottle when you put him in. This also helped with both grandchildren. It became a sippy cup and cheerios as they got older. It seemed to me that often I was in a rush to go and hadn't thought thru the possibility that they were hungry. Afterall I eat whenever I get a chance. lol I could wait until later when I was hungry. Little ones don't have the ability.

And sometimes I just had to let them cry it out. And without my trying to get them to stop. Again they'd pick up on my being anxious for them to stop. I would talk with them in a relaxed way. As they got older, the CD almost always worked. We listen to music and stories.

When Monet was 3 I was listening to a book on CD, The Life of Pi. She was fascinated by it and so I got to listen to something I really enjoyed. she still asks to hear that book again. Unfortunately it was from the library. But I will buy it when I find it on sale. And now that I remember I will check it out again.

Getting and keeping babies and children in car seats is a common difficulty. But with consistency they eventually learn that they have to be there and you are not going to respond to their cries. It is an opportunity for them to learn to accept rules, which are few at this age, and how to entertain themselves.