Crying baby in the car

[Anonymous]

I've had a few instances lately where I was driving alone with my 2.5 month old baby and only about 15 minutes away from my destination when he went from fussy to crying to meltdown. I knew he wasn't in pain, just hungry or overtired, so I just waited till we reached our destination to soothe him. If I was on a longer drive, I would've found a place to pull over, but since we were relatively close, I figured it was better to just get where we were going before soothing him. What do other folks do when driving alone with the baby and the baby is having a meltdown in the backseat?

[cmkeough]

It probably varies with the individual. However with me it depends on when my DD (she's almost 5 months) was last changed, burped and fed. It will also vary with me as to my level of tolerence to the crying. She will now occassionally cry (melt down) for no other reason than the fact that she's bored, tired or plain just not happy and wants to be held and soothed. So I guess what I'm saying is that with me there isn't a steadfast rule on if I'll pull over or wait until we get home, unless she's crying uncontrollably for more than a few minutes - then I definately stop. I just can't take that kind of crying, which RARELY has happened and then it's for a reason. (ie: dirty diaper, hungry, etc...)

Best of luck!
~Christina

[Anonymous]

If it's just another 15 minutes, and if it's just crying, I sing at the top of my lungs and keep driving. A few times I've pulled over if she's made a strange coughing noise, or if I can see in the mirror that there's something I can fix (arm stuck in the straps, for example). If you don't have the mirror that allows you to see the baby's face, I recommend you get one. It's a big help to be able to glance back and see that she's just mad, and not twisted up or something.

[Anonymous]

OP here - yes, I do have one of those mirrors and it do feel a little better when I can see him. I totally do the same thing, sing at the top of my lungs so he can hear my voice, and keep driving, but it rarely seems to do the trick. Today when this happened, the moment we got to our destination and got inside, he totally stopped crying. Turned out he was just tired because after I got him out of the car seat and did a little rocking in the sling, he fell quickly to sleep.

[Anonymous]

I've found that the main reason DD is screaming is because she's HOT. She hates to be hot. Often when she's freaking out, and I can't figure out why...when we stop to get her out her back is soaked. The infant car seats are the worst about this, and it makes her pretty miserable sometimes. So now we try to cool the car down before we put her in it...as best we can. This heat isn't helping matters either....

[Anonymous]

PP, you're right about that one. We have to cool the car down otherwise it's like an oven in there. I also have the sun shades on my rear window (both) and they're tinted since DD isn't fond of having the sun directly in her eyes.

[Anonymous]

Very very timely post! Thank you. I'll be spending time alone with my 5-month-old in the car starting a week from today. My mom's been in town and riding with him the backseat until now. So he's used to having company back there. I am not looking forward to him being alone back there. Additionally, I second all the PPs on the infant car seat perspiration comments. Those car seats are the worst! In fact, I posted a question about what to do to alleviate some of the discomfort in hot weather but didn't get any responses. I usually drape a small washcloth/towel on the headrest, but there isn't a whole lot I can do about the back.

[Anonymous]

I've found that lowering the window on this side (even a tiny bit) is like an instant mute button. Whether he's hot or bored, it seems to calm him down.

[Anonymous]

I'm totally going to try opening the windows. Thanks for the suggestions.

[JillMomMD]

Most of the time when this used to happen to me (my son is 9 months and it hasn't happened since he was alot younger) I was not in a safe place to pull over (like 95) DO NOT PULL OVER FOR THIS! (unless it's an emergency) I know people who got killed being in the shoulder--anyway-I have a lullabye CD that my friend got me at target-I can't remember the name but it works like magic! it might even be called lullabye magic or something! I normally used to stay calm and think of my son talking me as an older person saying-it's fine-I'm fine-this is not worth getting into an accident over-I would rather you didn't stop than have a problem--and that helped!(hope you don't think I'm crazy!)

[Anonymous]

re: hot car seats--these are popular in Arizona

http://www.thingamababy.com/baby/2006/07/cooling_kid_car.html

[Anonymous]

Ooohh....do they make those in adult sizes? (says the woman with the busted AC)