So I have two adorable twin baby girls. It has recently became Baby A’s unique characteristic that she hates the car. Well, hates carseats, strollers, bouncers, swings… Am I leaving anything out? No, that’s basically it. She hates anything that means she’s not being held. I have no idea where this came from. It just started kind of out of the blue. I’d be driving and she would cry the whole trip, and after a while I realized that it was ONLY her (not Baby B) crying in the car. I thought babies were supposed to like the car? Baby B does. She sits there all big-eyed and rides along, eventually falling asleep. Meanwhile her sister is busy screaming herself silly and getting all sweaty in the process.
Baby A letting me know how she feels about her car seat.
Don’t get me wrong, I try to curb the screaming. I’ve tried singing, playing soothing music, providing toys. These things don’t work. If The Boy happens to be in the car he will ride next to Screamy and try to console her. This is most often a long struggle for the poor kid, which may or may not result in Baby A falling asleep- IF she is in the mood to and IF he can keep a pacifier in her mouth for a long enough period of time.
I have done a lot of reading of forums and parenting websites on the internet to try and get an answer, to no avail. It turns out that a lot of babies just don’t like being in carseats. Some parents say that their child cried in the car until he was grown enough to ride in a forward-facing carseat. Other parents say that their child hollered in the car so they got a convertible carseat, and then their baby enjoyed car rides. Well, I’m not going to buy another carseat that may or may not work for Baby A. I’m thinking it won’t work, since her problem seems to be mostly that she dislikes the carseat because it prevents her from being held. I don’t mind too much, I suppose. I like holding her. I try to hold both babies throughout the day, it just may be that Baby A is a more sensitive snuggler with a greater need to be held.
She can’t yell in the car forever. Eventually she will be able to entertain herself. Or maybe she will like looking out the window, or talking to her sister and brother. It may drive me nuts now that every car trip is torture on the ears of all passengers involved, but I find peace in the knowledge that someday she will stop.
I just hope it’s someday soon.