5 Tips to Help Baby Tolerate the Car Seat | Featuring Binxy Baby

A huge thank you to Binxy Baby for sponsoring this post! All opinions are my own. This post also includes affiliate links.

Does your baby HATE their car seat? Yeah, mine does too. It has been a whole new experience with Siena hating her car seat because Noah looooved his. He spent the first 3 months of his life in his car seat to help him sleep haha, but for real it's been so hard with her!

Now that Siena is 4 months I feel like we have figured out some tricks to help ease the pain of the car seat some. She still doesn't like it by any means. In fact, now she arches her back and fights getting in the thing which makes going somewhere super fun...but you know grocery shopping has to happen so we make it work!

I hope these 5 tips help your baby if they also hate their car seat!

     1. BINXY BABY HAMMOCK
       

Guys, this shopping cart hammock is a game changer! Siena isn't big enough to sit up and ride in the cart or the double stroller (without her car seat), and with big brother in tow we usually put him up front and her car seat in the back of the cart. This makes for very little room for anything in the cart. The hammock allows you to secure the car seat into place with the safety straps and still have some room underneath. If Siena happens to be asleep in her seat then this is what we do. If she is awake we rarely leave her in the seat in a store. I have loved being able to sit her in the hammock with a toy. She plays with the toy or looks around. Plus, Noah loves having her close by. He was melting my heart the other day holding her hand. Even if your baby doesn't hate the car seat I still highly recommend it! It safely holds up to 50 lbs and folds right up to go in the diaper bag. We usually have it handy in the back seat to grab right when we get out of the car. The prints are so fun too! I went with the grey triangles! swoon :)
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     2. BABY WEARING 

I have talked about this a lot in Siena's monthly updates! Girlfriend loves to be worn and I love having her close to me. If she is awake when we arrive somewhere or I know we'll be somewhere for a long time and she'll need another nap I like to have the wrap with me. Wraps are great because they easily fit in the diaper bag.

     3. WHITE NOISE

Both my kids have really liked white noise. We use it almost every time we're in the car with Siena, especially if she's due for a nap. Sometimes she will wake up at home before we have to go somewhere and she will begin screaming bloody murder in her car seat, so we'll turn the white noise on and it will calm her down. I use an app on my phone called "Sound Sleeper". I still have it from when Noah used it (he doesn't use white noise anymore). I paid for the upgraded version so I can have unlimited play time. Noah preferred the hairdryer sound and Siena likes the vacuum. He doesn't sleep with white noise anymore (besides the ceiling fan) but Siena does at every nap and at night. 

     4. CAR SEAT TOYS

We picked up a toy that straps across the handle of the car seat a few weeks ago and she seems to enjoy it. She has started to get really good at batting and grasping her toys so this has been fun for her. A pacifier is also a good idea to have on hand if your baby takes it and is inconsolable in the car seat. Siena doesn't always want it but occasionally we get lucky.

     5. TABLET

Now this I only recommend for older babies. Too much screen watching can cause over stimulation which can make things worse. We keep our kids rear facing for a while so we got Noah a tablet when he was around one, because that is when he began to not like the car seat. That helped him stay happy. Siena likes to look at the TV at home, so sometimes we will put on an episode of Mickey Mouse or something to calm her in the car. Noah is still rear facing at almost 2.5 years old and he loves being able to watch movies in the car. 

Do you have any tips I missed? I would love to hear!