Car seat problems

[Aelith]

DD will NOT sit down without a fight in her car seat - either the one in my vehicle or in DH's. Sometimes distraction works - an Elmo video or crackers. But a few times now, NOTHING has worked and we've had to eventually wrestle her into her seat (i.e. we were at day care for over an hour trying to get her to sit down so we could take her home), which results in a very upset toddler, not to mention me feeling like the meanest Mommy on Earth.

In a moment of stupidity, I turned her seat FFing, but came to my senses and turned it back RFing a few days later - she still did it FFing. She stands in her seat and gets hysterical if you try to get her to sit.

So, does anyone have any tips? A snack and/or Elmo only work about 50% of the time.

[JJorn]

No tips! I've had to wrestle both of my kids into the carseats numerous times...my three year old just this week. They have to be in the seat and it really stinks to have to force them in but what else can you do? Distraction, bribery, time outs, etc may help a time or two but you'll likely encounter this more often than you would like.

[Aelith]

That's what I was afraid of!

[MamaToe88]

We still do it. LOL. Kids hate being pinned down! Orion is almost 3 and he still likes to put up a fight, but what can ya do? Sometimes bribing him with a snack helps, or talking to him about where we're going and why he needs to buckle up.

[dunegirl]

I'm going thru the same thing so I'll be stalking this thread for some advice.

[preciousnd98]

Can she climb into the seat herself? This has helped us a lot with Olivia. She is a bit older, but has been sitting herself down for quite a while now. It doesn't always work - she gets distracted or decides she wants to climb all over the car instead. But I would say 70% of the time this works for us - I think it is because she feels more in control so she doesn't fight it as much?! Then we throw toys and snacks at her once she is sitting so she doesn't have a chance to realize she is strapped in!

[Scarlett]

I also let mine climb into her seat herself, and we are still rear-facing btw. I have hers in the center of the back seat and I hold her hand while she climbs into the car and then do a "sing song" about climbing into her seat like a big girl, and as I click her in we continue singing about keeping her safe in her seat. It works about 90% of the time, just not if she is tired or has been in and out of her seat multiple times on errands.

[runningmomofmany]

Wwe have this problem too and DD just turned 1! She has hated the carseat since day one, but atound 10m or so started putting up a fight. A snack or toy or another person distracting her works best, sometimes. Other times I have to just forcibly put her in. Pushing her back and down with my hand on her hips works best, and then just holding her there until I can strap her in. Fortunately she is little!

[DarkandtheWild]

No tips but I can commiserate. DD despises being in her carseat. I turned her FF because I was out of options and could not drive while she screamed. Hugs mama!

[MommyShannon]

Mine went through the same stage at that age. Bribes helped sometimes. She loved having a little spiral notebook and crayon. She only does it every now and then now. One trick when you put her in though is to hold her in your arms in a seated position, basically jack knifed. Then quickly put her in th seat and keep one arm on her shoulders while quickly getting one arm in and the bottom buckled.

[NHKate]

With DD she gets into the seat herself, and buckles her own chest clip (we do sometimes have to help align it for her). She likes doing things herself. Also, sometimes we buckle one of her dolls into the seat next to her. It's not a car seat, just the regular seat belt, but everyone is getting buckled.

DD has never been really bad about the car seat, but maybe the idea will help anyway.

[historygeek]

its a phase. Mine went through it and eventually grew out of it. Be consistent. With mine giving him a snack or something to eat safely in teh car worked. I would give it to him before we left the house and he would munch adn be distracted while I buckled him in.