10 week old crying in pushchair... what to do while out?

[Aimeelou28]

Hi
My 10 week old dd used to be quite happy to go out in her pram and would usually go off to sleep; about a week ago she started protesting about being in there crying loudly nearly every time, and I ended up carrying her around everywhere seeing as I know it is bad to leave a baby this young to cry.
I moved her to the pushchair part instead of the pram a few days ago as I thought maybe the problem was that she couldn't see out very well, but it doesn't seem to have made a difference. Sometimes she's ok, especially when she's very sleepy when I already put her in, but most of the time now, even when I know she is tired and should go to sleep, she cries until I pick her up. As soon as I do pick her up she stops, just like that. Cries again if I put her back down.
She is quite 'clingy' to me now also, if that helps. I suppose it was actually around the same time she started doing this that she has started crying when being held by people other than me (sometimes she is ok with dp). She has always co-slept with us at night after the first few nights of hell with her waking up when put in basket!

My question is what can i do to nip this pushchair behaviour in the bud? I keep heading home straightaway or carrying her around and i already have a very sore back from all the carrying in general so can't go on like this. Need to get out and about as well so can't keep going straight home! Money is tight so i don't want to go down the road of buying a sling now. Will she grow out of this? Will she end up scarred for life if i leave her to cry in there/ will it make the problem worse if I ever do that?

Hope you can help!

[SwishSwoshSwoosh]

Hi, this is very common,I would invest in a decent sling so you can carry her happily and leave the pushchair at home til she is a bit older.

But go to a proper sling website, cheap slings are horribly uncomfy.

[SwishSwoshSwoosh]

Eeek, sorry just read your comment about money/slings, could you borrow one? They really are a life (and eardrum) saver.

[glorious]

How about a stretchy or woven wrap? You won't get much use out of a stretchy because they're only suitable for a few months but a woven (though trickier) will see you through. As they're just fabric they're very cheap. Try Victoria sling lady online. Stretchy wraps from about £25.

[nonamenewname]

A sling is worth it. You can pick up a wilkinet on ebay for less than a tenner, and recoup all that again when you're done with it. Or a Victoria Sling Lady stretchy, twenty quid new.

[ThinkAboutItTomorrow]

I had this. Was a total mare for a few months (sorry). I used a carrier a lot. I see that's not helpful but an ebay one would be fine....

Other things - I persevered but made sure to sometimes get her home BEFORE hysterics kicked in, so she gradually realised the pram wasn't the end of the world.

Then I must admit what seemed to crack it was Christmas - there was a couple of times I was too laden down to pick her up and too busy to just call it quits and head home so she had a couple of trips (not really long though) where she had to just put up with it. After that she was fine in the pushchair. So, not sure if it was leaving her in there that got over the hump or just an age thing - she was 6 months by then and I'd had about 3 months of pushchair refusal.

Good luck

[apachepony]

Mine does this too - sometimes he's crying through tiredness and then falls asleep. Definitely worse when he hasn't been in the pram for a while, and like poster above sometimes I have had to push through it and then he improves. It's not fun pushing a screaming baby that's for sure. Often have baby in sling and am pushing an empty pram, as can't carry baby and bags. Everybody else I know seems to have babies who fall asleep in the pram...

[MortifiedAdams]

I saw a ladyin the park with a madly screaming baby put her phone in the pushchair with a white noise app playing. Silence in about ten seconds.

[JambalayaCodfishPie]

My sling was £4 on eBay, boxed with all instructions. Used it for ages and have just passed it on to a friend with a newborn so was in great condition.

Definitely have a look on eBay!

[JambalayaCodfishPie]

Oh, and like pp said, noise/music in the pram can help - DD2 loved Mozart.

[BotBotticelli]

No real advice to add to the above, other than to say: don't despair! My limited experience with DS1 (now 20 weeks) is that whatever they are currently 'doing' (or liking/not liking) they will probably change it up next week just to confuse you. Ie you might find next week that your DC is fine in the pram, but has a couple of days where he/she refuses to feed for hours at a time, or suddenly hates the bouncy chair, or suddenly loves tummytime, or can't stand having a nappy change when this has previously been the favourite time of the day!

They do these things to try us! Hang in there xx

[Nicole007]

Have u thought about getting a pram book that she can look at while u are out and for when she's awake in pram?they are on amazon just bought one for my dd who is 6 weeks and she's transfixed by it. Keeps her quiet and inexpensive!

[Aimeelou28]

Thanks everyone :) She has a dreamsheep so I'll try putting that on in there first, and a book. Hopefully this phase will pass soon!!! x

[gloucestergirl]

I cheat totally and give DD wafers to munch on. That keeps her happy. It is a very popular thing to do here.