Dear Vivian,

I have four sons, 11.5 - 2.5 years of age. We experienced something similar to
what you described with our second son. He hated the car seat. We tried many
different things to ease his obvious discontent. Nothing really worked,
including trying several car seat models. I did resort to nursing him while
both he and I were buckled in our individual seat belts. Now that he is 8.5
years old I have my own theory.

I noticed beginning in the toddler years once he began speaking, that he
showed a strong preference for certain fabrics in the clothes he wore and the
bedding he slept in. He still does today. I interpret this as him having  a
hypersensitive tactile response to his surroundings. So I can stretch this
observation to an infant in a car seat. Wouldn't this scenario lend itself to
constant minor rubbing of the fabric against the baby's skin? I believe that
the riding motion of the vehicle coupled with the hypersensitivity of the
baby's skin could produce major discomfort in this type of infant. As I stated
earlier, this is pure conjecture on my part. I also toyed with the idea that
the passing lights rushing by during night
travel caused distress but he seemed just as miserable during the day as at
night.

Best wishes to you as you work with this family. Wish I had the answers rather
than an anecdotal story :-)


Luann Z. Gilliland, B.A.
Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, USA