The general expectation in our family is that Bab-E Brother does not like to ride in the minivan—AT ALL. This has been a pattern for quite a few weeks now. It seems like unless he’s asleep, he starts screaming within about 5 minutes of departure.
Our first thought was that his binkie has fallen out of his mouth, resulting in the screaming fit.
To address this, sometimes either Mom-E or I would sit in the back seat with Big Brother, which allows us “access” to re-plug Bab-E Brother’s mouth with a fallen binkie, as he rides facing backwards in the middle seat.
However, the results were still suboptimal, as defined by having to “re-bink” (i.e., put the binkie back in his mouth) the entire trip, and he still screams.
The other day, I’m riding in the back seat with Big Brother, dutifully “re-binking” Bab-E Brother quite frequently.
As I’m fishing in his car seat for the fallen binkie, I realize that Bab-E Brother’s hand is pretty cold.
Granted it’s been made worse by warming temperatures outside, and as a result cooler temperatures/higher fan speeds inside the minivan, but I “discovered” that one of the air vents was pointing pretty much directly at Bab-E Brother.
Heck, I’d start screaming if cold air was blowing right at me.
And so, I changed the direction of air flow from the vent and—voila!—within 5 minutes Bab-E Brother was asleep. Doh!
(Okay, so he still screams some while riding in the van, but it's definitely much better.)
As I said at the beginning, Mom-E and I feel pretty terrible about this one.
You’d think with 3 kids we’d have these kinds of things “figured out” by now.
TAKE-HOME POINT: Babies do NOT like having cold air blown on them incessantly. It will make them scream. Incessantly.
Apparently they left that one out of the official Instruction Manual.
Methinks we need some more sleep.
At least trips in the minivan will induce a little less screaming from here on.
Have a good week,
Wishing you mild, comfortable temperatures for all your travels,
Busy-Dad-E, father of 2 boys and 1
Posts
That is great! haha Who knew! I'm so glad you guys found a solution! And you can't feel bad about that b/c this is the first time you've had a baby in the new minivan. Its something new to get used to and you have to experiment before figuring out with bab-e brother as he can't talk! love, aunt-e
ReplyDeleteDon't feel bad...how would you have known the air was blowing right on him until you noticed his skin was cold? Just glad you finally got to the bottom of it and now Bab-E Brother will be more comfortable and happy.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you figured it out pretty quick to me. There are plenty of things I would have never figured out without my wife.
ReplyDeleteGlad you figured it out and the screaming is down to a minimum. I would never have thought about an air vent in the car, so give yourself a pat on the back! And, yes, I'm sure you do need more sleep. You'll get it too, when the boys are grown and out of the house. :)
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised if, after a few weeks, Bab-E is just fine in the van. I often wonder about young babies' associations with their environments. I wonder if Bab-E associates riding in the van with being miserable (since cold air was blowing right on him), and that makes him still want to cry during the rides. A few trips in the van without said cold air, and I wonder if he'll lose that association and from that point on be just fine in the van. Hmmm ....
ReplyDelete