Have you tried nursing him in the car seat? It can be a contortionist trick BUT does make it worth it!

You may not have your seat belt on properly but the baby does.

I would kneel next to the seat and lean over the baby...expose breast and pop it in! hold onto the headrest of the nearest seat. At times I would prop my breast up to his level with a hat or whatever I could find to help.

That does not help you when you have to drive alone.... That is another issue.

I've had this with both babies! It does get better!
Naomi, I'd love a pic of that, I can't figure out how to do it.

I will admit I've been a bit naughty with this baby and left her in the sling a few times vs going in the car seat, it's never been more than a mile and here the cars go so slow. But it really is a bad idea, but in a sling is better than your arms should you HAVE to do it. Again though, it's a risk, and only YOU as a parent can make that choice.

have you tried baby sucking your finger? Soon toys will work a bit, how upright is the car seat? They do make car seats that lay flat that help for some.

My DS hated car seat until he was old enough to snack the whole time, use to break my heart.

I hope it improves soon

i have 2 possible solutions.

1. put a solid-color blanket over the back of your car's seat, where the baby faces. the patterning in the car's fabric can make some babies NUTS. this sounds simple, but has worked for babies that i know.

2. switch from the baby-carrier/bucket-type carseat to a convertible. if you're using a bucket, they tend to fold the baby up a bit and can hurt the baby's insides. you can got to one of those big baby stores, like Babies R Us, and they can let you put one in your car in the lot, you put the baby in to see if it makes a difference before you purchase it. just tell them you want to make sure the seat is going to be compatible w/your car, which they suggest you do anyway.

i really wouldn't ride w/him in your arms. i know it's hard to hear him scream, but if you should be spied by a police officer, or someone should turn you in, you may find yourself before Child Protective Services. you really don't want that headache!

I second the carseat suggestion!
We got a "cadillac" convertible for dd1 and she never really fussed at all about the car seat...
DD2 ended up with a passed down infant seat that didn't look nearly as cushy, and she has sure made her protests known.
we didn't go places much either unless shehad just fallen asleep, or was just up from sleeping and in a happy spell.

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I have the same problem with ds - he is 7 months now and still doesn't fall asleep in the carseat. When he gets tired he still cries. So I can say it does get better but not great.

what I used to do is give myself plenty of time to get somewhere and I would pull over every 10 minutes - 15 if I could handle it - if he wasn't screaming too badly - and take him out - cuddle/nurse him for 5 minutes or so and then explain to him what was happening - put him back in and do it again in 10-15 minutes.

Sounds ridiculous I know - but I couldn't handle my poor LO crying like that and I wouldn't take him out of his seat due to safety - i was too scared.

Basically I don't go anywhere by myself with him that takes longer than 20 minutes to get there - now that he's 7 months if I can sit in the back with him - I can keep him entertained with toys or food. Things definitely turned around when he started eating and I could give him rice cakes in the car.

I have tried the above trick too - nursing him while my husband drives!!! it's tricky but it works!

My little girl did exactly the same thing. It certainly is heartbreaking to listen to. On shorter trips I found that constantly talking to her or singing helped - she would usually settle down a little bit and I felt that she would still know I was there (I was worried about her feeling abandoned).

Aria is 7mths old now and things have been a lot better in the car for a few months now. She is more relaxed and will just sleep most of the time. At about 3mths we also bought her some toys that hang on a kind of arch that clips over her seat. She loves playing with them as they dangle in front of her.

In the early days I whipped out a boob as well and that was the only thing that would console her on long trips.

I certainly feel for you.