Wear your baby and leave the car seat in the car, would you want to be stuck in that seat all day? I slipped my baby out of the seat and into a wrap for every errand. They get used to being handled, they get your view on the world, it’s good for them. I had to give up at 5 months because my baby was huge, but by then he could sit in the seat of grocery carts and for small shops I still throw him (10 months, 25 lbs) in a sling or Ergo.

Meh, the kiddo doesn’t take a paci so that doesn’t work for me Clare :-)
Um, front carrier or sling for me. Easier to wrangle the babe, the cart, and the toddler that way. A toddler loose in Target? Lord have mercy…

Entertainment in the car is a hard one, I have to drive 35 minutes to and from work with my 6 month old each day. We have one of those toys that attach to the handle of the car seat, and she will play with that for a while, other than that a toy (which will last about 5 minutes until she flings it away) and singing loudly-Twinkle Twinkle, The wheels on the bus, The itsy bitsy spider, etc….forgot all about BINGO, will have to try that tonight :)

Yep, put him in a good carrier, like an Ergo. My girl hates her carseat too! And, she doesn’t take a pacifier, so that never worked for us either.

I have a 6 week old son and already my back is killing me from lifting his car seat in and out of cars and carts. I’m seriously missing my days of living in Chicago where I could have just put him in his stroller or an Ergo and we could have travelled the city on foot and via public transportation. There’s no just running in and out anymore.

Baby harness until they’re too big, then the seat of the cart! And thank goodness for espadrille wedges, which allow the petite shopper to peer above the carseat! I hate living in the suburbs sometimes–it has its perks, but it’s MUCH harder when your kids are young. A big city is truly the world’s best babysitter. And shopping with two?!? WHERE DO THE GROCERIES GO?!? Camryn insists on sitting in the basket. in order to make it down the aisle with all groceries still in my possession, I have to wedge groceries under the carseat (note to self: Camryn can still reach and remove eggs from there) or under the cart itself. Or simply hold them and push with my elbows because I am the family slave. Yay!!! Oh, and long road trips are like shuttling Satan around in the backseat. I suggest a mirror, those awful carseat toy bars that last twenty minutes and then unexplainably break, or an older sibling to entertin the wee ones (best toy EVER–Tamsin has discovered that her backseat buddy is the funniest and most interesting toy known to man).

there was this one time in target….
i maaaay have ran the cart [with baby in car seat] full speed into an endcap.

BAAAM!!!

then i just started laughing and then crying. mom hormones suck [but make for good stories]

Look at all of these good Attachment Parents! Ha. Carrying a baby in a wrap/sling/front carrier wasn’t a huge thing To Do until several years ago. . .I think Dr. Sears and his theory of attachment parenting has had a lot to do with that. Are you familiar? Basically, he said to have as much physical contact with your baby as possible; it builds attachment between you and the baby, resulting in children who are more secure, intelligent, well adjusted, trusting in their parents, etc. Good stuff. So Dr. Sears is a huge fan of breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and baby wearing. Since that has become more and more popular (yay), the variety of slings and carriers has grown tremendously, and they’re so much better and more convenient than they used to be! So all these suburban moms have it right. I used two different slings and two different front carriers, all for different stages/sizes of my babies, and they were all great. I’d always take the babies right out of the carseat when we got to the grocery store/Target/mall, not fuss with dragging the seat around at all, and put the baby into the carrier of the moment. Not only was it easier to have my hands free for shopping, and not have to carry that heavy seat, it also kept the babies MUCH happier–most kids are going to start to fuss after sitting in a seat or a stroller for too long, but I haven’t seen many that will fuss about being tummy-to-tummy with mommy for hours at a time!

And when you have a second baby? Some kind of sling/carrier becomes absolutely ESSENTIAL, even when you’re just hanging around at home! Imagine trying to wrangle a toddler while holding a floppy newborn? No way. A good sling or wrap keeps them secure against your body while your hands are free to wrastle the other kid. And for being out and about at that point, you can buy one of those absolutely genius cart covers (the fabric thing that goes in the seat of the grocery cart to keep things soft and sanitary), so you can put the toddler in the cart without worrying about him sucking on the billion germs on the handle, while the baby is in a sling/carrier, and you can still shop.

I Whip My Hair Back and Forth. Seriously. I sing it on our 25 minute (both ways) commute. Even more when driving home in a blizzard with a crabby baby and stressed out mama. Singing that is way better than screaming baby.

i’m a baby wearin momma and i leave the car seat in the car always! so occasionally i use the baby seat thats in the cart but usually i just carry the bubbs (5 mo) and we use toys or my niece (3 yrs old) plays with him… or if my hubby is with us i sit in back and use one of those click clack toys (wood not plastic) and he is peachy…

we had a rough patch for a while where all he did in his car seat was cry so i got some aroma therapy from http://www.sweetknee.com/default.aspx Love love love all their products!
the giggle aroma makes car trip much easier now!