The adorable hack this mum used to stop her baby from crying in the car

It may be 'terrifying', but people swear it works. Would you give this a try?

Laura Jackel

2 min read

July 2, 2024 - 2:38PM

Baby

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One of the greatest lies I was ever told as a new mum was that all babies love the car. In fact it had the opposite effect on my two boys as they both HATED going for rides in the car.

Whether it was the car seat, motion sickness or just being trapped in and wanting out, they cried and screamed and got themselves into such a fluster, that I used to dread those car journeys in the early years.

We tried every trick in the book when it came to settling them: If there were two adults in the car, one would always be positioned next to the crying baby, or if it was just me, I would play nursery rhymes or try a variety of hanging toys as a distraction.

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Mum Jacquie's smiling face in a photo keeps her baby happy. Image: Instagram @pumpedupmama

"When baby hates the car but loves your face"

None of those methods worked and eventually as the months went by, they grew out of it and these days they can both tolerate long car journeys and audio books like champions.

But one mum of a young baby shared a hack I had never thought of using with my two - that has gone viral.

“When your baby hates the car but loves your face,” mum Jacquie Ciccone who goes by the name ‘pumped up mother’ wrote on Instagram.

“Thanks to my hubby for printing this terrifying photo and for the idea. We love you.”

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"Yes, yes, yes it works!"

The caption is accompanied by an adorable short video of her baby smiling and cooing lovingly at a huge full colour photo of mum Jacquie’s happy face that has been attached to the back of the headrest.

The ‘hack’ was picked up by The Today Show and thousands of parents commented below the sweet video.

“Yes, yes, yes it works,” wrote one mum.

“It helped me a lot with my baby for those desperate rides in which I had to drive, and I also recorded myself on video and put it on an iPad on loop.”

Another added: “This is amazing and the best idea ever!”

"LOL this worked for us too"

“LOL this worked for us too,” said a third fan of the technique.

“We put a pic of my husband and I in front of our daughter's car seat and she calmed down significantly!”

Plenty of parents tagged each other in the clip, proving the crying in the car phenomenon is a lot more common than I was told.

A couple of naysayers felt this technique might not last long.

“That's not the best idea,” one woman wrote.

"It can affect how they interact with people"

“Babies look for reactions to their expressions and responses. So when the face doesn’t react in the way they are expecting, it can affect how they interact with people in the future.

“Same reason we don't let them watch TV at that age.”

Well that might be so, but for anyone like me or mum Jacquie Ciccone who have experienced the stress of listening to a baby scream for long periods in the car, that is a risk I’d be willing to take.