Sleeping in a baby chair

[emilyanorak]

hello,

We have a 5 week old baby who only wants to sleep in his baby chair. it's a rocking Fisher Price one, quite large with head support.

I don't think he likes sleeping on his back, he only sleeps for about 10mins in his basket or cot but will sleep during the night for four hours in his chair.

we have the chair in the bedroom at night so he get's some sleep. we don't leave him unsupervised in it though.

Ovs we are going to have problems moving him to a cot in the future, but are there any other issues with him sleeping in his chair at this stage?

[BikeRunSki]

I know that babies are not meant to spend more than 2 hours at a time in car seats, because their backs are not that strong and they get too hot. I'd guess that the same applies to these kind of seats too.

[WhatSheSaid]

Does he seem uncomfortable sleeping on his back? My dd2 preferred sleeping in her chair and it turned out she had silent reflux - which is worse when they lie flat. I propped up one end of the cot on books so she was sleeping on a slope, which helped.

Sorry don't know if the seats are safe for extended sleeping but it does sound like how my dd was.

[KenDoddsDadsDogEatsTinsel]

I had exactly the same with my DD. She wouldn't sleep in her basket or flat anywhere, only in her chair.
GP said that it wasn't recommended, but a lot of parents do things that aren't recommended to save their sanity! He could only advise what statistics say.
It turned out that she had silent reflux so it was hurting when she lay down flat.
I got her a lila kuddis baby pillow and put one of my tops in the basket every night and eventually she slept in it. No problems at all in her cot!

[kateecass]

We found a lie flat version of this kind of chair cos my DD slept a lot in hers during the day. There were times though when that was only place she'd sleep at night. I thought the recs were max 3 hours. I worried about it too, but at the end of the day you've got to do what you have to do to stay sane. Their digestive systems mature really quickly at this stage so it won't last forever hopefully. We came to conclusion that DD was like this when she had trapped wind, so we tried hard to get it out during the day and she was more likely to settle in her basket. I don't remember having many problems getting her into her cot. Same DD is now a 2.2 year old lying talking in her cot having just woken cos she loves it in there!

[PrettyCandlesAndTinselToo]

Two of my three had silent reflux and would only sleep on their sides or fronts. One wouldn't even fall asleep in a moving buggy unless she was in the carseat.

TBH I don't know whather it's healthy for your baby's back to spend so long in the rocker. He's presumably in the same position as in acarseat, and 2h is the maximum recommended for them.

Try propping the legs at the head-end of the cot on double-size tins of tomatoes. Or putting a foam wedge under the head end of the mattress. Or it might be worth trying this.

Our feeling was that we did not smoke, the baby was a good birthweight and healthy, breastfed and sleeping next to our bed in a cool bedroom - so we were willing to put them to sleep in a position that was contrary to SIDS advice.

[wannabeglam]

If you read The Happiest Baby on the Block I think it's suggested for collicky babies. Didn't do it myself - DH was the swing (car seat)

On the heat front, I'm sure you can ensure he is dressed appropriately not to overheat. Your worry would be the head support I guess, which you can't do without. I think the swing is less constricted than a car seat, partic. when reclined.

If you're going to use the cot, swaddle him in a cot sheet - nice and tight. And prop the cot up at one end. You'll need a lot of books to get the angle.

When you feed baby, make sure he's upright and keep him upright for half an hour after. It's possible he has a bit of silent reflux.

[wannabeglam]

Oh, and I found a white noise machine to be fantastic. You can get one in a bear. Try Amazon. Have it on when you're settling him - it switches itself off after a couple of minutes but kicks in when baby starts crying.