To keep baby in car seat for 90 mins

[coffeeforone]

DS is six weeks. I understand that babies should be taken out of car seat every 2 hours, but also read that if newborn then no more than 30 mins at a stretch.

We will be driving for a 6 hour journey next weekend. We do this regularly but first time with DS2. When DS1 was a baby we would stop every 2 hours as that's what I thought was recommended, but every 30 mins seems a bit excessive (and not possible if we get stuck in traffic), as it will mean 10-12 stops!!

Would stopping every 60-90 mins seem reasonable to you?

I wouldn't do a 6 hour car journey with a newborn. It's been shown to be really bad for them, their oxygen levels dip as they can't keep their heads up and airway open.

I believe the guidelines are no more than 30 minutes at a time and 2 hours in one day

Honestly? I'd just stop every 2 hours.

Can one of you sit in the back with baby? I would do it. The rules change all the time.

Why do you need to do the journey? I personally wouldn't want to do a 6 hour trip with a newborn unless it was some sort of emergency.

www.snugglebundl.co.uk/health-concerns-about-leaving-babies-in-car-seats-too-long/

Sitting in the back won't help unless you also have a monitor on the baby to check oxygen levels.

It's up to 4 weeks the 30 min limit applies and then it's 2 hours after that. There's no 2 hour total in a day, I don't know where people get this from.

60-90 minute sessions sound fine.

The 30min thing has come from a recent (small) study. Made for mums has a good breakdown

www.madeformums.com/news-and-gossip/newborn-safety-in-car-seats/42085.html

This seems to say it is best for a baby under 4 weeks not to travel for more than 30mins and for all babies to not spend more than 2hours in one go in a seat. The biggest risk is leaving babies to sleep in a seat for extended periods (eg in a travel system or in the house after a trip).

We'll need to do a 4 hour trip at Xmas when dd will be 2 months old and were planning on stopping at 90min to 2 hour intervals.

I would. I wasnt told when I had my 6 year old he was only suppose in a carseat for a certain amount of time. he was frequently in it for 2 hours a day.

Sounds fine to me. I did similar bursts when needed

Oh god OP don’t tie yourself up with this. It’s going to be too stressful. Go with your plan and don’t worry x

That's a good summary on that link though they do have the straps slightly too loose in the photo and if you click through to the article which breaks fown the 2 hour limit the straps in that image are totally wrong!

Good point bertie, hadn't really looked at the pictures. Poor use of the stock images I suspect

There are lie-flat car seats that lie flat in the car if you're regularly going to be doing longer journeys (or using the car seat for more than just in the car). They do take up a lot of space in lie-flat mode inside the car, though.