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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Can you really only drive for 30 minutes without a stop with a newborn?

13 replies

BigSandyBalls2015 · 13/03/2019 18:27

Overheard a pregnant colleague saying this was the advice. My kids are teens but is this really current advice?

OP posts:
QforCucumber · 13/03/2019 18:28

I thought it was 2 hours in their car seats as a max recommendation. Sure that was the case 3 years ago when mine was born

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 13/03/2019 18:29

Advice doesn’t mean the law though. I also have teens and I remember lots of ‘advice’ I didn’t follow, don’t you?

museumum · 13/03/2019 18:30

It is true but I don’t know what “newborn” means in this scenario? 6 weeks or so? I wouldn’t have wanted to drive further than that myself at less than six weeks post partum and bf ds would have wanted a feed.

hothotsoup · 13/03/2019 18:30

Yes, I have had 2 babies in 2 years and has been the current advice given out.

Mintypea5 · 13/03/2019 18:30

It is. There was a news story in the last few years about a newborn who was having major breathing issues after being in a car seat too long. I believe it’s to do with how they’re hunched over it restricts the lungs

MissYeti · 13/03/2019 18:31

Yes until they can hold their chin up off their chest due to risk of suffocation. Goes up to 2 hours once they can hold their head up

littlecabbage · 13/03/2019 18:32

It's because recent studies have shown that being in the "car seat" position for longer causes reduced ventilation.

Jackshouse · 13/03/2019 18:32

Current advice for babies 6 weeks or under and born at full terms 30 mins only in car seat. It’s based on a small scale studied, which was stopped earlier due to alarming findings. The study involved measuring the oxygen sats of babies in car seats.

SweetheartNeckline · 13/03/2019 18:33

Yep 30 minutes is the current advice whether driving or using the seat on a pram base. This is due to the shape of the infant car seats meaning their oxygen saturations can drop as their airways are supported brilliantly. It was 2 hours when I had DD3 3 years ago but definitely 30 minutes when DS arrived last week.

As PP says it is only advice and with a healthy infant who is out of the immediate newborn stage, I personally will use my own discretion.

Aragog · 13/03/2019 18:33

Advice isn't the same as law.
Reality means people are not always able to follow advice. For many, just their journey home from hospital is going to be longer than that.
You do what you need to do, takin sensible precautions and regular checks.

HappyDinosaur · 13/03/2019 18:34

It's true, unless you buy a lie flat car seat, which is extra safe for newborns. We did this as it would've been really tough for us to get about otherwise.

Blondiecub0109 · 13/03/2019 18:35

Yes, and the reason we went for a travel system with a lay flat car seat option. Although one shop we went to tried I convince us that so long as you weren’t going over 30 mins m/ drive regularly an irregular long trip would be ok. In another who the way they explained it to us was he way car seats are now used with chassis ie 20 min drive to shops, an hour walking around, 20 minutes drive home - all that time hunger over. As PP said it’s to do with how hunched over their necks are, affects oxygen saturation levels

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