Babies and cars

[blhbkah]

Not quite an AIBU but really keen to understand everyone's thoughts....

I mentioned today to a friend how I was dreading a long journey with my very young baby. She responded to say that if I sat in the back I could pick them up and feed/comfort them and loads of people do it.

Do they? I would never have considered it before, but it would help. Although there are obvious safety concerns AIBU to be thinking this is a possibility?

You can legally hold babies in a taxi in the UK. Presumably because they cant carry car seats for every age range, and it's not always feasible to bring one with you. Not that it's a good thing, but if you desperately need a taxi then you can do that, you just have to balance the risk.

She’s crazy. I also personally wouldn’t feed small children in the car even in the seat because if they start to choke you’d have to take them out (assuming you’re in the back and can see them).

I always sit in the back beside DD on long hours yes so I can comfort her etc but I wouldn't take her out. The only time I have is when we were stuck stationary in a massive queue for a car park for ages and she was hysterical. Then I took her out and cuddled her for a while. I would never take her out while actually mobile.

Look at the Hey Bear sensory videos on YouTube. They always stop my DD if she cries in the car.

Oh god, absolutely not. You can feed a child with a bottle when they're in the car seat, talk to them and hand them toys, but that's it. Lifting a baby out of a car seat in a moving car is ridiculous.

My son hated the car! Some baby sensory apps might help?

Also, please don't lean over your baby's carseat to breastfeed. In the event of a crash you can crush them

I know 45 mins isn't long, but it is when a baby is crying/screaming/choking/sweating!

We actually just did the journey, I sat in the back and tried everything suggested (sensory, dummy, holding hand, stroking etc etc) it didn't work... ended up having to stop twice and basically the second time I fed her to sleep and managed to get her in without waking her.

She never used to have an issue with the car and we've driven to many places including +1hr journeys.

I hope this was a bad couple of days and not gong to continue. Stress levels are pretty high!

Would absolutely not take them out of their car seat. There was a horrible story local to me where the parents had taken the crying baby out of the car seat to comfort her and unfortunately got distracted and crashed the car and the baby very sadly died:

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/news/5119332/croydon-car-crash-baby-girl-killed-mum-distracted-satnav-lorry/amp/

It’s so stressful listening to your baby cry in the car but I wouldn’t risk taking them out

I have unstrapped myself to be able to bf DD1, I can't remember why I thought it was a good idea but I remember it being very uncomfortable!

Sitting next to- definitely.
Removing from car seat in a moving vehicle- never unless it was a life or death situation.
I sat in the back all the way from Germany to the UK with a four month old. We did take her out of the car seat on Eurotunnel. (And had a few stops for feeds etc)

Personally I never thought it was safe to have baby in front with a driver- too much of a distraction.