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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Daytime naps in car seat - is this doing any long-term damage?

9 replies

joorla · 17/10/2006 10:02

My 11 week old really fights tiredness and doesnt seem to like napping in the day at all. The last few days I have found that she seems to like napping in her car seat but I was wondering if napping like this will do any long-term damage to her spine or anything else.
I feel so relieved that she is happy to sleep somewhere in the day as I've had days where she's been awake all day and constantly crying through overtiredness.

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mamijacacalys · 17/10/2006 10:50

Hi Joorla

My 15 week old DD is exactly the same. She sleeps well in the night but won't give in during the day to have naps. She mainly naps in her swing or car seat in the day, but only for a max of 30 min!

My DS was similar. Used to put him in the portable baby car seat to sleep which progressed to the permanent car seat well into toddlerhood to get him to nap in the day - again would only sleep for 30-45 min max.

DS (now 4) seems fine and doesn't seem to have any spinal probs, but I would be interested to hear any opinions on the matter.

I didn't mind how they slept in the day as long as they slept at night, but couldn't bear the whining crying of over-tiredness so resorted to the above!

VanillaMilkshake · 17/10/2006 11:21

When my niece was a baby she would only sleep in her car seat. For the first few months of her life she spend 50% of her nights sleeping in her carseat! She is fine now, a healthy little girl with no problems.

fizzbuzz · 17/10/2006 11:30

I had this problem, it was awful, grizzling all day. I bought "The Baby Whisperer" by Tracey Hogg. It was brilliant, and has really helped.
Mine would only ever sleep for 1/2 an hour or so (apparently this is related to babies sleep cycles)
I now wait outside her door 1/2 an hour after I put her down, and go in and resettle her at the first whimper. The tips in the book on shushing and patting were really really hepful, and she is getting much more sleep, and is much much better company. She would sleep in her car seat until we got stuck in traffic and then she would start bellowing as soon as the car stopped. Hideous experience when stuck in a traffic jam, still branded on my memory now.
best of luck-it is a really good book

KellyKrueger1978 · 17/10/2006 11:41

I used to leave my dts in their car seats a lot when they were babies. They didn't like sleeping in their cots, and I had a travel system so it was easier. It doesn't seem to have done their spines any damage at all, but I do think it contributed to them both having plagiocephaly (flat heads). With the head huggers in place they spent far too much time on the backs of their heads, and dt1 still has a very noticeable flat head. If I were to have another baby I would be very wary of doing the same thing again. I would jsut keep an eye on her and make sure that she isn't always laying on the same part of her head.

staceym11 · 17/10/2006 12:03

i personally dont like car seats as a main form of trasnsport (on travel systems) newborn babies should be laid flat on their backs to help their muscles develop. but thats just me personally. weigh up the risks.

i weighed up the risks as dd wouldnt sleep on her back at night, there was a greater risk of me having a breakdown and doing something id regret with a baby that never slept than her risk of cot death.........it all has to be comparable.

good luck!

tubismybub · 17/10/2006 12:07

Ds spent alot of his day time naps sleeping in a swing chair and i believe this was the cause of his very flat head. Personally i wouldn't use a chair or car seat for napping at all if possible.

blueshoes · 17/10/2006 12:17

Dd who was a very poor sleeper slept in her carseat for hours at a time until she was around 2 years old (she is a tiny one but even then her legs were sticking out like you would not believe it!).

AFAIK, her spine is fine. No flat head.

LunarSea · 17/10/2006 16:58

ds was like this - in fact he never did get used to laying down for a nap. He'd sleep initially in his car seat or a swing, and later in a buggy, and eventually on a beanbag, but would never settle in a cot during the day. He's 5 now, and a good sleeper, so sleeping like that in the early days doesn't seem to have done him any harm.

If it's a choice between them not sleeping, and sleeping in a seat, I know which I'd choose.

MissGolightly · 17/10/2006 17:20

Hello, my DS is similar and has never liked sleeping in his cot during the day (although will settle there at night - no idea why!) I don't know anything about the pros and cons of long-term sleeping in car seats but it might be worth ringing the changes a bit, if only so that your daughter doesn't get too strong sleep associations with the car. The tactics I found helpful were:

Putting him in a sling and then walking/hoovering
Gentle bouncing in his baby bouncer (I had a very cheap wire-frame one from mothercare that DS found much more soothing than the more expensive padded ones and used to bounce with my foot while surfing the net/watching tv etc)
Walks in the pram, particularly over rough ground! Also I read somewhere that babies are naturally ready for a nap about 2 hours after the end of their last nap. After I found this out I started consciously trying to get DS off to sleep at this point and it was much easier - too early and he was not tired enough, too late and he was frenetic and over-tired. The 2 hour gap seemed to be the perfect time. Good luck with it!

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