Time in car seat

[AimeeJ]

I was told today that babies shouldn't spend more than 2 hours in their rear facing car seats? Is this correct and if so, how long should the break be?

Thanks!

I always found that my DD got increadibly restless in her car seat if she was in it for more than an hour and a bit. When she was little, I used to stop at a service station and take her out to allow her to stretch out a touch.

Even now (4.5) we have to stop hourly or so. She just gets really wound up and restless!

Didnt know about the time tho!

TBH, I would be more worried by daily long stints of time in the car seat than a one of journey iyswim. People were (and still do) using the travel system prams as a way of never taking their babies out of the car seat.

So they would put baby in seat, travel to shops, keep baby in car seat on travel system, do few hours shopping, back in car, let baby sleep when back home. I know of one person who does this all the time until both of her DC were quite old. They seem 'squashed up' babies iyswim. It seemed to have a definite impact on their bodies, though that could have been coincidence.

It is one of my personal gripes with the travel systems, which are very useful, but you have to not forget a baby needs time to stretch and move.

yes it's correct

iirc 10-20min break, and that break should be somwhere they can wriggle eg laid flat, on lap etc, not in a swing / bouncy chair etc where they are still in the same position as the carseat

Thank you! Interesting point about the use of travel systems, fortunately my car seat doesn't fit in my pram, so I'll have to move him/her about anyway.

Yes it's definitely about people using them on travel systems rather than long car journeys (though on long journeys you will have to stop for feeding and changing anyway)

There is also an issue with very little babies (under 4 months) and especially premature babies about the fact they are not lying flat and their airway is kinked, which can mean their oxygen saturation levels are low - to correct this you only have to take them out of the seat for a minute or two - but with very young babies, especially premature babies, I wouldn't risk it for much longer than an hour and definitely not longer than two hours, and push the seat down as far as possible into more of a lying position (if fitted with a seatbelt rather than a base) - once they are older a more upright position is better as it's safer in terms of impact protection - 45 degrees is usually the angle that the bases will put carseats at, as a compromise between oxygen levels for newborns and crash protection for older babies.

Sorry for the essay!