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Parenting

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Original poster

Car seats, Baby seats - how long is healthy?

5 replies

Wills · 09/10/2003 10:13

I've recently been told that it is not healthy to keep your baby in its car seat longer than 90 minutes. Is this true? Is this applicable to the baby seats (bouncers) with hard supporting backs? Is there a time limit on these as well? My dd2 doesn't like being in her pram any longer because she's become naturally nosey so its a lot easier to put her into her chair where she very contentedly looks around before drifting off to sleep. On the basis of never waking a sleeping baby I'm loathe to move her

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kayleigh · 09/10/2003 10:51

I've never heard this and am really suprised.
Many times we have driven up North to see my in-laws with a journey time of around 4 hours and my boys were in their car seats all this time (mostly asleep if we were lucky). We also often go on a drive and if the baby was asleep i wouldn't wake him for at least a couple of hours. All my friends have done the same.

Did the person who told you this read this somewhere wills ?

Ghosty · 09/10/2003 11:05

Wills ...
I remember reading when I was pregnant with DS that it is not good for the baby's back to be in a car seat for too long ... so I never got one of those travel systems and DS used to be taken out of his car seat and put in his pram wherever we went and when I got home if he was asleep I transferred him to his cot .... I have no idea how much truth there was in what I read but that is what I did.
My friend's twins were always in their car seats and now at the age of nearly 4 they don't seem to have any problems .... so ????

PS ... Have just sent you an e-mail ... but as I can't do smiley faces on e-mails I thought I would put a few in now !!

Zerub · 09/10/2003 11:05

How old is your dd? There was some research done in America that showed that very young babies who'd been in a car seat for 90 minutes had quite a lot less oxygen in their blood than those that had been lying flat for 90 minutes. BUT I think this was on pre-term babies. Just did a quick search on Google and can't find it. I think once they're old enough to be nosey, its no longer an issue!

Someone else may know more about this...

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Lilysmum · 09/10/2003 11:35

I too have read that its not good for baby for protracted periods of time (it was on another website under the 'ask the experts' section)- ideally they should be kept supine as much as possible until their back is strong enough to support them (about 5 / 6 months old when sitting unaided).

However I don't think the odd 90 minutes here and there will be a problem - its just not wise for baby to be propped up in a seated position for hours at a time.

In terms of car seats and long journeys - there is a car seat on the market which straps baby in safely in a lying down position.

bobthebaby · 09/10/2003 21:23

When they are in a car the safest place for them is a car seat. That outweighs any risk from the position of the seat itself. I think the problems are caused by using the car seat for everything, ie in the pram, in the supermarket trolley, sleeping at grandmas, sleeping at home, watching tv. When the seat is not needed to keep the child safe it is just scrunching up the trunk - this could explain the rise in colic, reflux etc. Also the baby's head could fall forward and block the airway - again this is rare and in a car the benefits outweigh the risk, but other times its silly to risk it really.

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