How long is it acceptable to leave a baby in a car seat over the course of the day.

[Wills]

My ds1 (7 weeks) suffers from colic. He's not happy in a sling, on the shoulder (i.e. draped), lying down, in his pram. The only two places he's content to go to sleep is in his car seat (the much preffered place) and his crib (not always possible). I know he's only 7 weeks old but he seems far happier in his car seat. I tend to move him around with me as I go and I think he's content to watch and somehow the uprightness makes him happier. Once he's gone to sleep I often try to transfer him to his crib but its a good 50/50 as to whether that's going to work. His worst time is between 5 and 9.00 pm and things get particlarly bad between 5.00 and 7.30 whilst I put the kids to bed.

So what would you do? Is the time limit 90 accrued or just in patches?

I don't know - I suspect accrued. but in your position I would go over that.

NB re transferring from car seat to crib: have you tried putting a muslin behind his head when he falls asleep and then transferring that with him? stops the cold of the sheet from waking them up you see.

that's a clever one. Its nice a light - I don't want him getting any hotter.

DD slept in her car seat every night for the first month of her life as she wouldn't sleep anywhere else but it never seemed to have done her any harm. now i know about swaddling etc, which i am sure would have helped back then.

seem to remember being told it was 90min (or possibly 2hrs) in followed by at least one hour out, but am willing to be told otherwise...

i didn't know there was a limit, when my ds(now4) was a baby he was in it all the time

my dts were in theirs all the time. It was easier, plus they liked to feel snug and hated their cots. I am sure it caused or at least contributed in a bug way to their plagiocephaly. In their car seats, with the head huggers they were permanantly on the backs of their heads. dt1 is 15mnths now and still has a very flat head though it isn't as noticeable now he has more hair. If I were to have another baby I would at least make sure that they weren't on the back of their head all the time, probably by removing the head hugger. I really regret leaving them laying for so long now.

i didn't use the head hugger after a couple of weeks.

I'm sure its 90 minutes in 1 go. all i can remember is that its much better for them to lie down flat. have you tried a bouncy chair type thing?

DS wouldn;t settle to sleep lying down (except at night) for about the first 4 months. he was a very sicky baby and I suspect this was why, although reflux never diagnosed.

He was a March baby, so had all his naps in his car seat (naps never longer than an hour iirc), until he was around 3 months, when it got very hot. I found he would settle in his bouncy seat after that - it was the "hammock" type - not padded - so cooler during the hot weather.

So I suppose he spent around 3 hours a day in it, perhaps slightly longer, if including when he was in car seat actually in the in car or attached to pushchair!

When he was around 4-5 months he started to nap in his cot after a feed - I would transfer him in there asleep.

He was an early walker and always very active so I can't see it's done him any harm whatsoever.

OK, you're making me feel a little better. I've tried the bouncy chairs but he doesn't like that either. I think you're right kelly, its probably cos it feels so snug - not seen that one (sorry still in thick mode). There's no head hugger though.

I remember my midwife saying not more that 2 hours at a time cos their spines are still bendy and they should be flat

have u tried raising the matress in the crib? we had joey like that till he was 3 months old, it was flat just raised one end, seemed to work well for him. he was secured there if u like with a towl either side of him so he thought he was with us iycwim.

I thought it was 2 hours at a time as well. Wills, have you tried those vibrating bouncy chairs? My friend swears by hers. Tbh I wouldn't stress too much about the car seat though - ds2 is in his a fair bit, because inevitably if he's in the car, falls asleep then I'm not going to wake him up!

I honestly would try and limit car seat time as much as possible. You say that he is ok to go to sleep in his crib, so I would try and make sure he can do that as much as possible, even if it isn't his "preferred" place.
Advice on here is good too, lift the end of the matress and try swaddling him that way he will feel nice and secure.
Also, have you thought about trying cranial osteopathy. I won't bore you with my many stories of it but I really can't speak highly enough of it and I know there are others on here who will say the same

Hi Wills

My dd slept in her carseat all the time until she was 5mnths old.

She has silent reflux and it was the only place she was comfortable. I mentioned this to several people (HV, GP, paed & chiro) because I was worried it might damage her back. None of them were concerned and the paed even told me to just go with what made her comfortable.

Also, I never had any problems transferring her to her cot.

HTH

Thanks all. He's back in it now to try and rock him to sleep. He should go off in about 10/15 mins then I'll leave him another 15 before I try and transfer him.

You have made me feel better although at all times I'll watch how long he's been in there.

Hi wills, have you tried swaddling? Eventually we got our dts into cots through swaddling. At times we even had them both sleeping in laundry baskets on pillows because they hated the cots so much! the HV had a fit when she saw them. I think it took about 4 months before they were really happy though. Glad he hasn't got a headhugger, other than plagiocephaly I really wouldn't worry. Mine rolled and crawled early so it didn't do them any other harm.

Everyone worries about babies spines in carseats but I personally worry as much about lungs as a result of being 'scrunched up' when they don't support there own weight properly, especially when asleep. I having seen one of my DTDs go a bit grey/blue because of being sat in a car seat. It may have been influenced by the fact that she was very tiny at the time, but it did scare me, and now I am very cautious. Even at 11wks I don't like the idea of DD3 in a carseat for more than 20 mins at a time (have refused to travel to family 1hr away until at least 3months) & it makes me cringe when I see babies in a travel system around the local housing estate just so they can face the parents.

I know everyone has their own opinions & there are times when carseats & travel systems are great. Some car seats are also better than others. I am just a little cautious about using them with my own daughter, but I accept that everyone is free to make their own mind up & I don't want to upset anyone here.

i have a travel system but if i know im going out for a while ill take my carry cot. have you tried a vibrating bouncy chair? my sisters baby had colic and it worked a treat (along with dr brown bottles)