Can a 1 year old be in a car seat overnight on a long journey?

[pinkdressinggown]

Hi all,

Do you think the babies are ok for long periods of time in car seats now?

We’re hoping to do bedtime and put our little boy in the car seat and then drive to Cornwall while he’s sleeping tonight. I know you had to keep stopping every 2 hours to stretch them out when they were proper babies... Do you think it’s ok to do the journey in one go now he’s a bit older?

We’ve got the Joie iSpin 360 and he’s nearly 14 months. It would be a 6 hour drive at nighttime.

Thanks everyone!

Just to clarify - it's the risk of suffocation that I'm thinking about as I know that's a risk when they're tiny in a car seat, but can't seem to find anything with an age cut off for when it stops being a danger when I google!

The problem is positional asphyxiation, not suffocation. There have been babies/toddlers over a year who have died from it, so I wouldn't say the risk disappears at a year. That said I would probably risk it with just one stop, so driving around 3 hours unless you want to stop twice. Keep the car seat rear facing and on the lowest recline so she's as laid back as possible. We tend to find DS2 goes straight back to sleep after a stop in the middle of the night anyway because the car is dark and the movement is soothing.

I reckon you'd be fine, but if it makes you feel better one of you could sit in the back with LO and keep an eye?