6 week old in car for over an hour - is this acceptable?

[Biosblbay]

Just wanted to see if anyone has ever taken a newborn in a car for a longish journey, it will be an hour and 10 minutes there, and then the same back (but of course there is the risk of traffic) - Google says that you shouldn’t take a 6 week old baby in a car for no more than 30 minutes, is this true? If this is the case I will not go and will stay home with baby, it’s for a family BBQ. Just unsure what to do

The positioning in a car seat puts pressure on their airways, so risky to be in there too long. I’d follow the guidelines if I were you. Stay home and rest (and see if someone can bring you back food!) x

My DC are 14 and and 10, at the time the guidance was no longer than 2 hours in a car seat which I stuck to and both were absolutely fine!
If you're worried you can always stop off half way to help them have a little stretch out?

At that age we stopped for breaks in longer car journeys to take the dc out of their car seats for a while.

I wouldn’t miss out
just stop en route - perhaps you can also sit in the back
if you want to go that is

Can't you just stop after 30/40 minutes, take them out the carseat for a break and then resume your journey

Regardless of the current medical advice you should not be using Google for stuff like this.

my ids are young adult and I did but I believe the advice has changed.

I’ve always gone for an hour or so with no breaks

I think it's good to stop and take them out if the seat along the way for a break if you can. I'd sit in the back if you can as well (assuming DH can drive)

Thought you meant 6 week old left in a car for an hour unattended….

Perfectly fine just take lots of breaks and plan the journey accordingly.

The guidance is 30mins. If you want to go, you could stop for 15mins half way. Maybe change baby / quick feed etc. Plus you could sit in the back. Do you have a decent supportive infant carrier for your car seat?

Of course, if you want to stay at home, then its the perfect excuse! 😉

We lived further away than that from the hospital. I'd love to know the guidance now for areas like that! (Flashback to driving my DD through a snowstorm at night on country lanes at 3 days old as the midwife needed a doctor to see her...)

But the 30min guideline is relatively new, it used to be 12hrs. There is presumably a scientific reason behind the change, but millions of us drove without problems.

Also a 6wo is very different to a newborn.

Go if you will enjoy the BBQ.
Set off allowing more time than you need.
Stop halfway and attend to baby and your own thirst etc for half an hour.
Do the same on the way home but if you stop and baby is sleeping happily just continue on to your destination.

Has the baby had any vaccinations?
Sometimes it is wise to leave meeting large groups of family until the baby has had some shots, especially if you have antivaxers in the mix.

What sort of seat is it? We had a fully layflat seat that looked like a basket, so the thirty minute rule didn’t apply. If its a standard seat you can break the journey up with a stop each way, you may need to stop for a feed, nappy change etc anyway.

My understanding is that its because the safest position in a car seat is more upright, which puts pressure on baby's airways and spine, which can lead to positional asphyxiation. I think there were some cases of babies who died after being left in car seats for a long time. Its also why car seats should only be attached to buggies / travel periods for short periods. So breaks and opportunities for baby to stretch out flat / move their limbs during the journey helps to reduce that risk. (Disclaimer - not a car seat expert but just what I read whilst doing my own research before DD1 came along).

From what I've just read it's 30 minutes up to 6 weeks and no more than 2 hours after that. You can stop and take them out the seat if you're on a longer journey

What a good excuse to stop for a coffee!

Just realised this has a typo for 12 hours instead of two hours.
Seriously, don't stick you baby in a car seat for 12hrs without a break... that definitely isn't safe!

You can stop for breaks

Stop half way. I'm sure the family will welcome the opportunity to meet your child.

I think it’s ok if an adult is sitting in the backseat next to the baby keeping a very close eye out. If not then I’d stop for a break halfway. Why take any risk with a tiny baby?

I did this kind of length journey with a newborn regularly. I used to just stop very briefly around halfway if I was driving alone. If my dh was with me then he would sit in the back (I get horrible travel sickness so I can’t be in the back!)

Almost every single woman in the Highlands region delivers her first baby in Inverness. Then she takes her baby home the next day, with a journey of up to 3 hours. Midwives at Inverness merrily wave you off with a reminder of the standard advice to stop every 30 minutes.

Newborn (up to roughly 8 weeks?) - stop every 30 minutes. Just get the baby out of the car seat for 15 minutes or so and allow them to stretch out. Feed if needed.

There's no safety issue with your trip so long as you stop once halfway.

30 mins is up to 4 weeks rather than 6. And based on a fairly dubious study. If you look at the NHS or Lullaby Trust advice, they don't actually suggest any specific time limit any more, they just warn that newborns (which is up to 4 weeks) can struggle to get a good position in car seats and while the car seat is a must when actually in the car, in case of accidents, to minimise their time in it if possible and not use it as a sleep location outside of the car.

Assuming your car seat is well fitted and DC has a comfortable position in it, around an hour is OK. If they tend to look chin to chest or you're worried about it, it might be worth taking the seat to where you bought it to ask for advice about positioning. However, by 6 weeks most babies are fitting much better into the car seat. If you want to say which car seat you have, I can give more specific advice but appreciate you might not want everyone jumping in with opinions on this!

There is obviously no harm in taking a break halfway through the journey if you're worried, apart from the baby might not want to go back into the seat, they tend not to like being moved around at that age, so it can be better to try to time the drive around their nap time and do it in one go. Use a sat nav app which has traffic info to try to avoid getting stuck, especially on a motorway where you can't easily stop off.

Is baby already born? If not then I would just play it by ear and decide when the time comes. You might be feeling fit and confident by 6 weeks and want to see your family, or you might still be wanting to hole up and hibernate with the baby - it's so variable and there is no right or wrong answer here. And of course 6 weeks post due date could be anything from 4 weeks to 8+ weeks old.

Why can’t you stop half way-ish?

Agree - stick to NHS or relevant UK based organisation, such as Lullaby Trust.

Those Google AI summaries are dubious and not always based on accurate info. There is also a lot more US-English advice on the internet than UK-English and the AI doesn't always know the difference or when it matters.