Car seat with a newborn

[Catarinah]

How long can newborns be in a car seat? Some websites say 2 hours and some say 30 minutes so just want to check beforehand (obviously if it is 2 hours we would stop for breaks/feeds). Thanks!

How newborn are they? How long is your journey?

30 mins at a time up to age of 6 weeks. After that two hours at a time but as little as possible.

Haven't make any journeys yet, but my boyfriend's family are all in Birmingham (2.5 hours away). He's only a week old so not planning any trips for a while only to shops etc x

I've always known it as an hour.

Think my health visitor told me 30 mins, I always go with that to be on the safe side!

Apparently it’s 30 minutes at a time but no more than 2 hours in a 24 hour period, including times when baby is in a car seat but not in a car

www.google.com/amp/s/www.motherandbaby.co.uk/amp/baby-and-toddler/baby-and-toddler-health-advice/2-hour-car-seat-rule

It doesn't say 2 hours in a 24 hour period. You would stop the car and take the baby out at regular intervals so they dont spend more than 2 hours at a time in the same scrunched up position. Once you have stopped for a feed/a coffee, etc you can then continue your journey

It's half an hour until they can support their head enough that it doesn't slump forward

And I mean take the baby out of the car seat so their body is no longer in the cat seat position

Does anyone know if this timing still applies if you have a lie flat (or almost flat) car seat?

At my NCT course last week we were told it is different in England and Scotland and that in England they say maximum of 2 hours and in Scotland maximum of 30 minutes. She said she doesn't know why it is different between the two so go for as short as possible and a car seat where they can lie as flat as possible.

@Wanderer1 We were told it still applies to an almost flat car seat as well. I know that Maxi Cosi now do a completely flat car seat, so not sure whether that would still be affected but I am guessing not as it is completely flat. If it is not perfectly flat then still work on the same time limits.

@cornishmaid I'm in England and all the nhs professionals say 30 minutes

Err on the side of caution. You can do the trip with multiple breaks.

CornishMaid1 NCT leader should have known this. It’s 30 mins because at 30 mins young babies in car seats don’t get as much oxygen into their blood system due to the angle of their neck. The worry is any longer and they will be deprived of oxygen.

We live just over an hour away from the hospital in good traffic, safe to say after discharge we’ll probably just try make the journey home without stopping at a polluted service station with a brand newborn.. 🤷🏼‍♀️ And what do we do if we get stuck in traffic?! It’s not ideal but if you need to do it, sit in the back with them & keep a close eye! It’s what we did with DD1 & all was well. We were discharged at 10pm though after waiting all blooming day 🙄

If you don’t need to travel immediately, hang on until 6 weeks when you can go a couple hours solid! But if like us you have no choice, use your common sense!