Pushchairs and car seats?

[chickenfactory]

My DH can't get his head round any reason ever why we would ever need to put the car seat onto the pushchair. He thinks we would always take the baby out and place him in the pram part to begin with then the pushchair part. Any examples of when u do this? Or am I wrong? First baby obviously...both clueless!

The obvious answer is that somegimes you don't want to wake your sleeping baby and it's quicker hust to pop them on the pushchair in their carseat. Especially if it's goung to be a short trip.

Having said that, they're not supposed to spend too much time in them, as it's not good for their backs.

It really depends on your lifestyle, how much you use the car, etc

First of all, you know there are guidelines for how long a baby - especially a newborn should be in a car seat. I will send truthsweet here as she's the car seat guru! I think its something like 30 mins max for a newborn and then 2 hours for an older baby. There are risks associated with using a car seat for a young baby, but we have to use them IRL. However what you do not need to do is use a car seat beyond travelling time IF you are going to be out for a period of time after that.

So essentially you are both right. I know some people don't like the use of car seats on a chassis, full stop, but for me they are a godsend. We are largely car based and to be able to drive, put my sleeping baby onto a chassis whilst I run into the shop, surgery, baby clinic etc was invaluable. These are examples of when I would use the car seat. With the last two examples, the chances are the baby would be taken out once inside the building anyway.

What I would NOT use the car seat on the chassis for (and it really really irks me to the point where I want to tell the parents!), is to wander around the shops with for a long time (ie more than a quick run in, grab something and run out). If you plan to be more than say 10 minutes (bear in mind your journey time there and back) then I would transfer your baby to the carrycot or later, into the pushchair seat. I often see babies in car seats either with a basket full of different carrier bags underneath ie clearly been in there more than even 30 mins or on a day trip type outing eg a museum or farm, where the baby clearly has been in the car seat a long time and this is really NOT advised.

A baby grows in their sleep. Most babies - especially newborns will sleep on a car journey. If your baby is curled up in a car seat, then their organs can not expand fully. Prolonged periods of time not laid flat (in a carrycot or moses basket, or even on your lap,) means that across time (ie not just on one long journey) the baby's lungs etc are not expanding properly, thus do not grow properly.

So, yes a chassis where a car seat clips on can be very useful especially if you have just finnnnaaaallllly managed to get your grumpy baby to sleep but need to go to the shops for nappies / medicine / chocolate. However if you can remove the baby and put it in a carrycot then that would be better. If you are going anywhere, where you will be walking or sitting more than say 5-10 mins, then I would definitely remove the baby and put them in the carrycot.

With DC1 we lived overseas where the car seats were generally bolted into the cars ie. you never took them out unless moving to another vehicle. No it is not essential but yes it is handy for short shopping trips like described above.

Also depending on the age gap if you have a subsequent child the facility to clip the car seat onto a pushchair is very handy if you are in and out doing nursery/school drop off and pick ups.

Thank you for all those answers- much clearer now. The car seat will be staying in the car as much as possible.
Very interesting stats too, PIL live four hours away so they can visit us in the beginning- far too long for pfb.

It is handy to clip and go with the carseat but if it popping to the supermarket for a nappy dash u can clip the car seat in to a trolley anyway and if your going anywhere for longer newborns usually drift of again quickly and the more u do it the more they get used to it.

Its ok to travel 4 hours, if you stop and get your LO out for a stretch en route :) Big car journeys often can't be avoided :)
Everything is more of an issue if you did 4 hours every day rather than the odd journey IYKWIM.

I used it lots as I didn't have a car - things like getting a taxi home from somewhere, getting a train somewhere and a lift at the other end, going somewhere by coach.

Personally I do not see the worry about babies needing to lie flat, it doesn't seem a very "natural" position to me. I get the risk of newborns sitting up in car seats or pushchairs because it can restrict their breathing, but car seats in a fairly reclined position don't pose this problem. My baby spent most of his time curled up on my chest in a sling anyway, rather than lying flat.

I use that feature more now DS only has one nap and I can't get him from car seat to pram without waking him, and he NEEDS that nap!!