Do you leave your sleeping baby in carseat|?

[Bena]

My almost 6 week old daughter, (like may babies, I'm guessing) always falls asleep in her carseat. I'm torn beween leaving her there, where she can sleep for a few more hours very soundly, or taking her out, but disturbing her sleep, and maybe even having her wake up and not going back to sleep. I feel terrible leaving her sitting in a carseat, but equally bad waking her up and interrupting her sleep.
What do you do?

[pastrygirl]

If I was lucky enough to have a baby that would sleep in the car seat, I'd leave him there. But I'm unlucky enough to have had two really bad sleepers during the infant phase. I'd do ANYTHING if it meant sleeping more than a few minutes!

[GreenGranolaMama]

I leave my now 7mo DS in his car seat if he falls asleep on the ride home. I'll bring it inside and set it where ever I am going to be, kitchen, living room etc... That way I am right there when he wakes up. I also unfasten the buckles and make sure he is comfy If we get to the store and he is sleeping, I gently pick him up out of the car seat and put him in the ergo, then 99.9% of the time he falls back asleep. I have never brought his car seat into shops or anything like that, I like wearing him and it weighs a TON!

[lifeguard]

We only had a convertible seat so leaving ds in the carseat wasn't an option (unless I wanted to sit outside by the car. He was so used to be put in & out of it while asleep he rarely woke up.

Please be cautious if you do decide to leave dc in the seat. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/st...4.html?ref=rss

[Bena]

Originally Posted by lifeguard

We only had a convertible seat so leaving ds in the carseat wasn't an option (unless I wanted to sit outside by the car. He was so used to be put in & out of it while asleep he rarely woke up.

Please be cautious if you do decide to leave dc in the seat. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/st...4.html?ref=rss

ugh...what a sad, sad story.
I'm surprised this story didn't get more media attention (and I'm in Canada, close to Montreal, so it's not a distance thing!)

[annekh23]

Only rarely and that was the same with all 3 kids. Actually with my 2nd, we took the car seat out the care precisely twice - we didn't have a base and it wasn't easy to install, but her habits helped us with this, as she wasn't the kind to sleep in the car.

Our current baby hates to wake up in her car seat, so it's actually kinder to her to wake her by lifting her out than have her wake alone and be unhappy, she's usually a happy waker even if she is alone in the room (though that doesn't happen often).

If I'm frazzled and she's asleep, I will bring the car seat in to the house, but she sleeps max 15mins, so I've no worries about it, if she was the type to then sleep 2hours I wouldn't want to do it on a regular basis. I purposely bought a stroller that laid flat to keep sitting in the car seat to a minimum.

[elmh23]

With my first two, we only had covertibles so I had no other option but to take them out. Dd would usually sleep through the transition but I could probably count on one hand how many times ds slept through a transition. It made for one tired, cranky baby. I'm pregnant with number 3 and will be getting an infant seat this time and I do plan on leaving him in the seat if he falls asleep. Now that my daughter is in school and my son is in occupational therapy out of the home, it's probably going to be the only nap the poor babe gets!

[red and lulu]

I have a convertible seat so I have to take dd out-- she is 4.5 mo and just recently started falling asleep in the car. If i want her to stay asleep I put her right in the ergo. She'll usually transition just fine. When she's really sleepy I can just cradle her and she'll stay asleep, but it means I'm not getting anything out of the car or done in the house for a little while.

One day I did take the convertible seat out and carried it inside. The neighbors probably thought I was nuts, but she needed to sleep so badly and I needed her to sleep so badly... she napped for almost 3 hours. It was worth it.

[Michigan Mama]

I do it occasionally if he stays asleep when we get home. And I try to always stay close by so I can check on him...

[Aufilia]

Yes, I do. I can never get him out without waking him. I generally just bring him into the living room and sit here with my laptop with him by my feet until he wakes up.

[1stBabyAt39]

Originally Posted by EarthsMamma

I leave my now 7mo DS in his car seat if he falls asleep on the ride home. I'll bring it inside and set it where ever I am going to be, kitchen, living room etc... That way I am right there when he wakes up. I also unfasten the buckles and make sure he is comfy If we get to the store and he is sleeping, I gently pick him up out of the car seat and put him in the ergo, then 99.9% of the time he falls back asleep. I have never brought his car seat into shops or anything like that, I like wearing him and it weighs a TON!

If she's sound asleep, I hate to move her. She usually wakes up soon after anyway.

[GreenGranolaMama]

Originally Posted by lifeguard

We only had a convertible seat so leaving ds in the carseat wasn't an option (unless I wanted to sit outside by the car. He was so used to be put in & out of it while asleep he rarely woke up.

Please be cautious if you do decide to leave dc in the seat. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/st...4.html?ref=rss

So sad! When DS was a tiny nb we only had a convertible as well... but when DS was 4mo DH accidently took it with him out of town to work... so my MIL got us the bucket

[dislocator3972]

Originally Posted by lifeguard

We only had a convertible seat so leaving ds in the carseat wasn't an option (unless I wanted to sit outside by the car. He was so used to be put in & out of it while asleep he rarely woke up.

Please be cautious if you do decide to leave dc in the seat. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/st...4.html?ref=rss

That is a sad story, but the advice they give will do nothing to prevent a suffocation death like in the story. Getting the baby out once an hour will not prevent a suffocation that will happen in minutes. Letting your baby sleep for a few more minutes in the car is no different than making an extra stop through a drive through on the way home.

If your kid sleeps well there and you want him or her to finish her nap, it's fine. If you have your kid sleeping there for hours, it's not fine. But most babies aren't going to sleep more than an hour or so total (maybe 2) and once they do sleep for longer stretches their necks are much stronger.

[Abraisme]

I took my baby out of the carseat until she was 3mo. I feel that the first 3 months are the most important for continual touch. After 3mo I started laying my DD down for some naps and sometimes leaving her in the carseat if she's sleeping. However, I never bring the carseat into stores or resturants, I use a carrier.

[alaskaberry]

Only in the summer... With the windows open, I ought to add. And it's only right where I can see the babe, right in the driveway(I would sit on the steps and read a magazine, cuz he usually woke up right away)! But other than that, no...You can always pop her right into a sling, I bet she would sleep peacefully in it, or you could transfer her from sling to bed, imho much easier than transferring seat to bed. Or you can just bring her inside and let her wake up on her own.

[Kelly1101]

We don't have the kind that comes out, it stays in the car.

Sometimes this summer, if I was going to visit my cousin who lives down the street, or if my husband and I were going to the store, and the baby fell asleep in the car, I would just hang out by the car and let her nap a bit. She never slept for very long, though, maybe half an hour.

[lifeguard]

Originally Posted by dislocator3972

That is a sad story, but the advice they give will do nothing to prevent a suffocation death like in the story. Getting the baby out once an hour will not prevent a suffocation that will happen in minutes. Letting your baby sleep for a few more minutes in the car is no different than making an extra stop through a drive through on the way home.

If your kid sleeps well there and you want him or her to finish her nap, it's fine. If you have your kid sleeping there for hours, it's not fine. But most babies aren't going to sleep more than an hour or so total (maybe 2) and once they do sleep for longer stretches their necks are much stronger.

Unfortunately in this case the baby was in the seat for only about an hour.

My point by posting this was not to scare people but to make them more aware of the possible risk.

[pammysue]

There are breathing concerns when infants are sleeping in car seats outside of the car. I had a convertable for DS, but will probably get a bucket for the new baby. I would think if you prop the seat so it is at the same angle as when installed in the car, it should not be less safe than sleeping in the car. JMO, though.

[GoBecGo]

I'm in the UK. Part of our anti-SIDS info handed out when one has a baby tells you never to leave them in the carseat unless they're in the car because they can suffocate in that round-backed posture. So no, unless we were driving somewhere, i always took DD out of the car seat.