OK to take 1.5 month old on 3 hour trip?

The DW's parents live 15 minutes away, so they have seen our DS a few
more times than my parents, who live 2.5 hours away, only saw DS after
delivery.

So we're planning to visit my folks around July 4th and do an over-
nighter.

But our concerns are - is it OK to keep baby in a carseat for 2.5
hours??

Maybe we could stop for lunch ... but then he'd still have to be in
the carseat unless I hold him and I'd hate to disturb him on our way
up, we're planning to nurse before we leave then hopefully he'll stay
asleep the entire ride.

Snugglemonster wrote:
The DW's parents live 15 minutes away, so they have seen our DS a few
more times than my parents, who live 2.5 hours away, only saw DS after
delivery.

So we're planning to visit my folks around July 4th and do an over-
nighter.

But our concerns are - is it OK to keep baby in a carseat for 2.5
hours??

Maybe we could stop for lunch ... but then he'd still have to be in
the carseat unless I hold him and I'd hate to disturb him on our way
up, we're planning to nurse before we leave then hopefully he'll stay
asleep the entire ride.

If he's asleep, I wouldn't worry about it at all for
2.5 hours. If he wakes, take a break and let him stretch for
a bit on the way.

Best wishes,
Ericka

"Snugglemonster" wrote in message
ups.com...
The DW's parents live 15 minutes away, so they have seen our DS a few
more times than my parents, who live 2.5 hours away, only saw DS after
delivery.

So we're planning to visit my folks around July 4th and do an over-
nighter.

But our concerns are - is it OK to keep baby in a carseat for 2.5
hours??

Maybe we could stop for lunch ... but then he'd still have to be in
the carseat unless I hold him and I'd hate to disturb him on our way
up, we're planning to nurse before we leave then hopefully he'll stay
asleep the entire ride.


Yes, it's okay to keep your baby in the carseat that long. Some babies only
sleep in their car seats at that age, so are in it much longer during the
night. Have you never taken your baby out and about to run errands, and
kept him in the car seat on the stroller while you shopped, then sat and had
lunch with him in the carseat on the booth seat next to you? I did things
like that lots of times, and could easily be out and about for a few hours.

Just follow his lead. Get yourselves all packed and ready and everything in
the car. Leave in the morning, after he's been up for a little bit,
finished his nursing session and had a nice big poop. Then clean, fresh and
fed, put him in the car seat and go. He should fall asleep and most likely
stay asleep for the whole trip. But if he wakes up and fusses, you can stop
and see if he needs more food or a diaper change, or just a stretch. You
should be just fine!
--

Jamie
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Addison Grace -- 09/30/04

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"Snugglemonster" wrote in message
ups.com...
The DW's parents live 15 minutes away, so they have seen our DS a few
more times than my parents, who live 2.5 hours away, only saw DS after
delivery.

So we're planning to visit my folks around July 4th and do an over-
nighter.

But our concerns are - is it OK to keep baby in a carseat for 2.5
hours??

Maybe we could stop for lunch ... but then he'd still have to be in
the carseat unless I hold him and I'd hate to disturb him on our way
up, we're planning to nurse before we leave then hopefully he'll stay
asleep the entire ride.

I don't see why it would be a problem at all. The only thing that would
stop me from that trip would be if he is sick. If he has had respiratory
issues (has or recently recovering from pneumonia or something) then I would
avoid the trip. If not, I'd go for it and have a great time.
At this age, most babies just pass right out in the car and stay sleeping.
I'd worry more about him waking up and wanting to stretch or be awake more
once he's older - this age, though, they're so easy to travel with. They
often don't wake for shorter trips (even 3 hours) and if they do, they often
go right back to sleep as soon as the car is started and down the road
again.
He'd be fine in the seat for the trip, even if you stopped for lunch for
yourselves and he's still sleeping. I'd leave him in the seat, but I
probably would take him out and lay him in a crib or floor or bed or
something once I got there, regardless of if he was still sleeping or not -
mine were so easy to move from car seat to stroller, bed, baby carrier,
whatever. Once asleep, mine were all basically dead to the world and
nothing could wake them!

"Snugglemonster" wrote in message
ups.com...
The DW's parents live 15 minutes away, so they have seen our DS a few
more times than my parents, who live 2.5 hours away, only saw DS after
delivery.

So we're planning to visit my folks around July 4th and do an over-
nighter.

But our concerns are - is it OK to keep baby in a carseat for 2.5
hours??

Maybe we could stop for lunch ... but then he'd still have to be in
the carseat unless I hold him and I'd hate to disturb him on our way
up, we're planning to nurse before we leave then hopefully he'll stay
asleep the entire ride.

Some babies to get obstructive apnoea episodes in car seats, but if it was a
problem, you'd already have noticed it (I vaguely recall some research that
said all babies had more episodes in car seats than not, but a small number
of apnoea episodes is a normal feature of being a human being), so that's
not an issue. The other issue is long term back health, which is going to be
a problem if they are consistently in car seats several hours a day - if
they stay asleep for all of a two and a half hour trip, that's great, just
enjoy it whilst it lasts.

I will say here though, if I knew what I know now, I would have tried to
reduce the time my first baby spent in a car seat and given the amount of
time he spent in a car seat clipped to a stroller, I wish I had had a lie
flat option. Being able to clip car seats on to things is great, if you have
a baby that you can't move otherwise, but for all sorts of reasons, I've
concluded that's kind of second choice, if it's the only thing that works
then fine, thankfully we have that options, but either having the baby
lieing flat when being transported out of the car, or in a sling definitely
seems the better option for baby's long term well being, oxygen saturation
almost always dips after a period of time in a car seat, and I do think it's
an unnatural position to be in - but nor did I think those things were
important enough to warrant purchasing a lie flat car seat. So whilst on
this trip, it might be highly convenient to take him in to a restaurant and
stay in his car seat, I don't think that's a solution every time. We have a
number of photos of our second lieing asleep on a fleece on whatever table
we were eating at - at that age they don't roll, so a parent with a hand 6
inches away was sufficient.

Cheers

Anne

"Snugglemonster" wrote in message
ups.com...
The DW's parents live 15 minutes away, so they have seen our DS a few
more times than my parents, who live 2.5 hours away, only saw DS after
delivery.

So we're planning to visit my folks around July 4th and do an over-
nighter.

But our concerns are - is it OK to keep baby in a carseat for 2.5
hours??

Maybe we could stop for lunch ... but then he'd still have to be in
the carseat unless I hold him and I'd hate to disturb him on our way
up, we're planning to nurse before we leave then hopefully he'll stay
asleep the entire ride.


We took my DD to visit inlaws at 6 weeks old exactly, a 3.5 hour car trip,
drove it straight with no stops because she remained asleep (I nursed her
right before we left and as soon as we got there too). It was fine. DD was
awesome in the car- always went to sleep and never cried.

Snugglemonster wrote:

But our concerns are - is it OK to keep baby in a carseat for 2.5
hours??

Yes. If he stays asleep, that's fine. If not,
take him out, play with him, nurse him, then
put him back in.

We took lots of road trips and always allowed
at least 50% more time because of breaks and
nursing, so a 7-hour trip to LA became an
11-hour trip to LA, but that was fine.

-- Anita --

On Jun 11, 11:06 am, Snugglemonster wrote:
The DW's parents live 15 minutes away, so they have seen our DS a few
more times than my parents, who live 2.5 hours away, only saw DS after
delivery.

So we're planning to visit my folks around July 4th and do an over-
nighter.

But our concerns are - is it OK to keep baby in a carseat for 2.5
hours??

Maybe we could stop for lunch ... but then he'd still have to be in
the carseat unless I hold him and I'd hate to disturb him on our way
up, we're planning to nurse before we leave then hopefully he'll stay
asleep the entire ride.

He'll probably sleep the whole way -- just make sure your wife takes
advantage of it and naps too!

Have fun,
Elle

In article . com,
says...
The DW's parents live 15 minutes away, so they have seen our DS a few
more times than my parents, who live 2.5 hours away, only saw DS after
delivery.

So we're planning to visit my folks around July 4th and do an over-
nighter.

But our concerns are - is it OK to keep baby in a carseat for 2.5
hours??

Maybe we could stop for lunch ... but then he'd still have to be in
the carseat unless I hold him and I'd hate to disturb him on our way
up, we're planning to nurse before we leave then hopefully he'll stay
asleep the entire ride.


Nursing before you leave is the right way to get started. Drive
a long as he is asleep (you may make it all the way). Stop and
nurse again when he wakes up. Rinse, lather, repeat. :-)

Larry