I know it's frowned upon to let baby sleep in car seat while in the car, let alone in the house! Well, as I type this, my 3-month-old baby girl is napping next to me, on the floor in my dining room IN HER CAR SEAT. I know, I know. Not good. Not recommended and maybe not safe. And, not restful sleep. But, hey, she's asleep and here I am getting some work done.
Opinions?
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
I think it's totally fine for them to nap in their car seat in the car. It's frowned upon in the house because it's not clipped into the base and not at the same angle, so there are safety concerns.
That said, I've done it before and I'm sure a ton of parents have. As long as you're keeping an eye on them to make sure they are still breathing and not having any issues, do what you've gotta do!
grapefruit / 4492 posts
I let my son sleep in his in the car, because how the heck was I going to control that while driving down the highway? As to sleeping in it once you're inside, I would try to move him to his bassinet, pack n play, crib, or hold him because I had options since I wasn't driving (not that he never slept in his car seat once inside, but I did try to avoid it). I know positional asphyxia is totally possible in a car seat whether you're in the car or in the house, but I can't fix the car problem if we have to go somewhere.
pineapple / 12053 posts
frowned upon to nap in the car?! i feel like most parents have put their kids in the car to get a nap at least once! i let DD3 stay sleeping in her infant seat when we got home from preschool drop off. she was screaming for a nap and no way was i gonna wake her.
apricot / 341 posts
The risk is suffocation by the straps and not being position correctly leading to suffocation or lack of oxygen. There was a story in England (or somewhere overseas) where they were driving for a couple of hours and when they removed their baby from the car seat she started having seizures. It turned out that being that long in the car seat severely limited her oxygen levels and when she was removed from the seat her breathing returned to normal and triggered the seizures.
However if she's somewhere that you can watch her and monitor her breathing and making sure she doesn't shift (or keep her buckled in properly). And you need those few moments of peace I don't see an issue with it. I'm sure my son napped a few times in his car seat. And my chiropractor once mention one of his kids would only sleep in the car seat so spent the first year of his life sleeping only in the seat.... so I think it's one of those do what's comfortable for you.
pomegranate / 3973 posts
I've let LO remain sleeping in the car seat after moving to the house, while keeping a close eye on her. If she's right next to you, get some work done while you can!
squash / 13199 posts
@CatchAFallingStar: Yeah I agree with previous posters there's no way to stop them falling asleep in the car seat in the car. When they are infants I ride in the backseat whenever possible. However at home the car seat poses additionally risks as it can tip forwards or backwards. I believe one of the main things is to not leave them unattended in the car seat when it isn't secured into the base.
grapefruit / 4361 posts
I think as long as you are checking on her, it's fine.
Another thing I try to be careful of is airflow in the carseat.... I only ever use a muslin blanket over it and I make sure there are gaps for airflow and peeking on her. I have a carseat fan too but I use it inconsistently.
pomelo / 5129 posts
Normally I say nay, and I'd take DS out of his carseat, swaddle him, and put him to bed.
I made an exception once when both of us were exhausted after a long weekend of him being sick. I got home from a doctor's visit and hated to wake him (he'd been sleeping horribly because of sickness). My sister was there to watch him, and I know she's even more over protective than I am and wouldn't take her eye off him.
But it makes me really uneasy to think about it. I think I only let it happen that day because I was so sleep deprived myself!
persimmon / 1111 posts
I'm a nay, but that's because we leave the car seat bucket in the car except for a few exceptions (like when I have a doctor's appointment). Car seat death freaks me out.
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
Big time nay for me! There’s been cases where the baby’s airway was constricted and they died of suffocation. This is the number one reason why I did not buy a bucket seat. I didn’t want any chance of my child to nap outside of the car in a car seat. ETA: I don’t know since I didn’t use one, but outside of the car how is the infant seat positioned? Like are they more horizontal than not?
kiwi / 598 posts
I've never heard that babies can't sleep in the car. However, we never let our infant stay in the bucket seat other than being in the car. I used to transfer him into his bassinet stroller as soon as we got to wherever we were going.
nectarine / 2806 posts
I meant that babies aren’t supposed to nap much in the car because it’s not considered quality, restful sleep. I didn’t mean it was unsafe. But, I know the infant seats aren’t really safe for sleeping in when not locked into the base. So, I don’t do it often. But, today I did. She ended up getting about 30 minutes in it - in the house. But, she was literally RIGHT next to me and I watched her the whole time.
nectarine / 2400 posts
@CatchAFallingStar: I don’t think you have to feel bad about this 
I’ve done way crazier for a nap
cantaloupe / 6086 posts
I wouldn’t feel bad about this! I mean yes let’s do it in the safest way that is reasonable but I wouldn’t wake a baby up to move them, mine didn’t sleep long in there anyway before waking. My second fell asleep in the car every single preschool drop off for his sister (2-3 days a week) and I’m sure my coming third will be in the car even more with the nature of hauling 3 around (I’m mostly solo when kids are awake so we all go together)
pomegranate / 3231 posts
Um, yeah, I totally kept the sleeping baby in the car seat after getting out of the car, but it was almost always clicked into his stroller. Planning to do this with the twins too. However, I got bassinets for their stroller this time since they will be delivered at an earlier gestation than my son was. I would like them to lie flat when we are strolling around town without the car.
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
Did it all the time. Didn’t leave either of them unattended but we brought them into restaurants where they’d sleep, into the house, etc.
pomelo / 5258 posts
@CatchAFallingStar: This seems like one of those parenting conundrums that’s ‘a thing’ online but not IRL. I wouldn’t wake my sleeping baby to take them out of the car. That’s the best feature of the infant seat.
pomelo / 5298 posts
@Corduroy: agreed. I didn’t have babies that could be transferred. So if they were sleeping in their seat through the fitting in the house process they stayed there. I even did it at a party once when LO was 9 months and was overtired and needed to sleep. Into the seat with a blanket over as I gently rocked her. She’s now 6.75. It’s one of my many parenting flaws.
honeydew / 7463 posts
@travellingbee: @Corduroy: @gotkimchi: @MamaG: Yeah I think this is another one of those things that maybe is not the ideal sleeping scenario but it’s also not a death sentence either. Like it’s pretty unlikely, but because the possibility is so devastating, people take a hard line (or say they do).
Like, there are the same concerns with a rock n play but plenty of people do that because it’s convenient and seems more like a sleeping device, but I bet a lot of them say “I’d never!” about car seat sleeping.
pear / 1521 posts
I gleefully let my 3 month old sleep in her car seat inside for an hour and a half the other day. She has preferred to take almost all her naps on me lately so it was a real treat. I did check on her repeatedly but I wasn’t right there the whole time. I know it’s not 100% safe but I’m ok with it sparingly.
pomelo / 5298 posts
@SweetiePie: also guilty on the RNP. My second kiddo was a spitter and really didn’t tolerate being flat. Parenting flaw #2.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
I read that sleeping on an incline could cause the airway to collapse, basically, the weight of the head on an unstable neck could restrict air to the lungs.
No car seat sleeping, no swing naps, no rock and play for us. My son was also laying flat in a basinett while in his stroller until he was 7 months old that’s how vigilant I was. I recognize this was more about my fears than anything though, I wouldn’t belittle anyone for their choices. You do you and I will continue over here doing me with no comments.
persimmon / 1390 posts
@petitenoisette: I like the “gleefully” part. I’m not sure how I ever could have avoided this. Isn’t this how you get grocery shopping witha newborn done?! I don’t know that it’s any amore “unsafe” than a RNP or swing (we did soooo many swing naps). I will fully admit to leaving the car windows down on a 55 degree day while she napped in there so I could clean up the yard for 15 minutes. The only thing I worried about was a bee getting in. I think it’s one of those things you need to weigh, too: a healthy baby is way more likely to die in a car accident than in an unsafe sleep environment (anything less than alone, in a crib, on her back, in a cool, non-smoking household: I really like the new How to Riase a Human series from NPR—they have some stuff that kind of touches on this).
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
@MamaG: rock n play, swing... my reflux babies slept where I could get ‘em to sleep. Because even so we barely got sleep and that isn’t safe either.
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
@SweetiePie: raising my hand as to a no RNP & infant car seat person. I did cosleep.
@Becky: Before LO was sitting up in the grocery cart, I shopped with him in his stroller. I would stop off at the service desk and tell them I was going to load up the stroller and my reusable bags and then pay for everything.
honeydew / 7463 posts
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Rnp was just an example of something that people seem to be ok with even though it’s technically not safe sleeping. But I think you got what I meant anyway by mentioning the cosleeping 
I’m always team “calculated risks”. That’s all!
grapefruit / 4291 posts
I think the other issue with napping in a carseat is the risk of baby developing a flat spot on their head and the fact that they’re stuck in one position for an extended period of time. As an example, say you drive 1-2 hours to the zoo then baby spends the day in the carseat because it’s clicked into the stroller and is then put back into the car to drive 1-2 hours home and you all of a sudden have a baby that’s spent most of the day in one position with limited opportunity to move and stretch etc.
nectarine / 2243 posts
@Corduroy: agreed. It’s a “there was once thing I heard on the internet somewhere and I think a baby died in a car seat from the strap, or maybe it was from his neck being flexed or something”. It seems as though if your child is buckled correctly (like the straps aren’t loose and tangled around their necks) and the seat isn’t sitting at a totally weird angle causing head slump you are going to be totally fine 99.99% of the time.
pomelo / 5220 posts
I didn't encourage it - like I wasn't like let me take a ride around the block so he falls asleep - but if it happened I totally let them be and carried the bucket seat inside the house/wherever we were going. Neither of my kids transfer from car seat to crib. I worried more when they were really, really little and had no neck control but not so much now that they are bigger.
cantaloupe / 6171 posts
I've always been team "don't wake the baby." If baby was asleep in the infant car seat, I definitely transferred it to the stroller base and let her keep sleeping. I didn't put her in the carseat in order to get her to nap though!
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
I wouldn't put baby in the car seat TO nap, but if baby was already sleeping I'd let him/her stay asleep but def only if I'm keep an eye on them. Then again, I wouldn't know because none of my girls were car nappers as babies!
persimmon / 1095 posts
Napping in the car seat while in the car is perfectly fine and not frowned upon. The angle of the seat in the car makes it safe. While I wouldn't put my daughter in the car seat outside of the car to get her to nap, I'd totally let her keep napping if I carried the car seat from the car to the house/location we were going.
grapefruit / 4321 posts
@Corduroy: Preach. My kids finished naps in their car seats all the time.
grapefruit / 4455 posts
@CatchAFallingStar: I wouldn't make it a regular thing but right next to you very now and the ? So not a big deal!
@Kemma: the flat spot was always a concern with us too. My first and second had flat heads and second got a helmet. My third I can tell has a bit of a flat spot on one side of her head that she was born with and hasn't quite filled out. But my second spent the most time strapped to a car seat and wasn't really any worse than my first so idk? I still try to avoid it though.
hostess / wonderful grape / 20803 posts
All of my kids spent a lot of time napping in that infant bucket seat....
pear / 1558 posts
I must be a terrible parent with a terrible pediatrician : LO (who is 3yo & absolutely perfect) slept in the car in her bucket seat, out of the car in the bucket seat for 1-2wks when her reflux seemed bad, in a stroller in her bucket seat, in a RNP... all with the blessing or even at the recommendation of our ped.
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