We got back late from visiting the in-laws and once again, she didn't get any sleep until I had to basically insist on it. She's sleeping so peacefully in her carseat and I'm thinking about just leaving her in there. Is this a serious "Mommy fail" moment? Will she be fine in there or is this considered abuse?
I have to add that LO is at home, in the bedroom with me, not inside the car.
pineapple / 12234 posts
Definitely not abuse!!! I wouldn't do it often but once in awhile is okay, in my opinion. The position of the car seat isn't great for their little bodies, it's compromised for safety in the car. I'm typing this right now as DD is sleeping in her car seat--she's been missing all of her naps and will only be held for the short ones she does take...I need a break!!!
ETA: wait, is she in the car or with you?
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
When my LO was a newborn she got so many car naps! She wouldn't sleep in her crib so it was pretty much a daily thing. I would just sit in the car with her and play on my phone or read a book.
grapefruit / 4110 posts
My son spent plenty of naps in his carseat. We actually had a swing for our carseat and we would put him in there. Now, if you left the baby alone in the car maybe it would border on abuse (I've heard of parents putting a monitor in the car to hear if the baby wakes up). But sometimes I will sit with him in the car or we have even pulled the convertible out once or twice for him to sleep in. Sleep is so valuable we don't mess with it.
bananas / 9227 posts
@HeatherlovesKenny: She's in the room with me.
I should note that would NEVER leave a baby in the car alone.
bananas / 9227 posts
I'm afraid to move her! It's so nice to be able to sit in bed and stretch for once!
pineapple / 12234 posts
@Crumbs: Oh okay, that's what I thought until I read @brownie's post!
pomegranate / 3980 posts
Definitely not abuse! If we get home and lo is sleeping in her carpet I will just bring her in and leave her in the seat until she wakes up. To me nothing is worse than disturbing a sleeping baby! lol
grapefruit / 4582 posts
No. Definitely not abuse! My friends baby slept in his carseat even at night to help with his reflux for like a month and he's totally fine
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
We all do it! If Lo falls asleep, I leave her where she is! 
honeydew / 7444 posts
Yep, we all do it! I only wake her if she JUST fell asleep so i can put her in the crib, but if she'd been sleeping for 20 minutes or so, i'll leave her in the car seat. She once napped for 2.5 hours in the car seat!
pomegranate / 3383 posts
Not abuse at all! I used to let my LO sleep in his carseat for 2-3 hours at a time!
persimmon / 1205 posts
Not abuse at all, leave her there. I'll do it sometimes when we'll come home from running errands and I know if I take her out, she'll wake up.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
hahahaha that is so funny. haha sooo not abuse. I know so many moms whose babies ONLY sleep in the car, so their naps are always in the carseat. I don't think it's a problem.
cherry / 195 posts
I've totally let LO nap it out in her car seat. That is, if I coulf get her in the house without making the dogs bark like crazy, waking her up and pissing her off.
kiwi / 691 posts
My LO only slept in her carseat for the first 6 weeks or so of her life! It was doctor approved. She had really bad reflux and it was the only place she'd ever settle down for the night. So if it's abuse, I'm in really big trouble!
hostess / wonderful grape / 20803 posts
Abuse?! No way! My son took some of his best naps in his carseat!!
hostess / eggplant / 11068 posts
OMG, sleeping in the carseat was the only way we could get her to sleep when LO was a baby~!
cantaloupe / 6146 posts
I do not wake him if he's sleeping! Although now he wakes when the car stops so I don't bring the car seat in the house anymore. If he did sleep through the arrival I would totally bring him in and let him finish his nap there.
cantaloupe / 6751 posts
I do that!! Sometimes if she falls asleep and I know taking the infant car seat out will wake her, I'll just sit in the car and surf the web while I let her nap 
GOLD / wonderful pea / 17697 posts
Nope. E naps great in the car, and sometimes if he's out out we'll leave him in it (and bring the seat into the house). We usually put it down on the living room floor and unbuckle him, but will let him sleep.
coconut / 8475 posts
To my understanding: it is insane to try & move a sleeping baby...:) so you're good!
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
I wouldn't let her sleep there all night but DD has taken countless naps in the car.
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
LO has been a champion car napper! I've never left him in the car alone, though. For some reason the thought of that makes me a little uneasy.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
Europeans have a totally different view about using the car seat for sleeping, largely because of the airway constriction concerns.
I'd be careful about making it a habit that you then have to break and I'd also be concerned about flat head.
coconut / 8299 posts
I used to do that all the time for naps! If my son fell asleep in the car seat during a car ride, we would just bring the car seat inside the house and let him finish off his nap in it.
pomegranate / 3053 posts
Not at all. When my LO falls asleep right before we get home I just slowly carry him into our office where there is a monitor and let him sleep there. Not often but it happens.
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
She has napped in the car seat a lot. We have even left her in the car alone with the car and a/c running to get some extra sleep and we will play with the dog outside for a while (we are obviously right there by the car). We have even set up a "monitor" in the car. I call my husbands phone and put them both on speaker phone. We leave one phone in the car with her and take the other with us. Again, we aren't going inside or in a store or anything, this is only when we are right there with her but chatting with friends or playing with the dog. If we take her out of the seat (convertible) she wakes up, so if we want her to stay asleep we keep her in the car.
clementine / 943 posts
We do it all the time, especially if we go somewhere and LO has fallen asleep in his car seat. We just loosen the straps and let him wake up on his own. Obviously, we take him into the house and don't leave him in the car ;). I don't think there's anything wrong with it.
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
Wagon Jr. used to take at least one nap a day in the carseat! To get him down for that last nap of the day I would specifically take him somewhere or even just drive up and down the highway so he'd fall asleep. Once he was asleep I'd drive home, park and wait for him to wake up.
We don't have a garage, but once when we visited Wagon Sr.'s cousin, they told us to pull into their garage because Wagon Jr. was sleeping in the back. (this was when he was in a convertible carseat so we couldn't take it out.) then we got out and had a drink at the table in their kitchen with the door to the garage open and the car windows down. When he woke up we just went and got him. They said they did this almost every day with their kids. It was so weird to be able to go in the house and do stuff with the baby still sleeping in the car!!!
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
Nope, not abuse. My parents used to do it to me all the time as a kid (old enough to no longer sit in a car seat, but still needed naps). As @mrs. wagon described, they'd pull into the garage, roll all the windows down, and just let me sleep. When I woke up, I'd get out of the car and walk into the house.
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
Pfft- this is why they invented infant seats with the clip in base, so that exhausted mommies can leave babies asleep. We used to bring her into the house in her car seat, and plop the seat right in her crib, close the door and turn on the monitor. Babies need sleep! Don't feel bad at all.
persimmon / 1295 posts
Not abuse at all but you are supposed to limit the amount of car seat napping because of danger to breathing. In fact before I went on a big car trip I found out you are supposed to take the baby out every 90 mins for stretching! (Or at least I think it was 90).
I think a bigger crime is leaving the baby in the car seat all the time around the house when he/she is awake. Baby needs to learn how to move!
grapefruit / 4823 posts
please if this is abuse, then i'm the number one offender! the only way DS would sleep for the first 4 weeks of his life was in his carseat and i'm talking at night sleep! we literally put him in his carseat for bed and put it in his pack and play, he slept so well! i was nervous too that it was bad, but at his 1 week appointment i asked the ped if it was ok that he sleeps in his carseat at night she said 'not at all! if that's where he's comfortable right now that's fine.' she also said, that especially when they are really little, they prefer it because it's upright and tight.
persimmon / 1295 posts
@sarbear yes they probably love the coziness. Just like being swaddled!
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
I thought of this post when I got home yesterday and M had fallen asleep in her car seat. I took the seat inside and put it by the back door. I let the dogs out and kept one eye on them and one eye on the baby until they came back inside. She slept in her seat for a good 45 minutes. I wasn't moving her for anything!!
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