Road trip with 3 month old

[happyface82]

Hey all! I need your advice as I'm new to this!

We will be going on a road trip when my LO is 3 months old. My main concern is the car seat. I have got an infant car seat but I was told babies are not supposed to sit on them for more than 2 hours per day. But not sure for how long this is important? At the time of the trip she will be beginning of 4 months. . .

Any ideas?

xxx

 

[Scally]

How far are u going? When we go on trips we make sure we stop every couple of hours so she can get out of the seat/eat/take a break.

 

[Dee_H]

Baby needs a chance to stretch out and to make sure that their airway is open. Sometimes babies heads will lean to the side or droop down,and their airway isn't completely open. Try to keep babies head supported ( use the headrest with your carseat or roll up a receiving blanket and use it as a headrest)

 

[HannahsMummy]

I wouldn't go anymore than a couple of hours even with Hannah being 20 months now.

As they are growing all the time they need to stretch out and move. I'm guessing the baby will be fed every couple of hours anyway so you will be stopping to get LO out of the seat anyway?

 

[kelly342000]

we went away for the weekend when LO was about 8 weeks old. journey was about 4 and a half hours. she was fine, we stopped a couple of times for us to eat and drink and to change and feed her. was no problem, we had to wake her to feed and change etc as soon as she travels she is out for count!

 

[boonies86]

this is what the maxi cosi website say about it:


You often hear that a baby should lie for a maximum of 2 hours in a baby car seat. Is this true?

There are many misconceptions regarding this.This is generally said and written out of concern for babies and in short it comes down to the fact that a baby car seat such as e.g. a Maxi-Cosi Citi or Maxi-Cosi Cabrio(Fix) should not be used excessively.Children should not lie in a fixed position for too long unnecessarily.They should have the opportunity to develop their motor skills and their arm, back and neck muscles.As the manufacturer of the main car seat for babies in Europe, the Maxi-Cosi, we have been writing this for many years in our user instructions.Do not put a baby in a car seat for the whole day for convenience, but give him/her the opportunity to develop.This also applies to baby carriers and all other products in which a baby sits, hangs or lies in a fixed position.However, if you have to make a longer car journey or travel on holiday once in a while, this is no problem at all.We recommend thatyou stop every 2 hours.After all, a baby has to eat and be changed regularly anyway

 

[mummy2b2010]

I travel down to bristol every few weeks to visit my family as i live in cambridge with my oh and lo and my lo has always been fine,its a 4 hour journey,we usually stop 2+ times on the way anyway to stretch lo out and feed and change him....we are also going on hols to wales in 3 weeks and its about 6 hours so we will again stop about 3-4 times,for all of us to stretch and eat xxx

 

[Mrs Dot]

we just went down to dorset for the week from the north west and it took 5 hours in total both ways. H was really good and slept most of the way and we just timed stops around his feeds and made sure we stopped for at least half an hour to get him to have a decent amount of time out of the var seat. don't worry too much hun, so long as you stop off you'll be fine

 

[suzib76]

well i must be the exception to the rule then, and i will stress now that of course i dont have Lana in her car seat for huge amounts of time every day, but, i do make regular 4 hour trips and have often done it without stopping. if i have no need to stop then i dont stop. it is not good for the development, and its another case of guidlines introduced to try and prevent the idiotic parents who would leave the baby in the seat all day every day, but as a one off it will do baby no harm whatsoever to be in the seat for a little over 2 hours

 

[KarrierBag]

well i must be the exception to the rule then, and i will stress now that of course i dont have Lana in her car seat for huge amounts of time every day, but, i do make regular 4 hour trips and have often done it without stopping. if i have no need to stop then i dont stop. it is not good for the development, and its another case of guidlines introduced to try and prevent the idiotic parents who would leave the baby in the seat all day every day, but as a one off it will do baby no harm whatsoever to be in the seat for a little over 2 hours

^^WSS^^ Totally agree, as one off it will be fine!
When newborn, LO wouldnt sleep anywhere other than in her carseat so that's where she slept for the first 3/4 nights and was going 4 hours between feeds, midwife said it was fine too..

xx

 

[Seity]

We took a 13 hour road trip when Gabriel was 10 weeks. It was fine. We stopped regularly to feed him and he slept most of the time. That was 13 hours both ways.

 

[sun]

Well I don't know if I would call it a "road trip" since it's only 4-5h - but we drive this length pretty often with no problems. We take a break for food/nappy change partway through usually!

xx

 

[happyface82]

Thanks for your replies girls!! I guess it makes sense, its not every day!! It will be long hours as we are driving from the UK to Greece but we'll take stops of course to feed and change her! And of course we are going to take it slower than usually!

Thanks! Feeling more confident now about it! I guess it was a silly question but sometimes as a new mum you worry you'll do smt really stupid you know?

xxx