(tiny) new born - car seat

xyz123

hi

a (dumb) question on new born car seat. The new borns are advised to be kept in a flat position on their back. however does this apply to car seat. We have got two car seats suitable for new born (given by family) and in both i dont seem to be able to put the baby in a "flat" position.

Our baby si 4 weeks early so she is quite tiny. is there a guide on the position of baby within the car seat!

ta

mummyroysof3

I think it's recommended they spend as much time as possible flat so unless you planning a long car journey I wouldn't worry too much. You can get car seat that lay flat though. I don't like to see babies especially little ones in travel systems unless its just to pop into a shop quickly or something.

fluffnutter

You can get lie flat carseats but they're extraordinarily expensive. The general advice is to make sure they spend as little time in their carseats as possible, i.e. just use it for journeys rather than as somewhere to sit and sleep in the house. If you are making a long journey (more than a couple of hours) take baby out for a stretch and a cuddle periodically.

You'll be fine - just don't leave your baby in there for hours.

rachbc

Mine came with a wedge/ insert that went under baby to flatten them out a bit - might be worth searching online for your brand of car seat to see if there is anything for yours. Obviously only go with something from the manufacturer as I know they don;t recommend fitting anything extra to a car seat.

I only used mine in the car not as travel system and when tiny lo was either in a sling of fully flat pram/ carry cot

sweaty_betty

The above posters are right, you're supposed to limit the time in car seats as laying flat is best when very young.
I get really annoyed with (some) travel systems that say that their pram can be suitable for newborns if you use the car seat attached to the chassis - I used to go out with the pram for hours and there's no way I would want to keep a young baby in a car seat for that long.

LannieDuck

Agreed with the others - a 'normal' car seat is ok for a newborn, but don't leave him/her in it for too long. Short journeys are fine, but if you're going for longer journeys make sure you have occassional rest stops to let baby stretch out.

I also agree that I don't like the travel systems for newborns. We had a pram that lay flat, so baby could go from car seat to lying flat in the pram. In a travel system, baby would go from car seat to... car-seat-in-travel-system

pigpen

4 weeks early the chances are baby isn't that small! Mine were all early and at 35-37 weeks were 5-7lb a perfectly acceptable size to be in a normal car seat.

Britax do one which is effectively a carrycot type thing.. but in the event of an accident it isn't wonderful. We have the Besafe Go which lays quite flat and is in fact one of the flattest I have seen.

Having had several 3-4lb babies myself the car seat you have with the newborn insert will be adequate for the short periods of time the baby will be in the car seat and it is a gross waste of money better spent elsewhere to buy an interim car seat for a few weeks. They grow that quick there is just no need.

Claree__x

I agree with all of the above re; travel systems. I have had this discussion with my husband and various family members who keep saying it'd be "more convenient" to have a travel system. Tough.

notanewuser

Claree__x wrote: »

I agree with all of the above re; travel systems. I have had this discussion with my husband and various family members who keep saying it'd be "more convenient" to have a travel system. Tough.

I had/have a travel system. It has 2 'tops' - a carrycot and a pushchair bit, and I bought the adapters for our maxi cosi carseat. DD was never in her seat for more than 2 hours, ever, whether on a journey or out and about. If I needed to pop to the shop with her I wasn't going to get her out of the carseat for a 20 minute shop. Much easier to just clip her into the wheels.

If I was going into town for the day then she went into the carrycot/pushchair. She went into an isofix car seat at 9 months and the maxi cosi went to a relative.

I hate seeing babies in carseats for extended periods.

Incidentally, DD had all of her naps in the carrycot, so if she was asleep and I needed to pop out I'd walk and take her in the pram rather than put her in the car seat.

Claree__x

notanewuser wrote: »

I had/have a travel system. It has 2 'tops' - a carrycot and a pushchair bit, and I bought the adapters for our maxi cosi carseat. DD was never in her seat for more than 2 hours, ever, whether on a journey or out and about. If I needed to pop to the shop with her I wasn't going to get her out of the carseat for a 20 minute shop. Much easier to just clip her into the wheels.

If I was going into town for the day then she went into the carrycot/pushchair. She went into an isofix car seat at 9 months and the maxi cosi went to a relative.

I hate seeing babies in carseats for extended periods.

Incidentally, DD had all of her naps in the carrycot, so if she was asleep and I needed to pop out I'd walk and take her in the pram rather than put her in the car seat.

Ooh please don't think I was getting at anyone!
My aunt very kindly gave us a car seat that doesn't have a corresponding travel system so I decided it wasn't worth buying a second car seat just to use with the pram - I'd rather switch between the two

dizziblonde

My 4 week early baby was a whopping 7lb! Felt like such a fraud when they were describing her as premature and she was bigger than I was at so overdue they were threatening eviction proceedings!

I know what you're getting at though (my first was earlier and WAS officially "tiny")... getting one that's flat is going to be fairly hard (they're rare, and you pay for rare). For what it's worth I've found Britax ones with the newborn insert in quite "recliney" and the fixed First Class Plus one in rear-facing mode with the newborn insert in VERY recliney (our eldest looked like she was lying in a sun lounger on the beach with the angle of it) - but you lose the whole infant carrier portability thing then and it depends if you're happy doing that (I generally manage about 7 weeks before I'm swearing and plotting the infant carrier's downfall from bruised shins and ripping my arms out of their sockets with the weight of it).

Are you getting the angle of the seat right when you put it in the car? I know with ours (our younger is still in a baby in a bucket style carrier seat for a few more weeks) we have to pull the driver's seat forward a bit to get the car seat fitted at a comfortable recline angle before pushing the driver's seat back - not a complication most people may have - but I've got a very tall husband who needs the seat as far back as it'll go (or so he insists!).

I'm sure I read or heard somewhere about some place that hired flatter reclining carseats out (but it's a hazy recollection from the times of DD1 being teeeeeeny in her seat) - would have been via one prem baby forum or another... I guess you could re-post your query somewhere like the Bliss forums (but they're quiet) and you might get more ideas there since they're the group of people most affected by the teeny tiny and carseat issue.

As for the carseat going onto the pram thing - I've given up on the pram our carseat goes on (it was too heavy to keep pushing up our hill and was causing me shoulder pain so bad it was shooting down into my wrists and fingers) - bought an easier to push second-hand buggy (which I may change again for a different buggy at some point) and I just transfer the kids over... but the infant carriers tend to annoy the living daylights out of me after a couple of weeks (if I was having any more kids I MIGHT live and learn and just buy a fixed one from birth upwards next time around - probably not).