Infant Sleeping in Car Seat

J. -

I feel your pain. My baby boy (now 4.5 months) would sleep 4+ hours in his car seat but only 2 hours tops in his crib until he was 14 weeks old.

Now, he can sleep up to 10 hours in his crib - but nap time is another story. He will only nap well in his car seat or pack n' play but can only nap in his crib for an hour.

What seemed to work at night was repetition - but it took a month or so for him to anticipate this routine. Starting at 10 weeks old, I started bathing him around the same time in the evening, putting him in a sleeping bag, feeding him his last bottle, rocking him until he was drowsy and then setting him down in his crib, patting him on his chest until he fell asleep.

For a few weeks, his eyes would spring wide open as soon as I set him down, but keep rocking/putting down, rocking/putting down and it will eventually work.

Now, he is so familiar with the routine that often, he will fall asleep before he even finishes his last bottle of the day.

I would advise against keeping your baby in the car seat - my little guy developed a mild flat spot on the back of his head due to all his sleeping in the car seat during the first month or two of his life.

best of luck!!

At that age, go with whatever works. You need some rest too. We went through the same thing with my son (we have twins) and he had the refulx too. Here are some ideas, and some things that worked.

1. Mattress wedge - they make these padded wedges that will give a little incline that may help.

2. Padding - good idea I see mentioned and if you tuck in a thicker blanket, she won't pull it out or anything.

3. Car seat - for a temporary solution, use it when you need it. Maybe every other day.
We actually DID let our son sleep IN the car seat, in the crib, all strapped in. Perfectly safe, and sleep is sleep. Just don't get TOO attached to it. We also used a baby swing that helped put him to sleep.

4. Sleep on stomach - I thought EVERYONE put their babies on their stomaches now. Try that, but keep a baby monitor going, and listen to make sure she's ok. Gotta watch that reflux when they're on their stomach.

5. Shifts - My wife and I also took/take turns on the "night shift" so ONE of you can get a good night's sleep. Or if dad is working, he can take the weekend shift. YOU need help and a break, and getting interrupted sleep, a couple hours here and there is only going to leave you exhausted and cranky, and not at your best for your baby girl. I'm a SAHD and your man can do ANY of these things.

Good luck, and hang in there. It gets easier, as I'm sure you remember.
Peace,
Richard

Hi J.,
I haven't red all the advice from the other moms so excuse me if its already been given.

I dont know how you put her in her crib to sleep but if you just put her on her back with a blanket and you compare that to the carseat there are 2 big differences.

one, a carseat fits snug so she might like to be wrapped tightly in a blanket. you could stry a swaddle me or something.

second, in a carseat you are more upright than flat in a crib. you may want to try to elevate the back of her bed by adding some books underneath it or there are bed elevators for sale as well. this may also help with her reflux.

hope it helps, best of luck
M.

Stop worring about it and let her sleep in the car seat. It will be uncomfortable eventually.

If she has reflux maybe it's the laying flat in the crib that bothers her. You could try propping the head end of her mattress up a few inches and that might help. Good luck!

Hi J.,
I have a 10 month old daughter who also would only sleep in her car seat,and I like you let her..For my daughter that was a big mistake.. She developed tortacolis they think probably from that since her head was alsways to the left side when she slept in there. Her neck muscle on the left did not grow properly. She just finished 5 months of physical therapy..I put her in the pack and play and she slept great .. To this day she will not sleep in her crib...Good Luck..

Our 3 month old is on pepcid for reflux and we tried the car seat but man, that did not work but what we found is the holding after a feeding and a 15 or 30 degree incline of the matress (done with towels underneath) helped...until she got so big she twisted around to the bottom...but, my suggestion and it is based on pure luck, not real experience since I am a new mom is to try the incline at various degrees and then work down to a flat bed...we have a sister who had to do that with our neice and it worked...might take a while but it will work. Good luck. M.

My 3 month old daughter sleeps in either her carseat or her bouncer inside her crib. I also stil swaddle her as well. She seems to sleep really well. I have twin boys that are now 3 1/2 and they both had reflux and I would put the wedge under their sheet and then swaddle them and put them down. Which worked well for us. I personally do what works best for the child.

Hi, I've heard that the amby baby bed/sling is very good for babies with reflux and/or trouble sleeping. It's a little pricey but probably a better option than the car seat. Check it out www.ambybaby.com. Good luck!

Karen

Both my kids seemed to sleep better in a car seat/carrier and wouldn't sleep in a crib or bassinette for the first few months. My son transferred to the crib after we'd raised one end a notch so that his head was higher than his feet while he slept. With my daughter, that wasn't enough, but we did a similar thing to a bassinette and transferred her slowly. We started by just moving the bassinette into her room, but not on the crib. Then we put the bassinette into the crib with the bassinette still wedged up on one end and the crib level. Then we raised one end of the crib and levelled out the bassinette. Then we moved her into the crib. We also used a heating pad to warm the bassinette and then later the crib before putting her into it. Sometimes going from warm arms to a cool bed will wake the baby up. With my son we also had to put in a quiet air filter that seemed to generate some white noise that muffled the background noises in the house for him too.

Maybe some of that will help. Good luck!

Hi, I am a student nurse and doing my Peds rotation right now. Much of the advice you're being given gives me chills.
Please, please, please don't put her to sleep on her stomach. The risk for SIDS in a three month old is still too high to do this. All children under the age of 6 months should be put on their backs to sleep, until they are able to roll over from their stomach to their back.
Also, please, please, please don't put her in her carseat in the crib. The careseat could tip over in the crib, for whatever reason, and she will not be able to get out.
Ask your pediatrician about advice for propping her up in bed for the reflux. Don't put anything else in the crib with her until approved by the pediatrician.
Good luck.

Hi, my daughte slept in her car seat until she was 5 months old,-whatever works!! At first she was in the car seat next to my bed, then I started after a night feeding I would then put the car seat in her crib when she was nice and drowsy. After that she slept fine in her crib in the car seat and I would lay her down after i would feed her the same way, nice and drowsy and she eventually 'weaned' into sleeping in her crib. If she is refuxing she probably feels better upright than lying down-so go with her cues. Good luck!

J.,
My son would only sleep in his car seat until 2 - 2 1/2 months. The only way we could get him to sleep in his crib was swadling him. It took a while but eventually it worked. The other thing that we did was started a bedtime routine (this took forever). We would swadle him and then I had a mobile that played music and had a light that was fish moving on the ceiling. He got to the point where he could look at the fish moving and fall asleep. He also was on medicine for reflux but laying flat seemed ok as long as he was swadled.

H.

Hi J.

I have a 4 month old who will only sleep in a vibratiing bouncy seat and has since the day she came home. She has routinely refused the bassinet, crib, swing anything but her vibrating bouncy. If I put her in the crib she won't sleep longer than an hour. Your sleep and sanity are more important than where your child gets her best sleep. Eventually she will grow out of this. I have learned to let it go and my daughter sleeps every night 8pm until 6:30 am without waking as long as she sleeps in the bouncy. I would let her sleep in the bathtub if it was safe and that is where she was most comfortable. Try not to make yourself crazy, there are definitely more serious battles you will have, let this one slide for a while longer. I wonder why your doc feels the magic age for car seat sleeping is 3 months? I say sleep is sleep, enjoy it. Hope this helps and feel free to e-mail me if you ever want to talk at ____@____.com

Is her bed hard or does it have some padding in there? I found that my daughters did not like their beds until I added extra padding in there. Another option would be to put her on her stomach at night. I know the doctors recommend on their backs but both of my kids did great on their stomachs. I hope that helps.

My son was the same way. He slept for quite a while in the car seat which fit perfectly in the bassinette. But as it got closer to me going back to work at 10 weeks, we had to figure out how to get him to sleep in his own bed. What we did at first was put him in the bassinette and took bath towels and rolled them up real tight and put them on each side of him, and also put a folded up towel underneath the pad to put him at an angle. I think the problem is that they aren't used to being in such a big open space. The towels helped him feel more secure. Then we took the towels away and he just slept in the bassinette. Then we did the same process with the crib. He would also co sleep part of the night, he would sleep 4 or 5 hours and then wake up to nurse and I would bring him to bed then. My Mom did the same thing with us kids when we were little (sans the carseat). There was a bit of adjustment each time we changed things but I think it gradually helped him get used to it. Good luck!

Please do not put your baby on their stomach to sleep. I don't think people realize the risks of SIDS is very high at that age. You can get a wedge that will help with the reflux.
Have you read the book THe Happiest Baby on the Block? If not I think it's a great book to pick up or you can get the video. It also deals with the sleep issues. Swaddling, swinging, shussing are a few of the things you can do to help your little one sleep thru the night.

We've been through that. After he wasn't sleeping well in the car seat, we moved him to his pack n play which he then didn't sleep well. So, then I moved him to his Papasan bouncy chair and he would sleep for a long time in that. Eventually it became time where he was falling out of the bouncy seat at night or just about to and he wasn't sleeping well anymore in that, so I moved him to the crib and now at 15 months...he loves it!

I don't see anything wrong with it. Anything to get some sleep, is my motto!!!

I hope everything works out for you.

My daughter splept in her car seat till she was about 6 months old. I know a long time but i couldn't get her to sleep in her crib for nothing. She would even take naps in it. We just picked up the seat and swung it back and forth around for 5 min and she was out. The swings she was too busy having fun to sleep. But that carseat was magic and, me being someone with imsomnia and apnea, any thing that let me and her get sleep was golden. The reflux on the other hand i do not know about other than should be evelated when sleeping

J.,
I went through the exact same sleeping situation with my oldest son. He actually slept in his carseat until he was almost 7 months old! I stressed out SO much about it but my pediatrician always told me, when he is ready he will sleep in the crib. I probably bought every type of snuggly device you could put in a crib, thought he had reflux and read every article there is on carseat sleeping! Sure enough, one day he looked uncomfortable (at this point he was in the carseat in the crib :) ) and I laid him in his crib and he slept there all night and not a problem since! My biggest advice is don't stress about it and she will be ready in her own time. Good luck!