Infant Sleeping in Car Seat - Reston,VA

Updated on August 24, 2011
L.L. asks from Reston, VA
6 answers

15 month old will not sleep in his car seat. Small for his age, he is still in infant seat. He 'never' has fallen asleep in car seat. He will cry until we get to destination or home, then totally collapse from stress to sleep. We have to go to Chicago for a wedding. Normally a 6 hour trip. He will need to at least nap. What can we do to help him sleep? We will even buy a different car seat if he can get some sleep. Driving at night won't help. He just won't sleep at all in his car seat. He never has even when younger.
Please help us.

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A.C.

answers from Raleigh on

My son outgrew his seat at 8 months and he is pretty small too. I think your son might be uncomfortable. Try buying a convertible where he can be rear facing now and turn when he is a little older
I wish I had more advice my son always loved the seat.

1 mom found this helpful
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R.K.

answers from Boston on

He might still fit in the infant carrier but he may be more comfortable in a rear facing convertible seat. My youngest hated his infant seat. He cried in it whether it was in the car or not once we switched he wasn't always happy in the car but life got a lot better.

1 mom found this helpful
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S.K.

answers from Minneapolis on

That's surprising! Looks like he is not comfortable in the carseat? I always thought all kids sleep well in the car. I know our neightbours would drive with their daughter when she was a baby if she just wouldn't sleep for them at home. Worked everytime.Do you know if your son has motion sickness? Is he fine otherwise in his carseat? Does he throw up? or cry everytime he is in the car?
My son would sleep for hours in his carseat(still does). In the infant seat(chicco keyfit 30) he seemed so comfortable sleeping. But he now is in his convertible(britax marathon) and looks so very uncomfortable when he sleeps.he still sleeps in it, but that's just him. I can see why other kids not being able to sleep in that seat with their heads in such awkward position. Convertible seats do not have good head support, so if you want to move to different carseat just so he sleeps , I don't think moving him to convertible would help with that. But at 15 months I would move him him to convertible anyways. It's more roomy. These seats can be used from birth as well, so your son will do just fine even if he is small. My son stopped using his infant carseat 3 months ago at 13 months(outgrew in height) .
If my son cries while in the car we play music on a higher volume until he calms down a bit. it works. If he doesn't sleep no matter what we do, it just means he is very very hungry and won't sleep until he eats.

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S.A.

answers from Dallas on

I would agree with the other posters....I think he may be uncomfortable in some way. My daughter has always slept well in the car, but a friend of mine has a son who would SCREAM and CRY constantly in the car. After a while, they figured out that he was a little too big for the infant seat AND they had neglected to remove some of the removable pad/pillows they come with as he had grown bigger. Poor guys was all scrunched in there. :)

I would try moving him to a convertible seat. My daughter is 15 months old and she really loves hers. If that doesn't help, then I think the poster who recommended motion sickness might be on to something there. Good luck!!

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B.P.

answers from Washington DC on

I'd agree with trying a larger, convertible, rear-facing seat, in case he's just not comfortable. I will say, though, that my daughter was a screamer in the car. No real reason that we could ever determine, though we checked a lot of things. From when she was an infant. Seemed to come when she got sleepy in the car (which most kids do) and then she would just scream her little heart out. We rarely traveled because of it. Now she's almost six and travels pretty well although she still rarely (if ever!) sleeps in the car no matter how busy of a day we've had or how late it is. I guess she's just not a car sleeper. As a baby she screamed because she didn't want to sleep in the car and now as an older kid she just talks and talks and talks. . . :)

T.S.

answers from San Francisco on

Poor little guy, he may have motion sickness :(
Mention it to your DR, maybe there's some kind of treatment you can try.

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