Car Seat Confinement

How Long Is Too Long
in a Car Seat?

By Lisa A. Goldstein

There's something about car seats that makes many babies happy – so happy that they're left there for long periods of time. In addition to running errands, parents have been known to confine Baby to the car seat while making dinner, eating at a restaurant or even watching television. But does this hinder development?

"I do think utilizing the car seat has become an easy way to not only transport but contain a baby to make life easier," says Debbie Thompson, a neonatal specialist at Children's Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. "Many parents have a great deal of things imposing on their time during the day, and keeping the baby in the car seat makes things easier and transitions from car to home to appointments easier. But I think we need to look at how [that affects] a baby's development and interaction with parents and the world."

Babies do like it in their car seats when it enables them to look around and have access to toys and mobiles in front of them when they are at a young age, Thompson says. Their alertness and need for interaction are greater than their motor skills, she adds. There is no harm in having your baby sit for 30 minutes in his car seat interacting with family or developmentally appropriate toys. However, "being placed in a car seat for extended periods of time will limit or replace tummy time, family interaction and parent holding," Thompson says. "These are all things the infant needs to have routinely in his schedule to thrive."

Sometimes babies just sleep better in the car seat. Hayden Goldsamt of Gaithersburg, Md., is one of them. He won't sleep in his crib during the day. His mother, Stacey, has to put him in his car seat, drive around and/or walk to get him to fall asleep. She then leaves him in the car seat but won't do so for more than three-hour stretches. If they're home and he's still asleep, she unbuckles him. After all, Goldsamt says, "babies like being upright and the young ones don't mind being confined since they were for nine months prior."

Myer Markowitz of Pittsburgh, Pa., also lived in his car seat the first several months of his life. His mother, Michelle, actually put the car seat in his room where he'd sleep in it instead of his crib or bassinet. This was the only way he'd fall asleep or sleep for more than a few hours at a time. Markowitz believes it worked so well because he was so snug. "He could still move around a little bit, but not so much that he'd wake up," she says. "We tried the bouncy seat and the swing also, but the car seat worked best and was so easily portable. We would just put the car seat right in his room beside his crib."

Want to see more?

• Baby's Gotta Move! How Movement Affects Baby's Brain Development
• Car Seat Crying: When the Buzz of the Engine Doesn't Lull Your Baby to Sleep
• A Safe Ride: Car Seats Are Serious Business
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