For moms that try and minimize car seat time...

[theriviera]

What do you do when the baby is sleeping?

Background:
DD will be 25 months when DD2 arrives. We have a single BOB, a bugaboo frog with a graco adaptor, and a BJCM. The BOB is used daily - nanny uses it to walk to the park. We use it on the weekends for walks to our "village" and the beach. Our plan for the BOB is to put DD2 in it with a snuzzler once she is 8 weeks or so (that is when we can use it, right?). Until then, we will use a carrier.

My question is for what to do for the car. We don't use our BJCM (car) stroller very often. I WOHM and DD is home with a nanny so she's not in my car during the week. On the weekends, one of us carries her or we put her in the cart. However, I will be home for 4 months on mat leave and while we will have the nanny, I imagine that we will have both kids in the car and may need at least a single stroller.

So, the question is - what do you do when you get to your destination and the baby is sleeping? Do you wake the baby to put her in the stroller or carrier? The idea of waking of a baby is hard for me - I'm kind of sleep crazy :)

Trying to think this through as we need to buy a new infant car seat. If we are truly never going to use it outside of the car, then I'll get a Chicco. If not, I'll probably get a graco since we already have an adaptor for it.

[MamaBear]

It depends. If I've got a short errand, like running into bakery or bank, I'll keep the baby in the carseat and use an adapter on my stroller. (Basically, on a short errand, I'll do that whether or not he's asleep.) But for longer outings, I definitely transfer. Yesterday was one of those days - he fell asleep in the car, I transferred him to the stroller, and he snoozed on.

[Dr C]

I know that many on this board have very strong anti-carseat feelings, so please don't flame me for saying that with both of our kids, we kept them in the carseat when they were sleeping.
Sometimes, for short stops, we kept them in the carseat when they were awake. Especially when it was cold out.
I don't believe it's a great idea to leave kids in their carseats for long stretches of time, and ours got plenty of floor time/lap time/carrier time/etc. But it just didn't work for us to take a sleeping baby out of her carrier to go into Target for 10 minutes. So yes, we did use the graco carseat and the snap n go frame and found it incredibly useful!! But it only lasts for about 6 months.

[MamaBear]

But it only lasts for about 6 months.

LOL, my baby is 16 months now and still fits in his SafeSeat! I just adjusted the harness to the highest position a couple of weeks ago. His big brother outgrew this seat pretty much *on* his first birthday.

[sherezada]

Well, once we transitioned from the infant car seat, we transferred the baby from the car seat to the flat-recline stroller, (or to his crib, if we were getting home). Thankfully he is a sound sleeper, so he usually doesn't wake up during the transfer, and if he does, we just have to hold him a few minutes and he falls asleep again.

[edurnemk]

If he was asleep, I'd snap the car seat on the stroller, and put the carrier or sling in the stroller basket, so I could wear him when he woke up. DS hated the infant seat, so if he woke up he'd start screaming until I took him out. But I wasn't going to wake my sleeping baby, no way. DS was not a good napper, as it is.

On a few occasions, once he woke up if I didn't want to /could not wear him, I'd walk back to the car, to exchange the car seat adaptor for the seat or bassinet and transfer him.

[Pyrodjm]

I always take the sleeping infant out of the carseat and put her in the ring sling or carrier. IME, the babies settle as soon as I start walking and I'm not stuck lugging the heavy seat around. Plus I have both hands free to shop and deal with DD1 who can definitely be a handful. We switch to convetible seats by 2 months old anyway, so keeping her in the saeat isn't an option for long and we don't miss it.

[Dr C]

LOL, my baby is 16 months now and still fits in his SafeSeat! I just adjusted the harness to the highest position a couple of weeks ago. His big brother outgrew this seat pretty much *on* his first birthday.

Oh--yeah, my 16 month old would probably still fit in our almost-expired Graco Snugride, she is that tiny. I should probably clarify--once they got to about 6-8 months the kid+carseat combo got so heavy that I quit lugging it in and out of the car. We kept the seat in the car and used it as a carseat but not as a carrier after that.
So I meant that the seat loses its usefulness as a carrier, not as a carseat. It might work a bit longer as a carrier if you have bigger muscles than I do!
:20:

[jlynn32]

I know that many on this board have very strong anti-carseat feelings, so please don't flame me for saying that with both of our kids, we kept them in the carseat when they were sleeping.
Sometimes, for short stops, we kept them in the carseat when they were awake. Especially when it was cold out.
I don't believe it's a great idea to leave kids in their carseats for long stretches of time, and ours got plenty of floor time/lap time/carrier time/etc. But it just didn't work for us to take a sleeping baby out of her carrier to go into Target for 10 minutes. So yes, we did use the graco carseat and the snap n go frame and found it incredibly useful!! But it only lasts for about 6 months.

:yeahthat:

We NEVER woke our DS. He was a terrible sleeper during the day, but always fell asleep in the car. So, if we were out running errands (sometimes on purpose ;)) and he fell asleep...NO way was I waking him!! I needed my sanity and the snap and go was a lifesaver for us!

[MamaBear]

Oh--yeah, my 16 month old would probably still fit in our almost-expired Graco Snugride, she is that tiny. I should probably clarify--once they got to about 6-8 months the kid+carseat combo got so heavy that I quit lugging it in and out of the car. We kept the seat in the car and used it as a carseat but not as a carrier after that.
So I meant that the seat loses its usefulness as a carrier, not as a carseat. It might work a bit longer as a carrier if you have bigger muscles than I do!
:20:

My muscles are pretty pathetic, but I've got a flight of stairs to get to our car, so using the carseat as a carrier is actually the easiest option as I wrangle #1 and whatever stuff we're taking along. Lesser of two evils, perhaps :wink2: It's my exercise, LOL!

[Smillow]

I rarely had that problem as DS usually woke up the minute the car stopped...sigh... But I would keep him in the seat for a quick run in - run out type of errand.

[theriviera]

Thanks everyone. DD1 is not the type of kid that I can transfer - even as a baby. This baby could be different but it sounds like it could be nice to have the option of using the car seat with the stroller.

I need to think about how often I will be alone with both girls. If we are running errands I guess I can put DD in the cart (seat part) and the infant seat in the actual shopping basket (that's fine, right?). I hate to buy a double stroller for the car that is only going to be used occasionally.

[crl]

Well, my dd woke up when you clicked the carseat out of the base in the car, so there really wasn't anyway to avoid waking her. But, the good news was that she nearly always went right back to sleep when I got her settled into a carrier (like a pikkolo or Ergo) or into a stroller.

Catherine

[Jelly Bean]

I don't want to get flamed either so all I'll say is about my own experience - we used our car seat as a stroller for several months. Sometimes DD slept in it long enough for us to enjoy a dinner out with her in the carseat next to me in the booth or by parking the stroller in the corner next to my table. And I always used it at the mall or for errands. If we were going out for longer, I would usually transfer her into the Vista and she would fall back asleep pretty quickly. And honestly in the middle of winter, I usually left her in the carseat. I like to have the option - so I kept a stroller frame (Mac Easy Traveller) and BJCE in my car. Space what not an issue because I had a Highlander. Those were my two stroller options at the time. So as not to have two strollers in the car, I would probably get a BJCMD on sale or off CL and keep it in the car with a carseat adapter bar. That'll give you the option to just snap the carseat on for short trips or to lie the baby flat if you prefer.

[arivecchi]

I never used the car seat with my strollers. I would just transfer my babies to a baby carrier and they would conk out right away in the carrier. Much nicer than lugging the car seat around!

[okinawama]

:yeahthat:

We NEVER woke our DS. He was a terrible sleeper during the day, but always fell asleep in the car. So, if we were out running errands (sometimes on purpose ;)) and he fell asleep...NO way was I waking him!! I needed my sanity and the snap and go was a lifesaver for us!

He rarely stayed asleep when the car stopped, but if a miracle happened, and he did, he stayed in the carseat.

[SnuggleBuggles]

My boys would always fall back asleep in the carrier I wore if they were sleepy. Otherwise they were awake, alert and happy. :) I was lucky. I much rather them sleep at home than when running errands so I was ok taking my chances.

Beth

[curiousgeorge]

You mean babies are supposed to sleep? Ha Ha.

Mine was and still is not a good napper. At all. Even as an infant he slept 30 minutes at a time multiple times throughout the day. So even if he fell asleep in the infant seat I knew it wouldn't last long.

If he was asleep in the car and I stopped somewhere, I'd see if he would stay asleep after I jostled him out of the car. If so I let him finish his 30 minutes in the infant seat and then as soon as he woke up strapped him on in a baby carrier.

[ohsara430]

You mean babies are supposed to sleep? Ha Ha.


:yeahthat: My crazy colicy little girl hardly ever slept but when she did fall asleep in the car and not wake the instant it stopped moving you can bet I kept her in the carseat. You could have threatened to rip my toenails out and I wouldn't have cared, this mama needed even the hope DD would stay asleep for a few minutes.

[MacMacMoo]

We made it a none issue. We had a convertible car seat from the get go. So transferring the baby was the only way for us.

[salsah]

i never took the car seat out of the car. i always took my girls out of the seat, even when they were asleep, even for a quick errand. dd2 was a light sleeper and she woke up as soon as i opened the car door. dd1 was easier. even if she woke up, she usually fell back asleep easily

[blondflava]

Oh--yeah, my 16 month old would probably still fit in our almost-expired Graco Snugride, she is that tiny. I should probably clarify--once they got to about 6-8 months the kid+carseat combo got so heavy that I quit lugging it in and out of the car. We kept the seat in the car and used it as a carseat but not as a carrier after that.
So I meant that the seat loses its usefulness as a carrier, not as a carseat. It might work a bit longer as a carrier if you have bigger muscles than I do!
:20:

I have a tiny tot too :), She outgrew the Snugride 32 a couple months ago (by height!), and we still used it as a back up in DH's truck when she was 18-20 months LOL (the harness was getting VERY tight though even loosened all the way)...

[fedoragirl]

I HATED carrying the car seat. It was the heaviest thing I could imagine carrying so I always transferred baby to a carrier--even for short errands. If DH was with me, I would have let her sleep in the car seat but she hated the car seat and would never sleep in it.