As someone who has had refluxy kids I can tell you the car seat was a saving grace for sleep. Also if they had colds. You can’t prop their head up with a pillow so the slight incline of the car seat works great. Now I had a son who had a flat head too. Let me tell you a flat head in itself will do no actual mental damage to your child. The only difficulty I was told I’d have with my son is fitting a helmet or hats to his head. He was in a helmet for around 7 months to reshape his head. It looks much better by the way, but sleeping in the car seat was not the cause of his mishapen head. It was because we couldn’t get him to stay on his tummy. We didn’t find out until it was already too late that his extreme hate of tummy time (and I mean the second he was on his tummy he screamed in excruciating pain) that it was because of reflux. So make sure you get your tummy time in everyday and sleeping in the carseat is not going to be the cause of a flat head.

I think you can stick with what’s working. I used the Fisher Price Rock n Play sleeper thing for almost six months, even though tons of parents said it flattened their kids’ heads. She slept awesomely in that, then transitioned into the crib perfectly… when she was ready for it. Sometimes they just need that incline! PS, adorable nubbly little pumpkin outfit!
http://www.themombat.blogspot.com

I never did but I see NOTHING wrong with me! I’m shocked that people find something wrong with it?

That seems silly. Most of my friends have let their kids sleep in car seats for naps, overnight, or to battle reflux. I will concede that -maybe- it depends on the car seat, but even then, I’m not really so sure.

I’d rather have a well rested baby who is not suffering from a cold or reflux because I refuse to let her nap in her seat. Silly.

I am thankful for all of the necessary and life saving advancements that have been made in baby care, but all of this PC garbage is ridiculous. common sense. if your pediatrician gave it the ok and your baby catches some z’s in her seat- then mommy hell is where I’d like to be. because at least in mommy hell I’d have a well rested baby. and the real hell is a baby who’s not.

The carseat was one of the first parenting tips I got while I was pregnant. I never had to use it, but it was always in the back of my mind if I needed to!

If sleeping in a carseat is dangerous to their breathing, then how in the world are they considered safe for driving?! Every infant sleeping in their carseat while driving… and I can’t see that it would make any difference if the carseat is inside your house while she dozes. But, this is coming from the mom of a tummy-sleeper… ;-)
http://www.thehappinessofrainydays.blogspot.com

I will try anything that allows any of us to get some sleep including putting him on his changing pad on the floor or the changing pad in our bed between me and my husband, the car seat, the pack and play. If we ever get around to putting the swing/rocker thing together then I would be willing to try that too. Whatever works at the moment. My son always sounds congested at night and sitting upright just makes more sense. i would think the car seat would prevent flat head since the head doesn’t have as much pressure in that position. I say do what works.

my first child was always sick…he cried alot..and he had stomach aches and gassy….it was awful…and never slept in his car seat….my second and third child…….they slept in their car seats because they would cry and would not lay flat on their backs , side or anything..I never..had a problem with flat heads…my children are grown and are fine and normal…I say do what works and use common sense…all 3 of my kids had crib bumpers…I always had a fan on in the room..I personally can not sleep with out the white noise or the circulation of air in the room…I think sometimes…these so called experts…get alittle carried away…speaking as a grandmother of a baby who passed away last year of SIDS…some times…awful bad things just happen…and there is no answers, no reasons, just a night mare that came true…I am expecting twins in April…my boys will have bumpers…and sleep in their car seat if that is what works…I do not fear losing one of them for those reasons..

my daughter wouldn’t sleep laying flat because she had an ear infection if you lay her down she’d instantly wake screaming when i told the doctor this he suggested that because of the air pressure it might hurt her to lay flat and to try propping her with a blanket or pillow when i being paranoid new mom said “but isn’t that dangerous, all the books and everyone says blankets in the crib can cause SIDS because of rebreathing or whatever” he then suggested i use the car seat or one of those vibrating infant seat things worked great and to this day she prefers to sleep sitting up and bent forward like a doll that flopped over after being sat up on the floor then sometimes she sleeps sprawled out on her stomach arms through the crib bars and feet stretched behind her through the bars on the other side (she wont sleep end to end she sleeps side to side)