What to Do When Baby Falls Asleep in the Car!
It’s a dreaded moment, running a crucial errand or doing school/daycare pickup and your baby decides that’s the perfect time to fall asleep 😅
Only problem is, they’ll wake up as soon as you get home and you’ve really been trying to get them on a good sleep schedule in the crib! 😱
🚙 First, don’t stress too much, it’s completely understandable that your baby would be lulled to sleep in the car and an occasional car nap won’t make or break a good sleeper.
🚙 See if you can reconfigure your schedule to make the car trip right after their usual nap time, not before. If you normally start the day at 7:30 and school or activity drop off coincides with nap time, would it be possible to shift the start of day time? It’s best to always start your baby’s day at the same time each day, so if the falling-asleep-in-the-car-thing is a regular daily occurrence, you need to switch something up with the daily routine to avoid this happening all the time. Consolidate your errands for after naps or use pickup or home delivery services especially when you have a newborn!
🚙 Try to let them have the full nap since you’re already in this predicament 😅 can you drive around a little so they can at least have one complete sleep cycle? I’m also not above jiggling the seat a little with my hand so they don’t suddenly jolt awake when the car stops moving 👀
🚙 For a newborn, get them out of the car seat as soon as you get home and either rock them or lay them down in the bassinet. It’s not safe to leave them in the infant car seat once it’s been removed from the vehicle, as the angle tilts their heads forward and can put pressure on the airway.
🚙 Sometimes a short car nap is just not avoidable and we have to make the best of it! Try to stick to the rest of the day’s schedule as closely as possible, and if you need to move bedtime 30 min earlier, go right ahead and do that!
Do you need an easy to follow, printable, FREE daytime sleep schedule for your baby? Just click the image below! If you need to start your day at an earlier time to avoid your baby falling asleep in the car, just mark down your preferred start time and move the other times back accordingly!
