Baby capsule - hire

A friend has recommended hiring a baby capsule for the car from the council / RTA so that when the baby is asleep you can remove the capsule and leave the baby sleeping when you visit friends / go to a restaurant.

I mentioned this to my sister and she said that it isn't good for the babies back to be left in a capsule when it isn't mounted in the car.

Has anyone else heard of this?

If there is a chance of hurting the babies back I would rather chance waking it up and transfering it to a pram / cot but am having trouble convincing my DH of this. Maybe it is just the hire ones that aren't safe??

Hi, they are safe but leaving your baby in the capsule for a long period of time can be harmful to the babys back.

I used a capsule with my DD, she would stay in it while we visited friends & even through church. She's now 3 yrs old & her back is perfectly fine.

I will be using her old capsule for this baby aswell.

I hope that helps. There is alot of different opinions out there on ALL baby products, you're going to get people who love them & people who hate them :)

I loved having the capsule, more for ease of placing DS in it. It was good to be able to take him out when he was asleep, and only slightly disturb him moving him to his usual sleeping place (bassinette in the early days). I will use one again for the next bub not just for ease of use, but also because I find them much more stable than a rear facing car seat (which I have used:)).
I hired mine from the council and it came with a new insert etc.

hi nelle- i dont have an answer to your question- but i am interested in the answer.... my DH also wants a capsule for the first few months (he waited till after i bought the convertable newborn -toddler car seat to tell me this!!) so we are contimplating hiring one now too- or thinking just buy one so we have it there for the next bub too...

I had never heard of it possibly being harmfull to their back... i spose part of me thinks.. whats the difference between a looong car trip and a bit of a sleep after a short drive??? I would think if it was un safe it would be unsafe while they are in the car too... hmmmm Also i thought people bought capsules for bubs to sleep in whether in the car or not anyway... does anyone else know any different?

Its not that you're not supposed to leave them in the capsule when its not in the car, but that babies shouldn't be in the capsule for longer than two hours at a time (which answers SB's query). My parents used to live a 2 hour car drive away so the two hours sticks pretty firmly in my mind.

I have a capsule for DD#2 because its supposed to be the safest car restraint for babies, but that's the only reason. Otherwise, FWIW, I find its actually a pain taking DD#2 out of the car still in her capsule. It is pretty heavy (and she only weighs 4.5 kgs at the moment) and its awkward to carry because its quite wide. To me it is one of those things that is better in theory than in practice.

I think you will find a sleeping baby in the early days tends to stay asleep when you are moving them in and out of the car regardless of whether they are in a capsule or not. Honestly how many restaurants are you going to be dining in during the first few months of a bub's life anyway? Not really enough to justify a capsule unless you really want one or are getting one for the safety aspect in an accident. I find slings or a small pram more practical when out in that situation. A pram can be pushed back and forth to settle bubs if need be. If you want one go for it, or if you don't think it is worth it don't.

I did post an article ages ago about the safety of leaving them asleep in capsules when out of the car, I will see if I can find it.

Thank you for all of the opinions / feedback. It has been very helpful. I did mention to DH that we won't be going out much anyway - we (meaning I) don't go out much lately anyway - way too tired to do anything :)

We have already bought a car seat (the ones you use from newborn) and our pram came with a bassinet and I also like the idea of the slings in the early days so I will just keep pushing the 'no need' comment to DH.

Once again, thank you soo much for the comments

I have a capsule and I really like it. I still carry Oliver to and from the car in it and he is ~7kg. Ours snaps onto the pram so if he is asleep I can leave him in it and not wake him. I cannot get him in and out of mums convertible without waking him. I also thought he was much more comfy and safe looking in the capsule over the convertible before 3 months. Our capsule goes to 12kg so based on current growth we can continue to use it to around 12 months.

Our seat instructions recommends a break after ~2 hours.