Don't wake the baby!?

[KAZ]

My friend has two children, aged 4 and 2. When they ride in the car they tend to fall asleep which I believe is pretty common? However, when my friend arrives at her destination if the kids are still sleeping she will sit in the car and wait for them to wake up, sometimes this has been nearly an hour? this seems crazy to me, I haven't asked her about this as I don't want to offend, also I don't know anything about parenting at all!!..anyway, is this normal, I mean do other parents do this and if so....why?

[cazzz1975]

I wouldnt let them sleep, its not a good habit to get them into. she sounds like she is making a rode for her back

[EcclesCake]

It probably depends on the circumstances but I often see my neighbour sat in his car reading the paper whilst his grandchild snoozes in the back.

[cazzz1975]

rod*

[ummmm]

I didn't....and I don't know anyone else who did.

[LoftyLottie]

Weird. No I never did this. Children have to fit into our normal lives and if this means disturbing their sleep then so be it.

[anneasquith]

she may enjoy the peace and quiet, and is quite happy sitting in her car

[LoftyLottie]

Yes, you may be right. As long as someone is not waiting for her at her destination.

[maidmarianx]

Well I didnt when my two were small. However , never under estimate how a bit of peace becomes so important that you'll do almost anything for a taste of it !?! Even sit in a quiet car for an hour !

[Old_Geezer]

I'd not do that were I in her shoes as they may not sleep properly at night if they are already rested. But that said I'm not a parent. Maybe the peace & quiet during the day is a blessing.

[madmaggot]

I wouldn't think that the 4 year old needs a nap in the daytime but the 2 year old may still do so.
It would depend on the time of day; if bedtime is 6.30 and the child has fallen asleep in the late afternoon it would probably mean that he/she is not tired when it's bedtime so I'd wake them.
It's perfectly possible to lift a sleeping child from their car seat and transfer them to their bed without waking them; If travelling after tea time I would often bath and change before the journey and just pop the child into his/her bed on arriving home.
Just a thought but maybe they don't have a regular routine ie a fixed bath/bedtime so find it more difficult to 'know' when is an appropriate time to sleep?

[LoftyLottie]

I think quite a lot of children tend to fall asleep in cars even at 4 or older, and especially if the journey is quite long. Quite a few adults do to. As for routines I don't think I had any as far as bedtimes and sleep were concerned. I am not one for routines becaue there are problems when routines are broken.

[EvianBaby]

My sis in law does that too. She also makes everyone watch the tv with the sound off using subtitles when the baby is asleep.

When they were staying at mine over christmas my brother was seriously considering not even going to the toilet so he didn't upset his wife's rules until I informed him there was no way I was not going to the loo all night and that I would definitely be flushing.

Madness!

[LoftyLottie]

Babies have to get used to general noise and family life and be able to sleep through moderate sounds. How ridiculous Evian - your poor brother.

[craft1948]

My daughter never fell asleep in the car.....she thought my driving was 'exciting'.....................

[EvianBaby]

Totally agree lottie. I don't have kids myself but she is one of 8 nephews/nieces and none of the others were treated with this stuff but all seem to be quite happy. She left a family party on boxing day to take the baby back to my house to sleep at 6pm. The others would have just put baby on one of the beds to sleep and carried on with the rest of us.

I do feel for my brother, he doesn't agree with a lot of it but she's sort of the master so he must obey.

[EvianBaby]

I say baby but she's 15 months old.

[fairycakes69]

If ours fell asleep in the car, we would park in the drive and put the baby monitor in the car, and also keep looking out the window to check. No problem.

[LoftyLottie]

I used to do that in the summer when my son was a baby fairycakes. We live rurally with few neighbours and have a long drive and the car was nowhere near the road and visible to me. I would just leave the doors and windows open and let him sleep. Just smiling because I remember that when he woke up I could hear him talking and singing to himself!!

[LoftyLottie]

I remember as a little girl that when there were family parties all us kids used to be put to bed in one upstairs room, from babies upwards!! The adults used to party long into the night making a hell of a noise. We didn't suffer for it.

[sherrardk]

I used to wake mine up when we got to our destination if they fell asleep in the car. Thing 1 still falls asleep in the car and she will be four in March (I think she does it as she knows she can't be naughty in her car seat).