A new study slams parents who let sleeping babies lie… in their infant car seats.
According to researchers parents who allow their passed out kids to remain strapped in their car seats while they rush to unload the groceries from the trunk, grab the mail from the end of the driveway, or pick stale Cheerios from in between their vehicle’s upholstery, are putting their child’s life in danger.
Oh wait. That’s me.
Apparently, good mommies are the ones, who risk waking up their overtired tots by removing them from their infant seats, and placing them in their cribs to sleep.
This bad mommy tried that once and ended up with a screeching kid who refused to sleep for the next 12 hours.
Lesson learned: Let sleeping babies lie… regardless of where they are snoozing.
Unfortunately, a new study posted in the journal Pediatrics found that car safety seats lower oxygen levels in infants. The reason: the protective seats require babies to be placed in an upright position, which can potentially compress the chest wall and reduce the airway size, possibly resulting in lower oxygen levels in the blood.
“Car seats can result in mild respiratory compromise in about 20 percent of newborns,” according to the study’s lead author.
As such, researchers warn parents that they should avoid using their infant’s car seat, as a place for their child to get some much–needed shut-eye.
“In the early days of parenthood, new parents are desperate to find any comfortable place for an infant to sleep,” the study’s lead author notes. “But car seats are really meant to be used in cars.”
In my early days of parenthood I did use my daughter’s car seat in the car. And that’s exactly where she fell asleep… and remained while I did the dishes, put a load of laundry in the dryer and picked up strewn toys from various rooms in the house.
I simply popped her carrier seat from the base, which remained firmly attached to the back seat of my car, and toted her (still sleeping soundly in the seat) into our climate controlled living room and let her snooze… while I relished the silence and ran around like a decapitated chicken trying to get a million things done.
Who knew I was placing her in such danger?
Based on the study, researchers are now recommending that car seat manufacturers institute design changes, such as a new buckle system and a new structure that would allow the baby’s head to fall back to prevent chest compression. According to researchers, an infant car seat must allow a baby to sit at a 45-degree angle, in order for her airway to remain open.
How often do you allow your child to sleep in his car seat?
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