MONDAY, Aug. 24, 2009 (Health.com) — Infant car safety seats can—and do—save newborns’ lives in traffic accidents. In fact, you can’t leave the hospital without one.
However, these seats, which require infants to be placed in an upright position, can also cause breathing problems when babies sleep in them, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics. The seats can compress the chest wall and reduce airway size, which could result in lower oxygen levels in the blood, the researchers found.
“Car seats and car beds can result in mild respiratory compromise in about 20% of newborns,” explains lead researcher T. Bernard Kinane, MD, the chief of pulmonary pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston. “These safety devices should only be used for protection during travel and not as a replacement for a crib.” A car bed is a special type of car seat used for premature infants or newborns that are at risk of breathing problems.
Many parents think of car seats as a cozy spot for kids to sleep, even outside of the car, because they’re so easy to use, says Selena Silva, the program coordinator at the Child Passenger Safety Program at Children’s Hospital, in Denver.
“In the early days of parenthood, new parents are desperate to find any comfortable place for an infant to sleep,” she says. “But car seats are really meant to be used in cars.”
Next page: Check the car seat’s angle
Comments (6)
Thanks for an informative article.
I would only let my daughters when they were little sleep on the floor or in the crib. I never understood why people keep their kids in the car sit.
wow never new that. thats very important stuff to be aware about. thanks for posting
Recently observing the stress that a car seat places on my newborn granddaughter I am convinced that in the next few years they will be identified as a contributor to autistic spectrum disorders. Since the baby is not being comforted when in distress because the parent cannot stop the vehicle I believe the infant begins the process of dissociation leading to autistic like behaviour.
Many infants will *only* sleep in the car seat. Our baby has terrible acid reflux and cannot sleep, let alone recline awake for long, on any flat surface. Dr. Kinane wants to tout his research, but I notice the findings are full of “coulds” and “cans” and no actual data is reported. For many parents the car seat is the difference between a happy family and no one getting any sleep.
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