Dangerous Infant Car Seats

It seems carrying babies in infant car seats interferes with their ability to breathe. Now the car seat (outside of travel in the car) is more than just a barrier between vital baby-parent bonding. I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve always found it a little disheartening to see helpless, little babies been toted around like luggage, but now there is even more of a cause for concern.

9 thoughts on “Dangerous Infant Car Seats

  1. well sometimes it is necessary. I can`t trust myself to say walk from the house to the car or from the car to the store etc with a small baby because I can stumble or lose my balance. The babies are a lot more secure in their car seat then in my arms when I am walking from point a to point b

  2. Like all concessions we make in the name of safety, you have to ask yourself which is worse – inhibiting the breathing of the child or dealing with the outcome of an accident sans child seat.

  3. I don’t get how it would inhibit an infant’s breathing unless they were in it 24-7. Babies are ‘slouched’ for lack of a better term in car seats but then they are as well in swings or carry alls or snugglies.

  4. Actually, Mum:

    The study by doctors at the Children’s Hospital in St Paul and the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, also warned about not using other baby equipment which necessitated babies sitting upright during their first few months of life.

    “In addition, the use of swings and other types of upright seating devices should be uniformly discouraged during the first months of life.”

  5. sorry when I said swings I did not mean a cranking swing I meant one of those over the shoulder swings… senior moment I couldn’t for the life of me remember what they are called. What did they say was the reason behind car seats for inhibiting breathing. I know a baby died here earlier this year and the autopsy said it was due to the baby having slid down in the car seat while asleep. The uncle had been babysitting the baby and as he did not have a crib at his house and the baby was already asleep he just left it in the car seat. It was only after a few hours of the baby being asleep that he figured he should have woken up to be fed and double checked but it was too late. But having a baby staying in the car seat for hours on end is not the same as carrying a baby around in the car seat. What if you are travelling for long periods of time…you obviously can’t drive with the baby out of the seat.

  6. You probably mean slings. The article doesn’t mention baby carriers like slings, wraps, and snugglies.

    The article doesn’t say why they develop breathing problems, only that they do (or rather that they are more likely to).

    But having a baby staying in the car seat for hours on end is not the same as carrying a baby around in the car seat.

    What’s the difference if someone is carrying the baby in the car seat for hours on end? As the article states: as well as being used for car transport, the seats are commonly used to carry around babies and to secure them in their pushchairs and even on [shopping carts].

    Some of the new born babies developed breathing problems after an hour in the car seats and that some of the premature babies even stopped breathing for a short period.

    Keep in mind that the caution is for babies three months and younger.

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