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They Say: Infant Car Seats Not Safe for Sleeping
Age old wisdom tells us never to wake a sleeping baby. But if your newborn is asleep in her infant car seat, a new study published in Pediatrics suggests that — at the risk of waking her or not — you should move your sleeping baby to a crib when you get home.
From Health.com:
“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.”
Researchers studied 200 newborns in different sleeping situations: hospital crib, car bed, and car seat. They discovered that sleeping in a car bed or car seat reduced oxygen levels in newborns. Oxygen saturation dropped from 97.9 percent in a crib to 95.7 percent in a car seat.
The problem appears to be the car seat angle, but even when a car seat is installed appropriately — which isn’t always that case — lead study author Dr. T. Bernard Kinane believes that a better design that allows the baby’s head to fall back would improve safety.
In the meantime, here are two things that concerned parents can do right now to reduce their baby’s risk: Have your car seat installed or checked by a safety expert. Not getting the angle right is a common problem. And use your car seat only for travel, not for napping and sleeping.
Photo: jessicafm, Flickr
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[...] They Say: Infant Car Seats Not Safe for Sleeping [...]
Safest Baby Car Seats commented on Sep 11 09 at 12:46 pmcecilia commented on Sep 02 09 at 11:55 amare these pediatricians kidding??. 95.7 is a perfectly normal oxygen saturation. you get enough oxygen pressure with that!!!
Robyn commented on Sep 02 09 at 4:31 pmAdoptive parents are often told, if they’re going to be in a hotel with the baby for the ICPC paperwork to come through, to just let the baby sleep in the car seat rather than renting or bringing a crib or bassinet. I’ve never been a big fan of this.
GP commented on Sep 02 09 at 4:49 pmGod forbid they let the baby sleep in the bed with them! I mean, that’s what we always do/did when we travel (in Europe, small beds, I slept w baby, husband slept on his own)…but we are probably not fit to adopt.
Beth commented on Sep 03 09 at 1:17 amIf I moved my baby from the carseat for a nap, then there would be no nap.
Lauren commented on Sep 04 09 at 1:17 pmThere is a lot of great information in this post! Thanks for sharing!
Beej J commented on May 12 10 at 3:11 pminteresting i just saw a similar post, but was never aware of this issue. very import to know. safety is always first
Kerri from Baby On The Go commented on Jun 15 10 at 11:06 amGreat post! Many parents are not aware of this issue and leave their baby sleeping in their car seat for hours on end. The best thing is for parents to make sure they only let their baby stay in the car seat when they are travelling in the car.
Janelle Benson commented on Jul 30 10 at 11:54 amHelpful post. I especially found it useful where you stated why babies should be transfered to a crib from the car seat, its better to disturbed her little time in sleeping than having a compromised respiratory. Its better to be safe! thanks a lot for the info, Janelle.
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