A new study has shown that placing your babies in car seats for a nap might put their lives in danger. Researchers carefully analyzed 47 cases of children under the age of 2 that died in sitting or carrying devices that are specially designed for babies. 2/3 of the cases involved car seats.
“When the baby is asleep, and you don’t have eyes on the baby, they should be ‘ABC, meaning they should be alone, on their backs, and in a crib,” explains Dr. Erich K. Batra from Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
The researchers also explain that car safety seats are not meant for sleeping and your children shouldn’t be left in them without any supervising.
The majority of deaths in the study happened because the child was strangled by a strap. That was the case of the 11-month-old baby who slipped from the car seat while taking a nap and was strangled by a strap.
“It is not like you hear about them every day, but I think it is important that people know that they do occur,” says Dr. Bitra.