Getting Your Baby To Sleep In The Car Seat: Why Isn’t It A Good Idea?

The car seat is one of the most important and indispensable baby products. It is not just a mandatory device for the authorities or a guarantee of safety: it is a product capable of saving your child’s life. Despite this,  for safety reasons, recent studies invite you not to let your baby sleep on the seat. Likewise, care must be taken to use blankets in the car.

There is nothing against using a car seat for babies. On the contrary: no one questions its efficiency. The alarm concerns the case in which the little ones use it to sleep.

As you can imagine, the baby seat will keep it in place thanks to the seat belt and prevent injuries in the event of an accident.

The baby who stays in his car seat during a trip still needs his mom to take care of him. Make sure he is comfortable, that his diaper is dry, that he is not seasick or hungry.

We are sure of one thing: no matter how long the journey takes, the baby will surely be sleepy.

Why not let your baby sleep in the car seat?

No mother wants her child to stay awake during a long car ride. The most normal thing is for him to take a nap, so that the journey seems shorter and he does not get bored. The fact that he falls asleep is not only inevitable: the opposite would be inconceivable and unfair for everyone. Yet the child’s safety is more important.

According to experts, the position that the baby takes on the seat is decisive in determining whether there are risks or not. A child who falls asleep without an adult’s attention  may tilt just enough to block his or her airways. 

In this specific case, a study carried out by British scientists reveals that  there is a direct risk of children choking while sleeping in the car seat. This is impossible if an adult is careful about the position the baby has taken to sleep and whether he is breathing normally. The danger lies in letting him sleep without being alert.

Can the car seat be linked to some cases of sudden death?

Sometimes parents get used to  letting their children sleep in the car seat even inside the house, which is also a mistake. Sometimes we simply unhook the seat from the car and take it indoors so the little one can continue to sleep. However, studies have shown that  of forty children with sudden death syndrome, nine were in their car seats.

Of these nine cases, eight were aggravated by the fact that the children had fallen asleep in the safety seat during the trip. Cases of suffocation have occurred in the presence of inclined or relatively straight postures. Affected children were identified for their lack of response to stimuli, muscle weakness and bluish skin discoloration.

Although the babies had symptoms of sudden death syndrome, they responded  to resuscitation operations in the medical center  where the study was conducted. In any case, it is necessary to clarify that the study focused on real emergency cases, so it was not possible to estimate the consequences in a global way.

Recommendations

• It is important to always make sure that the baby does not lean too far forward, and in particular  that his jaw is not attached to the chest.

• Avoid that children remain in the car seat for a long time  ; for this reason, upon arrival, it is essential to take them out to allow them to change their position appropriately.
• Regular stops are recommended on  very long journeys, especially to get the baby out of the seat.
• Never leave your baby alone in the car safety seat.
• If the baby has breathing problems, it is recommended to  tap his back lightly and lift him up  to revive him. If needed, take him to a medical center as a matter of urgency.