Jun 29, 2010

Car Seat Safety

I have a 15 page paper on infant hypoxia (low oxygen) caused by infant car seats. I'd really like to post it to the blog, but I can't figure how that would work. Plus, it's not my paper. (It came from an RN at the International Babywearing Conference.)
If you would like me to forward it to you, leave me a note.
Not all 15 pages are words. Some are x-rays!
Trust me, it's very interesting.
The general gist of the paper is: infant car seats are not designed for pre-term and term babies less than a few months old. The shape and size of the baby's head and the shape of the carrier causes the head to jut forward and partially occlude (close) the infant's airway leading to periods of low oxygenation which in turn can lead to various forms of brain damage and even death.
The recommendations by the study authors are: only use car seats for travel and minimize travel in the first few months of life and when traveling, use an insert, like a towel roll, behind baby's neck and trunk to help position the baby's airway.
We've all heard of babies who died in car seats. This is why.

Love, peace, and safe parenting,
Idaho Becky

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