The use of car seat is
very important for protecting your child when travelling in a car and it is
required by law in some countries to always put a baby, even newborns in a car
seat during a road trip no matter how short the distance travelled.
Usually, car seat
manufacturers recommend that kids should not be left in the seat for more than 2
hours but scientists advice that parents should avoid leaving a newborn baby in
a car seat if the car trip will take more than thirty minutes based on the
results obtained from a recent research
conducted on safety of young babies left in car seats for long periods.
Young babies are at a risk
of being suffocated if left in a sitting position for so long as their neck
muscle tone cannot support their heads when it slumps forward while asleep in a
car seat, thus blocking out their airways and making breathing difficult.
Doctors and childcare
advocates are now calling on all manufacturers of car seats to provide regular information
to warn parents of the dangers involved in long car journeys for very young
babies and have advised that they ought to provide separate safety rules for
newborns.
This research was carried
out by Dr. Peter Fleming, a pediatrician at Bristol University, who advised
that it is better one shuns a long journey than having a baby in a car seat for
more than half an hour because according to him, their findings revealed that the
amount of oxygen in the blood of babies under two months old was found to drop significantly
while their heart rates increased after sitting in a car seat for 30 minutes. Although,
such cases are rare, the scientist concluded that this could lead to death in
babies.
While it is
important to take extra precautions while using car seats, one of the best advice I got is to let an adult sit next to a newborn baby put in the car seat to ensure
baby is fine and breathing properly throughout the road trip. Parents with low
birth weight and Pre-term babies should also take note.
Parents should also avoid
using car seats as an alternative to push chairs or infant sleeping cot.
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Wow.. That's interesting I've never heard of that but it seems very logical
ReplyDeleteThis is Arabic. i better get a translator. lol
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by.