Infant Car Seats Might Pose Breathing Risks

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When the children do get home, leaving them in car seats for a prolonged period is not a good idea, Greeley said. "The more they are left in, the more predisposed they are to have partial blockage of the airways," he noted. "Sleeping in a car seat is not necessarily a cause of death, but there is a higher likelihood that a baby somewhere will have difficulty with breathing."

"Car seats should only be used for transportation purposes," said Linda White, injury prevention coordinator at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "Bringing one into the house and leaving a child in it, that is not what they are intended for."

Parents sometimes bring a car seat into the house and leave a baby in it "because they don't want to disturb them," White said. "But you don't want them [the babies] to be at that extended angle for a long period of time. We encourage families even when they are traveling to stop often and take the baby out of the car seat. The extended period of time is the key."

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Marjorie Marciano, director of the safety education office at the New York City Department of Transportation, offers this advice: "We do know that using a car seat that is installed correctly can reduce the risk of injury significantly, for example by 70 percent for children under 1 year old," she said. "Installed correctly means that it should be at an angle of 45 degrees. When working with parents, we always say that it is important that the seat be at the right angle to keep the airway open."

More information

A parent's guide to car safety seats is provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics (www.aap.org ).

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