This is an important article many new parents may not be aware of. This is only the second time I've heard of danger, positional asphyxiation, of placing young babies, mainly less than one year old, leaving them to sleep in their car seats.
I shared this story with a young couple out west who are relatives the first time I heard of this danger. They recently had a new addition to the family and after receiving a picture of their newborn in a car seat with head tilted forward in the backseat of their cars, and I decided to share that original story with them to alert them to the potential dangers. Then I came across this recent article where it's happened again where a baby left sleeping in his car seat at a daycare died of positional asphyxiation.
Although, the matter of properly securing an infant car seat in the car has been addressed, I've never seen this warning addressed. Here's an excerpt and link to the article.
Excerpt:
"Positional asphyxiation: Parents warn others of danger after infant son dies sleeping in car seat.
“When a car seat is in a base in a vehicle it is tilted back, the baby’s head remains tilted back and their airway remains open. When a child is in a car seat on the floor, their head can tilt forward, cutting off airflow to their lungs,” Rachel said. “This is what happened to Anders. My strong and thriving little boy suffocated.”
Positional asphyxiation: Parents warn others of danger after infant son dies sleeping in car seat
Brenda Washington
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Ms. Washington,
Thank you for publishing this information. I had not seen it. I immediately watched the
video, and pasted it to my FB profile.I urge everyone to share this video immediately.
Years ago I was a CPR instructor and one of the first step to administer CPR is to
tilt the head back to open the airway. Common sense to me but I NEVER considered
the position of a baby in a car seat insert.
Once again, thank you for passing this information along.
Ted Ladd