Infant Car Seats May Increase Risk of SIDS

roster · Post by **roster** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 6:22 am

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/ ... cs/dh/6199

Read the article but don't quit using infant car seats.

sharon1965 · Post by **sharon1965** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:35 am

what saddens me is the developing trend where people leave their babies in carseats all the time, carrying them everywhere in them...carseats are just that CARseats, and parents should be picking their babies up and carrying them in their arms...at the family resource centre where i work we have a B.A.B.Y. group (Bright Active Babies and You) which is a mom's group for babies up to one year old...this program was developed in response to the fact that parents seem to be interacting with their babies LESS instead of MORE which is an alarming trend...being left in carseat all the time leads to babies developing flat heads and shortened neck muscles, as well as reduction in brain development due to lack of interaction and skin-to-skin contact...now this study shows another physical--indeed fatal--risk....
sadly, in spite of the wonderful interaction that takes place during this group, the majority of the moms still carry their infants to and from the centre in their carseats, which we in the office now call the 'carseat parade'...why anyone would want to lug one of those heavy seats instead of holding a scrumptious baby in their arms is beyond me, anyway...and 'convenience' doesn't cut it...no one ever said being a parent was convenient

well. that's my rant...thanks for posting that potentially lifesaving link, rooster...i'll be printing the article out and bringing it to work to be posted at our centre

sharon1965

roster · Post by **roster** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:58 am

sharon1965 wrote:...why anyone would want to lug one of those heavy seats instead of holding a scrumptious baby in their arms is beyond me, .....

sharon1965

Sharon,

That brings back sweet memories from 22 years ago of carrying my preemie son in a soft chest pack for months. I especially remember Sunday lunches at my in-laws and sitting on the sofa watching the NFL game with my son asleep on my chest. I continued the practice with my full term daughter but she did not need as much sleep.

As they got stronger they graduated to a back pack. I had a four-mile route through our wooded neighborhood that took just over one hour. They both seemed to really enjoy it and the added weight really helped my workout.

Rooster

sharon1965 · Post by **sharon1965** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 9:10 am

rooster
what beautiful memories...
other than protecting your children from the physical risks associated with overuse of carseats/infant seats/swings etc., this is the best argument i've seen in support of holding/carrying your baby...

i had a preemie, too, and know very well the benefits derived from "kangaroo carrying"...but as you saw with your daughter, full term infants benefit from that contact too..

your babies were lucky...thanks for sharing your experience as a young dad

sharon

Babette · Post by **Babette** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 10:33 am

I love lugging babies around... But I'm not a mom. I can imagine getting tired of it after awhile.

I think alot of people have children who have no desire to become parents. And it shows.

Meet my Mom.... Intelligent, funny, and the most self-centered person you'll ever meet. Why she had children is beyond me.

I also work in early childhood education, for Head Start. Our parents are all low-income and the majority never wanted children. We do our best to educate parents, but I wonder how much good we actually do, some days.

BTW - I'm not a direct service provider - I'm the program secretary. I'd be lousy as a teacher or family advocate. I'd be distributing birth control left and right and trying to take kids away from PARENTS WHO SUCK!

Not so cheeful,
B.

socknitster · Post by **socknitster** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 6:37 pm

Upon reading the whole article, I bet these infants in the study that died were the ones who were all slumped over and sleeping and people left them like that. Even not KNOWING about apnea or possible throat obsructions or the relation to sids, I didn't let my son stay like that if he fell asleep in the carseat. It just LOOKED uncomfortable. My son had reflux from about age 1 month, so he actually spent a fair amount of time sitting because any other position made him spit up a lot and he cried. He was happiest in his bouncy seat.

What was tragic for me, was he didn't like being held as an infant. He used to arch his back and push me away and scream. It was devastating. I didn't get the cuddly baby that everyone else seemed to get. We tried holding him in every position we could think of, read in books, nothing worked but swing and bouncy seat to keep him calm. He outgrew that, of course, and I have since loved on him and smooched on him and cuddled him to make up for any lack in those early days.

If my next one has reflux, guess I will have to come up with something else, now that I know about this possiblitly. But then, I'll have more energy, being on the hose and will be able to be more creative! Of course, now that I have spent a good amount of time with my sister's twins, I have a few more techniques under my belt that I didn't have before either!

It makes me so sad how many children are born to parents who would have prefered not to have them. My parents had a shotgun wedding, if that tells you anything--they are divorced now. Everytime I hear about these babies in dumpsters I want to scream at the tv--why didn't they just give it to me? I would have taken it! ARG!

jen

jennmary · Post by **jennmary** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 6:55 pm

It is really great to say....never leave your baby in the car seat except in the car.

I am a single parent. I dont mean she goes to see dad on weekends...I mean completely single parent. He does not exist in our world. I love my daughter more than anything.

But explain to me how I was supposed to grocery shop while carrying my baby? I broke my pelvis having her....so carrying her through the whole store was a no no for 6 months. So yes....she stayed in that car seat. When we went to a friends house and she fell asleep....she went into the car seat. My baby had a very serious umbilical hernea. Her intestines were coming through it. I had to push them back in every hour and keep her in a sort of pressure bandage. She screamed all the time. It never stopped. I never slept. I had her in my arms every second that she was awake. So if she fell asleep in her car seat on the way home or anywhere else....she stayed there. I wasnt about to wake her up just to get her out.

I get not leaving your kid in a car seat 24/7....and I didnt do that either. But yes....my car seat did double duty as a baby carrier/makeshift sleeper/shopping buddy regularly. I dont feel bad for that for a second.

Sure...in a perfect world I would have had someone to help me grocery shop, and take turns holding my baby. Unfortunatly this is not a perfect world. I did what I had to do and continue to do it daily.

Done with MY rant now.

I did always use the carseat inserts they mentioned in the article. Faith was also a premmie. Though even at 6 weeks early she was 6 pounds. So some people have a hard time giving her premmie status. She passed her second bday in march and is already over 30 pounds and over 3 feet tall.

socknitster · Post by **socknitster** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 7:12 pm

Jennmary,

You did the right thing for you at the time--don't have any regrets. I also did the best I could. That is why I posted about Harry having to spend so much time in bouncy seat and swing--as a clueless new parent, aching to hold my child, I had to do what HE wanted to do--sit in chair.

I really think this is a caution for those people who don't interact much with their kids. Not people like us who are practically super-human! I mean come on--undiagnosed osa, pregnant! Good lord we are nearly at super-hero status here!

Harry was 10 lbs 5.5 oz when born. I didn't have the LUXURY of the carseat for grocery stores for long because he exceeded the weight limit by 3 mos of age. Then I lugged my tired ass and his tired ass in a baby bjorn around the biggest super-target known to man (or at least it felt like it at the time!) several times a week in a vain attempt to leave the house and have some sanity. Wasn't much longer after that that I met someone and joined a mom's group that literally saved my sanity.

I don't envy you being a single mom. I felt very, very isolated here with just me and husband. All family was very far away in other states. My sister was in Seattle. It was rough. I can't imagine how hard it is for you now much less with a newborn! Yikes!

However, there is one positive: you don't have anyone to argue with about discipline. When Harry is being a handful this comes up and it can be a sore spot between two loving adults no matter how much they love each other. There also isn't anyone to undermine you or to teach your kid to roll his/her eyes at you. My husband is a good guy and he doesn't even know he is doing it, but sometimes I could just KILL him for undermining my authority with Harry.

BTW, Faith is a very pretty name. If Harry didn't already have a girlfriend (he has already proposed to Evelyn, his best bud) I'd try to hook him up with your girl, lol!

Jen

Babette · Post by **Babette** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:12 pm

Hey, I've never seen you with your kids, but both Jen and JennMary do strike me as SUPERMOMS!!!! And I totally understand both your situations!!!!

One of my sister's has 6 kids. After the twins were, oh, close to 1 year? She decided to leave the 2nd husband. She piled the 6 year old, 4 year old, and less than 1 year old twins into the van and headed west from Montana. She landed on my parents' doorstep with 4 kids and not much else. We had a REALLY FUN SUMMER, my really non-kid relating parents, and my non-kid relating self, and SUPER MORMON MOM, aka my sister.

If I could have tied those suckers into a car seat and kept them from putting grilled cheese sandwiches into the VCR and all the other mayhem, for like 5 minutes, I MOST CERTAINLY WOULD HAVE!

I remember one night, my sister had finally gotten everyone settled. Baby Macayen was finally quiet from his earache, Levi and Haley were both bathed and mostly on the way to bed, and it was quiet. Then Levi toddled in. Burbled something about Justine (the other twin). We raced into the kitchen. There she was, sitting SILENTLY in the middle of the floor, a 2 lb tub of margarine between her legs, and was MOST EFFICIENTLY smearing it all over her newly clean self, the floor, and the lower cabinets. I thought my sister was going to start babbling and spinning in circles until steam came out her ears. I nearly collapsed myself...

She went on to two more husbands and two more children. I hear she's single again. Den, look out - She meets, she marries, she breeds...

Child rearing is not to be taken on by wimps. I so wish more teenagers with raging hormones had gotten the lesson I did - I babysat for my spending money from 10 years to 17 years. Never was allowed a REAL job at MacDonald's. At 17 I started "grandpa sitting". I learned that I didn't relate well to children, and while they LIKE me, they NEVER MINDED ME ONCE, and that if left alone too long with them, I was just as likely as my parents were to haul off and smack them a good one.

So I decided to pursue the Noble Calling of Auntie-dom.

To quote Monica from "Friends" when Ben was born: "I will always have gum."

Big hugs to all you great parents!!!! BTW, Rooster, I just LOVED your post!!!!
B.

jennmary · Post by **jennmary** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 10:06 pm

Thanks Jen. Harry is a nice name also. I hear ya on the discipline issue. My best friend has the same thing going on. Instead I have a mother that has taught mine to roll her eyes. lol

Babette......I am keeping my fridge locked from now on. lol
I caught Faith with 3 boxes of cereal dumped out on my living room carpet. she was 11 months old and tall enough to reach the shelf it was on. I took a pic...then put all my cereal on a shelf even I can barely reach.

Elle · Post by **Elle** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 10:16 pm

A child would be safer being carried in a car seat than with me holding it in my arms because I would be tripping and the baby would go flying. If the car seat falls they are still safe.

jennmary · Post by **jennmary** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 10:19 pm

This is true elle. I never dropped the baby, but I did trip once carrying the car seat into the house. It hit the gound....and I will admit to being very thankful she hadnt been in my front carrier or just in my arms.

Babette · Post by **Babette** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 10:38 pm

jennmary wrote:Babette......I am keeping my fridge locked from now on. lol
I caught Faith with 3 boxes of cereal dumped out on my living room carpet. she was 11 months old and tall enough to reach the shelf it was on. I took a pic...then put all my cereal on a shelf even I can barely reach.

Or buy smaller tubs of margarine...

Hey, I'm so glad Faith doesn't live at my house... I'd have buried her under piles of clothes and we'd never be able to figure out what she'd spilled under there and the stink would kill us all...

Huggers,
B.

sharon1965 · Post by **sharon1965** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 8:02 am

obviously the above examples are extenuating circumstances and not at all what i was referring to as a trend

socknitster · Post by **socknitster** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 8:41 am

Of course, Sharon, you are right. And I have seen this kind of behavior, but not in my well-educated, hyper-vigilant group of Moms that I hang with, thank goodness.

I'm really glad it was posted--SIDS has always scared me silly! And with good reason. It is serious business.

Second children prob spend even more time in carriers than first and this is a good reminder for me when number two finally gets here (someday) that I can't use it as a crutch.

Jen