Babies should not be left asleep in car seats

John Hopkins

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The British Medical Journal reporst that babies left in car seats to sleep may be at risk for suffocation. Apparently, because babies' heads tend to loll forward, pressing the jaw against the chest and this can cause the already relaxed throat muscles to permit severe airway constriction.

The study group stressed that the findings should in no way cause people to fail to use car seats for children riding in vehicles; pointing out that it is "not only a legal requirement, they save lives".

Children riding in car seats should be "carried in a properly designed car seat, carried backwards and be observable by a competent adult".