Car seats may make it hard for baby to breathe

Infant car seats are important safety devices but a new study suggests that these devices may make it hard for baby to breath. The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that healthy term infants placed in car seats or car beds can develop low oxygen levels.

“Car seats may need to be remodeled,” Dr. T. Bernard Kinane, of Mass General Hospital for Children, Boston said. “We need to find out why babies have problems in both devices,” he stressed. “It may be related to the tightness of the harness.”

Kinane and colleagues compared oxygen levels in 67 healthy term infants placed in either a car safety seat or a car bed within the first week of life. “Most infants are transported in car seats,” Kinane explained. “If babies have problems with breathing, we place them in car beds.”

Of the 67 infants, 33 were placed in a car bed and 34 in a car seat. Those assigned to car beds spent about 72 minutes in the devices, compared with 74 minutes for those in car seats.

There were no significant differences in the mean “oxygen saturation” values between the groups—97.1 percent for infants in car beds versus 97.3 percent for infants in car seats.

Compared to infants in the car beds, infants in the car seats spent a greater amount of time with oxygen saturation levels less than 95 percent. This means that less than 95 percent of their red blood cells were fully loaded with oxygen, a level at which many doctors would give a person supplemental oxygen.

“Of note, substantial periods of time with oxygen saturation of less than 95 percent were surprisingly common in both groups,” the team writes.

SOURCE: Pediatrics August 2006.

Print Version
Tell-a-Friend