Infant cars seats – when infants are aboard – belong strapped into the back seat of cars where they prevent injuries and save lives. They do NOT belong on beds, couches, chairs or kitchen counters, says the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Car seats are not totally stable when standing alone. Sometimes they are accidentally tipped over by an adult or an older child. Older infants can wiggle sufficiently – even when properly strapped in – to topple the seat over. Moreover, some parents do not strap infants into the seats when the seat is not in a car. And if infants turn seats over onto soft surfaces (couches, for example), they may end up with their mouths against soft fabric and have difficulty breathing.
A particularly hazardous surface for infants in car seats is atop washing machines and dryers. These locations are popular with some parents – convenient while parents do the laundry and because the warmth, rhythmic noise, and vibration lulls many infants to sleep. However, the vibration of the machines can move the seats toward the edge, says the Consumer Product Safety Commission. One report cites 23 cases of injuries in such situations.
Placing seats on surfaces has resulted in more than 40,000 injuries in the past five years in the United States. More than 3,400 of the children were injured severely enough to require hospitalization. Most of the injuries were to the head, followed by broken arms and legs.
If, indeed, you must momentarily put down a car seat with the baby in it – to open your front door or car door, for example – place the seat on the floor or on the ground and make sure that there are no unfriendly animals around.
In cars, when infant seats are properly strapped in, these seats are literally life savers. They reduce the odds of a baby dying in a crash by 75%, says the American Journal of Public Health. Car accidents are the leading cause of accidental death in children older than one year of age.
