Let this be a reminder to all of us to be VERY CAREFUL! My heart aches for this mother.

Car seat misuse leads to baby's death

By Cat on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 12:08 pm:

That's awful. How many of us have done that??? My heart aches for the family, too.

By Rayanne on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 12:21 pm:

That is so sad.

By My2cuties on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 12:42 pm:

That is so horrible.

By Mrsheidi on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 01:32 pm:

OMGOSH!! It even has warning labels on the carseat itself that say NOT to do that! URGH

By Lauram on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 03:01 pm:

That is awful. I actually fell from a counter in a car seat when I was an infant. It is so unsafe to put kids up in the air in the car seat. I only knew that from my mom's story about me though. I have to admit, I was a bit of a freak about it. I don't understand why it's not ok to put them on the floor asleep though. Is that really not good?

By Jelygu on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 06:07 pm:

oh how horrible!!!

By Trina~moderator on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 06:34 pm:

I've read several news stories over the years of babies who have died while sleeping in car seats. Either by falling out of them somehow or strangling on the harness straps. While chatting with other people about this another mom said she attended a meeting with her infant sleeping in a carrier at her feet. She heard a noise, looked down and saw her baby trying to flip over in the carrier and was getting tangled in the harness in the process. She was thankful she witnessed it and was able to pick her baby up right away. Best advice would be not to leave baby unsupervised.

By Kate on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 07:27 pm:

Okay, but they are 'unsupervised' in the car!! You have to concentrate on driving and you may have other kids in the car making noise and things can happen in an instant....you can't constantly look in your mirror, and some people may not even HAVE the special mirror that lets you see Baby. In the case of the baby falling off a high surface, that was obviously a factor in his death, but still, were the straps not tight enough? Is there a flaw in the design? What about the baby trying to flip over? Again, either Baby wasn't strapped in tightly enough or there is a terrible flaw in these straps. Scary!

By Tink on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 08:01 pm:

Wow! That is just heartbreaking!

My ped. told me to let my ds sleep in his because he had mild GERD. She said that sleeping semi-upright would help and it did. He slept like that for at least 9 months. I'm also wondering how he could strangle when he was completely strapped in.

By Amecmom on Friday, February 4, 2005 - 10:11 pm:

My son also slept in his carseat for the first few months until we got his gerd under control. Helen sleeps in hers all the time.

Many moments during the day when I have to leave her unsupervised - to take care of my son, or even to go to the bathroom, I feel safest leaving her strapped in her carseat.

It seems that the boy, sadly, was either not strapped in properly, or he was old enough to know how to unstrap himself. It's just plain sad.

Ame

By My2cuties on Saturday, February 5, 2005 - 02:19 pm:

The best thing for reflux (and other things like that) is to elevate one side of their bed (as in putting a pillow under the mattress on one end) and let them sleep like that, it is a safer way to let them sleep and will not strangle or harm them. This is what my nieces pediatrician told my sister when she was born with bad reflux prematurely.

By Kayleesmommy on Sunday, February 6, 2005 - 09:45 pm:

Man that would be aweful to think that you could have prevented your baby from dying. That poor mom is probably blaming herself so much. I have left Kaylee in the car seat before but have never put her on a bed or anything else. I have always placed her on the floor. That is just so sad to when things like this happens.