Ruth Trode and Karen Bruce, both Bradley Childbirth Education teachers, wanted to share a new car seat study with parents.

Limit newborns' time in car seats to travel This study by a car seat manufacturer suggests that too much time in car seats may not be good for baby's oxygen level.

<http://www.boston.com/news/ health/blog/2009/08/car_seats_ for_n.html?s_campaign=8315>

Writer Elizabeth Cooney reports,

"Car seats save lives by protecting babies and older children in car crashes, but a new study cautions parents of newborns against using the safety seats for anything but travel. 

....[S]tudy co-author Dr. T. Bernard Kinane of Massachusetts General Hospital for Children said in an interview. "We should use these devices for safe transportation of babies in car seats and limit their use outside of that."

200 healthy newborns had oxygen levels measured when they were in a hospital crib for 30 minutes, then a car seat for 60
minutes, and then a car bed for 60 minutes. [Some countries, other than the US, use car beds.]... One in five babies sitting in car seats had levels as low as what occurs as a result of prolonged obstructive sleep apnea, Kinane said, a problem that has been linked to slower learning in older children.

Both the angle of the babies' heads in the more upright car seats and the weight of the harness and buckle on the babies' chests in both car seat and car bed seem to be at fault, Kinane said... newborns' muscles aren't strong enough to compensate for the extra weight of their heads or the car seat straps
on their airways.

"The real issue is how we use [car seats] nowadays," Kinane said. "We take the baby car seat out of car and if the baby is still asleep, people don't want to wake them up."