Young infants should not be left unattended to sleep in standard car safety seats as they may be at risk of hypoxia say Tonkin and colleagues.
They examined 43 consecutive infants presenting after an acute life threatening event and found that nine had been asleep in such seats at the time of a perceived change in colour and breathing.
All infants seemed otherwise healthy.
Car seats may cause forward flexion of the neck and lead to impaired airway function and oxygen desaturation.
Report published in British Medical Journal.