Seated position may be fatal for tots

Keeping less than a month-old tots in a seated position could make them vulnerable to sudden death, avers a study.

Keeping your baby in a seated position is not a good idea at all, especially if they are really young, for a new study has found that that position makes them vulnerable to sudden death.

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Researchers carrying out the study came to their conclusion when they analysed cases of all sudden unexpected deaths occurring among babies up to 12 months of age in the Canadian Province of Quebec between 1991 and 2000.

Though 534 babies had died during this period, only 508 of those deaths were fully investigated.

In 99 cases, the cause of death came to light after further investigation, but in 409 cause of death remained unexplained.

Of the 508 investigated, the researchers found that seventeen or about 3.3 percent of the deaths had occurred in babies who were seated, predominantly, but not exclusively, in car seats.

They also found that babies under the age of one month were almost four times as likely to die suddenly while seated, as were older babies.

And babies under one month old in the group of unexplained deaths were more than seven times as likely to die while seated.

The authors point out that their research indicates that the rate of deaths among seated babies is relatively small at just over 3 per cent.

They also insist that the study does not raise questions about the necessity or safety of car seats. Instead, they say that extra care should be taken for very young babies in any type of infant seat.

The study is published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.