by Rachel Beckwith

Created on: May 18, 2010

Dear new parents, or parents to be..........ignorance is not bliss when it comes to portable baby car seats.   Yes, they look pretty are so convenient, compact and easy to use.  When my son was born almost nine years ago they were quite new on the market.  It meant at that time instead of going through all the inconvenience of taking a sometimes sleeping baby out of their secured car seat,  you now had the convenience of just unclicking the car seat itself, with baby remaining undisturbed to sleep peacefully.  Having had a training in nursery nursing I recognized the downside to this wonderful new invention right there, knowing the importance of removing my baby out of the car seat, especially in the crucial first months of growth and development.  Babies need to be lying flat when they sleep, babies grow when they are asleep.  Even in the early days,  I found it concerning to see babies strapped  into their portable car seats, going from car to shopping buggy and back to car again.  Include the time it takes to get from home, to the grocery store and back again, and you easily have a serious number of hours racked up physically restricted in the small confined space of the car seat. 

Nowadays, I am not only concerned but outright alarmed at how the seemingly 'innocent' car seat has morphed into the 'essential' stroller/pram.  Now even going for a stroll in the park for some fresh air, these babies have no opportunity to move stretch, or wriggle. Take a moment,  think how this is effecting their internal organs, their spine, head and neck development.  Vision too, is crucial to development and learning,  time spent in a portable car seat means certain areas of  vision may be blocked, this may effect occular function and later on down the road may become a problem with eye tracking issues necessary for reading and writing.  Eye tracking and eye teaming problems have been linked to ADHD and ADD by developmental optometrists.  In the past few years there has been an overwhelming increase in learning and behavioural issues in young children, just ask any teacher.  

Amazing developmental stages and growth occur in a baby's first year, providing their physical foundation for life,  freedom to move is key. 

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