BUY BABY A SEAT Lap kids more likely to suffer injury on flights

Posted on 10/27/2016 | About San Francisco, California

Infants without a seat who sit on an adult's lap during flights are more prone to injury than other children, according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics meeting in San Francisco this week.

The study by Dr. Alexandre Rotta who is chief of pediatric critical care medicine at University Hospital’s Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland says, "Pediatric medical events on commercial airlines are relatively infrequent given the amount of passenger traffic, however unrestrained children, especially lap infants, are more likely to sustain an in-flight injury particularly during meal service or turbulence."
The study analyzed data from more than 114,000 in-flight medical incidents worldwide from January 2009 to January 2014.
Among its findings:
• 10% of all incidents involved children and 3% were in-flight injuries.
• 35% of all children's injuries occurred among infants under two years old.
• About 40% of injuries were caused by burns.
• Many of these injuries are preventable by using child restraints and avoiding aisle seats.
Infants should also have their own seat, Rotta concluded.
"It is my hope the information we discovered will promote the development of preventative strategies and travel policies to protect the health of all pediatric airplane passengers, especially these most vulnerable infants," he said.