By Connor Boyd For Mailonline
Published: 15:49 BST, 21 May 2019 | Updated: 23:48 BST, 21 May 2019
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Parents are being told not to let their babies sleep in car seats at home because of the risk of them suffocating.
Researchers made the warning after reviewing around 12,000 sleep-related deaths in infants over the course of a decade.
Nearly 220 youngsters died while in car seats - but only 0.2 per cent of the deaths occurred while they were travelling in a vehicle.
More than half of car seat deaths occurred when the seat was being used at the child's home.
The most common cause of deaths in car seats is positional asphyxia, the team at University of Virginia Children's Hospital warned.
Parents are being warned not to let their babies sleep in car seats because they are at risk of suffocating to death (file image)
It occurs when a person's position prevents them from breathing by blocking their mouth and nose.
When a car seat is used, it is secured to a base at an angle where a child's airway is open.
But when the car seat is on a flat surface, a child's head can slouch forward because they have weaker neck muscles, cutting off their airways.
Children often have airways that are still very soft, and babies can lack the muscle strength to move or lift their neck.
If the child is not repositioned soon after slouching, a lack of oxygen can result in death or brain damage, experts warn.
Writing in the journal Pediatrics, lead researcher Dr Rachel Moon said 'car seats are
