I always used my left shoe. Take it off, and put it on the back floor board of the car when you have a child in the back seat. When you get out, you have to get the shoe, and should also see your child. Heck, put it beside the car seat. This is one of the most horrible things I can imagine happening to a child.

@susieq : That is not a bad idea at all. I don't really understand how a parent can forget they have a child, but at least that makes sure it doesn't happen.

@Knk : I can't imagine how heartbroken 💔 mother would be. I feel sad 😢 for this angel. RIP

There is science behind why this happens.www.usatoday.com/sto ry/news/health/2019/ 08/02/hot-car-deaths -why-they-keep-Science behind the syndrome
David Diamond, a professor of psychology at the University of South Florida, has worked closely with KidsAndCars.org. He focuses on cognitive neuroscience, including the neurobiology of "Forgotten Baby Syndrome." He has a theory on how caring, competent parents can forget their children in the car. Diamond's research led him to conclude that the reason is a failure of the memory system. There's a system called "prospective memory," which involves the intent to remember to complete tasks out of your ordinary routine, he wrote. And then there's a system called "habit memory," which is akin to being on autopilot.The prospective system is what fails when a parent forgets a child in a car. Then habit takes over, Diamond wrote in his research. When it does, regardless of original intent, people complete routine tasks.It's the same thing that happens when you are in a rush on the way to work and you put your coffee on top of the car roof, Fennell said. You get in, without thinking to take the coffee down, close the door, start to drive and the coffee flies. It's not always that benign, though. And there is precedent for Diamond's conclusion. The failure of prospective memory has resulted in other scenarios: plane crashes as a result of memory error, and incidents of police officers forgetting their guns were loaded, Diamond wrote.A parent leaving a baby in a car is not carelessness; it's a failure of the memory system, he concluded. ***********************************************
Precautionary actions for parents
There are precautions parents can take.KidsAndCars.org recommends making a habit of always opening the back door when parked, placing an essential item such as a purse or shoe in the back seat with your child and asking a care provider to contact you if your child is not on time. The group also suggests keeping the car locked at all times so children can't enter on their own, teaching children to honk the car horn if they are locked in and never leaving keys within a child's reach.

That's an interesting theory, and this isn't the first time I've seen it. Even in my younger days I used to put my car keys in the freezer with my lunch, so I wouldn't forget it. But a lunch just means a trip to fast food, not something as important as a child.

@Dorothy : I can see this theory, but, knowing this possibility could even exist should make any parent pro-active. Maybe form a new habit of checking the back seat before the baby is even born. I don't know if this type of conditioning would be effective, but it is worth a try. Far too many children die from this every single year.

@Knk : No words for the loss and no words to understand how you forget your infant 😥

I just don't understand and never will understand how you can lock a child in a car and forget that the child is there. Ever since I started driving and that was about 50 years ago I always checked my back seat before getting in. You never know what or who could be hiding there. You do this and you would see a baby there. How in the world could you forget your baby is there. How in the world can you forget that precious life.

@susieq : I believe I will start doing this take my left shoe off and put it in the back seat, when I have the baby in my back seat. I feel for this mother, she will have to live with this the rest of her life. How could she have done this? I am sure she asks the same question of herself. No one knows what was going through her mind at the time. It is so easy to say "I would never...."

It would be extremely hard to forgive yourself. I don't know if I ever could.

@Megyn1 : I see so many people on their phones while eating, driving, drinking, visiting friends, weddings, Church and shopping. This is why so many people are distracted. Your baby is more important than any of the above, and you must learn what you deem important. If it is your phone, then you don't need a baby!