Shopping cart injuries in children are common, according to the AAP. They landed approximately 24,000 children in hospital emergency rooms last year. While the majority of injuries are relatively minor, some are serious and even fatal.

Most cases involved children tumbling from a cart, getting stuck, or falling while riding on the outside frame.

Many accidents occur when children reach for something on a store shelf or stand up in a cart. It only takes a few seconds for some agile youngsters to maneuver themselves into dangerous standing positions when their parents might be looking the other way. Many stores now have carts with safety belts to keep children from falling out.

Head and neck injuries are most typical, accounting for about 75 percent of shopping cart injuries.

Stability of the shopping carts themselves doesn't seem to be an issue, since children falling out of them is a much more common problem than carts falling over.

Carts that ride lower to the ground could reduce the potential severity of an injury should a child take a fall. Just falling three or four feet to a hard surface can be life threatening, according to one physician.

The AAP offers these alternatives to placing a child in a cart while shopping:

If you choose to place a child in a shopping cart, take care to use an effective, age- and size-appropriate belt or harness, says the AAP. Stores that have greeters at the door reminding customers to use the safety equipment have a much lower percentage of accidents, according to research.

Never do the following:

Businesses can help by providing supervised play areas on their premises, providing alternate equipment such as strollers or wagons, and posting warnings on cart safety hazards, the study noted.