19. How To Choose The Right Car Seat For Your Child

10/9/2020

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Are you wondering why baby car seats useful? Do you know how long should you use an infant car seat? Do you know how to choose the baby car seat? Today we are going to talk about the importance of child safety seats.

Car seats also called child safety seats which is the best gear to protect your children when they’re in the car. Car crashes are one of the leading causes of injury and death for children. Correctly used child safety seats extremely effectively prevent injuries or deaths during car crashes. According to the CDC, if your baby is securely strapped in a car seat, his or her dying risk drops down by 71% in the car accident. Research shows that using car-seat can reduce fatal injury effectively.

How to choose the right car seat? From birth to 12 months, the child should always ride in a rear-facing car seat. It is the best seat for your young child.
It has a seat belt that will shake in the car crash and move with the child to relieve pressure on the child’s fragile neck and spinal cord. From 1-3 years, your child should remain in a rear-facing car seat until he/she reaches the maximum weight or height the car seat allowed. After that, your child is ready to travel in a forward-facing car seat with a harness and tether. From 4-7 years, it’s the time to travel in a booster seat once your child outgrows the forward-facing car seat. From 8-12 years, keep your child in a booster seat until he/she is big enough to fit in a seat belt properly. How to know? Check the position of the lap belt and the shoulder belt on your child. the lap belt should be on the upper thighs, not the stomach. The shoulder belt should be on the chest, not the neck. Remember your child should still ride in the back seat because it’s safer there.

Some parents are wondering if your friend offers you the car seat their child has outgrown, can you use that? Or when baby number 2 comes along, can you reuse your old car seat? The answer is no. Generally, car seats expire between 6-10 years from the date of manufacture. They expire for a number of reasons like wear and tear. Your car sear can be one of the most used pieces of baby gear you own. Parents are adjusting the sear as the child grows, buckling, and unbuckling the baby numerous times. The seat may also bake in the sun while the car parked and get tiny cracks in the plastic that you can’t even see. There are also changing regulations and standards. Transportation agencies, professional medical associations, and car seat manufactures are constantly conducting and evaluating safety and crash tests. As well as recalls and limits of manufacture testing.