Keeping Your Child Safe in the Car

As a new parent one of the things I struggled with the most, was knowing when to change car seats for my child and the regulations that went along with this to make certain that they were safe.

As a new parent one of the things I struggled with the most, was knowing when to change car seats for my child and the regulations that went along with this to make certain that they were safe. It was all a bit confusing to me and I wished so many times that someone would make an easy to understand guide to doing so.

The following will hopefully help those of you who were like me and needed a little guidance in the matter.

INFANT – According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, infants should ride in a rear facing infant seat until they are one year old and weigh at least twenty pounds. This is the minimum. They can stay rear facing longer than this. The key here is that the seat should be rear facing.

TODDLER – A child who is over one year of age and weighs more than twenty pounds can ride front facing in a car seat. These are usually called convertible seats as you would move them out of the smaller infant seat at this point. However, the new safe suggestion is to leave them rear facing until the weight limit of the seat (usually 30 pounds). I really like the RADIAN 80 Car seat.

CHILD – The next step up is the booster seat. A booster seat is not recommended before age 4. After your child outgrows his or her convertible seat they can move into a booster and should remain in a booster until they are four feet nine inches tall at least. This is usually somewhere between the ages of eight and twelve.

After this, it is recommended that a child ride in the backseat of a vehicle until they are at least thirteen years old and wear a seatbelt with a lap and shoulder strap.

It is important that you make sure to install your child’s car seat properly and do all that you can to be sure that it is kept in a safe condition. Be sure that you reassemble it correctly when you take it out or wash the cover. Also if you are using a car seat you have had for a while, you will want to check and make sure that it still meets safety requirements and that it has no recalls. Also car seats come with an expiration dates (usually 6 years). After that they must be destroyed.

Your child’s safety is of utmost importance to you and car safety should be high on your list. Here is Kay Green’s article on car seat safety.

by Alyssa Avant

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Date: April 7, 2009

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Comments RSS TrackBack 2 comments

Shaniya

in May 4th, 2009 @ 10:19

Really nice guiding for keeping child safe in car. I would make sure to install my child’s car seat properly.

Kristina Brooke

in May 24th, 2009 @ 10:25

Great Guide! I really like the Britax Marathon car seat which supports childre up to 49 inches tall and 65 pounds.

My Precious Kid

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