Baby Car Seat Safety Tips for the New Mom
July 25, 2008
As a new parent, keeping your child safe is the most important thing. When it comes to transportation, picking the right baby car seat is a prime concern. The thing is sometimes it’s difficult to know what to do or where to go to get good information. With all the data out there deciding which way to go and what to pay can sometimes be confusing. Don’t worry, here are some very simple things, very commonsense thing that you can do to make sure your baby is safe in the car.
When you are getting to ready to install your car seat, take a few minutes to really understand how to secure it in the car, and make sure you understand how to secure your child into the seat. The two important things here to note are that your child is secure in the seat and the seat is secure to the vehicle. If either of the two are not present, then the seat will not do it’s safety job.
Remember that at the end of the day, the baby car seat is a safety piece and not a fashion piece. Although there are many beautiful and cool looking seats available, when you are making a decision based on one that looks better, and one that is safer, don’t forget that looks don’t save lives.
Make sure the seat you are buying is the right size for your child. Size charts come on the manufacturers box, and know that the wrong size can be fatal. Don’t try to skimp thinking you can let your child grow into the seat. That kind of logic is pound foolish.
If your car’s seat belts are not working, fix them, or get another car. It doesn’t matter how good the child seat is if it won’t stay secure in the car.
Most experts agree that the the safest spot in the vehicle is typically the middle of the rear seat. When you think about it, this location is typically the most centrally located point of the whole vehicle. This is the spot that is most protected from frontal impacts. It is directly in the center from left to right and directly in the center from front to back. When a vehicle impacts something, everything moves toward the point of impact. By having a child directly in the center, the child is in the best position.
Do not place the child behind frontal airbags. If the child is an infant or a toddler, they should be in the back seat. In many states there is legislation to prevent you from putting a child in the front seat. Air bags are designed to cushion of adults from an impact. Since a child is much smaller, the deployment of an airbag would be right in the child’s face, where it would be supporting an adults chest area. If you are going to put an older child in the front seat, most late-model vehicles have the ability to paste able to passenger airbag. As always, consult your owner’s manual but typically you are going to want to disable the airbag. As a rule of thumb, keep children in the back seat.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that all infants ride in rear-facing car seats (in the back seat of course) until they are both one year old and weigh at least 20 pounds.
Lastly, you can also research if the car seat your are looking to buy has been involved in a product recall. This information is easy to locate. Usually, you can find this information on the website of the manufacturer of the baby car seat.
For a great selection on baby car seats, visit http://buybabycarseats.com they have a large selection of cheap Britax car seats and also cheap Graco car seats.
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