Car Seat Safety Tips: Simple Way to Help Keep Your Infant Safe in the Car

We all want our children to be safe. Incorrectly installed car seats area all too common and could be a major safety risk to your infant or toddler. These simple tips will help you to determine whether or not your infant car seat is correctly installed. As always, be sure and consult your car seat manual to be sure you are following your car seats specific instructions.

1. Infants should remain in a rear facing car seat until they reach one year of age AND 20 pounds. If your infant outgrows their infant seat they can be moved into a rear facing convertible car seat until they reach both milestones. Before an infant reaches both of these milestones they are not developmentally ready to be placed in a forward facing car seat.

2. Use only pieces that came with your car seat. Do not use a head positioner or other attachment if it was not made by your car seat manufacturer. Bulky coats or other heavy clothes should be removed from your child before buckling your infant into their car seat.

3. Car seats should not move more than an inch in any direction. If they move more than that see your car seat's owners manual to determine what can be done to secure your car seat. You may need to tighten straps or adjust other parts of your car seat to get a secure fit.

4. Infants seats should sit at a 45 degree angle. Many seats have adjustments on the base of the infant seat to help you achieve the right angle. Read your car seat manual to see what you can do to achieve the correct angle.

5. Infant car seat carrying handles should be locked down in position behind your infants head and not left in place above your baby's head.

Many local health departments offer free or low cost car seat classes. Some will offer you the opportunity to buy a quality car seat and a minimum cost to you. They will check your car seat to be sure that it is installed correctly and give you advice for your car seat and answer any questions you may have.

It is best to keep a car seat in each car that your baby will be traveling in. Moving a car seat back and forth between cars makes it more likely that the car seat will be installed incorrectly.

It is important that your baby or toddler is safe every time you travel in the car. A correctly installed car seat can drastically affect the outcome if you were to be in an accident.

Apr 4, 2007 10:38 AM

Rachel Lister :

What type of car seat do you have? What do you like about it? What do you dislike about it? Would you buy the same brand again?

Apr 13, 2008 3:29 AM

Jennifer White :

I hope it's ok for me to answer this. I am the Feature Writer for Kids' Products and have written a series of articles on the topic. Car seats are one of my favortie topics. :)

I think the most important thing to remember is that the "best" seat is one that meets current federal safety guidelines (any being sold in stores now do), is installed exactly to manufacturer's specifications, and is used properly every single time.

That being said, I have a Britax Marathon for my 27 lb 20 month old. It is being used rear facing. For my 3 1/2 year old 37 lb toddler we have the Britax Regent. What I love about the seat - the added safety features, comfort features,and ease of daily use and installation. The Regent has the highest harnessing weight limits. Keeping my children harnessed for as long as possible is very important to me. Both seats have higher height and weight limits than many other car seats on the market. This increases the car seats "life." I also appreciate that Britax is a strong name in the market, having received less recalls than other popular brands.

What's not so great- the price tag. I highly recommend <a href="http://www.albeebaby.com">Albeebaby</a> for good deals with free shipping.

I definitely would buy Britax again for convertible, youth, or booster seats. If I am blessed to have another child, I will likely purchase a Chicco Keyfit 30 Infant Carrier for the early stage, followed by a Britax Marathon.