BABY CAR SEAT SAFETY

Car safety seats were specifically designed to save children from severe injury or even death during an accident or sudden jerk. These safety seats, if used properly, are known to save lives of thousands of children every year. However, to choose the right type of car safety seat for your child and to use it properly, can be a challenge for parents. Here are some tips and recommendations that will help you in selecting a perfect car safety seat for your child and to restrain your kids properly while riding the motor vehicles:

• A properly attached harness does not allow you to get more than one finger between the harness and the child's collarbone.
• Air bags and car safety seats should never be near each other.
• Be sure to install car seats properly and then test it for proper fit.
• Car seats that have abdominal pads or shields should never be used for smaller or premature infants as they can actually cause more injury to the child in case of an impact.
• Children over one year of age and 20 pounds of weight can use forward-facing seats.
• Five-point harness ensures more safety in a convertible seat.
• Forward facing seats can be used until the child reaches its weight limit and the top of the child’s ears reach the top of the seat back.
• In rear-facing car seats for infants, shoulder harness straps should not be too tight or loose when you place them in the slots below the infant's shoulder.
• Infants less than one year of age and 20 pounds in weight should ride in a rear-facing infant or convertible car so that spine injuries, in case of a crash, can be prevented. If the infant weighs more than 20 pounds but is less than 1 year of age, a rear-facing convertible infant seat approved for higher weights should be used until they are one-year old.
• Install the car seat for infants in the rear seat at a 45-degree angle to avoid slumping and breathing problems.
• Never make the infants ride in the front seat.
• Properly installed car seats cannot be moved more than an inch in any direction.
• Read the car seat manuals carefully.
• The baby should be made to sit in a rear-facing car seat until the top of his head is below the top of the back of the seat.
• The car seat's retainer clip should never be near the abdomen or neck of the child but at the level of the child's armpit
• Use a firmly rolled towel or newspaper under the seat, below your baby’s feet, for car safety seats that do not allow you to adjust the angles.
• Use the car seat only until the child reaches the maximum weight limit for the car seat.