What Car Seat Should My Child Be In
Car seats for infants and toddlers
From the moment you leave the hospital, your bundle of joy should be safely strapped into a rear-facing infant car seat with a five-point harness. A five-point harness has two straps that go over your childs shoulders and snap into a buckle around their waist. The five points are the two shoulders, two hips and in between the legs. Mount infant car seats in the backseat of your vehicle, facing the rear window.
Dr. Mudd recommends parents try to prepare for their first car ride home from the hospital by having the car seat installation checked by a local fire station or childrens hospital. Also be sure to read the car seat manual or try watching a YouTube video of how to use that specific car seat. Having the car seat set up correctly and ready to go ahead of time can reduce stress and help parents feel more confident about taking their little ones home for the first time.
Choose: Rear-facing-only car seats with a five-point harness or rear-facing convertible car seats with a five-point harness
When to switch to a forward-facing car seat: Its about weight and height, not age. Look at the height and weight limits on your infant car seat. Rear-facing-only seats typically range from 26 to 36 inches and 22 to 35 pounds.
Convertible car seats tend to have higher limits. Thats because you can eventually turn them around to be forward-facing when your childs ready, so they grow with your kid.
Car seats for toddlers and preschoolers
A Comprehensive Guide To The Iowa Car Seat Laws: Everything There’s To Know
From recent data collections, the fourth-highest rate of child death resulting from car accidents occurs in Iowa. The unfortunate truth is that road crashes take away countless young lives each day. In only Iowa, almost four out of 100,000 children are killed in vehicle-related accidents each year.
The leading cause of most of these deaths is the improper use of restraint systems. Otherwise, this death is the result of not using any restraint system. Nonetheless, there’s a way that parents and guardians can put a stop to this. By understanding traffic laws, individuals can become educated on Iowa car seat laws. With such knowledge, parents can learn how to protect their children while traveling in a car. Let’s take a deeper dive into the child restraint system laws in Iowa and recommendations made by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Factors To Consider When Choosing The Best Car Seat For 6
CDC recommends that for children ages 4 to 8 years old , you should use a booster seat and place it at the back seat. The reason for putting kids at the back seat is that the airbags in the front seat can hurt or even kill young children.
What are the Factors or Features to Look for When Choosing a Car Seat for a Six-Year-Old?
Car Seat Quality
It is essential that the car seat you are buying has met or exceeded the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213. Why is this important? This standard governs the performance and design criteria for child restraints systems such as the requirements for restraint crashworthiness, labeling and instructions, flammability, and buckle and release pressure of the seat.
A properly installed car seat is also vital for the safety and comfort of your child. Therefore, you can check models that are not complicated to install and attaches to your car securely. If you want, you can use the rating system of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as a basis to know whether the car seat you have in mind is easy to install.
We also recommend always to buy a new car seat as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The reason for this is to know the proper expiry date of the car seat and to prevent unforeseen damages that might occur in extended use.
Proper Belt Fitting
Height and Weight Requirements of the Seat
Highback or Backless Booster
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How Do You Know If Its Time To Get Rid Of A Car Seat
The main reason why you should get rid of a car seat is when its already past its expiration date. But if the car seat is not yet expired, how do you know if its time to get rid of it? Here are a few scenarios when you MUST let it go.
- Get rid of a car seat if it has been involved in an accident regardless if its just mild. Youll never know if the structural integrity of it has been affected.
- Its time to let go of a car seat when your little one has already met the height/weight requirement for it. A good example is when your little one is ready to change to a forward-facing seat from an infant car seat.
- If you notice that some parts of the car seat are missing and you cant find replacements, its safer to get a new one.
- If the car seat was recalled, but the issue wasnt resolved, stop using the car seat. Its a must that you make yourself aware if your car seat is part of a recall and take action. This is a rare case though.
And getting rid of it doesnt mean that you should pass it onto someone else. Its just not right to let another family use a car seat thats not safe at all.
What To Do If You Cant Recycle It
Its possible to dispose of seats that cant be reused or in situations where recycling isnt feasible. But youll need to take steps to ensure that the car seat isnt usable if it happened to be pulled out of a dumpster or trash can, since the seat may be unsafe.
Theres no one right way to do this, but ultimately, your goal should be to dismantle the car seat to the point where a baby or child couldnt ride in it. Take out the seat cover, cut off the straps, or even use a hammer or mallet to smash the seat shell . Use a permanent marker to write DO NOT USE,EXPIRED or something along those lines to indicate that the seat should be off limits.
It might seem a little extreme, but its worth making sure that a baby or toddler doesnt end up in an unsafe seat.
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Baby Trend Yumi Best Folding High Back Car Seat For 6
You will be impressed by how compact the Baby Trend Yumi 2-in-1 Folding Booster Seat gets when you fold it but do not be fooled by its folding ability. Even if it is a folding car seat, the Baby Trend Yumi managed to still have two cup holders and armrests. Its highback mode can also get up to as high as 20 inches which is pretty impressive considering the Baby Trend Yumi 2-in-1 can fold into around 12 x 20 x 24 inches.
The Baby Trend Yumi is incredibly simple to assemble just unfold and attach it to your vehicles seat belt. However, it does not have lower anchors which are incredibly useful features safety wise as it prevents the seat from shooting around inside the vehicle. We also notice that you can put the shoulder belt under the armrest or in the guide for the lap belt if these areas are the better fit for your child. But note that only the shoulder belt can go to different guides and the lap belt has to go through the designated lap belt guide.
It is also worth mentioning that this car seat is easy to clean because Baby Trend Yumi uses easily removable seat pads called EZ Off-N-Wash. And to end our review for this model, we have to mention that the buckle stalk can be too short or too far for your kid to buckle himself/herself although this difficulty would be relative on your vehicle.
- Buckle stalk can be difficult for the child to reach and buckle himself/herself
Tips For Purchasing A Safety Seat
- Make sure your child is below the maximum weight and height limits for the child seat.
- Make sure the child seat fits your child and your vehicle and is easy for you to use. If possible, try it in your vehicle before purchasing or make sure it can be returned or exchanged if it does not fit.
- Check whether the model of child seat you are considering has ever been recalled.
- Avoid buying a used child seat. Never use a child seat that has been in a collision.
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Helping To Keep Kids Safe
Information for Parents
Information about which child car seat to choose and videos on how to correctly install your child’s car seat and secure your child correctly.
Child Passenger Safety Educator
A Child Passenger Safety Educator is a community leader with specialized training on how to keep child passengers safe. They are a valuable community resource for: parents, schools, public health, police and other groups in their community. CPS Educators support CPS education in many ways including: information sessions, hands-on workshops, instructional clinics, public awareness campaigns and many other initiatives.
Community Child Car Seat Program
BCAA Community Child Car Seat Program provides child car seats to eligible non-profit agencies and community groups throughout BC. Working in partnership with the United Way, BCAA has provided nearly 12,000 child car seats to children and families who otherwise may have gone without.
When To Stop Using Your Toddler Seat The Latest
Step 1: Check the weight/height limitation of your seat
If your toddler seat is approved to UN R129, you have to stop using your seat once the maximum height of your seat according to its approval is reached. In addition, ISOfix-installed UN R129 seats also have a weight limitation which you can find on your seats approval sticker and/or user manual. It is time to change to another seat once your child has reached one of the two limitations, whichever comes first.
If your toddler seat is approved to ECE R44-04, the seat has a maximum weight which you can find on your seats approval sticker and user manual. Once your child has reached this maximum, you have to change. However, practically you might not always be able to use the seat until the maximum weight as your child can outgrow the seat in height before. Check step 2 for this!
Step 2: Check the shoulder belts and ear-to-headrest level
When the top of childs ears reaches the highest point of the headrest, it is high time to change.
Additionally, check how the shoulder belts are sitting on your childs shoulders and what your seats user manual advises about this. Many manufacturers say that the shoulder belts should not come from below your childs shoulders. So if the shoulder belts are not coming straight onto the shoulders anymore when having the headrest/belts in the highest setting, then its time to change as well.
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Evenflo Safemax Best 3
The next car seat in our review is the Evenflo SafeMax 3-in-1 Combination Booster Seat. Similar to the previous car seat weve reviewed, you can use Evenflo as a harness and transition it into a booster. However, you can set its booster mode into a highback booster and a no-back booster.
Safety wise you will feel at ease knowing that the Evenflo SafeMax is rollover tested and is twice the Federal Crash Test Standard. It also uses the E3 Side Impact Protection. The E3 stands for three layers of engineered foam that according to Evenflo, reduces impact forces up to 50%.
Attaching the Evenflo Safemax to your car is easy because you can use its SureSafe latch guides as your pattern for fitting your cars belt. The latch systems themselves feel premium, and you also dont have to rethread the harness. But compared to our earlier seats, you have to set the Evenflo Safemax in the rear-facing belt path first because it is packaged in the forward-facing belt path.
Compared to the seat from Britax, switching from harness to booster mode takes a bit of labor with the Evenflo. This includes making sure that the harness pads are tucked well inside their slots or else your kid can feel them while sitting on the booster. The seat pad also has to be removed when switching to the booster mode which can be time-consuming.
The Evenflo Safemax also has two cup holders with two removable dishwasher-safe liners.
Car Seat Laws For Other Common International Destinations
Car seat standards and laws vary every where you venture. From non-existent to only allowing car seats that countrys certification even for tourists. While very similar car seats differ from location to location as well. For instance, EU standards require a child be elevated and the car seat be able to be fully released with one step. Where as US has an additional clip at the chest to hold the harness straps.
In our years of experience as certified car seat technicians, weve never had a parent tell us they were cited for using their US certified car seat in another country when they were visiting as a tourist. Many car seat sites and forums share stories of traveling abroad with their usual car seat with no problems, even renting cars and going through check points. We wish you many happy and safe travels with your children.
Australia
Denmark and the Netherlands
- Children must be properly restrained into an age-appropriate child restraint until they are 135 cm tall.
- Children can ride in the rear seat of a taxi without a restraint or wearing an adult seat belt if they are 3 or older if the driver doesnt provide an appropriate seat.
France
- Children less than 10 years or less than 135 cm in height must use approved child restraint.
- Taxis are legally exempt but it is still recommended to use a child restraint.
Germany
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Italy
New Zealand
Singapore
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
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Option 1 Trade It In For A Better One
There are buy back programs that will let you trade your seat in for a discount on a new seat!
Joie baby car seat.
There are many stores that hold trade-in events throughout the year. Walmart and Target are the largest stores to offer this trade-in offer but check local stores in your area to see if there are more ways to trade in your car seat.
The seats that are traded in go to create construction materials, buckets, and storage equipment.
This may be the easiest way to dispose of your car seat and get something in return like a new seat, other baby products, strollers, and more.
Don’t wait on child safety products. trade in your old car seat and get that coupon for a new one!
Bubblebum Best Inflatable Backless Car Seat For 6
Portability is not an issue with the BubbleBum Inflatable Backless Booster Car Seat. You can inflate this booster by mouth in 20 seconds or deflate it to store in the glove box compartment or even in a tote bag.
Speaking of bag, this inflatable backless booster also comes in a bag. You wont even feel an added weight because the BubbleBum only weighs 1.1 pounds. It is also only 13 inches wide, meaning you can use it on three-across tight-fit vehicles.
The BubbleBum has a shoulder belt positioning clip that helps make a proper and safe fit for your child. We think that this backless booster car seat is an excellent option if your kid can start using a backless booster and wants to move from the highback booster. The maximum height limit for this booster is 57 inches, and the maximum weight limit is 100 pounds.
The BubbleBum has a triangular belt guide that is well-spaced for a kid to thread the belt in and buckle himself/herself quickly. The belt guide is also close to the booster that prevents it from flopping when your child is buckling himself/herself.
Best Bet Rated
For 8 years in a row, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has rated the BubbleBum Best Bet. Being rated Best Bet means this booster has a great shoulder, and lap belt fit for 4 to 8-year old kids in almost any type of vehicle. This inflatable backless booster car seat has also met the safety requirements of the Federal Motor Safety Standard for the USA.
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Can You Reuse An Old Car Seat
You can save a car seat for a younger sibling or pass it on to another family if it isnt expired, damaged, recalled or missing any of its original parts. Before reusing the seat or giving it away, always be sure to:
From the What to Expect editorial team and Heidi Murkoff, author of What to Expect When You’re Expecting. What to Expect follows strict reporting guidelines and uses only credible sources, such as peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions and highly respected health organizations. Learn how we keep our content accurate and up-to-date by reading our medical review and editorial policy.
Georgia Car Seat Safety Guide
With more than 2,600 children under 13 involved in a car crash every day, or one child every 33 seconds, parents need to be extra vigilant about keeping kids safe in cars. And while most families put kids in car seats, the latest research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that nearly 60 percent of car seats are installed or adjusted incorrectly.
What does Georgia law say about Child Passenger Safety?
In Georgia, there is legislation to ensure children are riding in child passenger restraint systems while in a passenger motor vehicle. According to O.C.G.A. 40-6-76 children under eight years of age must ride in an approved child restraint system and be restrained by a seat safety belt approved under Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 .
It is very important for parents and caregivers to understand that while the law is important to know, it is also critical to understand what is best practice for children who ride in car seats and knowing the appropriate car seat to use.
Best Practices in Child Passenger Safety
*Disclaimer:
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