Can One Product Do It All
While convertible seats can work for babies from 5 50 lbs and beyond, we dont believe it is good to choose a one-and-done seat when it comes to safety.
Why?
Infant seats are designed for smaller newborn bodies. These seats are configured for a babys anatomy and provide posture positioning for optimal breathing and protection in a crash. The harness design is narrower and more appropriate for an infant than that on a convertible seat, designed for older babies, but is modified for infants. Many convertible car seats have an infant insert to make the car seat more suitable for smaller passengers. We believe it is smart to purchase car seats specifically for each age/size instead of opting for one product that can accommodate a baby but isnt explicitly designed for infants. If you want to save money on baby gear , we do not think car seat purchasing is the time to do it, given the potential safety implications.
The other advantage of infant seats is they are handy. Infant seats have a carrier with a handle for easy carrying from one location to another.
This design means you can move a sleeping infant from a car to a stroller or car with ease and without disruption. This function may seem small before your baby is born, but trust us, you will be doing this more than once, and youll be grateful for the carrier.
How To Fit A Baby Or Child Car Seat
Now that youve bought the right car seat for your child and it’s one you know will fit into your car, its important that its fitted properly.
In the first instance, we recommend you get your car seat fitted either by a trained professional working for the retailer that you bought it from, or by a trained fitter at a car seat checking event.
However, if youve bought your car seat from a retailer that doesnt offer a fitting service, for example an online one, youll need to ensure you fit the car seat correctly yourself.
In February 2022 we surveyed 2,004 parents who have a child aged up to five years. Those who owned a car seat were asked how they first learned how to safely fit it.
- 35% used an instruction manual.
- 30% watched a video tutorial.
- 18% got a retailer to fit it.
- 14% got a relative or friend to show them how to fit it.
Of those that learnt how to fit their seat via a video tutorial, 33% said this was because of the Covid-19 pandemic, when shops were closed or fitting services were limited.
Set Up The Harness Straps
All infant car seats have more than one harness height position. Check the instructions to learn how to adjust the height of the shoulder straps. Some require you to rethread the shoulder straps from one slot to the next, while others have a no-rethread harness where the shoulder straps are connected to a plate that can move up and down. As the plate moves up, the shoulder straps go up as the plate goes down, the shoulder straps go down.
In a rear-facing car seat, the harness straps should be slightly between or below baby’s shoulders. To set up a car seat for a baby who hasn’t arrived yet, you can usually choose the lowest set of harness slots. Once your baby is born, you’ll need to sit the baby in the car seat and check to see which harness slot works best. Choose the slots that are closest to baby’s shoulders without being above the shoulders.
If you’re afraid you’ll get the harness wrong when you un-thread the straps to reposition them, take a picture of the car seat, front and back, before you take anything apart. That way you can refer back to the photos if you’re not sure how it should look after adjusting.
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Upgrade Pick: Flaws But Not Dealbreakers
Theres nothing wrong with the Liing, per se. But when youre paying this much for a seat, its easy to start nitpicking and finding slight room for improvement. For example: As your baby grows, youll have to adjust the Liings harness by removing the straps and rethreading them. Its not tough to do, and not having a no-rethread harness keeps this seat lighter, since that feature does add a bit of weight. Still, once youve experienced the convenience of a no-rethread harness , you miss it when its not there. Ditto for an easy-off seat cover and a handle that can be adjusted using one hand.
Ultimately, we didnt think it was fair to eliminate the Liing or ignore its merits purely because of its price. Although we acknowledge that it will be cost-prohibitive for many families, we have made an effort to include other excellent options in this guide that will suit a wide range of budgets, and were confident in all of our picks.
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Ensuring The Childs Safety
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Remove Your Babys Jacket
First things first, remove your babys jacket before putting them in their car seat. Bulky clothing can prevent the car seat from doing its job since the bulk makes it difficult to get the straps snug against your babys body.
With a jacket on, the straps are looser than they seem since theyre tight against the clothing, not your childs body.
Take off your childs jacket, buckle them in, and adjust the straps as needed. Then, cover them with a blanket or coat to keep them warm for the ride.
Theres no harm in covering your baby with a cozy blanket after theyre securely strapped in.
The bottom line is that nothing bulky coats, blankets, and the rest should go between your babys body and the car seat straps.
Concerned about your baby being chilly when theyre not cozy in their coat? We recommend a soft blanket, such as the Bugaboo soft wool blanket, thats suitable for sensitive baby skin.
This highly breathable blanket is made with the finest merino wool to regulate your babys temperature all year round.
Heres another idea to keep your baby warm while in the car.
If you have a travel system, keep the car seat in your house, put your baby in while youre still inside, then click the car seat into the base in the car when youre ready to go. That way, your baby has a cozy, room temperature car seat to travel in.
How To Keep Your Baby’s Head Safely Positioned
Follow these four steps :
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Child Safety Seat Tips For Baby
The following are some important child safety seat tips for your baby:
- Your infant or toddler should ride in a rear-facing car safety seat as long as possible, until they reach the highest weight or height allowed by their seat. Most convertible seats have limits that will allow children to ride rear-facing for two years or more. Don’t be concerned if your child’s legs bend at the knees or touch the back seat of the car when rear-facing this will not harm her feet or knees.
- Always put your infant in a rear-facing child safety seat in the back of your car. A baby riding in the front seat can be fatally injured by a passenger side air bag.
- The shoulder straps must be at or below your babys shoulders. Child safety seats have several pairs of harness slots so you can adjust the harness as your baby grows. Make sure you use the harness correctly by following these tips:
- The harness must be snug so you cannot pinch a fold in the harness material after buckling in your baby.
- The straps should lie flat in a straight line without sagging or twisting.
- The top of the chest clip should be positioned at armpit level.
Can You Take A Newborn Outside In Winter
Yes! Fresh air and exposure to natural daylight helps infants acclimatize to the seasons and the day-and-night cycle. Whether it’s in a stroller or carrier, being outside often calms fussiness and can help your baby sleep.
Once the temperature gets below freezing or its cold and windy, however, dont take your little one out for extended periods. Your newborn sweetie cant self regulate their core temperature yet. Small babies lack the ability to increase heat by shivering and dont have the body fat needed to warm back up once they get cold.
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Theres No Need To Reposition A Head Turned To The Sidethis Can Be Unsafe
When parents see their newborns head turned to the side, many parents rush out to buy infant head supports which try to keep the head looking straight. Because these supports have tons of padding around and behind the head, they can actually push the babys head down onto his chest, which is dangerous!
Why is it dangerous if the babys head is pushed down to their chest? When your chin falls to your chest its hard to breathe! Your chin actually blocks off your airway in this situation. Anyone who can sit upright unsupported can easily pick their head up off their chest to breathe more easily so if your toddler sleeps in the car seat with his chin on his chest hell be fine as he can pick his head up if he has trouble breathing, and so will you if you doze off in this position in the car. Because they cant sit upright unsupported, newborns cant pick their heads up, and the chin-to-chest position is a very dangerous one its dangerous in the car seat, the bouncy seat, the swing, the stroller, etc.
Many parents are surprised to learn that the head inserts that come in some infant seats and in particular the head inserts sold separately tend to make your babys head MORE likely to fall into a chin-to-chest position because there is padding placed behind directly behind the babys head.
The Middle Of The Back Seat Is Safest
If possible, children should sit in the back middle seat to help reduce the risk of direct impact from a collision. A study published in the journal Pediatrics showed that the center spot in the back seat is 43% safer than the side. If you have more than one child and one is rear-facing, the forward-facing child should be in the middle since they are less protected.
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Babies Should Not Sleep In Car Seats Longer Than Is Necessary
Car seats are designed to keep babies safe while travelling, not as a main sleeping place. Car seats should only be used for transport and not as an alternative for cots or high chairs. Its OK for your baby to fall asleep in a car seat when travelling, but they should be taken out as soon as you get to your destination, and placed onto a firm, flat surface to sleep.
Should I Use A Convertible Seat
Convertible seats are designed to protect kids:
- from birth up to at least 40 pounds facing backward
- up to 65 pounds or even 80 pounds facing forward, depending on the model
Convertible seats are placed in different positions depending on a child’s age and size:
- They face toward the rear until a baby is ready to face forward .
- Then, they can be turned around and “converted” to a forward-facing seat.
Some car seats are known as “all-in-one” or “3-in-one” because they convert from rear-facing to front-facing to booster with the harness removed.
Convertible seats:
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Wheres The Safest Place To Carry Children In Your Car
You’ve bought the best child seat you can afford and youre confident it can be fitted securely in the car, but where’s the best place to put it?
- Up-front with you where the child can see what’s going on, or
- Behind you in the back seat?
The most common crash involves an impact to the front of your car which means that the back seat is usually a safer place to travel. So, children are best carried in the rear.
The centre-rear seat is the safest place of all for a properly restrained child, because theyre furthest away from any impact and less likely to hit or be hit by deforming, intruding structures.
One adult, one child
If it’s just you and one child in the car then you might like your child to ride up-front with you, properly restrained. The closer contact may be::
- More reassuring for your child, and
- Less distracting for you
And therefore help reduce the risk of an accident.
Rear-facing
If your childs still in a rear-facing seat, youll have to use it in the rear if the front passenger seat is protected by an airbag that cant be switched off.
- An active airbag will cause severe injury or death to a child lying with its head so close if it fires in an accident.
Forward-facing
For a forward-facing restraint on the front passenger seat, check your car handbook for advice first.
If theres no specific advice, then in general wed recommend moving the car passenger seat well back on its runners to increase the distance between your child and the airbag.
8 February 2017
At What Angle Should The Seat Recline
Rear-facing car seats should be installed at specific angles depending on the age of the baby and what direction the seat is facing. All seats come with an angle indicator, though what they look like will vary. Some come with one or two lines which you keep parallel to the ground to achieve the correct angle, and some have a bubble or ball indicator which will tell you if the angle is within an acceptable range.
The goal of the angle indicator is to keep car seats with newborns at 45 degrees. If too flat, they might slide out of the straps. However, if too upright, their head might flop forward, which could limit their breathing.
If you are having trouble installing your car seat at a 45-degree angle, many car seat manufacturers allow the use of a rolled towel to be placed under the car seat to help properly position it. Always read your car seat manual because not all seats allow this, and installation instructions can vary. Older kids can recline slightly more upright at 35 degrees. Ensure your car is on level ground so you get the angle right.
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Is A Car Seat Safer Behind The Driver Or The Passenger
The safest place for your child is in the back of the car, so do always try to fit your car seat in the back.
The back middle seat is generally the safest and can be used, but only if the seat has a three-point seat belt.
Make sure to disable any active airbags in front of your child as they can cause serious injury, especially if your child is rearward-facing.
If you want to put them in the front of the car, make sure the passenger seat is pushed as far back away from the dashboard as possible, disable the airbag for that seat and fit the child car seat securely.
S For Installing Your Seat Successfully
- Always follow the manufacturers instructions when fitting the seat and keep them for future reference. With convertible seats, this is particularly important as you will need the instructions again when changing the seat to its forward position.
- Fit your child car seat as firmly as possible with no excessive movement when testing where it attaches to the vehicle.
- If it is difficult to get a firm fit, try installing the seat in another seating position. If in any doubt, contact your local public health or police department to see if they can recommend a local Child Passenger Safety Technician or check event so you can make sure the seat is installed correctly.
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