I have mentioned before that I am a new Mom, my daughter is now 3 months old and I have been having quite a time with her screaming and crying when she goes into her car seat. I purchased a convertible seat that “grows” with her. In her 3 months she has grown! I realized the reason she was screaming so much was that the restraint belts needed moving to the next level. The manufacturer guidelines say that the straps should be at your child’s shoulders, if they are not in the right place they push down on the child and the child is not seated or restrained properly. In the event of a crash this can cause serious injury, possibly death.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in children aged two to 14. This is due largely to not using or improper use of child car seats and vehicle seat belts. A recent report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that half of children from infants to age seven who were killed in motor vehicle crashes were not in child safety seats.

As I have mentioned in the past all children under the age of 1 yr old and less than 20 lbs should be in a REAR FACING car seat. This should never happen

If a child is facing forwards during a collision their mortality rate and chance of serious injury goes up. As you can see in the above picture the straps are not tight enough! Just this week in Putnam county there was a collision and an infant was ejected from his restraint seat and unfortunately is in critical condition. With the winter months upon us it is important to keep babies warm but it is NOT SAFE to put them in puffy jackets or snow suits in a car seat. The thickness of the material doesn’t allow you to tighten the straps properly and in case of an accident the child can actually suffer whiplash or worse because of the movement.

New research shows that they are better protected if they remain rear facing as long as 23 months. NHTSA and the American Academy of Pediatrics have amended their recommendations to reflect this latest research and now recommend that children should remain rear facing up until they reach the limits of a rear facing seat.

A child under the age of 13 should never be in the front seat of a car! Not only is it illegal, it can be fatal! A child in the front seat can sustain life threatening/life taking injuries from the air bag alone! It’s not worth the risk.

Always check with your car seat manufacturer for recalls, there have been quite a few lately and if you haven’t taken the time to register your product with the manufacturer DO SO , you will get e-mail alerts about recalls.

As always DRIVE SAFE!!!