Do You Have to Ride in the Backseat With a Baby
Car seats are notoriously tricky: It feels like best condom practices are ever beingness updated, and installing the seats seems to leave a lot of us sweaty and however stumped. "I've personally washed more than v,000 auto-seat checks and seen merely 14 seats that were installed correctly," says Benjamin Hoffman, M.D., a certified Child Rider Safety Technician and associate professor of pediatrics at the Oregon Wellness & Scientific discipline University, in Portland. Although nosotros can't help you experience around for that tricky latch, we tin can make sure y'all have a grip on when and where to use each kind of seat. Lock down your cognition by answering these questions.
1. Information technology'south time to switch to a front-facing machine seat when
A. Your child is historic period 1 and weighs 20 pounds.
B. Your child is age 2 or reaches the seat's weight or top limit.
C. Your toddler's legs announced crowded by the rear-facing seat.
Respond: B. At age 2. Experts used to advise doing the switcheroo around a child'southward kickoff birthday, but recent research shows that children under 24 months are 5 times more than likely to die or be seriously injured if they're in a front-facing seat. So just terminal year, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued new recommendations. "A rear-facing car seat does a improve task of supporting a young child's head and immature neck and spine because it distributes the force of a collision over the unabridged body," says Parents advisor Dennis Durbin, Thousand.D., a pediatric emergency medico at the Children's Infirmary of Philadelphia (CHOP). Worried about your toddler's scrunched-upwardly legs? Don't be. There'due south no testify that they're more likely to be injured in a rear-facing seat. Plus, information technology's much easier to fix a broken leg than a cleaved neck.
2. The safest place for a car seat is in the backseat and
A. In the eye
B. On the correct
C. On the left
Reply: A. The center. One CHOP study found that center-seated kids were 43 percent less likely to be injured in a crash than those who rode by the windows. "It's farthest abroad from any potential impact," says Dr. Hoffman. If you have more than one child,
Dr. Hoffman recommends placing the one who needs the most protection (based on historic period, size, and health) in the center-rear position. If your family unit uses two auto seats, try placing i in the center and the other next to it. If this isn't possible, it's fine to leave a space between the ii seats as long as they're properly installed, says Dr. Hoffman.
3. True or False: If your car has a LATCH system, you should use it.
Answer: True. LATCH (which stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) is designed to brand installation easier and safer: Bachelor in all new vehicles since 2002, it attaches the car seat directly to the vehicle without relying on seat belts. "You tin can generally get a tighter attachment this way," says Dr. Durbin. Used properly, the LATCH system shouldn't let you motility the car seat more an inch from side to side or back and forth. Not all cars have attachments for the eye seat, but Dr. Durbin recommends using the arrangement even if it means placing your car seat in a side position. Be sure to use the top tether: Information technology will limit the motility of the motorcar seat and your kid's head in a crash and reduce the take a chance of injury.
4. A rear-facing car seat'due south harness should be
A. Threaded through the slots at or beneath your child's shoulders
B. Tight enough that y'all tin can't pinch whatsoever cloth between your fingers
C. Smooth and untwisted from forepart to back
Respond: A, B, and C. (Trick question!) In a rear-facing seat, the harness straps should be adapted so they're threaded through the slots at or beneath shoulder level. (In a front-facing seat, the harness straps should be at or above shoulder level.) After your kid is strapped in, apply the "pinch exam" to ensure the harness is tight enough. (The "2 fingers" dominion -- being unable to slip more ii fingers between your kid's collarbone and the straps -- is outdated.) And straps should be smooth. "I see twisted harness straps all the fourth dimension, which decreases their power to concord your child securely in a crash," says Dr. Hoffman.
5. When the infant automobile seat'due south in the vehicle, the handle should exist
A. Up
B. Down
C. It depends on the model.
Answer: C. Cheque your individual seat's instructions. "Almost say to click the handle down when the carrier is installed in the vehicle and flip it up when you have your baby out of the motorcar, but it depends on the model," says Dr. Durbin. If you no longer take the instructions, await online: Nigh of the manufacturers mail service electronic copies on their website.
6. True or False: If your baby launches into a crying fit while your vehicle is moving, it'south better to take her out of her auto seat for a infinitesimal or two to comfort her than to chance having her distract the driver.
Answer: False. Though it'southward tough listening to your babe cry, never remove her from her seat -- not fifty-fifty for a minute -- while the car is moving. Her condom depends on being properly restrained at the moment of a crash, and you tin can't control that timing. "If you lot feel you must accept your baby out of her safety seat, the commuter should find a safe place to pull over," says Dr. Durbin. Remove your babe to comfort or feed her and then hit the road once more when she's calmer.
7. To go on your child both rubber and warm during wintertime'southward cold conditions, you lot should
A. Bundle him into his coat tightly before securing him into the car seat
B. Cover him with a blanket or his wintertime coat later securing him in the auto seat
C. Utilise a product meant to keep kids warm in car seats
Answer: B. Coats off, delight. "You don't want anything that'south going to increase the distance between your kid'due south body and the harness straps," says Dr. Durbin. And no warmers: Car-seat safe experts advise against using anything that didn't come with the seat itself. These aren't regulated by the National Highway Traffic Safe Assistants (NHTSA), so it'south hard to know exactly how safety they are. "They may merits to meet federal safety standards, only in that location are no standards that cover these products," says Dr. Durbin.
8. The right fourth dimension to switch to a booster seat is when your child
A. Turns 4
B. Weighs 40 pounds
C. Outgrows the weight limit of his front-facing automobile seat
Respond: C. Have it to the limit -- and don't rush. By graduating to a booster seat, yous'll surrender the five-point harness, which diffuses the forcefulness of a crash on your child's torso. (NASCAR drivers use a 5-bespeak harness, Dr. Hoffman points out.) Booster seats piece of work by lifting your child up high plenty to fit in the motorcar's seat belts instead. They're available in ii styles: a loftier-back booster, which provides needed head support if your vehicle seat is low, and a backless booster. (Buying ahead? Some manufacturers besides offer combination seats, which work as forwards-facing seats and boosters, or three-way auto seats, which tin can be used rear-facing, forward-facing, and every bit a booster.)
9. Yous'll know your child is gear up to give up the booster when she
A. Reaches age 8
B. Fits an adult seat chugalug, ordinarily at around four'9" tall
C. Won't stop lament about riding in a car seat
Answer: B. Pitiful news for small-scale fries: Your 8-twelvemonth-erstwhile may soon exist a tween, but if she's non tall enough to fit an adult-size seat belt (which usually happens at 4'9", according to the AAP guidelines), she's not ready to give up that booster. "The key is to make certain the seat belt fits your kid securely at the right places," says NHTSA administrator David Strickland. The shoulder belt should lie snugly across the shoulder, not the neck; the lap belt should fit across the upper thighs, not the tummy; and she should exist able to place her feet flat on the car floor while sitting dorsum confronting the seat. Although it's not common, a slow grower may not get there until age 12. Don't cavern fifty-fifty if your kid whines: In kids ages four to 8, boosters reduce the risk of injury by 45 per centum compared with just using a seat chugalug. If the seat or headrest supports his noggin, yous can ease his embarrassment by using a backless booster, which is less conspicuous than a loftier-back model.
10. True or False: It's fine for your 10-yr-onetime to sit down in the front passenger seat as long every bit the air bag is turned off.
Reply: False. The NHTSA recommends that children under thirteen always ride in the back, partly because they're more likely than an adult to exist injured by an air bag'due south sudden, explosive inflation. But even if your vehicle has an on-off switch for the front end-passenger air bag (and almost don't), it'southward likewise risky to turn it off. "Drivers tend to forget to turn them back on," says Strickland. If you absolutely must put a child under xiii in the front seat (say, considering the kids you're transporting outnumber your back seats), slide it as far back from the dashboard equally possible, and put your biggest or tallest passenger in that location -- strapped in, of course.
11. Information technology's illegal to send a child in a taxi or an airport shuttle without a car seat
A. Everywhere in the U.S.
B. In some states
C. It depends on the commuter.
Answer: B. Some states require that young children ride in car seats in taxis and shuttles, while others don't. "To make things fifty-fifty more confusing, some cities accept their own regulations," says Strickland. The best advice: No thing where yous are, be sure your child is properly restrained every time she's in a moving vehicle. 4 out of ten kids killed in crashes are completely unrestrained," notes Strickland. "Even for a brusk taxi ride, information technology's non worth the run a risk." If yous wait to ride in taxis while on vacation, Strickland recommends taking forth a car seat. Airlines don't typically count them as baggage, so it's likely your automobile seat will fly gratuitous (though be sure to check with your carrier before heading to the airport).
Safety First
Buying Your First Car Seat
Since your babe may arrive early, Parents advisor Ari Dark-brown, One thousand.D., coauthor of Infant 411, recommends that you commencement motorcar-seat shopping effectually your 6th calendar month of pregnancy. You'll desire to get either an infant-toddler car seat (also called a convertible seat) or a smaller infant seat. The starting time offers savings: Y'all'll be able to use it longer. Simply babies nether xx pounds might be ameliorate off in babe-only seats, which are specially contoured for newborn bodies, says Dr. Brown. They are also convenient: Most double equally carriers, clicking in and out of a base of operations that'due south kept in the machine so you tin can motion your dozing baby without disturbing her. Virtually standard-size strollers can accommodate them, or you might consider a ready-made machine seat/stroller combo. When your child outgrows the infant seat, though, y'all'll need to switch to a convertible seat, which can become both astern and forward, notes Dr. Brown.
Do This to Be Safe
Get your car-seat installation double-checked by a certified Child Rider Safety Technician (CPST). Discover an inspection station near yous at seatcheck.org or phone call the Department of Transportation'southward Vehicle Condom Hotline at 888-327-4236.
Originally published in the September 2012 result of Parents magazine.
Source: https://www.parents.com/baby/safety/car/is-your-child-safe-in-the-car/
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