5 Things You Need to Know About Car Seats

06 Nov 5 Things You Need to Know About Car Seats

A car seat is one of the best safety accessories that you can make for your child. From the moment you bring them home and for years to come, their car seat is there to keep your child safe whenever they ride in the car. However, there are still many car seat safety guidelines, and there are both right and wrong ways to use these seats.

Understanding car seat protocol can be overwhelming, especially when you are a new parent. Fortunately, we have created a list of five of the most important things that you need to know when using a car seat as it can help keep your child safe and secure whenever they ride in your vehicle.

1. Always Double Check and Read the Manual. Every brand of car seat is different, and every car is different as well. This, unfortunately, has caused many car seats to be installed incorrectly. In fact, according to one study from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), 95% of parents taking their newborns home from the hospital were misusing their car seat. Double check your work and read the manual, even if it looks right, you want to make certain that your car seat is installed correctly.
2. Don’t Transition Out of Car Seats Too Soon. Some parents may think that car seats are only for little This isn’t true. Most car seats are designed for kids as big as 65 pounds, and they should be used this long as well before going to a belt positioning booster. Even when they outgrow their car seat with the 5-point harness, kids should be in belt-positioning boosters until their 4 feet 9 inches. The moral of the story is, you should try to keep them in a car seat as long as you can.
3. Children Should Be Rear Facing as Long as Possible- This is one that many parents have questions on. The AAP recently updated their car seat recommendations, which usually suggested kids stay rear facing until age two. Now, the AAP suggests that kids stay rear facing until they outgrow their car seat.
4. Kids Under 13 Should Always Ride In the Back. Even when kids are out of the car seat, it doesn’t mean they should be in the front seat. This is a hard and fast rule and one that comes highly recommended from the AAP. The Academy, along with the CDC and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration agree with this as well.

Here at Continuum Pediatrics, we want to make sure that all of your questions are answered and answered correctly, and we always want to make sure that your child is safe. We are here to help in any way we can. To make an appointment call us at 817-617-8600 today.